At court, Spector met Michelle Suazo. Suazo helps run a group called UEmpower. It offers food and mentors to poor families in Baltimore.

UEmpower had served both of the teen boys involved in the attack. Suazo felt the need to say she was sorry to Spector in the courtroom. She also asked the councilwoman to visit the neighborhood in which the boys lived. Spector agreed.

Southwest Baltimore is a very poor neighborhood. Spector was very upset by what she saw there. People were selling drugs. The buildings were falling apart.

9.   “These are our kids,” Specgtor said. “They’re our people… We have to learn to respect and not harm each other.”

Spector started to meet with the boys at UEmpower events. Today, she helps lead UEmpower. She helped the group open a kitchen in a closed down school.

The two teens learned to cook. They even made a meal for Spector.

These days, the oldest teen feels better about life. He’s doing well in school. He understands he can be a leader and a good example to others.

13. He said he started working harder at school. “My grades started going up and up and up. I don’t hang around the people I was doing that dumb stuff with…So my life, it just turned around.”

The youngest teen is learning to trust adults who want to help him.

Spector and the older teen were honored at a recent event. The audience was full of judges, police and officials. As he walked on stage, the teen was shaking. He leaned on 5-foot-2 Spector for support. He was scared the crowd would hate him for what he had done in the past.

I’m so proud of you,” Spector said before hugging him. They walked off the stage as the crowd stood and clapped.

News for You, February 21, 2018

Stick to Sports?

Black Athletes Have Long History of Protest

This year’s National Football League (NFL) season included two features of American life.

First, there was football. The season ended with this month’s Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles won over the New England Patriots. It was the Eagles’ first Super BVowl win in the team’s history.

Debates about race are the other feature of American life.

For weeks, some NFL players dropped to one knee as the national anthem played. Most of the players were black.

Their goal was to protest lasting racism in the U.S. They also wanted to focus on police treatment of black citizens in many communities.

Some people were angry about the protests. They felt the players should stick to sports.

But the players had history on their side. Black athletes have used their status for many years to protest in ways large and small.

Once, black Americans were not allowed to vote. They did have equal housing or schools.

They found they were accepted in other parts of life. Those included music and sports.

10.  Mohammad Ali was one of the first American athletes to protest. Ali was a boxer who died in 2016. Many people admired him. But he would not go to fight in the Vietnam
War. That was in 1967. For years, his protest hurt his fighting career.

But his action also caused others to want to take action. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a pro basketball player. He decided not to go to the Summer Olympics in 1968.

U.S. track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos did go to those Olympics. They won medals in the 200-meter race. But they each put a black glove on one hand. They raised their fists on the medal stand. They wanted to support human rights.

Abdul-Jabbar went on to have a great career. Smith and Carlos came home to boos and death threats. They had a hard time finding coaching jobs.

The Black Lives Matter movement began over the killings of black men by white police officers. The NFL anthem protests were a way of supporting the movement. The protests were started by Colin Kaepernick in August 2016. He was a quarterback with the San Francisco 49ers. He then became a free agent. That is a player who does not have a contract. He can play for any team. But no other team has hired him.

Experts say athletes will continue to use their positions to protest. Sports are a big part of American life. So they are a powerful way to bring attention to social issues.

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