My First Year Celebrating Kwanzaa

This year Christmas seemed to have a somber tone. The recession has everyone down. More than ever I have seen the importance of celebrating Kwanzaa. These 7 principles are more relevant today than ever before. Do yourself a favor and celebrate Kwanzaa with me:

NGUZO SABA(The Seven Principles)

Umoja (Unity)To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose)To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity)To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith)To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
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To kick off today's concept of Umoja (Unity), check this out: U.N.I.T.Y

The American Criminal Justice System Needs To Be Revamped

I've never agreed with the American criminal justice system. Point blank, it is wrong and unfair on too many levels. Since a youngster in New York, I have observed how our current system has destroyed more lives than it has protected, reformed, and/or rehabilitated.

To be considered the land of the free, the United States certainly boasts a dynamic air of hypocrisy. We have the HIGHEST incarceration rate in the world. In fact, the International Herald Tribune (owned by the NY Times) recently reported that "The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners (READ HERE)."

Very few people seem to have a problem with this in middle America. More than likely because this alarming figure affects the Black community in widely disproportionate numbers. I would venture to say that most African Americans, myself included, can list someone within their immediate reach that is incarcerated. Yet ALL Americans turn a blind eye to the prison industrial complex that assists young brothers like myself in donning orange jumpsuits. In case you haven't realized it, there is an entire system set up to fill and build prisons to the economic benefit of corporations and private ventures.

So why haven't there been widescale protests and marches against this problem in recent history? It's because you've been tricked... hoodwinked... bamboozled into believing the overall American criminal justice system is fair. I agree that criminals should face adequate punishment for crimes that are committed against other Americans. However, I completely disagree with this nation's drug laws in respect to non violent drug offenders. When I challenge this notion with the average individual, they usually admit that our current system has some hiccups, but later defend its merit in keeping the United States a safe place. This is such a farce that it sickens me to even type their words: "What's the alternative D? How could we avoid locking up non violent drug offenders? They deserve whatever happens to them because they broke the law, etc." To these questions I ask you to look at the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Clarence Aaron.

Mr. Aaron had no previous criminal record. He was a successful student and athlete, graduating from LeFlore Magnet High School in Mobile, AL. He scored in the 74th percentile on the ACT. He attended Mississippi Valley State University and later transferred to Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, where he was attending on an athletic scholarship for football and was majoring in marketing. During college, Clarence held a summer job through his membership with the International Longshoreman's Association and participated in activities with his local Masonry Lodge. Clarence is the only son of Linda Aaron. In the summer before his final year at Southern University, Clarence was approached by a childhood friend from Mobile who asked Clarence if he knew of anyone who could supply him with cocaine. Clarence knew of people who dealt drugs in Louisiana and helped his old friend by arranging a meeting with a drug dealer from Baton Rouge. Distrustful of each other, the two parties insisted Clarence be present during their meeting. Clarence foolishly agreed. Following that incident, Clarence returned for his fourth year of studies at Southern University. The next winter Clarence was pulled out of a class by F.B.I. agents and arrested. He was charged with possession with intent to distribute nine kilograms of cocaine and attempting to possess with intent to distribute fifteen kilograms of cocaine. His first trial ended in a hung jury. Upon retrial, Clarence was convicted on the testimony of co-conspirators who got lenient sentences in exchange for their testimony against him.

Can you guess what kind of sentence Clarence received for foolishly introducing his two drug dealer friends? No, think again. THREE CONSECUTIVE LIFE SENTENCES. A young black man with infinite potential has been sentenced to sit in jail for the rest of his natural life for an adolescent mistake. Rapists and most murderers don't even get triple life sentences. Petey the pedophile is comfortable at home in your neighborhood right now. Amy the axe murderer just got out on parole last week. Yet this brother and many like him across the United States are trapped and ruined by our disgraceful "justice" system. How does that make you feel?

As I faxed my letter to President Bush seeking a presidential pardon for Clarence, (obtain a copy here), I couldn't help but to fume and boil with anger over this injustice that is all too common in this country. It gave me flashbacks of filming my college documentary on the incarceration of Marcus Dixon, a superstar football player acquitted of rape, but nonetheless given a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison for having sex with a high school classmate. I remember confronting racism in Marcus' hometown of Rome, GA, being asked to leave the office of my school's head football coach as I questioned why his Vanderbilt scholarship was rescinded before the trial even begun, and speaking at an Atlanta NAACP rally on Marcus' behalf. In all 3 instances, the anger of injustice flowed through my vains. Reading Clarence Aaron's story here reignited that fury.

