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Hello to the Your Black World Family!
I just returned from New York for the "Measuring the Movement" forum hosted by the National Action Network. It was outstanding. I have interviews for AOL Black Voices that I conducted while waiting back stage with the other panelists (I figured I’d kill some time and get a good start on my new show that I’m hosting for AOL) – I’ll send them out to you once they are done. The video from our panel discussion was on MSNBC and TV-One over the weekend – Rev. Sharpton and I will be doing a recap on his show this afternoon at 1:15 pm EST. I found the event to be inspiring and informative, and the audience was amazing. Everyone invested their time to come out: Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Ben Jealous, Urban League President Marc Morial, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rep. Charles Rangel, Democratic Whip James Clyburn, Harvard University Professor Charles Ogletree, Georgetown University Professor Michael Eric Dyson, Roland Martin, Tom Joyner, Jeff Johnson, Judge Greg Mathis, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, the list went on and on. Even RNC Chairman Michael Steele dropped by with his own "unique" style of politics.
One of the commitments I made as a member of the panel was to challenge members of the YBW Coalition (there are roughly 70,000 of us to date, and our membership is growing by about 700 people per week) to commit to proactively engaging in financial literacy. As a first step, I want to challenge you to expand your revenue stream by one. Therefore, if you are getting your income from one source, I’d like to see you increase that number to two sources within six months. For example, if you earn money from your job as a waitress, start selling Avon or some other secondary activity that will allow you to have another source of personal income. Don’t think about it too much or become paralyzed by fear: Just jump out there and do it. Also, send me a short email to tell me about your experience.
I ask you to engage in this exercise for one simple reason: You don’t have financial security if you’ve only got one source of income. The weak economy has shown us that our jobs can disappear in a second, and even those who have high incomes are vulnerable. You should diversify your sources of personal income to protect yourself and your family. The second stream of income will probably be nothing but a trickle at first. But if you keep working at it, you’ll see the stream expanding through time. I encourage you to find a second source of income that ties to your passion. For example, there was a time when I earned all of my income from Syracuse University, which would have made me quite vulnerable when Bill O’Reilly actively campaigned to have me fired. But I wasn’t concerned, mainly because my brother and I had already diversified our funds into a series of business ventures in order to protect us from that very thing. I knew that being an unapologetic black public scholar wouldn’t mean that I MIGHT be attacked by Right Wing racists or conservative university colleagues. It was simply a matter of WHEN it was going to happen (I am fighting every single day, but I refuse to allow the haters to have much of my psychological real estate. I’ve got a job to do for my community). Having other channels of income literally kept my voice alive and gave me the economic flexibility to remain socially brave – our financial liberation is the key to our emotional, spiritual and psychological liberation. Never forget that. If another man knows he is the sole reason that your kids get to eat everyday, then that man effectively owns you.
As an update, I’ll be headed to UNC Chapel Hill this week for the College Sport Research Institute Conference. Also, I’ll be speaking at The University of Missouri on the 29th. Finally, I’ll be shooting more of my new AOL video podcast in NYC on the 6th, and also shooting a financial series I am doing for ABC News. Life has been busy and blessed, and I sincerely want to thank you for your support.
Be strong, stay educated and demand nothing short of excellence from your children.
Sincerely,
Dr. Boyce Watkins
The Latest from Dr. Boyce on AOL Black Voices – the largest black news website in the country
Harvard’s Charles Ogletree Describes Sharpton’s Link to Obama
- President Barack Obama’s former mentor at Harvard University, Charles Ogletree, took the time to … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 19th 2010 1:10AM | Comments (1)
The Black Agenda: Wealth-Building Must Top the List – Dr. Boyce Money
- I recently attended the "Measuring the Movement" national leadership forum, hosted by Rev. Al … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 18th 2010 7:56PM | Comments (6)
Officer Charged With Beating a Motorist
- A police officer in suburban Chicago was caught on video hitting a driver 15 times with his baton … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 17th 2010 7:19PM | Comments (13)
Dr. Boyce Watkins and Lola Adesioye Talk about the Black Agenda
by Lola Adesioye, Huffington Post – www.LolaCreative.com
Should there be a "black agenda" in America? And if the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ what is the black agenda?
