Friday, December 3, 2010

Let the Minister's Speak!

B. Brown's Opinion:

With our country facing tremendous unemployment and issues that affect us all, our churches play a pivotal position in how we move forward. However, our churches have internal issues that need to be addressed and solutions actively put into effect.

Here are the major questions that Jet Magazine is asking ...

1. Are Pastors too powerful? Pastors have a responsibility to lead their congregations and to give the best Spiritual advice and leadership possible to help their church members develop a personal relationship with God. A Pastoral position is usually given unconditional trust that is not necessarily earned and that's where the temptation comes in for a Pastor to take advantage of certain situations that leads to possibly abusing the power they have in their respective churches and community.

As parents, we must teach our children how to come to us when they are confronted with uncomfortable situations no matter who the person is that is making them feel uncomfortable.

2. Have crises with leaders hurt the church's credibility? The crises with leaders of some of the mega churches has definitely hurt the credibility of the church! You may hear a lot of people say that they do not attend church anymore because of what some of these Pastors have done.

A lot of young people that have never been exposed to church will look at these situations and never want to even try the church experience. This is tremendously bad because we need as many of our young people to believe in God and love themselves so that these tragic incidents of self-hate STOP! Our churches along with us as parents our responsible for introducing our children to God and his love for us as well as our love for Him and that He dwells inside each of us if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior.

3. What's the No. 1 Spiritual Imperative of our generation? By far it has to be connecting our youth to God! We are at a crossroads with our lost generation because they don't know who they are and they have know idea how great they are and how much God loves them. We need to fill these young people with parental love and teach them how to accept God into their lives. When we successfully do this, we will see a new outlook from these young people and a positive gleam in their eyes! We must recharge our youth with the Spirit of the Lord!

*From Jet Magazine (Nov. 15, 2010; pg. 32)

The Black church is one of the most influential institutions in the community. When its leaders face trouble, their followers - and observers - ask questions. In the wake of the Bishop Eddie Long story, JET Magazine asked some of the country's top religious leaders about the power of pastors, how the Black church handles controversy and what challenges our society must address. The responses are diverse and illuminating, and we invite you to examine their messages.

To read what the ministers say, visit http://www.myjet247.com

One Love!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

We must put a STOP to this madness!

By: B. Brown

Good morning everyone. I am sharing my thoughts with you this morning with a lot on my mind about the demise of a very large segment of our young people today. My Prayers go out to Bobby Maurice Tillman and his family. May God be with you. God is your strength and refuge!

If you have not seen or heard about the story, here it is: In Douglasville, GA on Nov. 7th around 1am, Bobby Maurice Tillman, an 18 year old young man was stomped to death by four (4) other 18 - 19 year old's for absolutely no reason at all. One (1) of the 4 assailants was quoted as saying "the next male that walks by I'm going to hit him" and that type of mentality is what has taken Bobby Tillman's life. Now five (5) lives are ruined.

The overall scene was a house party that was supposed to be for 10 people, but due to calling, texting & tweeting, 70 young people showed up. The parents of the home did the right thing by saying no to these uninvited guests, but no one called the police for assistance to clear the street, and some young ladies got into a fight outside and that's how everything escalated into Bobby being murdered.

Now, as a parent, I am truly disgusted at the fact that all these young people witnessed this tragic beating, but none of them obviously attempted to break it up and save Bobby. Obviously they enjoyed watching it and that's another problem in itself. Are our young people this blood thirsty and insensitive to life in general? Did they think that this was a video game and all that needed to be done was to hit the reset button and Bobby would jump right up? A too large amount of our young people are disillusioned. The group of young people I'm referring to don't understand what they are supposed to be doing (terrible decision making skills), they have poor work ethic and actually want to be given everything.

When are we as adults and parents going to look in the mirror and realize that we are the cause of this tragedy. We must take responsibility for raising our children better than what we have been doing. These lost young people actually crave for love, attention, direction & yes even discipline! It is ok to discipline your child! Discipline helps everyone make proper decisions. If a person thinks before they act, usually they make the right decision.

Once the parents let the uninvited guests know that they couldn't come in, they should have made sure that the young people dispersed completely and possibly this tragedy never happens. If these young men that murdered Bobby Tillman had any love and discipline instilled in them, they never would have jumped on Bobby. Proper thinking would have prompted one of the many young people watching to call 911 or jump in to save Bobby. The proper way of thinking would have made all these young people just leave and go home, but if no one is teaching these young people how to think properly, what just happened is what we are going to get. I know Bobby and his family, along with the neighbors on the street would have appreciated some "proper thinking" at the time of this tragedy.

Then I hear, and have read that some parents & the NAACP are concerned about the witnesses being put on a Police Bus and being questioned by the police to find out who did this horrible thing. Are they kidding? What if that was their child murdered?

Let's wake up and put maximum effort into teaching our children how to think properly at all times! It starts when they are in the womb. Our children can learn and be great, but we have to instill some love, work ethic & discipline in them to achieve greatness. Parents, we have to do it!!!

One Love!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

What President Obama says our role is in regards to education.

President Obama on our role (from Ebony Magazine Cover; Sept. 2010):

"The most important thing for me is that every single Ebony (Ebony Magazine) reader help to parent our kids and set very high expectations for them."


"Education is the civil rights issue of our generation." - U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. (from Ebony Magazine Cover; Sept. 2010)

Saturday, June 12, 2010

What are we doing to our young men?

