As the election comes to a conclusion we sit within a country divided. A little more than half are excited about the victory of Barack Obama, and a little less than half are disappointed their candidate of choice lost. However, in light of the fervor this election has sustained for more than a year I would like to draw our attention to what is truly important…YOU.

True empowerment doesn’t come from government; it comes from within each one of us. Not to say the government does not have a role in our economy for it certainly does. However, the strongest role of our economic recovery comes from within the households across the country. It is up to each of us to determine how to use our skills, maximize our talents, and fully recognize and implement the resources in our communities to move forward economically. One of the most precious and underutilized resources is the family.

That’s right…the family. Those people who together cry at funerals, rejoice at weddings, celebrate birthdays, stuff themselves at holidays, and reminisce at reunions. The family for many is a place to find solace from the tough economic challenges of society. After going through stressful times there is nothing better for me than to take a trip back to my hometown of Detroit to where all is familiar. However, if we only look at the family for shelter we are missing the mark. This familiarity has with it enormous economic potential. In a world where love, trust, dedication towards one another, and sensitivity can be void…these traits are more likely to be found within your own family. However, we must maximize its potential and take advantage of the “family empowerment program”.

Step One – The Family Callout

Contact your family and let them know you would like to select a date at least 6 months in advance to organize a Family Empowerment Meeting. Your family consists of all of your immediate family, extended family, and close friends that you consider family.

Step Two – Select a Date

Select dates for the meeting that would allow many of your family to attend. Try to accommodate as many family members as possible, but understand that it will be next to impossible to accommodate all as travel can be hard to coordinate. Perhaps you can organize the meeting around a date where the family is already getting together such as a holiday or a reunion? What I have done in organizing other family meetings is try to get as many as possible to commit to a date, then utilize technology such as Skype or a free conference call service. By using technology those members who cannot participate in person can still take part in the conversation. Pull together a committee of no more than 5 that will assist in the selection of this date and planning an agenda so the topics of discussion will be limited…we all know what can happen when we have “too many cooks in the kitchen”.

Step Three – Select an Objective/Unbiased Moderator

For this meeting it is important to choose someone outside the family that you trust to moderate the discussion. This person’s task is only to make sure the discussion goes smoothly. They should be outside the family so they can be objective and not have a biased view. I could never be the moderator for my family because to many I am still seen as “Little Ryan” and an opinion or instruction given from me will not be viewed the same as an unbiased third party even if that opinion/instruction is exactly the same. To reiterate, the moderator’s job is NOT to show favoritism, but to make sure the conversation runs smoothly.

Step Four – Give the Meeting a Professional Structure

The structure of the meeting should the same as a business meeting, not a casual family gathering. Here are a few tips:

• There should be someone taking minutes of the meeting.
• The moderator must give the rules of engagement at the beginning of the meeting…the primary rule being that nobody speaks unless they are recognized to speak by the moderator.
• Think about a board meeting you may have attended and devise rules for your family. Email/mail these rules and a meeting agenda to all members of the family at least a week prior to the meeting to ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Your family should know that this meeting is about BUSINESS and not PLEASURE!

Step Five – Ask the Right Questions

The questions that are asked and follow up responses are the most important part of the meeting. Here are some great questions that should be asked by the moderator for the family meeting and ones that I have asked in the past:

• Who needs a job?
o As hands rise have the secretary record the names of those looking for employment.
o Ask each person who raised his/her hand to state which type of job they desire.
o As each person gives the type of career they are pursuing have the moderator ask the rest of the family if they are able to provide assistance in finding a position in their desired field.
 Eg: Cousin John is looking for a job in custodial services…is there anyone in the family who can assist Cousin John in finding this type of position?

Many people are able to find employment within their own families. A resume submitted to Monster.com is great but nothing works better than having someone on the inside pushing hard to get you that position.

• Who is in danger of foreclosing their home?
o If hands rise have each one get up and tell their reasons for going into foreclosure.
o If the reason is neglect then family assistance may not be the desired option. However, if the reason is for other legitimate reasons (illness, loss of employment, etc.) here are a few solutions the pooled resources of the family can provide:
 A collection of funds and A PLAN put together to ensure the mortgage is paid.
 If there are others in the family that rent in the area perhaps they can move into the home and pay rent to the homeowner.

Passing legacy from generation to generation is crucial and maintaining home ownership is one of the best ways to do it.
• Are there any youth under the age of 18 who plan on going to college?
o Using resources like a 529 plan can be a great means of building tax free/deferred college savings.

Scholarships are great but they can’t always be relied upon. Through the pooled resources of the family we can start to create our own scholarships for our youth.

• Do we have any business owners in the family that need support or people who would like to start a business?

