MALE ANNOUNCER: Funding for this program was made possible by The Heinz Endowments.

Thank you.

- ♪ Be with me forever ♪ MINETTE: From Homewood and Larimer to the north side of Pittsburgh... MICHAEL: Young African American men and boys who live in heavily-policed neighborhoods.

- I see cop cars with people over the hood of them.

MINETTE: And they cope with more frequent national headlines and media images portraying black males as criminals.

- It happened in Ferguson, in happened in New York, it happened in California.

It's going all over the country.

DAVID HICKTON: Bad results which come when there is an incident between the police and most typically the young African American male.

MICHAEL: Yet these young Pittsburgh men will not be stifled.

- Express yourself in any way that you can as long as it's a positive and not a negative because we're already looked at as being negative.

MINETTE: They're not local celebrities, but they are a few of the brightest, most talented young people in our region.

MICHAEL: What about college?

- Definitely Ivy League.

MICHAEL: The next generation working against the odds to improve the portrayal and perception of African American men and boys.

Hello.

I'm Michael Bartley.

- And I'm Minette Seate.

MICHAEL: For several years now, we've brought you a series of positive stories about African American men and boys.

- We focused on the professional and community successes rather than the usual images of black men in handcuffs or running from the police.

- Let's take a look.

- I definitely knew that medicine was the right path for me because I wanted to go back to my community and help people.

So Mr. Dee came to the emergency department yesterday after pain and swelling in his lower back that persisted for two weeks.

MINETTE: Newspaper columns... - The column is an opportunity to write any darn thing that you want.

MINETTE: Talk shows... - We're going to talk to two people who are concerned about the school board's plan.

MINETTE: Photographs... - When most people pick up a newspaper or a magazine, the first thing that their eyes go to is a photograph.

MICHAEL: Entrepreneurs all, who mentor young men to take charge, to better portray themselves as well.

- Wanting more out of life I think is a first step.

Secondly, I believe education plays a role.

- Well, I would like to be a lawyer.

- There are thousands of young men just like these 75 who are trying to figure out how to be the leaders of the next generation, and these guys are hungry.

They're hungry for knowledge, they're hungry for help, and they are excited about taking their rightful places in American society.

- Those are the great stories, but with the recent troubles in New York, Ferguson, and Baltimore, we realized there's a lot more work that needs to be done... - To improve the portrayal and perception of African American men and boys.

So, we first want you to meet a young man from the north side of Pittsburgh who recently met with the police to help build the trust.

ROMAN: I loved it.

I love the sound.

MICHAEL: At 16 years old, Roman Ramsey embraces lots of what life has to offer, whether learning how to play the sax... - You could enjoy learning it every time you pick it up.

MICHAEL: Or learning the art of judo.

His grandfather encouraged him to do this.

ROMAN: He said this will teach you self-control.

MICHAEL: Self-control, Roman says, is a way of survival in his north side Pittsburgh neighborhood called Perry Hilltop.

Roman says he sees police activity daily.

- I feel as though I should just keep moving because the longer I stay there, the longer I become interested in the topic and I don't want to be there because the cops are there for a reason, and it isn't usually good.

MICHAEL: But inside the Ramseys' corner row house, Philene Ramsey, a single mother and full-time nurse, raised four boys, insisting on nothing less than complete success.

You've a son who's a psychologist, another going into pharmacy, this young man who probably will get a scholarship for academics-- how did you do this?

- Hard work.

My mom, my dad-- he's passed away now-- but they helped me a lot, but keeping them focused...

I always tell Roman like I tell my older sons that your high school, middle school, your report card is your paycheck.

How you want your paycheck to look, you should think that as your report card.

If you bring home straight A's, you can go far.

If you don't, you won't.

MICHAEL: So far it's apparent Roman will go far.

He has the highest grade point average and ranks number one in the sophomore class at Perry Traditional Academy.

4.0?

- Yes.

- Honor student?

- Yes.

High honor.

- High honor, sorry.

[CHUCKLES] - I'm sorry.

- And you... you likely, they tell me, will go to an Ivy League school.

- I'd like to believe so.

MICHAEL: Has your mother influenced you?

