Holy Day of Atonement calls for unity, youth outreach

LORAIN — As the city's Day of Atonement celebration enters into its third decade of commemoration, Imam Paul Hasan turned the focus squarely on the youths who he said he hoped would continue the event long after his own time had passed. Hasan was one of a group of Lorain residents who traveled to Washington, D.C., in 1995 to participate in the Million Man March and who, a year later, created the Holy Day of Atonement in Lorain County to commemorate the event. The Million Man March was billed by its organizers as a day of atonement and reconciliation, and speakers called on the crowd — made up largely of Black men — to be more active participants in and protectors of their community. At Saturday's event in the Lorain Public Library Main Branch, Hasan shared a similar message, calling on those in attendance to do more to guide and care for the young people of Lorain. "The Million Man March was a call for us to be better men, and out of that, we say today that it is a bigger challenge now," said Hasan, president of the Lorain Interfaith Association. "It is not a call just for Black men anymore, but it is a call for all men; for us to take a look at ourselves. Our children are suffering, our young people don't see a reality. … They don't conceive a future for themselves. Rent is too high, gas is too high, interest rates are too high, so they don't see a future (and) so we see our young people self-destructing." Hasan said he was happy to see a group of young people in attendance at the event, and called on the others there to fight "with whatever fight we've got left," to make the world a better place for youths at the Day of Atonement and out in the community. Ricky Smith, founder of the Steele City Football program, works with as many of Lorain's young people as anyone, and he shared Hasan's thoughts that youths in the city were struggling and needed more from their elders. Smith said that he tries to teach his players to focus on bettering themselves and being good members of their community, rather than getting caught up in fights and other bad influences "The streets, the media, Instagram, all these movies, all these things that are going on and inflicted on a boy's mind," Smith said. "... You would not realize what a lot of these boys are going through. They show up to practice with a smile on their face, they practice hard, you talk to them and they are intelligent, but they don't know the way. They just don't know the way, and if we don't teach it, then they'll never know." Cara Staresinic, manager of Community Education for Lorain County Safe Harbor, also spoke about educating young people, and specifically about her work teaching them about dating and domestic violence and about how build healthy relationships and friendships. "Those skills are so important for young people and I know our theme today is unity and bringing those young people together," Staresinic said. "(And teaching them) what healthy relationships look like and knowing the different things that they do and do not deserve in their relationships. Especially with social media, there is so much normalization of harm, abuse, unkind language, all those different things." In a new addition to the Day of Atonement, AdeOlomo Dansi spoke about her work teaching children about traditional African and African American drum music. She explained the history of music and drumming specifically as a language of resistance for enslaved people and led the audience in a few simple drum songs. Contact Owen MacMillan at 440-329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.