Many times we don’t know the businesses that exist within our own families. These should be the first businesses that you support. You never know…there could be a family business waiting to be formed full of employment opportunities for everybody if the business is nourished well.

If you can think of any other questions that are pressing be sure to prepare all of them in full and distribute them out along with the rules and meeting agenda.

NOTE: Have each member prepare a list of resources in their community they are aware of that provide great services in job training, employment, career development, drug rehabilitation, services for the formerly incarcerated, or any other important services various members of you family could find useful. Have them bring this list to the meeting and give to the secretary. Compile this list of important resources on your own family site using a Facebook.com Group, a Linkedin.com Group, or a personally designed free website for your family using Wix.com. Begin to compile this “family resource list” at a central location for all to use.

Step Six – Select a Community Nonprofit to Adopt

This economic recession has taken a toll on the smaller nonprofits in our communities all across this nation. These smaller nonprofits are doing great work in educating our children, reforming those who are formerly incarcerated, feeding the homeless, providing aide to veterans, and much more. At the meeting the family should vote on a cause they would like to champion, choose a local nonprofit that works to fulfill that need, and as a family decide upon the type of family support you would like to give that nonprofit. This support can come in the following ways:

• Pooling of funds to make donation
• Volunteering time to support an initiative
• A mixture of both

Step Seven – Follow Up

This meeting should occur at least once per year with regular updates of the positive stories that have come out of these meetings. If someone finds a job, send an email to the group, call others to provide that positive testimony, or send out postcards remind people of the value in continuing to look out for one another. I have seen employment found, homes saved, and family wealth saved from those I have hosted/moderated in my community. This program works! There is nothing that is greater to build a family bond than working together for the benefit of the community.

I know many reading this are thinking, “This sounds really great on paper but I will never be able to get my family to do all of this.” I beg of you to check your negativity at the door. Sure, it might not be normal for your family to do this, but aren’t you tired of having problems such as high unemployment as the norm within the limits of your family? Our families have hurt far too long and the best answer will not come from the government but from right under our noses. None of us is as strong as all of us, and if we work together there is nothing we can’t do to move our families, communities, and country forward…one family at a time!

Written By Ryan Mack, Author of Living in the Village

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

Many across social media outlets are urging for there to be a discussion on racial tension that may have occurred as a result of the President’s second term victory.  To those who believe in the post-racist society, this may be a mute issue to discuss because of their logic that post-racism simply implies that race in and of itself is no longer applicable to our social reality. The fact, though, is that the night of Pres. Obama’s victory, the fantasization of the post-racist society was completely obliterated by the riots at Ole Miss, the countless angry posts against Pres. Obama’s victory on many of the social media websites, and more importantly, O’Reilly’s commentary on “the white establishment being a minority now”.

What is important to recognize during this time period, however, is the reaction of the “white establishment” as O’Reilly calls it.  It is important for conscious participants of American society to connect the dots between the past and what is occurring now, for the times ahead can indeed be a very dangerous and trying time.  Mark Potok at the Southern Poverty Center, noted the following within his Nov 7^th article,

“The loss of a white majority in the United States has helped drive a truly explosive growth of the radical right in the last three years, and that now seems likely to accelerate. Hate groups in recent years have risen to more than 1,000, and the number of antigovernment “Patriot” groups has shot up from just 149 in 2008 to 1,274, according to research by the Southern Poverty Law Center. For months now, groups on the radical right have increasingly fretted about a possible Obama victory. Now that that has occurred, the radical right may grow more dangerous still.”

With racial demographics changing within the U.S., it is expected that White Nationalism will continue to blossom as those who subscribe and are vulnerable to its ideology will increasingly find themselves in panic.  This possible reality, of course, is reminiscent of a past time when racial inclusion was pursued and partly protected by law but was met with strong resistance by the white establishment.  The period of Reconstruction, indeed, paved the way for a future understanding of how racial inclusion should be observed and handled.

Reconstruction was a time when Blacks were given the chance to finally participate within the mainstream crust of society. They were no longer branded as property. Instead, they were seen as  humans with some of the same rights as their White counterparts. However, the fear of Blacks becoming equal to Whites forced some within the dominant group to initiate terrorist violence against the Black population to repress such inclusion from happening.

With the changing demographics of today, surely the tactics of the past are likely to change in their operation, but not on purpose. As the great sociologist on whiteness Joe Feagin would state, the white racial frame is always changing and adapting to the times. Therefore, now is a time for America, as a society, to reflect back on the past and contextualize today’s racial tension appropriately as we continue to move on into a more perfect union.

