A New Paradigm for Black America. Chicago, IL March 30, 2013

Wealth, Education, Family and Community: A New Paradigm for Black America

Although we as African Americans were officially granted our freedom nearly 150 years ago, many of us do not feel truly free.  Some of us get up and go to jobs that we do not enjoy, working for people who don’t like us very much.   Then, when those companies feel that we’ve gotten out of line or they don’t need us anymore, we are sent out the door.

There is also a great deal of frustration with regard to how our kids are being educated, and the violence that has taken too many young lives in our community.   Mass incarceration has ripped the black family to its core and an entire industry has been built from the prison industrial complex.

The solutions must lie with us.  Taking charge of our individual and collective future requires a set of coordinated strategies that relate to how we build resources, protect our resources and target those resources.  Education must become a leading priority that goes beyond what our children learn in school everyday.  We must recommit ourselves to building and supporting black businesses, strengthening our families and sustaining our communities.

The future belongs to us.

Wealth, Education, Family and Community: A New Paradigm for Black America is a forum hosted by Min. Louis Farrakhan and Dr. Boyce Watkins. Min. Farrakhan and Dr. Watkins will discuss the need for a shift in the way people of color think about building wealth, pursuing education and challenging the obstacles to progress which exist in black America today.  The forum will be exciting, engaging and fulfilling, with the presentation of long-term strategies for African American socio-economic progress and sustainability.

The next step of the Civil Rights Movement must go beyond voting for the right politician.

When: Saturday, March 30, 2013, 5 PM CST, doors open at 4 PM
Where: The UIC Forum on the campus of The University of Illinois at Chicago – 725 W Roosevelt (on the corner of Halsted and Roosevelt)
Cost: Free and open to the public

Note: You must RSVP on this form in order to attend the event.

RSVP for the event at this link. 

The Old and Reshaped Black Media

Dr. Boyce: Let’s Face it, Essence Magazine Has Lost it’s “Essence”

March 9, 2013 | Filed under: Commentary,dr boyce,News | Posted by: bowatkin

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

The revelations by former Essence Magazine editor Constance White both intrigued and concerned me.  Not to say that I was surprised, but I admittedly long for the days when my friend Susan Taylor stood at the helm of the magazine, and Essence represented something black, extraordinary and authentic.  There was a time when we fully understood that the power of media wasn’t just for making money, it was also for shaping minds.  In fact, Adolph Hitler once said that if you want to control a group of people, all you have to do is control what they read, watch and hear.

For much of my life, when I thought about Essence Magazine, I thought about black women.   Now, when I think about Essence, I think about what white people want black women to become.  The mind can be under occupation in the same way that one colonizes a foreign country, and in the space of African American media, it’s difficult to argue that we’re not a conquered and imperialized group of people.

The pressure to assimilate is overwhelming when I look at how most of the radio stations our kids listen to are owned by big corporations like Clear Channel, who don’t care that commercialized hip-hop music is teaching young boys how to grow up and become murderers and r*pists.  Television Networks like BET seem to believe that it should once again be illegal for black people to learn how to read.  Even TV One, the “good version” of BET (a network that most of us respect), is 49% owned by NBC Universal, implying that they remain officially black-owned by a mere technicality.

Essence is one of the latest victims of the perpetual paper chase that turns us into the kinds of economic addicts that are produced by a racially-oppressive capitalist society.   As black kids, we grow up believing that our goal in life is to sell our soul to the highest bidder, and that it’s OK to be an asset on someone else’s plantation, as long as our overseers allow us to live in the big house.  This opens the door to a life of fancy cars, big houses and expensive meals at the finest restaurants, where we charge it to the game without realizing that there is a massive debt to be repaid.

Then, one day, you look in the mirror and the person you see no longer has a soul.  Like the hooker on the corner who gave her baby away for another vile of crack cocaine, you realize that your worth in this world has been reduced to the size of your paycheck (which can be taken away as soon as they are finished with you).   The community you love languishes and dies, while you sit in the warmth of your corporate office with a boss telling you that the plight of “those people” has nothing to do with you.

