On Saturday, April 3, 2021, during Easter weekend the Brownsville community came out to show support for the youth, pray for ones the neighborhood has lost, and praise those who are using what they learned on the field with the historic Mo Better Jaguars football team and the Brownsville Jets, in education and business ventures.
“We Are Family on Saturday was another beautiful community event,” said Danny Goodine, activist and Amsterdam News photographer. “We showed that the Mo Better Jaguars have been instrumental in showing so many young people the importance of being disciplined on the field, staying in school, and how you can use all you have learned to succeed in business and life. At the end we all prayed. We gave thanks for what was and what shall be. We prayed for peace and for those we have lost.”
As he gave a nod to recent violent incidents, Goodine continued, “We are a large family of one of the best that ever played the game of football.
“We have seen so many of these youngsters growing from boys to men. I saw them at age 6, 7, 8, now they have children that age, they are fathers, business men training other young men and women in their art or business. When I look back I can really see that we play a great part in helping the youth.
“We had great coaches come through teaching the youth lessons of life like football coach Wayne Morgan, and basketball coach Ray Haskin.”
Mo Better Jaguars was founded in 1995 in the wake of Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Million Man March. It was a call for the brotherhood to go back into their various communities and build and make them stronger than they had been.
The Brownsville Jets was a program that started in 1960 by Gregory “Jocko” Jackson. It continues with the tryouts in the new park at Betsy Head, in Brownsville. This program is open to boys and girls. Gooding said, “We are doing everything to save the youth, and stress the need for continuing their education, and teaching them about appreciating their self-worth and value.”
For more information, email dgoodine4@aol.com.