Also, moving into a more perfect union must not be done at the expense of ignoring the racial tension that exists.  The threat of racial tension is real and many studies and investigative bodies have shown this.  In fact, very recently Dr. Boyce Watkins, of Your Black World, reported on a racial attack that had occurred in KY that resulted in a man losing his life.  The threat of racial tension is expected to show its face even more since Pres. Obama’s second term victory. What is key is the fact that racial hate groups have grown tremendously since 2008 (149 to 1,274).

This problem is a call out to the progressive conscious folk of America to have their voices aired and acted upon. The so called promise of the post-racist fantasy should not stand as a barrier. If it stands as a barrier, it will be the cause of many potential injuries and deaths at the hands of those who are steadfastly against racial inclusion and the changing demographics of America.

Jason Williams, ABD is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice at New Jersey City University. You can contact him at Jwilliams6@njcu.edu

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

By Walter Cobb

“If I was your girlfriend would you remember to tell me all the things you forgot when I was your man?” Prince sang these words in 1986 and the sentiment still rings true. Too often, ladies, you are leaving us out of your lives. That’s right; you are leaving your man out of your life. You might think that if we are sitting on the couch watching t.v.,while you are on the phone with your girls expressing exactly how you feel about everything, we are content. (If it’s Sunday you are absolutely correct.) This is fine – she’s your girl, so we understand. But when you are off the phone with her and we are relaxing together and we ask you to tell us about your day you are “expressed out.” You have gotten everything of your chest, from how your boss has plucked your last nerve to everything else that caused you to feel a certain way, during the day. When you have expressed everything already, that leaves nothing for your man. Now, some of you ladies will make the effort, but it’s often a shell of the version you told your girlfriends.

Ladies, this can lead to your man feeling unneeded. We want to be the savers and the problem solvers for you; your heroes. More importantly, we want to be your best friend – yup, your best friend. We want to be the first one you share that good news with. Why? Because the first time you are sharing something that affected you emotionally you tell it with passion and energy. You reveal it in its truest sense and it helps us stay connected. When we are left on the outside looking or listening in, it is bruising to that oh, so delicate male ego! I know you can’t seem to ever escape our ego, but it is vital that the male ego stays strong. When it is broken we are shot and we are no good to anyone.

Don’t misconstrue what I am talking about. We don’t necessarily want to hear all about that one day shoe sale or what your friend’s boyfriend is doing or what horrible outfit your co-worker wore to work today, even though we have to take the good with the bad. ( lol) We are talking about sharing the events and emotions of your life with you. When this is occurring it will help us feel more secure in sharing our emotions with you. Yes, we have them and they go beyond just anger. We are multi-faceted humans and we want to be able to share all that we are with our partners.

So I ask you this: “If I was your girlfriend….”

Walter Cobb is a contributing blogger.

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

Mimms claims that he gave very specific orders to the telecommunications company that absolutely no one was to have access to his account and his log of incoming and outgoing calls. The 48 year old pastor supposedly gave the instructions to Sprint twice and even mentioned that not even his wife was allowed to see his account records.

Mimms who is the Bishop at Indiana’s Freedom Tabernacle of Praise Church supposedly gave Sprint the instructions about the privacy of his account records because he had a feeling that his wife was suspicious of him and would want to look at his phone records to see if he was having extramarital affairs. The Bishop alleged that the Sprint Representative that he spoke to gave him their word that no one would have access to his phone records.

Court records pertaining to the lawsuit do show that Mimms was the only name on the Sprint account.

In March, much to the Pastors surprise, his wife did gain access to his phone records and things got very ugly. Armed with her husband’s cell phone records, his wife, Diane, embarrassed the Bishop by confronting him in the presence of their teenage daughter. Diane did not stop there, she also used the cell phone records as ammunition to humiliate her husband in font of church members.

Mimms reportedly called Sprint to inquire about how his wife had gotten the records after he had given instructions about the privacy of his cell phone information and he was told that his wife acquired them through a satellite store.

The lawsuit charges that “Plaintiff’s conversation with that Sprint employee or representative caused Plaintiff’s blood pressure to increase, his head to perspire, and his heart rate to increase.”

The Bishop is now demanding that Sprint compensate him for the damage that they have done through breach of confidentiality, negligence, and invasion of privacy.

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

President Obama and the Democratic Party received $71 million in June but that was enough reason to panic because The Republican Party’s Mitt Romney finished the month with 106 million in campaign donations, raising just about one and a half times as much money as President Obama and the Democratic Party. At $106 million, the GOP was much closer to the record setting $150 million from September 2008 that Obama received.

The Obama campaign sent out an email from Ann Marie Habershaw, the chief operating officer of Obama for America, which opened by saying “WE COULD LOSE IF THIS CONTINUES.” In spite of last month being the best month for the Obama campaign for a second term, they were still out-earned by the Romney campaign.