I fault myself for not sustaining this level of outrage over the past few years. This displeasure previously sparked action that myself and others must seek in order to move the United States to that more perfect union. Therefore, I challenge you to get angry about the American criminal justice system. I encourage you to demand the downfall of the prison industrial complex. Barack better get plenty of paper for his fax machine ready because I will be leaning on him, as I leaned on Bush, to answer these inadequacies in American life. You should too.

The Post Stop Snitching Era Has Begun

I'll never forget my first speaking engagement as the Chief Marketing Officer of dN Group LLC. The Charles A. Tindley Charter School in Indianapolis asked me and a couple of my partners to speak in front of an entire gymnasium full of middle schoolers. It was the perfect platform because after starting my own business, I found myself wishing I had been encouraged to become a business owner at an earlier age. Speaking at Tindley was my first opportunity to promote entrepreneurship to a group of impressionable young black students.

Walking through the doors of the school, I was aware of the rampant Stop Snitching movement, which had spread across urban America courtesy of Dipset and others in Hip Hop. In fact, the first shirt idea I developed for dangerousNEGRO was Start Reading, a counter to the incessant idea that captured the full attention of the Black community. Anyway, as I prepared to take the stage that morning I spoke with a few young men about their take on Black America's biggest issues. Not surprisingly, "snitching" was at the top of their lists with poverty, AIDS, and drugs. It was quite baffling to me that they gave "snitching" the same weight as the other problems. However, in light of the celebrity grassroots movement against the detested practice, it is understandable that young minds would assume it was a number one priority. Cam'Ron went on Bill O'Reilly to defend the practice and there were thousands of shirts with red stop signs flooding the streets.

Despite the prioritization of "Stop Snitching" in the hip hop community for 2 years, it is wonderful to see that we have finally moved beyond elevating such an extraneous issue to the forefront of urban politics. How do we know that the "Stop Snitching" movement has lost steam you ask? Simple. 1. One of Hip Hop's most influential stars has publicly denounced the practice. 2. Another of Hip Hop's most revered artists has inadvertently smoothed the tension between law enforcement and Hip Hop culture. And 3. The most respected Black man in the world is a political figure/law maker.

T.I. shooting a 30 second PSA encouraging people to call the police CrimeStopper's line is monumental. Some people have argued that T.I. isn't receiving flack for the ad because it's obviously a technicality of the 1000 hour community service sentence he is serving. I agree that most likely this was written somewhere into his plea deal. However it is quite remarkable that Hip Hop has given T.I. a pass for cooperating with police. Could you imagine the backlash 50 Cent would have received for doing the same thing? He would have been completely laughed out of Hip Hop. So why is it different with T.I.? Well, it is clear that the Hip Hop generation respects T.I. more as a man than a rapper. By accepting T.I.'s contradiction, the Hip Hop community has effectively stated that the whole Stop Snitching thing isn't really that big of a deal anymore. It's played out.

Furthermore, Hip Hop's brightest star, Lil Wayne, has enjoyed major success with his hit single "Mrs. Officer." While Weezy was attempting to convey an extended metaphor (F**k the police) with his female friendly anthem, he completely missed the mark and subsequently made police officers friends of Hip Hop. I went out for Halloween 2 weeks ago and about half of the female costumes worn were police officer getups. Surprisingly, there were many dudes that dressed as cops and FBI agents as well. In fact, about halfway through the house party 4 legitimate Black officers showed up to the party in full uniform. While KRS-One's "Black Cop" played in my mind, I was amazed to see that the policemen were greeted with great contentment. I can only attribute the jump in acceptance of the police force to Weezy and the fall of the Stop Snitching movement.

Last and certainly not least, Hip Hop's overwhelming support of Barack Obama forced us to confront our mistrust of politics and authority figures. Obama will be the Commander-In-Chief of the United States soon. That means he will be the absolute Top Cop. Supporting the president means supporting the laws and policies of this country. It also means we are comfortable with Obama controlling the military domestically and abroad. Other government agencies such as the CIA, FBI, DEA, and NSA will all ultimately answer to our Black president. And Hip Hop is cool with that. Therefore, it is very difficult to be a huge Stop Snitching advocate in the midst of America's first African-American head honcho.

So do I advocate everyone calling up CrimeStoppers to rat on their friends, family, and neighbors right now? Of course not. I am happy to see that stopping the theoretical invasion of the snitches is no longer number one on the political agenda of Hip Hop though. We have AIDS, poverty, famine, unsatisfactory education, and inadequate financial literacy to tackle first. Thank you Hip Hop for growing up a lil' bit!

****UPDATE*****

President Is The New Precedent!

Barack Obama being elected president of our country means there are no more excuses. In fact, my new slogan is President Is The New Precedent. The bar has been raised for all minorities in this country. If Obama can ascend to leader of the free world given his conditions, then there is absolutely no reason for any of us to fall short of our true desires. His auntie still lives in the projects in Boston for goodness sake! I won’t go into an “Obama is the messiah rant” because I know you’ve all been hammered with it since the election. But it really does put things into perspective.

