Youth ruled the day at the Thomas H. Slater Center’s 25th Annual Martin Luther King Breakfast bringing the house down to a thundering crescendo with standing ovations at the Crowne Plaza on January 15, 2018.
White Plains Middle School student, Selah Armstrong, belted out Hairspray’s “I Know Where I Am Going,” and took us to church with “To God Be The Glory” in a voice that belied her 12 years. A member of the Allen AME Church in White Plains, Selah was recently featured by the White Plains Youth Bureau Spotlight. Selah has such a comfort with the stage, that when there was a technical issue with the music, she was in no way perturbed. She sang with such conviction, she touched parts of our being. The program could have ended then and there.
And then came Brandon! 22 year old Brandon Puryear was the keynote speaker. He wove poetry into his speech and gave gems of advice to young and old alike. Brandon took us through his years of pain in losing his dad. Hauntingly, he said, “When you pulled the trigger, you shot me too.” He talked about being described in ways so offensive that he couldn’t repeat the words. Therapy, he said, helped, and he urged us to get ourselves therapists. He told us he is okay with being vulnerable, being “comfortable with being uncomfortable.” He said he threw himself into performances and deeds, and knew “there is no box I cannot not fit in and no circle I cannot be a part of.” He implored us to “Get up and get out.” And he left us questioning our purpose, “Ask yourself, what am I doing here, answer it and start making a difference.”
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The morning was a wow! And added to it was a fashion show by Anita Wiltshire and her sewing class. In keeping with the theme, among the models were elementary and high school students. Sharing the emcee duties was Dorshelle Guillaume, a student at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and the youth member on the Slater Center’s Board of Directors.
