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Mentoring Is
Desparately Needed in
the Black Community
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Photo provided by The Black Star Project
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By Matt Drayton
September 28, 2015
Having served as Executive Director of a nonprofit that provides mentoring services to minority boys, and having been a mentor to three African American boys, I believe mentoring is needed in the African American community now more than ever before.
When Barack Obama was elected as POTUS in 2008, I was sure we would see an uptick in academic improvement amongst African American males. I was sure that pride amongst young African American boys would swell, and we would see a new generation of black leaders, academics and professionals pursuing excellence after witnessing the historical election of the nation's first African-American president.
Instead, what statistics show, and what I have personally witnessed is a continuing decline in leadership and achievement in school amongst African-American males. In some cases there is a flat out disdain for education and being perceived as a smart in school. When I was in school it was a badge of honor to get good grades. Now many of our boys are dumbing themselves down to fit in. I don't know when this trend started, but it has to stop now.
A
2014 article on statistics of black males in the classroom reports only 54 percent of African Americans graduate from high school compared to 75 percent of their Caucasian and Asian peers. Many of these African-American males are from single parent homes, and do not have fathers in their lives.
Why mentoring matters? As a mentor of African-American boys, I can tell you our young men are in a lot of trouble. Many young African-American men today do not care about education, their appearance, or hard work, and many of them do not have respect for their elders or women. This does not apply to all young African-American men, I know there are some out there that are doing, and trying to do the right thing and are the complete opposite of the young men I described earlier.
I have seen the positive effects of mentoring, and the positive change it can bring to a young person's life. The problem is there aren't enough mentors stepping up!
I encourage anyone who is reading this article to become a mentor to a child, and a donor to a mentoring program. Do it today, because there is a child out there that needs you.
Click Here to Donate to The Black Star Project's Young Black Men of Honor Mentoring Program or our school-based Student Motivation Mentoring Program.
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Dr. Kahlil Gibran Muhammad
Director for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York
will lecture and sign books
on
Freedom Stories
at the
DuSable Museum of
African American History
740 East 56th Street
Chicago, Illinois
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Door open 6:00 pm - Session at 6:30 pm
Admission - $10.00 | $5.00 DuSable Members
A native of the South Side of Chicago, Dr. Muhammad graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor's degree in economics. In 2004, he received his Ph.D. in American history from Rutgers University specializing in 20th century and African American history. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Nation, The New Yorker, Washington Post and Atlanta Journal
Please join us for this once-in-a-lifetime event. Admission is $10 and group rates are available at $5 per person for groups of ten (10) or more. Reservations are required and you may reserve your space at 773.947.0600 ext. 255.
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Stop The Violence Rally
in
Gary, Indiana
Saturday, October 3, 2015
12:00 noon
starting at
13th and Broadway
Gary, Indiana
Please call 708.792.3683 for more information.
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Fathers Incorporated and The Honorable Man Campaign are asking 20,000 Black fathers to sign the pledge and to meet them in Washington, D.C. on 10/10/15 at the second Million Man March
Click Here
to connect to the campaign or for more information about this effort.
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This Sunday, October 3, 2015
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come out to see the movie
The Spook Who Sat
By The Door
Book and Screenplay by Sam Greenlee
Sunday, October 3, 2015
2:30 pm - FREE!!!
at
The Black Star Project
3509 South King Drive
Chicago, Illinois
Parking in Rear
773.285.9600
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Professor Riana Lynn
Brings Silicon Valley
to Bronvzeville in Chicago
FoodTrace CEO Takes Time Out Between Travels to Italy and Hong Kong to Educate Black Community on Technology, Business and Entrepreneurship and Giving Back
at Black Star Sunday University!
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Professor Riana Lynn (seated, center)
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Riana Lynn is not much older than some little girls who play with dolls and toys just before they become young women. But as a young technology entrepreneur, Ms. Lynn, CEO of her third start-up, FoodTrace, is "playing" with CEO's of fortune 500 companies and international government leaders from around the world.
Ms. Lynn was asked to speak at The Black Star Project's Sunday University six weeks ago. When the bosses at Black Star sought her out to complete on this opportunity, CEO Lynn was representing the U.S. State Department at the World's Fair in Milan, Italy the day before she was scheduled to present at Black Star.
The bosses at Black Star made a decision to notify our members and associates that Ms. Lynn was in Italy, unavailable and could not be with us. We cancelled her speaking engagement.
Ms. Lynn call us on the day she was scheduled to speak and told us, "I'm here. I'm ready. Let's go!" Ms. Lynn had taken a special flight back from Italy to fulfill her commitment to speak to the Black community at The Black Star Project.