Dem operatives  expressed their concern stating that it looked bad for a candidate to fall short of his challenger when the elections are so close but also pointed out that it would only be worrisome if the gap was allowed to continue to grow. President Obama must be equally concerned because he had two Washington fund-raisers scheduled for Monday night with a price tag of $40,000 to mingle with the elite crowd.

Some are attributing Romney’s success in fundraising to donators who are not happy about the Supreme Court’s health care decision. Romney, who has stated that the only way to get rid of Obamacare is for him to win the elections in November, received over $4 million in campaign dollars in the first 24 hours after the 5-4 decision came down.

The Obama camp has highlighted  that Romeny’s finances place him in the top 1% . Obama ads have also highlighted Romney’s background as a financier who exported jobs that many Americans are desperately in need of.

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

Last month, the Court ruled that the law under which Egypt’s first democratically-elected legislature had been chosen was partially unconstitutional. The Muslim Brotherhood, a central movement behind the Tahrir Square revolution and President Morsi’s former Party, held the majority in that Parliament.

The Parliament’s speaker said it would meet within “hours” of the decree. All parties to the controversial ruling, including the Court and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, held emergency meetings to discuss what is seen as a bold step by Morsi’s 10-day-old presidency to obtain authority over the country’s future.

The decree comes with its own limitations. Even if the current Parliament is reconvened, it can only serve until a new constitution is completed; new parliamentary elections are to follow within 60 days of signage. Nathan J. Brown, political science professor at George Washington University, suggests this section of the order avoids a full confrontation with the Supreme Court by acknowledging its wish for a new legislature.

Still, those watching the development unfold agree it is a major one. Prominent human rights lawyer Gamal Eid says the president “has been waiting to make a decision to prove he is president of a republic,” and notes that “the decree could create a political crisis.”

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

The reports, a response to an inquiry from Congress, indicate an unprecedented rise in phone surveillance, with carriers responding to emergency requests, subpoenas, court orders, and other such demands for data thousands of times a day.

According to company reports, AT&T alone reports 700 such requests per day; approximately triple those received in 2007. Around 230 of them are classified as “emergencies that do not require the normal court orders and subpoena,” noted the New York Times.

The rise is increasing concerns among consumers, carriers, and regulators as to how consumers’ rights to privacy are being balanced out against law enforcement’s desire for quick access to information.

Generally, a warrant, subpoena or other such court order is required to gain access to cell phone data, but in certain “emergency” situations a simple agency request will suffice. But recent technological advancements, particularly imbedded GPS location technology, have created controversy over what information an emergency request can seek.

Congressional investigators, who made the reports available to the Times, are floored by the number of demands for consumer data. “I never expected it to be this massive,” said Edward J. Markey (D-MA), who requested the information from nine major carriers in April as a response to a Times article on cellular surveillance. ACLU lawyer Chris Calabrese argues the problem is not police use but that “the standards really are all over the place.” “Nobody is saying don’t use these tools,” Calabrese explained. “What we’re saying is do it with consistent standards and in a way that recognizes that these are tools that really can impact people’s privacy.”

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

The good news for Snoop is that Norway does not have strict marijuana laws and the amount he had was considered personal use. Snoop got off with a $827 slap on the wrist but was also fined more heavily for carrying more cash than the legal limit. His total fine was aproximtely $8,600.

When questioned by a reporter as to why he was late for the concert he was in Norway to perform in, Snoop told the reporter to “Shut the f**k up!”

When quested about being stopped at the border, the rapper answered, “I was late ’cause I went to go get some chicken wings…” It seems Snoop has a sense of humor about Black stereo types.

This is the second time in the last six months that the rapper has been caught with Marijuana by Border and custom officials. In January, Snoop was caught by border patrol in El Paso, Texas for having marijuana in his possession.

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

The 72 year old is said to have told his neighbor that he would put a hole in his head and the neighbor must have taken him seriously because he called the police. Collins is reported to have been in an ongoing dispute with his neighbor and the dispute escalated when his neighbor passed gas right outside the door of his apartment in Teaneck, NJ.

The two men had been making noise complaints against each other, prior to the incident.

According to the Daily Mail, “Teaneck police arrested and charged Daniel Collins Jr. with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a firearm, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and terroristic threats.”

One would speculate that the charges are too severe, especially considering the Collins’ age but threatening another person with a gun is also arguably very severe.

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)

By the time he finished his short segment, discussing his one man show on Broadway, “Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth,” the two hosts had had a good laugh and one was ready to but his ticket to the show.

Mike Tyson randomly shares a story about how he discovered his wife,  at the time, Robin Givens, was cheating with Brad Pitt.

The video is below:

About YBB Staff Blogger

• Mail
|
• More Posts (145)