Facing Race conference uses hip-hop to teach young people about money
DETROIT (WJBK) - It's the largest conference multiracial justice movement-making, serving as a space to build alliances, frame issues and discover solutions during this critical time period in the country's history.
Thousands gathered for the Facing Race conference at the Cobo Center here in Detroit.
One attendee was a New York financial expert, who tours the country helping people with financial literacy with the help of her husband, who uses hip hop to teach lessons about money. She says unemployment numbers are encouraging but under employment is still an issue.
"There is an unemployment number that's important but there's also an under-employment number that is really important to talk about as well," said Pamela Capalad. "That's one thing to have a job but what if you have to have two or three jobs to make ends meet and I think that's a really important thing to understand as well."
But what makes it easier to understand for many is a little riddle with rhymes.
"You can check your credit for your uncle, you could check your credit for your mom. You can do it for your family and you can do it for yourself, that's the way you'll gain some financial health and that's the first step to creating some actual wealth," rapped MC Dyalekt.
MC Dyalekt travels the country with his wife, hitting big cities explaining financial literacy with prose and pulse.
"Rhythm helps people understand things, it's how we convince people to do things. When people use rhyme in their slogans, in their songs and then people repeat them that's how we create new changes and that's how we create reality," he said.
"It's hard to feel connected to it and it's hard to feel like it's relevant now," Capalad said. "And hip-hop elements we bring and make it something where kids can connect to it or adults can connect to it and they can find a place where they can merge with they already know with what they have to learn."
"Trying to find someone who can actually answer your question, but we know it can be stressful but like you were stressing make sure you get a proper suggestion somebody is not scary preferably somebody who is a fiduciary," MC Dyalekt said.
The duo tours the country without skipping a beat-this advice, critical to kids and adults in big cities.
"We have them all get in on LinkedIn. Because that is how to create a resume now," Capalad said. "It is to get on linked in, put yourself out there and make connections with people who are not just your peers but people who can be mentors and a good advocate for you at a level they need to advocate for you."