men of excellence

Men of Excellence

The Men of Excellence

Curtis Monday, State Farm owner agent and mentor Dr. Hasbrouck, director, Illinois Department of Public Health Rev. Otis Moss, III, Trinity Unity Church of God Maze Jackson, Owner, Compass Public Affairs

The Chicago Defender presents it annual gathering of inspirational brothers for a night of celebration and recognition. If you're gonna be awarded an opportunity to present yourself as excellent, then you had better be excellent from this moment moving forward. And I know about a quarter of the honorees that's being saluted this Friday at Chicago Defender's Men of Excellence event and I'll be watching each of them over the years to assure that they live up to the accolade. These men have been chosen for various of reasons and many have been awarded in the past for their work in their respective profession and community involvement and most have yet to reach their potential. But what's most important is that these brothers live up to the creed that excellence is performed year-round and it's about supporting your families and building progressive communities. Brothers like Maze Jackson, Mel Monroe, Damon Williams, Curtis Monday, Jonathan Jackson, Rev. Otis Moss, III., Dr. LaMar Hasbrouck, Alfonza Wysigner, David Ireland, Pemon Rami, Durrell James and Exavier Popeare men who I've known for years and have worked with in some capacity or another. I know they have and will always present excellence because they are serious about their place in history. They're concerned about how the record books will highlight their complete lives: Fatherhood, professional careers and service within the hoods in which they live, work and play. I salute them all and wish each man much success as they accept an award for excellence, in which excellence will be expected of them all. -CDW

Jonathan Jackson, Professor, Chicago State University & public speaker Mel Monroe, Owner, Welcome Inn Manor Exavier Pope, Esq, The Pope Law Firm (Entertainment Law) Damon Williams, comedian and radio talk show host

what we can do to make a difference!