- Greatly.

MICHAEL: How?

ROMAN: She's one of the very many but the strongest of what I've seen so far, a single black woman raising four boys, none of them on the streets, none of them strung out on drugs, and all of them have a positive life ahead of them.

That's amazing.

MICHAEL: Amazing given the generally negative public perception of young African American males.

JERRY JOHNSON: So that when they do have interaction with police that they don't just make it the end of their life.

They survive... MICHAEL: It's no wonder Philene Ramsey told Roman he had to attend this special assembly at his high school.

It was sponsored by the National Black Prosecutor's Association and the topic couldn't have been more timely-- building trust between the police and young black males.

On the stage, prominent African American attorneys, judges, and law enforcement officials.

Roman's mother insisted he be here.

- I told my sons if they're out somewhere with all the stuff that has been going on between the police and young black men, don't argue with them back.

If they approached him in any kind of way that they feel that it's not right, don't give them any reason to want to put their guns on them or to beat them or anything.

MICHAEL: After the general auditorium welcome, students visited smaller classrooms to meet law enforcement leaders-- Dennis Logan, chief of detectives for the DA's office, Pittsburgh police commander Eric Holmes, and the state trooper whose face we shield because he works for the undercover narcotics unit.

- And I've seen people from low-level dealers to millionaires, and at the end of the day, it always ends up the same way-- you go to jail.

We're here because we care about you guys, and we're here really in peace.

MICHAEL: And to impress upon them that the relationship with the police does not have to be adversarial.

- Even at my age as a father, as a grandfather, if I get stopped by the police, that police officer is in charge of that scene.

So when I'm told to pull over, I pull over.

When I'm told to keep my hands on the wheel, you keep your hands on the wheel.

- The thing to remember is no traffic stop and no police officer wants a traffic stop to end in some type of tragic event.

No one should walk away from a traffic stop in a body bag or paralyzed or whatever, or any violence or things like that.

MICHAEL: The students were told resisting on the street makes it worse.

They were told they can always take legal recourse later if they're mistreated.

- Complaints can be filed, and you'll have evidence.

You'll never win on the streets.

If something bad happens or if you feel something happened, perceived something happened or something bad actually happened, you will never win the argument on the streets, but there are avenues to redress whatever happened-- to file a complaint if you're in the City of Pittsburgh with the Commander or the Police Chief or whatever borough it happened in or to file a complaint with the District Attorney's office and allow them to investigate the police misconduct.

- If he beats you, that's a criminal offense.

My detectives will then interview you and try to find as many witnesses... - You will never, ever, ever, ever talk your way out of an arrest.

It's not going to happen.

JERRY: Whatever seeds that can be planted here in this program that I may kind of plant in their mind and at some point it will resonate with them and affect that decision, that decision that could change the rest of their lives.

I'm here on behalf of the National Black Prosecutors... MICHAEL: Jerry Johnson of the National Black Prosecutors organized this event.

He's an assistant DA with Allegheny County.

He says there is a push nationally to lower the emotion.

JERRY: What I really want them to take away is a lot of these situations, people are reacting and I want them to think and respond because response requires thought process and pausing on the emotional response.

I think when you have an emotional response, it spirals out of control into a conflict that can't be retracted.

My hope, my desire, is that they will think about their actions and respond as opposed to react so it doesn't spiral out of control.

They're in control themselves, and they're in a situation, maybe a traffic stop.

They can control themselves and the reaction, and so they respond-- and that's my goal-- that's my goal-- that they respond instead of react.

MICHAEL: Roman smiles and thanks the police and his mom for suggesting he attend.

He says his takeaway was simple.

Show the police respect, and they will show you respect.

- Just make it as comfortable as possible.

As long as you're trying to make it comfortable, it will be easy and it will go quicker.

- Please welcome Mr. Hickton.

MICHAEL: At John Minadeo Elementary School in Squirrel Hill... - You have been hit with a lot of challenges that come from outside the schoolhouse.

MICHAEL: US attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania David Hickton joins school officials to announce yet another initiative to keep city schools safe.

He visits with kids, takes pictures with them, hugs their principal.