Riana Lynn moves faster than the speed of light! She always has 3 or 4, or 5 or 10 projects all successfully moving forward. She has academic credentials from the University of North Carolina, Duke, the University of Chicago, DePaul University and Northwestern University. And more impressively, she is on her third successful technology start-up.
Ms. Lynn spoke to 40 community members at the September 27, 2015 Sunday University. After her session, one person said, "They don't teach this stuff in our elementary schools." Another said, "They don't teach this stuff in our high schools." A third said, "They don't teach this kind of information in college." And finally, a Ph.D candidate at a major university said, "They don't teach these ideas and concepts about business, success and life, with this detail, in graduate school."
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Class was in session for Professor Riana Lynn
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Ms. Lynn spent much of her session talking about how to market yourself in a 21st-century world of technology, how to build your brand, your business and your digital image, how to acquire the skills necessary to succeed in the new global technology economy, how to take the necessary risks to help guarantee big successes, the basics of E-Commerce, and how and why we need to give back after we have succeeded, especially if you are young, gifted and Black!
Ms. Lynn gives much of the credit for her success to her grandmother, her mother, her family and her community. She also serves as the Google - Code 2040 Entrepreneur in Residence, which is working to get more Blacks and Latinos employed at the best technology companies in the world.
Click Here to Listen to
FoodTrace CEO Riana Lynn on
WVON Radio in
Chicago
Click Here to Learn More About
Google Code 2040 Entrepreneurs in Residence
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"Because America is the modern home of capitalism, one of the only things she understands is dollars. Unfortunately, that's also one of the things that Blacks in America don't grasp!" - Phillip Jackson
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The time is ripe for economic justice - #BoycottChristmas
September 17, 2015
 In his call for 'Justice Or Else,' the 20th Anniversary gathering of the Million Man March on October 10, in Washington, D.C., the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan also called for a boycott of Christmas. Leading experts and economists agree the time is now and the time is ripe for the Muslim leader's clarion call for economic justice, they told The Final Call.
"Absolutely, the timing is perfect! I think that Black people in America are reaching another level of consciousness," said Dr. George Fraser, CEO of FraserNet Inc., which works to increase opportunities, wealth and jobs for Blacks.
"From a timing standpoint, from a psychological moment, I think yes, the timing is precisely right. But I think the timing is always right, but it's up to the elders," said the marketing guru. The Black community needs leadership and he feels it's up to people like him, Minister Farrakhan and others who have generations of consciousness to guide the younger generations, he said.
Minister Farrakhan in various cities around the country leading up to October's gathering said the plan for economic success had been laid out by Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King shortly before he was assassinated. Redistribute the pain Blacks suffer because of injustices in America, particularly the extrajudicial law enforcement and vigilante killings of their men, women and children, he pointed out.
"You're either going to treat us right, or we're going to withdraw from you our economic support. ... We intend to boycott Christmas but not Jesus," Minister Farrakhan said during a one-hour interview on September 10 with Roland Martin, host of TV One's show News One. "We choose not to spend dollars on Black Friday, Black Saturday, Black Sunday, Black Monday. We are not going to spend our money for the rest of that year with those companies that we have traditionally spent our money on," the Minister added.
Philip Jackson, executive director of Chicago-based Black Star Project said the battle for economic justice should have been fought a long time ago. "The Minister's call for an economic boycott is something that can gain respect for our community in ways that nothing else can," Mr. Jackson said. Among programs his organization offers Black and Latino youth are presentations on finance and economics.
Because America is the modern home of capitalism, one of the only things she understands is dollars, he said. Unfortunately, that's also one of the things that Blacks in America don't grasp, he continued. So much so, collectively they lack an understanding of the power of money, how to multiply it, and how to use the power of dollars to get what they need in their schools and communities to help their children, seniors and themselves, said Mr. Jackson, a long-time community activist and convener of the Million Father March, in which Black men take children to the first day of school.
"Black America is projected to have $1 trillion in earning power in 2015. That $1 trillion in earning power we allow this country to use against us, when in reality, if we harvest that $1 trillion in earning power, in spending power, in budget power, we wouldn't have to ask anybody for a job," said Mr. Jackson, echoing Minister Farrakhan.
"His (Minister Farrakhan's) picking the holiday season as a time to exert that pressure is perfect. That's when America counts our dollars before we spend them," he said. And as a matter of course, he continued, other communities throughout America already do what Minister Farrakhan's asking.
"Chinese people shop with Chinese people. Korean people shop with Korean people. Pakistani people shop with Pakistani people. ... The people who are not doing what the Minister is asking for is us. We take our dollars and what that means is we take our power and we literally give it away," said Mr. Jackson.
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