Simultaneously, the young people also work with a Social worker to further address your mental health challenges.
“Basically, [we] help them process what they heard and what they learned in this album and in the various scenes in the film that are related to trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, grief, the dismantling of white supremacy, “said Green .
“We’re just now starting to get this conversation more normalized because for so long the stigma that exists on all races, generations was very prominent in the black community,” he continued. “That ultimately translated to us just being strong and suffering the pains of racism. So now, for the first time in two or three generations, we’re finally giving ourselves permission to feel.”
“We are changing the paradigm: we are black men, but we are human first,” Green added.
The Cope Dealers program currently has 8 participants from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio, although Green is now expanding to other high schools. Once students complete the program in March, they will each have made their own mixtape. In addition, the participants will perform their songs in a school concert later this year.