Today at 7:41 AM

Making Progress; Moving Forward! Black Youth in Peril Only 10% of Black Boys Read Proficiently Books Over Ball Daddy Daughter Dance 2014 People of Color 10 Times More Likely to Be Shot than Whites Cooley High on Broadway in Bronzeville Links:The Black Star Project's website: blackstarproject.org Black Star Journal: blackstarjournal.org Become a Member: Click Here Event Calendar: Click Here Like us on Facebook: Black Youth in Peril:  The Narrative of Jada Williams  13 year old Jada Williams persecuted by White teachers and Rochester (N.Y.)  Public School system for daring  to make a comparison of the modern education system to the old slavery system    "The more I read, the more I was led to abhor and detest my enslavers. I could regard them in no other light than a band of successful robbers, who had left their homes, and gone to Africa, and stolen us from our homes, and in a strange land reduced us to slavery." - From The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave  Jada Williams (photo provided by The Black Star Project) BY JASON MUHAMMAD - GUEST COLUMNIST  MAY 2, 2012       As we continue to see evidence of the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan's warning that Black youth are in peril, we also see the danger is not always physical. Such is the case of Jada Williams, a 13-year-old 8th grader from Rochester, New York. Jada was recently forced to endure the chastisement of her teachers, principal, and other school administrators for her response to a district-wide activity where students were asked to read The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, and write a brief essay explaining what the narrative meant to them. Because of the essay she submitted, Jada was forced to leave school and was ultimately transferred to another school in order to protect her from further mistreatment. Jada composed a powerful essay comparing her own educational experiences with those of Frederick Douglass. Like him, she lamented that her peers did not like to read, and how difficult it was to obtain a decent education. According to the girl and her family, the following day teacher Jennifer Robie-Shoemaker approached Jada and stated that she was offended by what Jada wrote.  When Jada asked her why she was offended, Robie-Shoemaker stated that Jada had used the term "White teachers," according to the family.  Robie-Shoemaker's response was, "Don't talk about my colleague like that! Have you ever had a Black teacher?  That evening Jada's mother said she also received phone calls from the school's assistant principal, and Jada's social studies teacher saying the girl was misbehaving in class. The mother says she immediately called for a parent-teacher conference, feeling something did not seem right. The next day, Mrs. Williams, the assistant principal, Jada's social studies teacher, the school's parent liaison, and Robie-Shoemaker met. "The teacher (Robie-Shoemaker) kept saying that Jada was angry and that something was wrong with her, and that she needed to see a counselor," Mrs. Williams recalled. "They were trying to make it sound like something was wrong with Jada." "Teachers that had never called before began calling and saying that Jada was angry," Mrs. Williams said. "They were using the same language that Mrs. Robie-Shoemaker was using." "The people from the school kept saying how much they loved Jada," Mrs. Williams recalled. "But I told them, 'I don't need you to love her, I need for you to educate her.'"  ("Just like Frederick Douglass, Jada Williams was hunted like a run-away slave.  Her White teachers were angry that she had gotten "off the plantation" with her thinking and  talked about Black students holding White teachers accountable for teaching them to read. So they decided to hunt her down. Just like Harriet Tubman, Jada Williams tried to lead her classmates to educational freedom.  Just like Rosa Parks, Jada Williams struck the first blow for freedom by standing up!  Why do 13-year- old girls have to fight battles that Black adults won't?" - Phillip Jackson, The Black Star Project)     Click Here to Read Full Story  Click Here to Listen to the Full Essay and you decide if Jada Williams should have been forced out of school for wanting Black students to learn how to read. (Jason Muhammad is a member of the Nation of Islam in Rochester, New York.) In America, only 10% of 8th-grade Black boys can read proficiently* ****************************************************************** "If you teach that nigger how to read, there will be no keeping him! It will forever unfit him to be a slave! He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master." These are the words of Master Auld to his wife, who was teaching Frederick Douglass, a slave, to read. This passage is taken from an essay written by Jada Williams, 13, Rochester, New York. Click Here to see and hear Jada Williams read her essay.  She was shortly-after forced our of school for wanting Black children to learn to read. Click Here to learn more about Jada Williams. ****************************************************************** 2011 Reading Levels of 8th-Grade  Black Males from the Lowest-Performing  Large American School Districts*  City\Percentage of 8th-Grade Black Males Proficient in Reading*  Milwaukee - 3% Cleveland - 3% Detroit - 5% Washington (D.C.) - 6% San Diego - 7% Dallas - 7% Baltimore City - 7% Chicago - 9% Jefferson County, (KY) - 9% Atlanta - 9% Los Angeles - 9% Philadelphia - 9% Austin - 9% Houston - 9% Hillsborough County (FL) - 9% Boston - 10% Miami-Dade - 11% Charlotte - 12% New York City - 13%  ****************************************************************** It was illegal to teach slaves to read.  Slaves were beaten and killed if they could read.  New schools for former slaves were destroyed as an attempt to stop them from learning.  Did it work? There is no plan that we know of in any of the above cities or from the U.S. Department of Education to change the fact that 90% of 8th-grade of Black boys in America cannot read proficiently.  Black people in each of the above cities should call 773.285.9600 to become part of a plan to teach Black boys to read.  * Source: Minority Students and Public Education by Dr. Michael Holzman. This information was extracted from the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2011.   TCR Talks: Revin Fellows wants more young people to hit the books, not the streets Revin Fellows started Books over Balls to encourage youth to make education a bigger focus in their lives. [Photo by Michelle Kanaar] Latricia Polk, intern, The Chicago Reporter  January 13, 2014 Revin Fellows was raised in the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. On his way to play basketball at the Chatham YMCA, he would often pass the neighborhood drug dealers, who encouraged him to stay focused on his education. "In our community the protection and the encouragement came from low-level guys standing on the corners," Fellows says.  The 54-year-old former athlete went on to earn a bachelor's degree in physical education and health from Aurora University and has devoted much of his life to mentoring youth in poor neighborhoods. He helped start Book over Balls, a non-profit organization that mentors Chicago's youth and stresses education over violence.  The Chicago Reporter (TCR) talked recently with Fellows about sports, education and making a difference: What is Books Over Balls about? We use basketball as a motivation to bring young men back to getting their education with organized basketball tournaments like Battle for the Rim. In which communities does the organization work? We work with kids from South Shore, Austin and Englewood. We try to work with kids from all over Chicago and other organizations. What are some of the methods you use to reach the youth? You have to be honest with them and keep it positive with them, and you have to show them that you are for real, and we did that with our basketball showcase. How has Book over Balls made a difference? We were able to get 80 young men off the streets and into the gym. This past August we teamed up with NBA star Will Bynum's Elite Basketball Camp and had kids signing the Non-Violence Task Force Bill with Gov. Pat Quinn and State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford in pledging to stay away from violence. Why is this work important to you? It's a passion. When I was younger I had guy's mentoring me and helping me stay out of trouble. I'm trying to influence what they gave me. Click Here to Read Full Interview . Daughters Grab Your Fathers for  The 5th Annual Valentines Day  2014 Daddy Daughter Dance Saturday, February 8, 2014 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm at The Black Star Ballroom 3509 South King Drive Chicago, Illinois     Young women 4- to 14-years old are invited to dress up and show their fathers a good time at The Black Star Project's 5th Annual Daddy Daughter Dance.  Cost $30.00 per couple and $5.00 per extra young lady.  Please call 773.285.9600 to register your couple or to get a free organizing kit to bring theDaddy Daughter Dance to your city.  This event is sponsored byThe Black Star Project's Million Fathers Club.  Attire: Dress To Impress Music - Dancing - Food - Fun - Crafts - Pictures!!! Data: Black Chicagoans at higher risk of being shot by police Nine out of every 10 police-involved shootings involves a person of color  [Photo illustration by Burlingham/Shutterstock] By Angela Caputo January 23, 2014 Chicago police have long been criticized for interpreting the Constitution in different ways depending on which neighborhood they patrol. People living in a white neighborhood, or a wealthy one, are rarely stopped or frisked. Replace "white" and "wealthy" with "brown" and "poor," and the odds increase.  "All of a sudden, you're a suspect," civil rights attorney Craig Futterman says.    More confrontations with police heighten the chances of a deadly encounter--particularly for people of color.    New data released Wednesday by the City of Chicago Independent Police Review Authority show African Americans are 10 times more likely to be shot by a Chicago police officer than a white person.    As we've reported before, the city has paid out millions to settle related lawsuits. Yet, rarely are members of the police force found culpable. Even when a life is lost.  Click Here to Read Full Story The Black Star Project Supports  Broadway in Bronzeville The Black Star Project Supports  African Night and Young People Organizing for Progress on  Saturday, February 1, 2014 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm K.L.E.O. Center - 119 East Garfield Chicago, Illinois   Support 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working In Your Community  Churches Across America Should  Provide Jobs for Young Black Men.  You cannot fix the problems of young Black men if they don't have constructive employment.   Churches can change this... In times of economic strain, our whole community suffers from the complications of unemployment. In an effort to develop a new model of community outreach and economic sustainability, The Black Star Project is launching the 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working program.   These are the employment facts for young Black men in America: Young Black men have the highest unemployment rate of any group in the country. Unofficially, some academics believe that only 8 out of 100 young Black men have jobs. White adult felons are more likely to have jobs than young Black men without criminal records. Upper-middle class Black youth are less likely to have jobs than low-income White youth. The Black Star Project is offering the opportunity for your church or faith organization to participate in this program. Each church or faith organization can: Take up a special collection of $100.00 per week Hired a young, African American male to work in the church, temple synagogue or mosque for 10 hours per week, or Refer the young man to a local not-for-profit or business to work  Pay the young man minimum wage to $10.00 per hour for 10 hours per week  Ensure that each young man gains valuable work experience Ensure that each young man has valuable mentoring experience To get your church involved in 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working or for more information about this program, please call 773.285.9600. Please Click Here for more information.

