During this reading and conversation, author Khary Lazarre-White discussed his work as a social justice advocate and founder of the award-winning youth development organization The Brotherhood-SisterSol that supports the empowerment Black and Latinx youth in New York City. Lazarre-White read an excerpt from his novel Passage, which tells the story of Warrior, a young Black man navigating police brutality, structural racism, and the snowy winter streets of Harlem and Brooklyn in 1993. Though the story takes place in 1993, there is a striking parallel between Warrior’s experience and the experiences of Black male youth today. This event was moderated by Assistant Professor Samira Abdur-Rahman from the Department of English.

Read more about the event and Passage in Samira Abdur-Rahman’s post “Encountering the City and the Self in Khary Lazarre-White’s Passage.”