SFPD Officers Take Inner City Teens to Africa with Operation Genesis

Officer Jason Johnson is a six year veteran of the San Francisco Police Department and assigned to Bayview Station. He works with the youth in the Bayview District and has always wanted to change the lives of inner city youth in San Francisco. His idea, called Operation Genesis, was to connect African American youth to the journey of their ancestors. The hope of Operation Genesis is that the youth will understand and better relate to the sacrifices their ancestors made on the journey to America, in turn learning to value their own lives and sacrifices on their journey through life. Operation Genesis hopes to make education a pivotal point in the lives of these youth. Over the last year, Officer Johnson has worked to make Operation Genesis a reality. This Friday, March 28th, Officer Johnson will take a group of seven youths, ages 14-18 years of age, to Accra, Ghana in Africa. On the nine day trip, the youth will learn self-discovery from the history of struggles by their African ancestors, and they will also meet local youth to exchange the differences between America and Africa.