The Power of Brotherhood: How Men At Work Healing is Redefining Community

Community has been the driving force behind the cultural and political atmosphere of 2024. In a year with a tense election that has elevated the divided friction on national issues, the root of our anger, fear and frustration lies in our desperate need for community. Now more than ever, the importance of relying on each other within the areas we live and grew up will be the driving force behind moving forward. There’s an overall cultural emotion of grief that is permeating all aspects of our lives daily with many not having the necessary skills to process and heal for the true work of the people to begin. Enters programs such as Men At Work Healing: a brotherhood of college friends and native New yorkers with a communal focus on collective teaching, healing and self-development. A call to action at the request of women from their community. 

National politics aside, Rasu, Daoud, Dahkil, and Dashaun are even more concerned with how the politics in New York have directly impacted the working class and lower class of their neighborhoods. While gentrification in this country, specifically in our inner city communities has become more prevalent, it has become of crucial importance to native New Yorkers who have been fighting the rising rent crisis and housing conflict. Mayor Eric Adams during his leadership has been a polarizing figure for citizens of New York City who have felt the weight of policies and systemic drawbacks. This political tension has led to many who have lived, worked and built communities within these areas of NYC feel alienated and alone. “For the first time in my life, I can honestly say I feel uncomfortable and feel unseen in the neighborhood that I live in,” says Dashuan, who lives in Flashbush. “Those high rises that have been built are recognizing that they’re full of people, for the most part, that are not from the city.” Even though places like New York City have historically been hubs for various cultural backgrounds to co-exist, the lack of effort to care for areas that have been developed by the communal aspect, leaves a divide between the city inhabitants. “I don’t have a problem being in spaces where there’s a multitude of the way people look in the space,” Dashaun continues. “[But] imagine for those who don’t have that experience, who have not traveled far and haven’t been to a place where they can be comfortable in a space where people don’t necessarily look like them. It’s unnerving and I feel like there is a lack of care in the way we are being held in this city. As natives and also just from the state of community. If we don’t uphold this, it’s just going to go the way of what we have happening in our political situation where it’s all about money.” 

Capitalism and the idea of what is aesthetically pleasing to draw in more people has begun to drown out the basic cultural aspects of Black neighborhoods in NYC. This summer, Tompkins Ave Block Party led to discourse on social media about the possible commodification of street festivals and block parties. Other modern renditions of block parties came under fire online from natives who believed the “aesthetic driven” block parties were based more on “transplants” belief of what the urban culture of New York City is as opposed to the community effort it actually takes. Block Parties within the Black community have been a stable identification of urban identity. In New York City, block parties and street festivals have been an integral part of not just documenting culture and community but also a stage for displaying Black genius. Block parties, park parties and house parties were the cultural petri dish for traditional hip-hop in New York. These interconnected loops create the chain that binds our neighborhoods together. It’s this effort that called Men At Work Healing to action. “We have to create opportunities to unite the generations and create these things that are going to bring the community together in a way that is going to foster and nourish the community with awareness,” says Daoud, one of the four founders of Men At Work Healing. “That’s something our community is currently suffering from; the lack of that. That was a lot of the motivation behind why we chose to do this and make it part of something that comes under the banner of Men At Work Healing.” 

Men At Work Healing offers community support to help guide men in our urban communities. Through workshops and community engagement events, they’ve fostered a new sense of brotherhood while carrying traditions for the people, by the people. “I’m a child of revolution,” Daoud explains. His parents were activists during the 60s and 70s; as a young child, Daoud witnessed firsthand how they were able to organize while getting the work done. “I understand how to connect with young people. I think that a lot of people are afraid of young people. They alienate them and they automatically like to minimize their experience. And that’s a big part of what the problem is. I feel like people who are older, you have to just remember what it was to be young. Connect with the people and find a common ground.” This common ground was brought to life as a vision from Men At Work Healing through their recent Once Upon a Time Block Party. With the mission of restoring unity through teaching practices of protecting the block and nourishing the people from the block, Men At Work Healing are also working to create a new future based on traditional principles. A place for children, adults and everyone in between to have real fun, experience real community and be real Black. 

This interview has been condensed for clarity. 