Hickton and the others were all smiles, but his smile disappears when it comes to the tense and complicated subject of improving relations between the police and African American men and boys.

- In this community, it goes all the way back to Jonny Gammage if you look at the celebrated incidents, certainly the Jordan Miles incident and there have been other incidents here, but it's brought more into sharper focus... MICHAEL: And it's getting a sharper focus, says Hickton, because Pittsburgh was chosen as one of six pilot cities by the Justice Department to achieve improved dialogue.

- To improve police and community trust, and it's a process which has as its core the goal of transforming the relationship in 2015 and beyond.

It's when the incident happens, when nerves are raw, emotions are high, and frequently it leads to a cycle of misinformation.

MICHAEL: Hickton says many local groups will have a voice.

Pittsburgh was chosen because it already has an impressive history of open community dialogue.

- We have the same common enemy-- it's random community violence.

It's insane.

It does nobody any good.

African American males are dying at a greatly disproportionate rate in Pittsburgh and elsewhere largely due to violence from other African American males.

The community has a stake in solving that.

MICHAEL: I told Hickton about the clear path to success that Roman Ramsey is on, yet his mother worries he could be victimized by the police.

Of all the success in their life, she worries about how the police will treat him.

What do you say to her?

- She should.

Not because I'm being critical of the police, because the conversation she's going to have with her sons is different than the conversation I have with my four sons.

They're not as likely to be stopped.

There's a very sad story that comes out of Homewood of a kindergarten class that was doing an activity and was being organized, and they were asked to get in single file line and one of the young children said, "Are we going to prison now?"

I don't mean to be critical of law enforcement.

We need to enforce the law.

We need to enforce the law fairly, without bias, but at the same time, we need to recognize, we need to work as hard at preventing that crime and as hard at community building as we are vigilant about enforcing the law.

To do one without the other is incomplete and foolish.

It's beneath us as a society.

MICHAEL: The Pittsburgh police command staff led by Chief Cameron McClay is also engaged in diffusing tempers in our heavily-policed neighborhoods.

- It's about training everyone to have more respect for interactions and causing the young people to be able to interact with the cops in such a manner that we don't have tragedies because if the citizen follows the commands of the officers, there will rarely if ever be unjust outcomes, but it's in the face of that resistance, whether verbal or worse, physical, where bad things and tragedies occur.

So we're trying to diffuse that bomb.

MICHAEL: McClay believes over time, mutual trust will be achieved in Pittsburgh, officers enforcing the law without overreach, residents assisting police, and respecting their work in keeping all safe.

- I'm so proud of the work that's been happening within my police zones where I've got the officers at the rank and file level, supervisors, commanders out there really be proactive and actively engaging because we're only going to break up those perspectives in A) One relationship at a time, and then B) We have to continue to look hard in the mirror about how we police and are we causing more harm than good when we're policing these neighborhoods.

So I'm looking for us to improve the quality of that partnership, and hopefully over time, those kinds of fears will diminish.

We take this initiative... MICHAEL: McClay... - We need to make the case.

MICHAEL: Hickton... - I always tell Roman... MICHAEL: Philene Ramsey and others agree so much more work needs to be done, but they hope someday a 16-year-old like Roman Ramsey will be seen first as a hardworking scholar on his way to success rather than how he and young black men are generally portrayed in media.

Until then, some in this next generation of African American young men and boys are deciding themselves how they should be portrayed.

MINETTE: Control the medium, control the message.

It's a time-proven concept, one that's helped create countless negative images of African American men and boys.

Fortunately, that concept works both ways.

Men of color, both locally and nationally, are creating new narratives for the next generation.

- Here's a group of college-educated men that are thinking of a different kind of solution that can be a part of the conversation.

MINETTE: For instance, in 2011, the Game Changers Project was established as a national fellowship program for emerging filmmakers of color, producing work in six cities including Pittsburgh.

- This is Cheo Tyehimba Taylor, founder and executive producer of the Game Changers Project.

We're here in Oakland, California, in the wake of another night of protests against the non-indictment of Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson.

Every generation since the founding of this country, black men have come of age in the shadow of violent, racist killings from Emmett Till to Michael Brown.

