Youth Focus
This is a film Screening being advertised to young Black Reston residents and other black youths of the surrounding communities. The focus on important black films is meant to inspire the local youths to regard African American culture and cultural influence as a respectable and pride worthy subject. Reston Black Focus has always had a special focus on the youth of its community, as it seemed that in the hope of integration Reston Black Focus saw youth involvement as crucial. The fact that the event seems to be open to whites showcases how Reston Black Focus saw integration as a bug part of their role in the community.
The focus on Black youths was a common theme when it came to Reston Black Focus and its concentration of promotion and preservation of Black culture, as well as their interest in making sure Black student had an access to education. The prospect of integrated Black youths into the white school system was a fairly new development as the “1968 Green decision ended freedom-of-choice plans and dual school systems and ordered faster school desegregation” [1]. The integration of Blacks into a White majority school system had been fairly recent and without a Black only system of education, therefore it became all the more important for organizations like Reston Black Focus to promote Afro American culture.
[1] Heinemann, Old Dominion, New Commonwealth a History of Virginia. 361