Herd Mentality

Over and over again I arrive at the conclusion that Americans are increasingly turning into cattle. Like mindless four legged beasts, citizens of the United States trot along aimlessly in pursuit of the common necessities in life. With the media and politicians posing as the ever present shepherds of stability, the American public more closely resembles a flock of sheep than a population of innovators.

The Herd Mentality has infiltrated all sectors of American culture in recent years. No facet of our society has been spared by the pervasive spirit of conformity. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt have caused millions of people to void their minds of rational thought in favor of pack leadership. For this reason, the Bush Administration was able to win 2 elections based on the scare tactics of gay marriage and terrorism. Furthermore, Americans casually shrugged their shoulders as the Bush Doctrine gave way to a dangerous, undemocratic dictatorship. As I watched W address the nation recently and emphasize the haste that is needed to confront the current financial crisis, I couldn't help but to hope that my fellow Americans would awaken from their zombiesque state and say "$700 Billion Dollars to bailout corrupt corporations?! Aww, hell nah! Where is my dang bailout?" But to my dismay, every news station continued to push the angle that the bailout was a good idea and necessary to prevent the Great Depression II. Even the Democratic Party seems to have fallen for another one of Bush's gaffes. You would think that after listening to this doof on Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Patriot Act that people would probably have sense enough to know that anything this Administration endorses needs to be examined threefold. But Herd Mentality prevails...

I ran across a recent article that amazingly confirmed my theory head on. Apparently there is actually someone out there known as a neuroeconomist (mind on his money, or money on his mind?) that conducted an experiment to prove why we indeed are in a current state of jockin-my-stylism. Gregory Burns, a professor at Emory University

Did an experiment in which they recruited actors and true volunteers. "One
real subject went into a (MRI) scanner," he said. They were asked to do a simple
task, assessing shapes."We had the group (of actors) tell them the wrong answer
sometimes," Berns said. The volunteers began to change their answers to match
what the group said. Perhaps they were merely overriding their own judgments for
the sake of getting along, Berns said. But the scanner suggested another
explanation.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080930/lf_nm_life/us_financial_psychology)

So apparently most humans are hard wired to follow the herd, no matter how retarded that may seem, during times of chaos and distress (umm financial crisis, etc.). I guess this also explains why every Hip Hop and R&B artist has to either slang rocks or use a vocoder to sell records these days (wow, it all makes sense now, LMAO!).

Fortunately, we homosapiens are smart enough to do the opposite of what our body's really want us to do. So from this day forth I urge you to declare war on Herd Mentality. It will get you nowhere far in life. Unless of course you enjoy stepping in your fellow cow's dung (or in the case of male's, bulls**t). In the words of my mama "Be a leader, not a follower!"

How Did I Become a Public Speaker?

Somebody asked me this question yesterday and it slowly dawned on me that the answer was more complicated than I had initially considered. My first instinct was to say that I had gotten caught up in my colleague, Lawrence Watkins', idea to start Great Black Speakers (a bureau whose name speaks for itself). However, when I really started rewinding the tape, I realized I had possessed this trait far earlier than imagined.

Growing up in New York City, I remember the elementary public school grading system all too well. Instead of number grades, a student received letters, and was graded in about 50 different categories. E equated to "Excellent," G was "Good," S "Satisfactory," N "Needs Improvement," and U "Unsatisfactory (You suck, Fail, etc.)." School was never a challenge to me so I was always assured to have a strong showing of E's and G's through all of the school subjects on my report card. When it came to the behavior part... hmmm... not so much. It's not that I was a menace or bully or anything of that sort. My problem was wanting my voice to be heard. I went to school just to prove the teachers wrong. To show them that even with a single digit age, I was indeed smarter, brighter, and more ambitious than they were. I constantly pounced on correcting their spelling errors, mispronunciations, and incorrect facts. The greatest thrill I had was pointing these types of things out in front of the entire class. It drove my grade school teachers nuts! Therefore, every report card day I was certain to receive an N in the area of "Shows Self Control."

I've always been a speaker. Never could I bottle up these ingenious, sometimes devious, and many times incredulous ponderings of my brain. Not to brag, but I was the hands down selection for valedictorian in Kindergarten and Elementary school because not only was I gifted, but I let everyone know about it too. Middle School, High School, and College were a different story. It wasn't exactly cool to look like a neurotic egg head, so I reserved my speaking skills for special occassions and oh... umm putting in work with the ladies ya dig. Anyway, you can check my resume from there on out. I was born a speaker, it's who I am, it's what I do. If you have any questions about what's on my mind, book me and we'll talk about it ;-)