Dear Black Man: I NEED YOU

Last week it was reinforced to me that possibly right after food, water and my family, the next thing on my list of needs is indeed YOU, the Black Man. It is dire at this point. It has surpassed a want and it has become eminent that I have YOU. But guess what? I’m not selfish. I’m traditional and futuristic at the same time so I am beyond willing to share YOU. In the immortal words of Snoop Dogg and Korupt, “It ain’t no fun if my homies can’t have none.” Besides, what you have to offer is much more than what I can use alone. Yet, here lies the problem. I understand the urgency of my need for YOU but so many of YOU do not understand your tremendous importance in this equation. See I’m trying to solve for x here and there is no way I can get the correct answer without YOU, the Black Man. Try as I may, but it will not add up without YOU.

See, last week quite a few things happened that made me realize that I have to make YOU realize why I need YOU so badly. I run a youth program and my babies are from “at risk” communities. I have them a few times during the week and I notice they are lacking in many areas. They lack nowhere in potential. However, many of them do not receive enough time and attention to help cultivate their potential and bring it to fruition. After doing activities with them about setting goals I had to reprimand one of them for speaking negatively about her friends. A few minutes later I found this same little pumpkin sitting off to the side crying. When I asked her what was wrong she got up and hugged me and through teary eyes she told me that she has a problem. She said she gets angry and says bad things and she doesn’t know how to control herself. I asked this little third-grader what she believed it was that made her so angry. She told me she was mad because her father left her and it

Black Cultural Awareness List

If you've heard me speak or listened to any of my Youtube videos you know I am adamant about the fact that if you have Black children and/or work with them in any capacity, you must teach them our culture. My experience of working with Black children in four cities and three different states has shown me that our youth suffer from a lack of cultural self-esteem. We provide them with academic, athletic and religious knowledge but neglect to teach them to be proud of their culture. This has much to do with the deficiencies we see in our communities. We have the power to create the changes we wish to see but we must be proud and aware of who we are. We must have an understanding of how things came to be and how we can make them better. As adults, we must constantly check ourselves to make sure that we are not contributing to the deficiencies. Below is a list of adult and children's books, DVDs and youtube videos that can be used as a reference point to enhance one's knowledge of Black culture and to aid in teaching Black children. Feel free to share, suggest additions or add comments.

Adult Books

From the Browder File

The New Jim Crow

Destruction of a Black Civilization

The Mis-Education of the Negro

Awakening the Natural Genius of Black Children

As a Man Thinketh

Visions for Black Men

Isis Papers

The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance and the Civil Rights Movement

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

It's My Birthday!!

Greetings,

I was sleepy. My cell phone wouldn't charge. The new phone arrived and it wouldn't charge either and the volume isn't working on my laptop but this video had to be done! Please take a moment and listen to my special b'day request. It would make me very happy and I would be ecstatic if you oblige.

Clever Communities in Action's 5th Annual Youth Book Drive Promo

If you don't know about our book drive, check out the video below. If you came to donate, unfortunately you may not be able to view our donate button if you're using a mobile phone. But don't give up! Our paypal email is donations@clevercommunities.org or you can visit the Clever Communities in Action Facebook page and click the Fundrazr button. Thank you for your support! Please share with your family, friends and social networks.

5th Annual Youth Book Drive/Fundraiser

Clever Communities in Action Presents our

5th Annual Youth Book Drive/Fundraiser

Each year we work hard throughout the month of February to raise money so we can purchase brand new culturally inclusive books and put them into the libraries of local elementary schools. Over the last four years we have placed over 700 books into eight schools. Statistics show that children become more engaged in the reading process when they read books that allow them to see themselves in the characters and story-lines. It also raises self-esteem and cultural awareness. CCIA believes all children deserve this and with the help of the community, we provide it.

This year in addition to donating to a school we are also asking the community to help bless our organization so that we can further bless our youth. We have a “Hip Hop for Positive Change” program for teens. We host an annual “Fatherhood in the Black Community Summit” and we run youth and teen empowerment programs. We strongly desire to expand these programs so that we can reach more youth. You can find proof of this work on the “clever speaks” Youtube channel.  We are asking the community to help us reach our $2,500 goal. This is our highest goal to date because we have much more work to get done! We appreciate the help from all of our continuous and new supporters.

The Book Drive runs February 1^st – March 1^st. We accept local and national donors. You can donate easily by clicking the “donate” button to the right on cleverspeaks.com. All payments are transmitted securely via Paypal. Also, if you’re in the Hampton Roads area we can come to you!

Phone: 757.918.7879 Email: cleverinfo@cleverspeaks.com

www.cleverspeaks.com cleverspeaks on all social media

How D'Angelo Made Me Open to Falling In Love Again

You would have to really know me to understand this. Since most of you don’t really know me I’m going to do my best to give you a glimpse of me. I’ve been described as oxymoronic, mysterious, emotionless, emotional, serious, silly, fearless, unique and odd. I’m a lot of things wrapped up in one woman.  However, one thing I wouldn’t be described as is a woman looking for love. For a long time now I’ve been Ms. Go With the Flow. Ms. I Just Want to Enjoy Life. My Only Child Style personality would often scoff at the thought of sharing my space with another human being all the time. Sometimes = yeah. All the time = panic. I think I even began subconsciously picking people who I ultimately knew would not work out as “All the Time”. You know, Mr. Emotionally Unavailable. Mr. Doesn’t Quite Have it Together Yet, Mr. We’re At Different Stages of Life Right Now and my all-time favorite, Mr. Wounded Bird. If it looked like it could be—forever-ever I internally freaked out. I’m a self-proclaimed “Avid Seeker of Freedom”. I try to love everyone but that relationship type love was not on my freedom seeking radar.

Then a few Sundays back I happened to glance through Instagram and I saw several people post that D’Angelo would be dropping his album “Black Messiah” at midnight. Saaay Whu? My initial thought was--

To Whom Will You Be Giving Your $$ This Holiday Season?

“Black Friday” is looming around the corner which means the holiday season is about to officially be upon us. But here’s my angle. While we’re preparing to be jolly, deck the halls and jingle bells, I just want to check in with everyone to see how much of these tidings of great joy are going back into our communities. This is not going to be one of those finger-pointing, condemnation pieces. I don’t operate in that zone. So let’s just call it a memo to Black America or a call to attention.

Sometime over the next few weeks I will do what I guess you could call my version of holiday shopping. It will occur at three of my favorite Black owned businesses that I frequent throughout the year. As usual, I will buy books written for Black children as Kwanzaa gifts plus a few essential items for myself. That’s it for me. I understand that many who have small children go all out in the realm of purchasing gifts. So my question is during all this holiday spending what percentage is going back to the community? As a matter of fact, what percentage of your annual spending do you feel has gone back to the Black community? Is it 20%, 10%, 2.5%, 0? Are you familiar with Black owned businesses in your area? What about service providers such as doctors, mechanics, repair men/women? If you drop change into the Salvation Army bucket on your way out of Wal-Mart do you drop a little dough into the pot for the organizations in your area that cater directly to the needs of our communities? How about any of those programs and events that you oh so fervently “like” and retweet online? I bet a nice Paypal contribution would bring some serious joy to their world. Social media has definitely solidified its place in the movement but virtual activism will never supersede real life actions and contributions.

See, Black Enterprise says that the Black spending power is estimated to reach $1.2 trillion dollars by