These are the questions that black leaders and black people have been discussing more and more since President Obama took office. Last week, Reverend Al Sharpton hosted a leadership summit addressing this very issue. Today a group of black leaders got together on an MSNBC special to talk about this issue in more detail. And many will remember the on-air argument that Tavis Smiley and Rev Sharpton had a few weeks ago about this topic.
Tavis believes that Obama isn’t doing enough. Sharpton believes that Obama need not ‘ballyhoo’ a black agenda. I think most agree, though, that something needs to be done.
With a 16.5% unemployment rate (compared to 9.7% for white Americans), an education system that is under serving black children, higher than average rates of death from diseases like breast cancer, and continued social issues, it is hard to disagree that there is need for some kind of targeted and focused approach to dealing with the issues that affect African-American. But many are divided on whether or not the president is doing enough for black people, whether or not it’s incumbent on him to do anything at all, and what should or shouldn’t be done.
Financial Lovemaking: Tiger, Tiki and the High Cost of Cheating
- In this episode of Financial Lovemaking 101, S. Tia Brown and I talk about the dynamics of … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 11:48PM | Comments (1)
Jay-Z Sues Red Sox Slugger David Ortiz Over 40/40 Club Name
- It turns out that hip-hop icon Jay-Z has filed a lawsuit against Boston Red Sox designated hitter … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 12:40PM | Comments (3)
Bill O’Reilly Gets Booed at Sharpton’s National Convention
- I’ve been spending the last few days in New York at the National Action Network National … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 10:40AM | Comments (12)
President Obama Spends $18 Billion on Jobless Benefits
- Congress recently passed an $18 billion bill to extend jobless benefits for those who’ve been … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 16th 2010 10:18AM | Comments (0)
Police May Have Coerced Boys to Confess to Gang Rape of 7-Year-Old
- Two people familiar with the police interrogations of the two young boys accused of gang rape of … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 15th 2010 12:58PM | Comments (10)
Former NAACP President Benjamin Hooks Dead at 85
- The world just lost a champion. Benjamin Hooks, who served as executive director of the … Read More
- By Boyce Watkins, PhD on Apr 15th 2010 11:23AM | Comments (45)
Dr. Boyce on TheGrio.com
Why Black People Don’t Snitch, and Why Our Children End Up Paying the Price 
by Dr. Boyce Watkins – Your Black World Coalition
When five-year old Syniah Herndon was hit by a stray bullet in Brooklyn this week, most of us thought about our own kids. The beautiful little girl survived the bullet in her leg, but there is still unfinished police business. Brooklyn, which has seen a 14 percent increase in the number of shootings this year, is stuck with the task of trying to make sure that the shooters didn’t hurt any other children in the neighborhood. But the job of the police was nearly derailed because none of the approximately 150 people who were in the area at the time of the shooting immediately came forth to speak with law enforcement.
Perhaps we can make the assumption that black people are primitive animals who don’t care about their preschool children. We can, alternatively, go a bit deeper and try to determine if there might be logical (though not always justifiable) reasons that people in the community are afraid to come forward.
We can start with a simple question: What kind of people might be out spraying bullets at 2:30 in the afternoon? They probably weren’t mailmen or firefighters, but were probably criminals or drug dealers. If you speak up and give the police everything they need to prosecute, are you and your family going to feel safe from retaliation? Probably not, especially when dealing with the NYPD, a department that is known throughout the nation for exploiting the public trust.
I am personally disappointed with the "stop snitching" campaign in urban America, one that is in-part supported and enforced by those who regularly engage in criminal activity. Such a campaign is destructive to the black community and has been heavily misinterpreted by our youth. At best, "stop snitching" should go as far as criticizing the behavior of a subset of police informants, many of whom are driven to "snitch" by selfish motivations and have historically been planted by police to undermine important social movements. Also, as a fundamental component of human nature, nobody likes a rat or a spy.
Keisha Dutes: The Plight of the Uninsured – Video Expose 
Watch this video as Keisha Dutes takes you through her experience getting eye surgery. Amazing video.
Lola Adesioye: What’s Going on with Black Women? Wealth and Health Problems Remain Abundant 
Huffington Post British Columnist Lola Adesioye explores the issues that affect black women in a very telling video. Click here to watch!
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