(The Memphis Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference is spearheading a “Dress for Success” campaign. It includes a rap CD featuring SCLC President Rev. Dwight Montgomery, Memphis City Schools Supt. Kriner Cash, Mayor A C Wharton Jr. and Cato Johnson, Methodist Healthcare senior vice president. The campaign has triggered this response from Kevin E. Brumfield II, a member of the Memphis Youth Manifesto Brain Trust.)I consider it to be rather silly and insulting to call a program directed toward the youth “Dress For Success.” In my opinion, it shows a lack of creativity and a lack of an open mind to believe that wearing a suit is the only way to be successful in this city....I have been taught and still believe to this day that it is not necessarily what you wear that determines how people look at you, but how you wear it....
I have an issue with seeing students with their slacks on and shirts tucked in, but their slacks are sitting below their butts. It is these actions that need to be addressed by “Dress For Success” and the Memphis City Schools....I cannot understand how Mayor A C Wharton (Jr.) and Dr. Kriner Cash can put even one moment of energy into this “Dress For Success” program when our schools are in the shape that we currently find them....
The only thing to me that determines success is getting an education....That is why I am in total disagreement with the foundation of this program. Instead of concentrating on education, they would rather put an uneducated kid in a suit and consider their “mission accomplished”....This is similar to using gum to stop a pipe from leaking....
It is not the intention of the program that I disagree with. The kids of the Memphis City Schools system need help, but I do disagree with how they are going about giving these students help and the ideology behind it....The key to getting these students (male or female) to care about school is to give them things to look forward to or things to work toward. We kids and young adults...need to (be) embraced and shown that people care about us, care about what we are doing, and care about what we want to do....I am open to discussion on engaging the youth in the City of Memphis and sharing my ideas and discussing solutions, which I believe will make this a better city for all of us to live in.
(Kevin E. Brumfield II is owner, Sneak Peek-Memphis, and a member of the Memphis Youth Manifesto Brain Trust. For more about MYM, visit www.memphisyouthmanifesto.com)