AFROPUNK: Growing up, was there a specific city festival or event in the park that you remember from your childhood where you first experienced what community is? 

Daoud: Many block parties. Every year. The community communed, and we cooked food, shared food, danced, and played, and it was a thing. That was very paramount and consistent with childhood growing up in the city and that’s kind of gone away. It’s been relegated to these curated reenactments that aren’t really from the people who were there doing it. It’s people from the outside looking in, trying to recreate a thing that they didn’t participate in, but they like to glamorize from the outside. The other thing for me, growing up, a lot of my elders are the ones responsible for the International African Arts Festival. The African Arts Festival used to take place in the heart of Bed-Stuy. It’d be children to adults and would last a whole week. It’s become something that’s kind of aged away from the younger generations. 

AFROPUNK: You spoke about curated reenactments within Brooklyn. Brooklyn has its own aura from other boroughs. This year, there’s been conversations about native New Yorkers vs “transplants” and the idea of the block party or community events being commodifieD. Is there a level of being aesthetically pleasing that has become attached to community building? 

Daoud: We know that community and the block is something that people value and uphold because that’s like your safe haven. We all know each other and there was a time where even what would be called ‘the thugs’ or ‘gangsters’ had respect for the elders and looked out for the kids. This is how I grew up. And that’s not what takes place now. It’s outsiders. 

It’s performative. They’re coming to New York, or these [other] cities with their very individualistic reality. They’re not engaging with the community and they don’t care because they’re there for their own needs. They have the resources to have it on their own terms. There was a time when people looked forward to the block party because people were going to cook and kids were going to eat stuff that they might not normally get a chance to eat for free. 

What’s kind of frustrating, seeing everybody uplift this idea of Brooklyn, but then just want it to be about optics. They’re not really into the reality of what Brooklyn was. 

AFROPUNK: If Brooklyn was a person, how would you describe Brooklyn? 

Daoud: It would be something that Western culture would classify as schizophrenic. 

Brooklyn is like the fourth largest city in the country and there’s so many worlds within Brooklyn. I often refer to it as an intergalactic space station. Because you can really access so many different realities in one place without leaving the world. I just got a vision in my head; Brooklyn is wearing the Technicolor dream coat from Seinfeld. It’s all these different expressions that are kind of wild for the night, but it is a patchwork of various cultures with an edge of attitude.

Dashaun: That’s the thing that is present in Brooklyn; that’s really specific to the energy of the borough. Because Queens is super diverse. And it’s super diverse and wholesome to, to a degree, and all of that diversity. But Brooklyn, there is this edge. I was talking to somebody about this recently, like there was an edge where things were happening in Manhattan, and there was a certain ethos that was kind of built in Brooklyn, like, “I’m not going to bring that over here.”

And so that edge had to be kind of forged, and it permeates throughout all the different neighborhoods that exist. You look at a place like Brownsville that at one time was a predominantly Jewish neighborhood and then had mostly Italian people living there, and then the mixture of black and Latino. 

People that are the inhabitants of the borough, it becomes a part of our blood, a part of our DNA. Because it’s in the soil. 

AFROPUNK: Thinking back on the block party, where was the love? Where was the joy in those moments throughout that day? 

Daoud: The love was all encompassing. People’s children were running around, and the parents didn’t feel the need to hover over them and watch. There was a trust that they were okay. It wasn’t about getting drunk. It wasn’t about posturing. It wasn’t about a fashion show. It was really about humanity and being present. The constant feedback we’ve been getting has been “I didn’t know I needed this. I miss this kind of energy. I miss this.” 

Dashaun: You had people from 6 to 60, enjoying themselves, taking pictures, hula hooping together, dancing, and having so much joy. That was the intention. The fact that there wasn’t any energy of fear or danger. And that’s really what it was about. I’m super grateful to not only have been a part of building it, but to be able to witness it and experience it. Because it was really something special.

It was completely this idea of showing the world this is what’s possible when community comes together. The day of the block party, I hadn’t been that excited since I was a teenager. Getting ready for that block party, getting ready for Brownsville Day, when everybody’s going to come outside, people are going to cook, and it’s a community affair. Nobody is left out. I also think it’s a beautiful opportunity. The fact that the city currently is the way it is, it’s not by happenstance. The only thing is now we are going to take the baton. 