I understand this well, because I know capitalism.  I’ve been teaching Finance at the college level for the last 20 years, and one thing I know for sure is that the powerful temptation of money can lead us to become something that we’re not, and it can literally reshape the structure of our psycho-sociological DNA, turning a righteous mission into an abandoned one.  I believe this is what happened to Essence magazine, and quite frankly, it disgusts me.

I wasn’t surprised in the least to hear former Essence editor White say that the corporate captains who own Essence were pulling the strings and dressing the magazine up in black face.  I could hear the voices of thousands of black women on our blogs who, through women’s intuition, could tell that something was wrong.   I’ll keep things simple:  If you want to understand why most corporations or politicians do anything that doesn’t make sense, just follow the money.  Its much more profitable to sell beauty tips and relationship advice than it is to discuss controversial topics like racism, poverty or the prison industrial complex.  Purely capitalist organizations are not designed to incur these kinds of risks.

I don’t hate Essence Magazine, but I think that we should not define the magazine by what it used to be.  Instead, we should define it by what it is.  Essence Magazine is NOT a publication designed for the empowerment and independence of African American women.  It is a magazine that is run and owned by a big corporation with mostly white shareholders who have positioned the brand to get access to the spending power of African American women.   Ladies, the magazine is certainly wired to SERVE you, but it is not wired to LIBERATE you.   There is a very big difference between the two.

Susan Taylor left the building long ago and Essence has “evolved.”  The painful truth that we must realize is that to truly create black-owned media that empowers the African American community, we must be able to think beyond the financial bottom line.  Economic inequality is the last great hurdle of black civil rights, and overcoming starts with the power of OWNERSHIP.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and author of the book, “Black American Money: How Black Power Can Thrive in a Capitalist Society.” To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

http://www.blackbluedog.com/2013/03/news/dr-boyce-lets-face-it-essence-magazine-has-lost-its-essence/

Grant Opportunity. Deadline May 3, 2013. State Farm.

Feel free to share this unique State Farm grant opportunity with your community partners, educators, and parents you insure. Let me know if you have any questions.. Thanks.. Jose

 

To all community leaders, partners, and educators:

 

I’m excited to inform you that the State Farm® Youth Advisory Board (YAB) service-learning grant applications are now available from March 1, 2013 until May 3, 2013 at 5 PM CST.

 

The grants range from $25,000 - $100,000 and are designed to create sustainable change in local communities across the United States and Canada. Public K-12, charter, higher education institutions, and non-profit organizations are eligible if they are able to demonstrate how they plan to impact student achievement within the public K-12 curriculum. All applicants must have a youth contact and adult administrator, as the programs must be youth-driven and youth-led.

Each grant request must fall under one of these issue areas, chosen by the board itself:

 

• Community Safety
• Environmental Responsibility
• Financial Literacy
• Access to Higher Education
• Health and Wellness

As of August 2012, six years after the initial launch of the YAB, the board has awarded more than $24.7 million in grants to organizations in the U.S. and Canada and impacted approximately 14.1 million lives.

 

To apply for the grant and to obtain additional information, please visit www.statefarmyab.com! You can also check us out on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube! 

Please share this email with anyone you think might be interested and don't hesitate to email me at jose.soto.cwme@statefarm.com or call me with any questions!

 

Sincerely,

 

Jose Soto | State Farm Insurance | Public Affairs Specialist 10451 N.W. 117^th Ave Suite 300, Medley, Fl. 33178 | (: 786-394-9688 | (: 305-458-3935 (Cell)

*: jose.soto.cwme@statefarm.com | 8 www.statefarm.com

 

Here’s your chance to make a positive impact in your community! 

 

"The mediocre teacher tells…..The good teacher explains……The superior teacher demonstrates….The great teacher inspires." - William Arthur Ward

 

* Every individual matters. ...Every individual has a role to play... Every individual makes a difference... We have a choice: What sort of difference do we want to make?  - Jane Goodall

 

BEMA's Meet & Greet March 2013 at B.Smith Union Station

BEMA Network Members (All):

 

ARE YOU READY FOR THIS!

 

Mark your calendars for our March 2013 Meet & Greet to be held at B.Smith Union Station. 

 

Why Union Station?  Union Station is accessible by public transportation, excellent garage and on street parking, and security.  Many of our members travel by public transportation and use the Virginia or Maryland commuter trains which originate at Union Station. 

