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Inner City Youth Making Media

Published on June 26, 2001

Interview with Louis Perego Moreno of Skyline Community by Nicole Betancourt of MediaRights.org

So, the first question is, what do you do?

What I've done for the last seven years is put together a non-profit organization whose mission is the empowerment, education, and health of minority youth and women. We've created a program that targets Black and Latino youth, some who are performing poorly academically and socially, who are truants or who will potentially drop out. And we motivate them to produce tangible results with the video camera, with film.

"Basically, what we've created are documentaries by young people, about young people, for young people. Because if you go back and think about what it was like to be a young person, no one likes to be lectured. No one wants a sermon"

I consider myself a social reformer who is involved in education because social reform is inextricably linked with educational reform. So, I'm an optimist and believe that we can help alter anyone's behaviors. But there's one group of individuals in society who really likes change, and are open to new ideas, and that's youth. So, if we're truly going to make a difference in society, we have to start planting the seeds now for results that we'll see in 20, 30-40 years.

So, what's more important, the making of the film, or the distributing of it?

Actually, you hit the nail on the head. Many people love the end project, which is that actual documentary short, but I think what's more significant, is the process that the young people go through in making their documentaries.

Even if they don't pursue this industry as a career, they will never ever look at media the same way again. And we teach them that we don't have to be passive viewers, listeners, or readers, when it comes to assessing the media. We can also play an assertive and aggressive role. And as a consumer of media, we have the obligation and the right to say I like that or you know what, I don't like that and there's another way of saying that and I'd like to be part of the story.

I mean we don't do any lightweight subjects - all our subjects are social, public, and mental health issues as they impact black and Latino youth, or just subjects inherent to being a teenager. You know they're heavy-duty subjects. In 1997 we addressed children with AIDS. In ‘98 we addressed black and Latino gay and lesbian youth and its correlation with teen suicide which is the fourth leading killer of teens in America. And we know that at least 30% of teens that attempt suicide do it because of homophobia. And then last year we addressed the prevention of teen date rape and then this year we addressed fatherlessness and its impact on society.

So let's take one of those issues as an example, teen suicide among gay and lesbian youth, do you think that making this video is going to make more of a difference amongst the kids making the video or when you show it to people?

Equally heavy in both areas. There were 13 teenagers that worked on the making of the black and Latino gay and lesbian youth documentary. Of the 13, 11 were heterosexual, one was gay, and one was lesbian. They all chose to be in the project. So, it altered their lives, absolutely, it altered their lives because each of our documentaries becomes like a group therapy.

But this gives them an opportunity to explore youths who are different from them and what it means to be a young person today who is marginalized in society. Because to a certain degree, teenagers are hated in society -- you know they don't follow the rules, people are always trying to keep them down. They're seen as different, so right then and there, they connect [to gay and lesbian youth]. So the youth working on that project have never been the same.

And then on top of that, that documentary ["I Know Who I am…Do You?"], is screened at film festivals domestically and internationally from Italy, Montreal, LA, Oakland CA, the Toronto Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Boston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, the Houston Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Is there a concrete change that you can see?

There's a lot of times when you make a video and you show it to lots of people, and you hope that it's influencing how they think. Give me one example from your work of a tangible change that has happened.

I'll never forget the time that we showed videos at a school in Newark, NJ that had 700 9th graders in it. We showed three documentaries back to back in the area of prevention, comprehensive public health prevention addressing teen pregnancy prevention, HIV/AIDS and STD prevention, and incarceration prevention. This was broadcast throughout the whole school. And one of the kids slipped a note to the guidance counselor saying, "I really, really liked the video on HIV/AIDS and STDs and I just wanted to share with you that my mother just confessed to me last week that she's HIV positive and I'm freaking out." So when I hear things like that, I know we are making a difference, behind the camera and in front of the camera. And that's what inspires me to do the work that I do.

If someone is reading this, and they want to get access to your tapes, what can they do now?

They can contact us online, Skyline Community is the non-profit organization and our address is: skycommun@aol.com

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