As an activist storyteller, I am convinced the power to change this narrative is in our hands.

MINETTE: Locally at One Hood Media, Jasiri X and Paradise Gray and a group of media makers learned to disseminate their stories via social media.

YouTube helped Jasiri's A Song for Trayvon reach a wider, more receptive audience.

- [RAPPING] ♪ Drunk off adrenaline ♪ ♪ Says he's makin' A citizen's arrest ♪ ♪ Trayvon looks at him vexed ♪ ♪ I just walked to the store Nothin' more nothin' less ♪ ♪ Just steps from his home ♪ ♪ He ignores his request ♪ ♪ George grabs him Trayvon swings... ♪ MINETTE: One well-respected proponent of telling one's own story is Dr. Larry Davis, Dean of Social Work at the University of Pittsburgh.

- The most important thing that any group of people can do is to control the image of themselves.

You want to show the world what you want them to see-- how you look, how you behave.

When someone controls your image of yourself, they control a very important part of you, and African Americans have not always had control of the image of themselves.

MINETTE: I asked Dr. Davis if he thought the kind of positive stories we've been producing had had an impact.

DR. DAVIS: It was black people who were told that black wasn't so beautiful which is why you need to counter.

So even part of the Civil Rights Movement was about that.

It was not only changing the way white people responded to black people.

It was also about changing the way that black people responded to black people.

So these images have this effect.

It changes both groups, and both groups need to change.

MINETTE: There's something interesting going on inside Westinghouse High School in Homewood.

The staff and students of the YMCA's Lighthouse Project are changing their future with education, learning music, media, and more.

James Brown brings it all together.

- My name is James Brown.

I'm the youth development director for the Homewood Brushton YMCA.

So the Lighthouse is our multimedia arts program at Westinghouse High School for high school teens both at Westinghouse and around the east end.

And by multimedia arts, we're talking about videography, music production, graphic design, arts that use technology.

MINETTE: On this Thursday, Steeltown Entertainment's Jordan Taylor is pushing a deadline.

JORDAN TAYLOR: There'll be music coming out of it and that's the end.

That's exactly five minutes long.

So you guys have to put in the music, B-roll, and lower thirds right now.

I have to turn this in in one hour.

- What do you want the kids in the program to walk away with?

What are you trying to instill in them?

- So what we're really trying to do is give young people a voice but also address the digital divide... and the achievement gap by giving young people the tools to express themselves and to also develop those in a transferable job-readiness skills like project management and that sort of thing.

- It's a good way to start off.

JAMES BROWN: I think it starts with kids getting comfortable telling their own story.

You know, before we can talk about the media or talk about kind of what's going on in the world, we talk about what's going on with young people themselves, so we really give kids an outlet to just tell their own story-- good, bad, struggles, successes, in an environment where there's no judgment.

MINETTE: In 2012, Lighthouse Project students were invited to represent the Y at the International Youth Festival in Prague.

Shawn Moore was part of that team.

- My name is Shawn Moore.

I am a music engineer at the Lighthouse program at Westinghouse High School.

I've grown up watching a lot music videos.

I just wanted to be the one behind the camera shooting all the music videos, making movies and things like that, so the video program wasn't just a [indistinct].

So for our very first performance, I did believe that it's important to express yourself in any way that you can... [RAPPING] as long as it's a positive and not a negative because we're already looked at as being negative.

So as long as it's a positive, I do feel like it's important to tell your own story.

♪ Marching to the beat of... ♪ MINETTE: Reynard Lewis and Robert Thompson tell their story with words and music.

Can you tell me how this project helps you express yourself as a young black man?

- It helps me with that or allows me to do that by just simply giving me a space to do my art and showing it out in the world.

♪ We must stay together... ♪ - In the end, I'm my brother's keeper, so if I have something that I can pass on, then I definitely will.

No questions.

JAMES BROWN: For most of our participants, the Lighthouse creates bright futures.

That's what we do through our music.

We do it through our videos.

Through all of our hard work, it's really to give young people a platform so that they can return, telling their own stories and not wait for someone else to tell them.

