Great statement for you and your children!!!

"Rosa [Parks] sat so Martin [Luther King, Jr.] could walk ... Martin walked so [Barack] Obama could run ... Obama is running so our kids can fly! Do not dare let his dream die! VOTE!!!"

--- Unknown Author


B. Brown's Thoughts: This statement is very profound and powerful because it clearly says that our predecessors have sacrificed for us, and each generation must take the next step and continue to move forward.

My parents were a part of the Civil Rights movement and heavily involved in the Student Movement of the 1960's and I take my voting rights very seriously. Black people officially received the right to vote in 1965. That's not that long ago. We must all excercise our right to vote and put the proper people in office and then hold them accountable.

Spike Lee's Classic Movie sums it up for me, Do the Right Thing!

One Love!

It's Election time, have you spoken to your child or children?

By: B. Brown

Obama or McCain? Is it really a question who should be our next President of the United States of America? To me no, but amazingly enough there are people out there that actually support McCain for some reason. Other than being racist and/or extremely wealthy, I honestly do not know how anyone could seriously vote for McCain. I am an Obama supporter and I have voted already! Either way, we are in America and we all have a choice to make by or on November 4, 2008. God Bless America!

Some parents may believe that discussing politics with their children is not important, but I believe it is because you never know what is going to spark an interest in them. I definitely believe parents should discuss this particular Presidential Election with their children because we are on the verge of one of the most historic moments in political history! Obama is the 1st African-American to win a Major Party's Nomination for President and actually is ahead in the polls right now. He has dominated the debates between he and McCain, and Obama is poised to be elected the New President of the United States on November 4, 2008.

I urge everyone 18 years of age and older to get out and vote and make a difference! Obama needs your vote to ensure history being made! Be a part of history and vote to make sure it becomes a reality! Obama has not won yet, but we all can do our part to help him become our New President of the United States!

Parents, speak to your children and share this historic moment with them!

One Love!

The United States Financial Picture!!! Do our youth know?

Thoughts From: B. Brown (BREG)

Hello America! It is amazing what is going on right now! Well, actually it is not. If you have been paying attention for the last 8-years, we have all been involved in a breakdown of American values, morals and economic strength. The U.S. is no longer the world economic leader. That is something to really look at and understand.

A Wall Street staple, Lehman Brothers Holdings is gone. This week alone, the U.S. Government took over AIG (American International Group, Inc.) with an $85 Billion Bailout! Bank of America just bought Merrill Lynch & Co. Morgan Stanley, Wachovia & Washington Mutual are looking at different scenarios of buyouts and mergers to survive as "share prices" continue to fall. The picture is not pretty!

All my parents out there, I encourage you to talk to your children and loved ones about what's going on with our economy because if you don't, you will find yourself in even worse shape if you don't have the information to make some good decisions here in the near future. As you see, gas prices are crazy high and some gas stations don't have any gas at all. We must investigate for ourselves and have a good idea on what is going on in our country and around the world. China is the new world economic leader. We as parents and adults must know this and we must share and explain this to our children. Our children must understand that it is not ok to be ignorant and misinformed. They must be "awake"!

I encourage everyone to read the U.S.A. Today, The Wall Street Journal, News Week, etc. to stay up to date on what's going on and tune in to talk radio and CNN, MSNBC, etc. This is an election year and we must all get out and vote! I personally support Obama!!!

Let's continue to Pray and "Faith without Action is Dead!"

One Love!

"Hard Times at Frederick Douglass High School"

Thoughts From: B. Brown

Let me first commend HBO (Home Box Office) for airing such a moving and realistic view of urban - predominantly black high schools. I use the plural form because Frederick Douglass High School in Baltimore, MD is not the only high school that faces the issues and concerns that were shown in the HBO Documentary. I can name you five (5) or more high schools just like that in Metro Atlanta, GA. Oh yeah, we have a serious problem America!

Accountability! Accountability? What's that? Being responsible for one's actions and duties. It's amazing that all these people in high positions in education across the country refuse to take a stand and do what is right for the children. You see, it has to be some kind of plan in place to continue to allow our national public schools to spin downwards toward our current 48.6% dropout rate and that number is going to continue to rise if we don't do something now to correct the problem. What is the actual problem? I believe the problem is that we are attempting to educate New Millineum Kids with "The Leave it to Beaver" educational blueprint. Guess what everyone, it's NOT WORKING!!! Our Local & State Guidelines are unrealistic! If I didn't know better, you would actually believe that they just don't know what is going on on the front lines at our schools. Obviously that is not the truth, because we see the proof every day!

