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PROVO — Morris H. Hudson is an interesting man.
Known to many simply as Hudson, he is the ninth of 10 children from a biracial Virginia family, a former gunnery sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, and the creator of the Hudson Peer Mentoring Model, a system for mentoring at-risk African-American young men he developed while living in Maryland.
Hudson met with police officers, members of Provo's Citizen Advisory Board and other local leaders this week at the Covey Arts Center at a forum titled "Conversations on Race and Community Relations" to discuss race relations, specifically with the African-American community, in Provo and the surrounding area.
"I know there's somebody in this crowd thinking, 'Why in the world is (Provo Police Chief John King) bringing a black guy from Maryland to talk about black race relations where there are 808 citizens and I've only seen six of them?'" Hudson joked.
Open communication about race and race relations, he said, is the key to fixing "the very serious problems" surrounding black race relations nationally and internationally.
King said he met Hudson when the police chief was a newly promoted captain in Montgomery County, Maryland, several years ago. King called Hudson the "Pied Piper" of at-risk youths and was hooked when he saw the program Hudson created.
"(Provo police) talk about integrity all time," King said in his remarks. "We do that not because we don't have integrity, but because integrity is so important."
The same idea applies to continued dialogue about racial issues in the community, the police chief said.
Hudson formed the peer-mentoring group BROTHERS — Brothers Reaching Out to Help Each Reach Success — to help African-American young men succeed socially, academically and emotionally.
According to the BROTHERS website, the program was introduced to Montgomery County public schools in 1989.
Hudson said working with King to bring in a police element to BROTHERS helped make the program a success.
"Once they got together, they found that they had more similarities than differences," Hudson said of the initial meeting with the two groups. "The relationship which we call 'the conversation' has continued even today."
The program uses the Hudson Peer Mentoring Model, which basically has young men in higher grades who are experienced in the program help younger men in the group, along with adult leadership and oversight.
Hudson claims the program boasts great success.
"One-hundred percent of the seniors graduate from high school and have since the program's inception, except for the ones that met a violent death," Hudson said. "Over 80 percent of those that graduate go on to postsecondary plans. Seventy-five percent go to college, and the rest go on to the military."
The forum was organized by Dianne McAdams-Jones of Provo's Citizen Advisory Board.
Chris Larson is a BYU news media major interning with Deseret News. Contact him at chlarson@deseretnews.com