By: B. Brown (BREG)

Recently, while I was having a meeting at a restaurant, I noticed that a lady and her son walked past us, and they both went into the women's bathroom. I know you are saying, what's up? Here's what's up. The young man had to be at least 6 - 7 years old, and I believe that he is old enough to go into the men's bathroom by himself and the mother should wait for him outside of the door. He is definitely too old to go into the women's bathroom.

Since I was sitting near the bathroom of this facility, I started paying attention to who was going into the bathroom and at least two (2) more mothers or guardians took 6 - 10 year old young men into the women's bathroom! I was shocked and very disturbed by this trend.

I have spoken to several people about what I saw and they said, "you haven't seen that before", and I said, "no!" Obviously this has been going on for quite awhile now and poses several questions from me and explains the state of a lot of our young men, especially African-American young men.

My questions are:

1. Why are our adult females continuing to treat our young men as babies when they obviously have to grow up and be able to do things for themselves & by themselves?

- And a lot of our women wonder why we have a lot of men that are not self-sufficient. They are raised that way.

2. As our young men are continually taken into the women's bathroom, which bathroom will they choose to go into when their mother or female guardian isn't around?

- And we wonder where sexual identity issues come from for a lot of our young men. They are confused at an early age.


Parents, I do understand that watching our kids grow up is scary, but it is going to happen if we like it or not. I believe that we must embrace the process of our children growing up and let's empower them to do what they are supposed to do and set expectations for them.

If we want our young men to grow up to be responsible men, then we must start grooming them and teaching them how to be men as soon as possible. We cannot afford to wait until they are 14 years old to start teaching them how to be a man.

Now, I know that there are other factors involved like the fact that there are a lot of absent fathers in the home, but there are a lot of fathers that are present in the home. We have grandfathers, uncles, older cousins, teachers, coaches, counselors, mentors, etc. Women, please reach out to these men that will help you teach your son how to become a man. It is critical!

This blog is specifically speaking to what I have seen recently, and I would like to see our adult women stop taking our young men into the women's bathroom. It may have bigger ramifications then we all can even imagine.

One Love!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Classy Conduct - It's Never Out of Style

Written By: Fonzworth Bentley --- Entertainer/TV Personality/Author
(JET Perspective; Feb. 15, 2010; pg. 29)


Manners, confidence and style have always been part of the African-American experience. If you don't believe me, just look a classic movie footage of the Nicholas Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr. or Duke Ellington, to name a few. Or peek into your own family photo album to see that granddad and grandma really did have it together.

In 2010, we have a great opportunity to reclaim our heritage as an elegant and proud people.

Etiquette helps you feel confident and comfortable in all social situations. And, just as important, it helps others feel comfortable around you. Here are a few etiquette tips that have been passed down to me that I'd like to share:

1. Please and Thank You are magical words that can carry you a long way in this world. They can help open many doors. When you are grateful, the universe has a way of honoring and assisting you on your journey through life.

2. Look people in the eye when you're talking to them. It says you're confident in who you are and in what you're saying. Now, put a nice smile on and you're in. It works!

3. Your handshake can say a lot about you. It should be firm. And be sure to clasp the entire hand of the other person. No one wants to shake a "whimpy" hand.

4. If you're invited to a party or social event, don't bring others. You were invited-not your homies, your cousins or your children. If your host had wanted them to come, they would have been invited. Leave them home!

5. Keep in mind that both fish and house-guests stink after three (3) days. In other words, don't overstay your welcome when you visit someone's home.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

In Support of Earthquake-Torn Haiti!!!

By: B. Brown

I would like to take my hat off to the people of the United States of America!!!

We have supported Haiti in record-breaking fashion and I am very proud of that fact.

We have Wyclef's "Yele'" Organization, The Red Cross, The Clinton-Bush Fund, etc. That is what has really tripped me out, Former Presidents Clinton & Bush have united for a cause. Unbelievable! President Obama has made it clear that his administration is going to help Haiti through its tragedy and help it rebuild. As one of the strongest countries in the world even during our recession, we are still committed to helping an ailing country that desparately needs help. I am very proud of that committment!

I have personally supported Haiti by donating to Wyclef's organization and you can too by texting YELE to 501501 to donate $5.00. Let's continue to show our compassionate side and do what we would want someone to do for us.

God Bless the people of New Orleans, LA & Mississippi that experienced Hurricane Katrina and God Bless the people of Haiti and all the workers who are there helping!!!

God is good!!!

One Love!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Did we learn anything in 2009?

2009 was an amazing year in so many ways! It started with the Inauguration of the 1st African-American President of the United States of America, Barack Obama. One of the most saddening things that happened in 2009 is the beating death of the young man in Chicago, IL. His name is Derrion Albert, and he was a sophomore honor roll student at Christian Fenger Academy High School.

Another tremendously frightening occurrence is the fact that the United States has a 48% high school drop-out rate! I am very concerned that no one is really looking at this epidemic of young people just wandering right out of the schools out into the streets & left to the whims of their idling minds. I do not believe that is a good thing. I have recently heard a true but hard quote that sums up our U.S. Public School Systems and it is this, "for our Prison Systems to be successful, our School Systems must be unsuccessful." That's exactly what we have going on in our country right now. What do you think? Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, I need to holla at you about getting our public school systems back in check. I have some great ideas for some initiatives.

The good news coming out of 2009 is that President Obama has made great strides in getting a U.S. Public Health Insurance Option approved and put into action. Our economy also appears to be heading in the right direction. Thanks be to God!

I attempt to point out things to us adults and young people alike because we are in this thing together and we as the adults need to lead our children in the right direction at all costs. It will benefit all of us!

Happy New Year & let us all make positive differences in our respective communities in 2010!!!

One Love!

--- B. Brown

Hip-Hop Youth, Education and Parenting!