We all have a way of being a community that is kind of being diluted in this current day and time. And so everybody could use a Once Upon A Time in their lives.

AFROPUNK: Have there been any challenges with organizing an event to this magnitude in your community? 

Daoud: We kind of have a key to Brooklyn in a way. We’re connected with a lot of people of influence, whether they’re in the police department, government, art world, or entertainment industry. Our people respect us because of how we’ve been moving since we were young and the people we’re all affiliated with. We feel anointed to do so. It’d be a disservice if we didn’t step up and do it because it is necessary and I don’t think outside of our circle a lot of people are qualified to do what we’re capable of doing. 

It’s an ecosystem. 

Dashaun: And it’s a spiritual call that we are answering to do this work. We truly were asked to come together and form this brotherhood. The brotherhood already existed without a name. We were asked to open this up to the public and make it a space so that men beyond the ones that we are directly connected to already can access healing and see what healing looks like in community.

Because when we heal, we add that healed piece to the overall puzzle so our community can be healed. That’s big. Traditionally, like in many indigenous cultures around the world, the purpose of the men is to hold the perimeter so that the women and children in the community can be safe to be free and grow and feel nurtured and feel protected to do what it is that they need to do. To let the men know what’s needed so that we can be safe.

AFROPUNK: Specifically with this event, has it been hard to hold onto the elements of the community you grew up in when it feels like times are changing? 

Dashaun: With this event, Once Upon a Time, part of the origin story is that it came from a conversation that Daoud had with our beloved brother Dallas Penn, who is no longer with us physically. And that conversation happened at Dance Africa.  It was born out of those traditional spaces. The people that are our age, they’re not around. And so we are de facto becoming those young elders, and we have to step into those roles to make sure that the culture continues. 

AFROPUNK: What’s keeping you motivated for what’s next? 

Dashaun: What motivates me is the feedback for sure. Getting told that a brother that comes to one of our gatherings is now doing therapy. Seeing that as being a real possibility because of the conversations that we have with Men At Work here. Seeing that if we’re doing this right now, that’s bringing not only healing and joy to us, but to our community. Where can we be five years from now? Where can we be ten years from now? What is the legacy that we’ll be able to leave for the generations that come behind us? 

That’s just the motivation. 

Daoud: What keeps me motivated is having a young person just stop me in the street and tell me about something I told them once that changed their life or inspired them to make different choices in life. It’s trusting in that and understanding that many times we don’t even remember the advice we give because we’re not doing it out of ego or centering ourselves and making ourselves seem important.

It’s just coming from the heart. What motivates me is knowing, trusting and having faith that we’ll continue to do that and continue to create evolution within our community. Inspiring that and just having faith that the change is to come. 

AFROPUNK: What do you guys want to see from the younger generation? How can we do better to connect our OGs with the kids?

Dashaun: Make sure that you are being your full self. Whether you’re connecting to the OGs or the ones that are younger than you. you’re setting the example for the young OGs. There’s so much that you have to offer within your being, that you have this mindset of you wanting to be that bridge. We all need each other. Everybody has a purpose. Everybody has a place. And as long as you play your role, show up as yourself, and remind the OGs [what you] bring to the table.

That’s the contribution. And if we can do that, then everybody can be lifted up. Our culture and our people are rooted in imperialism. It came out of imperialism, forced migration, colonization, and slavery. Our culture is permeated in many ways with a lot of trauma responses and defense mechanisms.

Daoud:  We have to acknowledge that we as a people have a lot of healing to do. As we’re moving forward for the younger generations, keep that lens and recognize that as we’re moving, don’t perpetuate the thing that afflicted you. We have to recreate, reimagine, look back to times where things were a little bit more healthy and wholesome and try to uplift those things and discontinue perpetuating things that are harmful and toxic. My challenge to the younger people is to be courageous enough to say, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” Be courageous enough to say “This stops here.” I do think that the younger generations have a different awareness, a higher sense of empathy and compassion that has been present in a really long time. So y’all are equipped to do what’s right.

Put the brakes on the stuff that’s been continually perpetuated that keeps getting us stuck in these cycles of divide and conquer.