MINETTE: Michael Booker is a junior at Carnegie Mellon University and he's writing a next generation success story.

His father, Michael, Sr., is doing all he can to get him there.

- My name is Michael Booker, Sr. of Penn Hills.

I was in the military for 34 years in the Air Force.

My last tour was over in Iraq.

I work for Port Authority.

I've worked for them for 21 years now.

I'm assistant director of transportation in East Liberty division.

Life in Iraq was different.

I didn't shoot anybody, but I saw what happens afterwards.

Me and Michael, we spend a lot of time together because he really took it hard when I got sent away because we spent a lot of time together when he was growing up.

- Do you ever remember consciously thinking about being a young black man and how people saw you?

- I feel we were always being watched.

We were always being watched to see what we were going to do, and as I rose in rank in the military and in my job, I knew that they were looking at me.

They were always looking at me to see what I was going to do, to see how I was going to handle the situation, and I've always been aware of that.

Like I said, I've tried to teach Michael that, too, as he was growing up.

- Did you ever have to have the talk with Michael Jr. about what he needs to do to navigate this world as a young black man?

- All the time.

Even to this day we talk about it, because like I said, I want him to be aware that as good as he's doing, there are some people who still think an African American is just a black man, and he's got to be above anything that they throw at him.

He's got to do it in the right way.

He's smart, he's intelligent, and he's got to show that.

Like I told him, is it fair?

No, it's not fair-- but we have to be better.

- My name is Michael Booker, Jr.

I am a student at Carnegie Mellon.

I am a son, a brother.

I am very active is what I would say.

I'm a writer.

I am a fraternity brother and I'm from Pittsburgh, and I definitely represent that everywhere I go.

MINETTE: Michael Jr.'s room features a wall full of awards and achievements.

During his middle and high school years, he transferred to Pittsburgh's prestigious Winchester Thurston School.

- It was tough.

Really, my middle school years were tough.

I think middle school was tough for everyone, but for me it was, you know, particularly tough because I was trying to juggle my friends from Penn Hills who were going through some very different experiences than I was.

I don't think that it was ever very blatant, you know, about oh, you're from Penn Hills specifically, but I think maybe just like the socioeconomic things that you would never really talk about in middle school but are definitely there.

Like over spring break, everybody's going to go ski, and I was coming right back to the house to, I don't know, hang out and you know, read some books.

So it was a very different experience, you know.

- Do you remember an incident in your growing up years when you consciously thought this is happening to me because I'm black?

- It's hard.

It's definitely hard, but this is going to sound weird, but I've always been black, you know, and it's something that you get used to, and so when like Dad just said like, we've talked about this my life, you know.

I was almost disappointed in myself for not seeing that sooner.

I think that's a very sad realization, but you have to be smarter about your decisions when you are a black male.

MINETTE: When Michael returns to CMU's campus next fall as a senior, he'll let the lessons he learned from his parents continue to guide him.

MICHAEL BOOKER, JR.: I don't even know where to start, to be honest.

I'm immensely grateful to my parents, more so I think than a lot of people.

My parents have been there for me like every step of the way, and I cannot imagine being where I am today without them.

MINETTE: But you seem really philosophical about it.

You don't seem, at least on the surface, to have any bitterness about this extra responsibility that this places on your shoulders.

MICHAEL BOOKER, JR.: I think I'll...

I guess, give credit to my parents, you know.

It's a reality that has been in front of my face since I was born, you know?

I think that like I said before I've always been black, you know, and so I cannot see myself being bitter.

You know, I'm proud to be black.

I'm proud to be an African American.

MINETTE: So where do we go from here?

MICHAEL: Whether it's finding a new way to get the police and community talking... - He's pulling over someone who he doesn't know.

McCLAY: We've got to develop a sense of what are the public order concerns of the neighborhood, and when we're responsive to those concerns... MINETTE: By putting young men on a path to leadership... JAMES BROWN: And the more we can surround young people with positive mentors, positive experiences, the more likely kids are to succeed.

MICHAEL: Our futures depend on the next generation.

FEMALE ANNOUNCER: To watch this episode and others in the Portrayal and Perceptions series, go to wqed.org/portrayal.