The Powers that be must creatively come up with Parental Outreach Programs that will help the parents. That's the key! We have to help the Parents! A lot of our kids are caught in vicious cycles of self-hate, poverty & see no value in education. They are looking for ways to survive, not how to do geometry. The Parents do not know how to get out of the vicious cycle. Let's invest money into programs that will attract the Parents to shool with their children and let's help both of them at the same time. Let's put value back into education and then let's see how our communities improve.

Now, I am one of those people that believe a college education and above is not for everyone, but a basic high school education IS for everyone!

Let us all remember that we live in a Capitalist Society and for their to be very Wealthy people, there has to be very Poor people. It's that simple and the powers that be know this fact. So now the choice goes back to the parents and the individual when that individual gets to a certain age where they can make decisions on their own about their education.

Let's keep working towards a better place!

One Love!


http://www.winbush-brown.successuniversity.com

Hip-Hop vs. America 2008 (BET)

B. Brown's opinion of BET's Forum "Hip-Hop vs. America" - 2008

The first thing I observed is the fact that the title is wrong. As David Banner said, the title should actually be America vs. Hip-Hop. America is the one blaming Hip-Hop for all of society's ills. Anyone with common sense knows that is not true. Hip-Hop was birthed from the oppression and degradation of black youth and blacks in general. Hip-Hop and the culture of Hip-Hop is expression!

Jeff Johnson & MC Lyte did a great job of moderating the forum and attempting to keep the discussion moving and dealing with passionate responses from panelists.

A lot of issues were put forth that touched a nerve and now we are challenged to create solutions that are going to effectively change our current situation in America.

My first question is when are we as adults and leaders going to start telling the truth that success of any kind starts with education? It appears to me that here in America, we have just dumped education into the back seat and kept driving. That is very dangerous because the young people that do not have solid parenting get left behind tremendously and that's when trouble begins for those young people. When a young person cannot read, write or count effectively, school becomes a very intimidating place. A young person does not want to be exposed like that and chooses to act out, act a fool or not come to school at all. So in this age of indignity, disrespect, sagging pants, wanting instant money, wanting instant fame and wanting all the trapping of life, we have to learn how to go through the proper processes to obtain what we want in life. Our Hip-Hop Youth have to be taught to value education!

My next question is what has happened to the Black Church? Everyone used to run to the church for help, but I don't personally see that anymore. If anything, everyone runs to the schools and then tries to blame the school for the children underachieving. It's quite amazing! The Black Church was one of the first places where black men could have their voices heard and now instead of spirituality & freedom, a lot of churches are caught up in financial prosperity preaching. Again, this is a very dangerous situation because now you have a lot of people attending church for the wrong reason. Several Panelists talked about how black men in the church did not attend to the needs of black women in the church. There is misogyny in the church and their is misogyny in hip-hop.

David Banner says, "We have to show these kids how to get out of the hood. They know when people are spitting BS to them."

Lyfe Jennings says, "I don't have a problem with my kids listening to negative type music, but I would have a problem if I wasn't there to explain to them the difference between negative and positive music and the fact that it is entertainment."

Talib Kweli says, "Artists usually have records with substance on their albums, but those songs are not their singles."

Nelson George says, "How are these Hip-Hop videos being shot? What is the quality of video? Was the video done in good taste?"

M1 of Dead Prez says, "Reevaluate what it means to be a man."

Eugene Rivers says, "There is a tremendous absence of mentoring to our young people."

B. Brown --- As I continue to research and observe our society as a whole and then look at Hip-Hop, there appears to be a lack of accountability at every level of society which makes it very easy to point at Hip-Hop as a very guilty villain in the demise of our young people and women. But the reality is that we can not blame Hip-Hop for society's breakdown and sadness, but we can hold Hip-Hop accountable for what it does do to contribute to our youth's slow death. The major record companies market, promote & distribute music that is some times not very positive and shouldn't be listened to in heavy rotation. But as we all know, society craves sex, money & murder. Advertisers pay big money to reach viewers and listeners. Money is the bottom line and when society changes its focus from money to spiritual and moral fortitude, then you will start seeing an even bigger change in Hip-Hop!

