The Agenda

Marching is fine. It's a symbol of unity. A symbol that the people are dissatisfied and feeling under represented.

                What we are missing is an agenda. I was initially distraught at so many people I look up to repeating March, March, March and wished they would stop saying march and get to work. However, as it seems to be the case so often lately I must be the only one willing to do the work. So, since no one else is willing, I have some ideas...

                Police brutality in America, especially New York City, has become expected. The deaths of black men young and old at the hands policemen across the country has nearly become the expected end to police brutality. As tragic as these recent events have been, what is most disheartening has been the response by the 'representatives' of these affected neighborhoods. The severe lack of representation in Ferguson, MO and other cities like Tompkinsville, Staten Island is devastating. That there can be a city like Ferguson where the vast majority of its citizens aren't being represented should be a signal of distress across the country.   What the people demand is proper representation in the pursuit of justice. These citizens have been begging for representation long before this year. It took these tragic events to catalyze them into the streets.  Now is the time to act. Attorney General Holder is holding a civil rights investigation. The White House must come out of that investigation with some concrete actions. The following is what the citizens of this country demand and I expect:

1. There will be immediate elections in cities, like Ferguson, where the officials are obviously not able to represent the interests of the citizens of the city
2. There will be empowerment of organizations like the Staten Island Community Board to "police the police," to do the job they were created to do, represent smaller communities within larger cities like New York.
3. There will be mandatory body cameras on policeman all across the country. 
4. There will be election reform across the country to make it easier for citizens to vote and virtually impossible for any other interest to restrict voter access.
5. There will be a, new, national committee focused on collecting data to ensure the above actions are being fulfilled.

This is just the beginning. There will be more specific demands as the people continue to see holes in their representation that need to be filled. We will continue to march until justice is served. Justice can no longer be subjective. Today justice is not available to all of America's citizens. We must make it so. It is for each of us a sacred duty.

The time to act is now. We have the freedom to ask, as well as the freedom to act. We will be free.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Donald Sterling, Ferguson, MO and Bruce Levenson (The Non-Racist Racist)

My boy Mic Drop beat me to the punch and so did the founder of the ASU at UCLA. I finally got to read the email Bruce Levenson wrote and decided that he doesn't need to sell this team, although the rumors are that he was looking for a way out. Unfortunately for him, some other enterprising owner may see the business innovation that lies in Atlanta. It may be too late for Bruce Levenson but it is not too late for the black community.

This email demonstrates a huge problem in the African American community. We don't fully participate. That's the reason cities like Ferguson, with a vast Black majority, are not controlled by blacks. Too often, we depend on white Americans' morality and ethics, asking them for jobs and ceding leadership. Then we cry when they fail to satisfy our needs.

The black population in Atlanta is more than capable of purchasing season tickets. They, just like the black population in New Orleans, don't see the benefit of that type of expenditure. Those two chocolate cities often struggle to even get there games on air but it only takes a minute in either city to see they have a substantial fan base. Unfortunately, they also have high black populations who don't want to spend money on sports entertainment. The black population of these cities is maybe too used to their sports teams being dependent on the white fan base.

This letter's only failure is in seeing the solution. The solution is not as formulaic as getting more white fans. It is in changing the culture in chocolate cities. Although, from a business standpoint, that requires spending money on a new marketing campaign to encourage the citizens of cities like Atlanta to make investments in their cities and their teams, focusing on the black citizens. It is radical both socially, politically and economically. However, current events demand a radical change not just in America but in the chocolate cities and black communities all over world.

Hopefully, that enterprising and radical owner will use the services of a emerging black business owner who sees the opportunity to both stimulate and lead the black economy out of the dumps and into a much brighter future.