Big Sean Partners with Men of Courage Campaign to Change Perspective of Black Men

Big Sean and his Sean Anderson Foundation have partnered with the "Men of Courage" campaign, where they hope to change the perspective of black men in America. The rapper’s foundation collaborated with the former Mayor of Detroit, Mayor David Bing, as well as Ford Motor Company, for the campaign’s program.

The purpose of the event is to change the perception of black men in the country by sharing one story at a time amongst a panel discussion.

The forum lasted for an entire day as it took place last week, which invited 50 men, aged between 20 and 70 years old, to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History where each told their stories of struggle.

 Yesterday in the Detroit w/ Mayor Bing #menofcourage w/ the Ford Fund. I met up with a few great men mainly from Detroit to tell each other's stories and see our similarities, see how we can progress, and see how to affect the youth and have them not only avoid some mistakes we made but to also know the amount of opportunity and potential they posses as young black men! Storytelling is power! Thanks for having me! #Detroit #SeanAndersonFoundation #Ford

A photo posted by BIGSEAN (@bigsean) on Aug 21, 2015 at 3:52pm PDT

Ford Motor Company is currently in the process of trying to take the Men of Courage campaign to other cities in order for other black men to exchange stories of their personal lives.

At the event, the Detroit rapper even shared his own moment of struggle with the crowd. He mentioned that "seeing my mom break down in tears because of the racism she had to go through,” was one of the struggles that he has had to personally face.

Throughout the day, there were plenty of tears being wiped away from attendees' faces, as well as applause being shared during moments of breakthroughs. Shawn Wilson of Ford Motor Company commented on the high emotions of the event.

"It got personal in there and that's what we wanted. I think there is a story of black men that hasn't been told on a consistent basis,” he stated.

Big Sean’s own mother, Myra Anderson, was also in attendance of the event and had her own thoughts on the day’s program. “I think anytime a group of people come together and open up, it is very powerful. I’m proud of the man he is,” she commented of her son’s partnership and foundation work.