 

What better way to decompress.

 

"Hey B & Dan we're coming!"

 

         When:         Wednesday, March 20, 2013

         Time:           6:00 - 9:00 PM

         Location:    B. Smith Restaurant

                             Union Station                             50 Massachusetts Ave NE
                             Washington, DC 20002 (map)
                             Phone: (202) 289-6188

                             http://bsmith.com/

         Parking:     2-hr $1.00 complementary parking inside Union Station parking garage.

                          Enough time to drink some tea, water, soda and eat a little. 

 

Come out enjoy the atmosphere, the upcoming events that BEMA and members will be participating, and other BEMA business items.

Looking forward to seeing as many members as possible.

Charles

Charles D. Sharp

Chief Executive

Black Emergency Managers Association  

bEMA 

2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.  S.E.

Washington, D.C.  20020

Office:   202-618-9097 

Cell:         240-750-7609 

Emergency Power: Generators

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

More generators can mean more noise

Outages prompt sales, but some can exceed decibel limits

By Andrew Damstedt
Special To The Gazette

Tropical storms, derechos and large snowstorms have led to an increase in generator sales in the region and more generators can mean more noise during power outages.

Generator sales have doubled every year for the past three or four years, said Jim Fab, owner of Fab Electric in Gaithersburg. When he first started installing generators 25 years ago, he would install perhaps one or two per year. In 2012, his company was installing 20 generators per month.

“Ninety-five percent of our sales are people tired of losing power — 5 percent is medical related,” Fab said.

The loudest generator he sells has a maximum level of 63 decibels, he said.

Montgomery County’s noise ordinance stipulates that levels must not exceed 55 decibels when measured at the property line.

Barriers can be erected to mitigate the noise, but Fab said most people don’t buy those. He said generators, which he said are quieter than lawn mowers, are used only a couple of times a year during power outages and are life-safety equipment. He said he hasn’t heard of many noise complaints because of them.

The Montgomery County Department of Environmental 

Protection received 15 complaints about generator noise in 2012, said spokeswoman Esther Bowring.

Each complaint is investigated and if no immediate resolution can be reached, a notice of violation is issued, Bowring said. Four notices were issued in 2012 for generator noise violations, but no citations have been issued for 2012 complaints.

Every time a storm has knocked out power in the past few years, Kinzie Inc. has received hundreds of inquiries about generators, said Robert Kinzie, chief marketing officer for the Bethesda company.

The Cummins generators his company installs reach 62 decibels, he said, and most customers are conscious of the noise they cause.

There are plenty of reasons people want to install a generator, from those running home offices to people with medical problems and older people who can’t be without power for long, he said.

The generators his company installs — depending on capacity — can cost from $18,000 to $80,000.

Nancy Navarro, president of the Montgomery County Council, said her family purchased a small portable generator before Tropical Storm Isabel hit in 2003 and is considering purchasing a partial home generator. Navarro (D-Dist. 4) of Silver Spring said she hasn’t received any complaints about noise from her neighbors.

Somerset has seen more residents applying for generator permits and Mayor Jeffrey Slavin said residents who install generators are required to mitigate the noise.

“People who have installed generators are very interested in being good neighbors,” he said. “They place them where they have the least impact as possible.”

Some Somerset residents don’t see a need for homeowners to have generators and don’t want Somerset to be known as “generator city,” while others have a real need for continuous electricity for health and safety reasons, Slavin said.

The increase of generators in Somerset started after the big snowstorms, dubbed “Snowmageddon,” in February 2010 that left thousands of people in the region without electricity.

Slavin said Pepco’s service has “marginally improved” since then, but there are still “way too many power failures. It’s unacceptable.”

Slavin said he hasn’t installed a generator for his home because he doesn’t want to deal with the expense or decide where to put it.

“I’d rather rough it for a few days, but it’s very frustrating,” he said.

Pepco is working to improve its service and began a plan in September 2010 to improve reliability both day-to-day and during storms, and that plan helped with better response times during Sandy in October, Pepco spokesman Marcus Beal said.

“If customers decide to purchase a backup generation system, we strongly recommend they have a professional install and configure it to ensure that it will operate safely,” Beal said.