Esteemed Elders Selma Jackson and Rev. Herbert Daughtry Share Wisdom with Black Gen Z’ers

It doesn’t matter to Selma Jackson that a recent study by the New York City Department for the Aging said 29 percent of young New Yorkers feel senior citizens shouldn’t work.
“I’m not looking to just work for a salary,” Jackson, President of Age Friendly Central Brooklyn, told Our Time Press. “But there’s community work that needs to be done and there are not enough hands out there to do it. I feel that it’s important.”
At 78, she’s one of Brooklyn’s high-profile senior citizen advocates. She’s had multiple careers. She has a bachelor’s in chemistry and a master’s in environmental health sciences from Hunter College and has worked as an author, banker, teacher, and boutique owner. After retiring, she received a fellowship from Columbia University to take classes in oral history.
Her work at Age Friendly Central Brooklyn includes organizing opportunities for seniors to interact with Gen Z teens. Currently, she’s collaborating with Granny & me, a nonprofit program held every Monday at Brooklyn Community Arts & Media High School during the summer. It has creative activities bonding seniors and teens through cooking classes, dance classes, gardening and game nights.

“Granny & me is a program that connects the elders and youths in different communities to solve the issue of generational disconnect and trauma,” said founder Andrea Ishmael. “I started Granny & me for two reasons. The first reason is my childhood, looking back I realized the generations disconnected and lost respect for one another. My second and most important reason is the passing of my mother. After she passed, I began to see how much we take our elders for granted.”
While doing the activities, Jackson has seen dialogues happening between the seniors and teens. “That’s been comforting to the students because some of them have lost relatives as a result of the pandemic. So, to have that connection to older adults has been beneficial to both sides,” she said. “Some of the older adults, where they might have been in communication with their grandchildren, they might not have physically seen them. So, it was a comfort for both groups.”
Interestingly, the New York City Department for the Aging poll also found that 60 percent of younger adults agreed that New York City is a place where older adults are valued members of the community.

“I think there’s a desire or interest in wanting to be around older people,” said Jackson. “For the wisdom. For being able to learn or inquire about things that they have an interest in. And, feeling able to ask those questions.”
The Gen Z youth is growing up in an era of COVID, affirmative action and diversity programs being stopped, Black books being banned, Black history being challenged and violence against Black youth. “It’s a scary time. I have never felt this kind of uneasiness about the state of the country. And I lived through the 50s and 60s,” said Jackson. “One of the things I do appreciate about the GenZ‘s is that they do have a passion for social justice.”
At age 92, Reverend Herbert Daughtry, the National Presiding Minister Emeritus of The House of the Lord Churches, has spent a lifetime on the frontline for social justice.
He’s concerned that Black Gen Zers who are growing up in the high-tech era might not have social skills or know how to relate to one another. “With their phones, they’re in another world,” Rev. Daughtry told Our Time Press. “I notice even in church that while I’m speaking, people are glued to their phones.”

To him, people are losing the ability to be humane. “I’m concerned about their social skills. Learning how to be human with one another,” he said. “Without that feeling for one another, it may be part of the violence that’s so pervasively across the country. Also is the absence of feeling what other human beings feel when they are treated a certain way.”
There’s also a loss of hands-on creativity. “When we were growing up, you created your own games and you played together. You used your imagination,” he said. “You went to bed dreaming.”
A major concern for Rev. Daughtry is the continued segregation at New York City’s top public high schools. An education report stated that in 2022 only 9 percent of the students admitted to the prestigious specialized high schools were Black and Latino.
“Here in New York where there is a struggle going on for the best high schools. Who gets to go to the highly regarded high schools? There’s a preponderance of people of other nationalities. In fact, they are even fighting to remove some of the attempts to even the playing field. So, I think that others may have an advantage in terms of experience in contacts, money and working,” he said. “What’s going to happen to our young people when they are going to be facing greater competition? Are we preparing them to face the competition? I’m not sure we are.”
For more information on upcoming programs, follow Herbert Daughtry Global Ministries on Facebook
Interestingly, the New York City Department for the Aging poll also found that 60 percent of younger adults agreed that New York City is a place where older adults are valued members of the community.
“I think there’s a desire or interest in wanting to be around older people,” said Jackson. “For the wisdom. For being able to learn or inquiring about things that they have an interest in. And, feeling able to ask those questions.”