A lot of rappers have been influenced heavily by the Godfather Trilogy and Scarface Films along with the other gangster and murderous type films like Rambo, Terminator, etc. I have not seen the same protests and objections to the writers, directors & actors of this type of entertainment as I have seen in Hip-Hop. I wonder why?

If we as America are going to hold Hip-Hop accountable, let's hold the Major Record Companines, Corporate America, White America, Latino America, Hispanic America, Asian America, etc. accountable as well and let's get to the root of the problem. The problem is the chase and obtainment of money without any regards for our fellow human beings. THE SOLUTION IS TO TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR OUR OWN ACTIONS AND TO TEACH, LOVE & DISCIPLINE OUR CHILDREN SO THAT THEY ARE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS AND START A POSITIVE CYCLE OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR EVERYONE! WATCH HOW AMERICA AND THE WORLD WILL CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!

School Leadership!!!

By: Bill Clinton (*Former President of the United States)
--- excerpt from his book My Life pg. 318

“… I had become convinced that school performance depended more on the quality of a principal’s leadership than on any other single factor. The years ahead only strengthened that conviction …”

B. Brown’s thoughts: Education is one of the most precious things that we all can obtain if we work for it and apply ourselves. Once we receive our degrees and certificates and certifications, we are able to pursue areas that are otherwise closed. But we have also seen amazing cases of very smart and determined individuals that did not finish high school or college create, develop and establish great companies that have impacted local, state, national & international business.

Everything starts at the “head” and when you have an effective leader and leadership team, you will see a school that is running smooth, deals with discipline issues promptly & effectively and high academic achievement.I believe all children have the ability to learn in some capacity. It is the school system’s job to educate our children. Educational Leadership has to properly place students where they need to be so that these students may receive the education that they need. You have verbal learners, you have visual learners. Everything starts with discipline and when a student knows that they have to walk a straight line, and then you best believe that they are going to walk a straight line. Students only do what teachers and administration allow them to do, bottom line!

We must get back to basics and start truly wanting our children to learn and want are kids to be able to think. We need to reevaluate our National Legislation on Special Education and stop putting all these kids in Special Ed. Programs just to pass them through school. The school gets terrorized by these students because these students are allowed special privileges to skip classes and tear up the school. These students do not have the proper foundation of education needed to achieve. Let’s put them in smaller, one-on-one type atmospheres that will help them obtain the basic foundation of learning and watch how they achieve.

Our Leadership in Education must take firm & positive action to improve the performance of our students and schools. Let’s take control of our schools and connect with the parents of these students. Leadership cannot be afraid of parents that have children that do not come to school to learn. Parents and leadership must put students in position to learn at whatever level that child is currently working at, and Leadership must invest more money and resources in Vocational Training and Military Training for our students that need to go another route other than a Liberal Arts-College Prep educational route.

Educational Leadership, I challenge you!!!

The New Black Youth Culture

By: Bakari Kitwana

For our parent's generation, the political ideals of civil rights and Black power are central to their worldview. Our parent's generation placed family, spirituality, social responsibility, and Black pride at the center of their identity as Black Americans. They, like their parents before them, looked to their elders for values and identity. The coreset of values shared by a large segment of the hip-hop generation - Black America's generation X - stands in contrast to our parents' worldview. For the most part, we have turned to ourselves, our peers, global images and products, and the new realities we face for guidance. In the process, the values and attitudes described above anchor our worldview.

Our parents' values maintain a strong presence within our worldview. But in cases where the old and the new collide, the old - more often than not - is superseded by the new. For example, Black pride is still an important part of this generation's identity. In fact, the hip-hop generation has embraced the idea of Blackness in ways that parallel the Black consciousness raising of the late 1960's and early 1970's. The popularization of the Afrocentric movement from the late 1980's through the 1990's, pro-Black lyrics on the contemporary rap scene, as well as traditional hairstyles (dreadlocks and braids, for example) adopted by many hip-hop generationers all speak to this. Regardless of whether this is a brand of hard-core nationalism or a lukewarm, flash-in-the-pan bou-gie nationalism, the fact remains that when many hip-hop generation youth have to choose between personal financial success at the expense of what the older generation considers communal cultural integrity, individual gain generally comes first.