K.O.B Show times

Check out my filming of Kids off the Block,

6th annual Feed  a Teen event 

on the south side Rose land community.  

Mrs. Diane Latiker the first Lady of

Roseland CNN Hero does a great job

in helping the youth in Roseland, I have

been filming those events over the years.

Channel 19

Show times on Comcast/Infinity in Feb.

Fri. 02/07/14  9:30pm

Sun, 02/09/14 4:30pm

Fri, 02/14/14 9:30pm

Sun, 02/16/14 4:30pm

Fri, 02/21/14 9:30pm

Sun, 02/23/14 4:30pm

Fri, 02/28/14.  9:30pm Derrick Flemmings bday party

expungement summit

92% of Black Male Teens in Chicago Unemployed

Making Progress; Moving Forward! 92% Black Male Teens Unemployed Black Parents--Do You Want A Revolution? Nationally, Only 10% Black Males Read Proficiently Daddy Daughter Dance Links:The Black Star Project's website: blackstarproject.org Black Star Journal: blackstarjournal.org Become a Member: Click Here Event Calendar: Click Here Like us on Facebook: 92% of Black Male Teens  in Chicago Unemployed Chicago, Illinois (FOX 32 News) - Startling new figures about the state of our economy have recently come out. Ninety-two percent of African American male teenagers in Chicago don't have a job. A trend that continues to head in the wrong direction, for white and Hispanic teens, too. The jobs catastrophe here is far worse than the national average. These shocking numbers released by the Chicago Urban League are one more grim result of Illinois having 600,000 fewer jobs today than we did in the year 2000. Work that teens traditionally did, from delivering newspapers to flipping burgers, is now done by adults desperate for any income. "We do the studies because I don't think most people realize how bad the problem is and understand why this should be a priority issue. They think, "Oh, summer jobs for kids. That's a nice thing." It's not a "nice thing." It's a required thing," President of the Chicago Urban League Andrea Zopp said. Dvante King got one of his jobs last summer though Diane Latiker's Kids Off the Block, referred to a City Hall program. "Nothing is being invested to give those young people whose jobs are being taken, nothing is being done to create jobs for them," Latiker said. Something to think about, especially when teens, like King, who are employed, are asked how it feels and they respond, "I mean, it made me feel, it made me feel wonderful." Yet, nine out of 10 young men like him, though, don't get to experience that wonderful feeling of validation and achievement that comes from being able to say, "I have a job." Click Here to Read Full Story Black Parents United   and The Black Star Community PTA  present  Do You Want a Parent Revolution? Thursday, January 23, 2014  6:30 pm to 8:00 pm  3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B  Chicago, Illinois   With 92% of Black male teens in Chicago being unemployed and 91% of Black male teens in Chicago not being able to read at a proficient level, does anyone see a pattern developing? Parents have no right to complain about schools destroying their children if they are not willing to strike the first blow to save and to educate their children.   Black parents must take control of the education of Black students.  Nothing short of a full-blown Black parent movement can save Black children!   Do You Want a Revolution??? or more of the same?  Join us on Thursday at The Black Star Project.  Call 773.285.9600 for more information.  *************************************************************************** This meeting is made possible with generous support from The Field Foundation of Illinois and the Woods Fund of Chicago. Only 10% of 8th-grade Black males in the United States read at or above a proficient level.*  For those of us who are math challenged, that means, on average, that if you count any 10 Black males on your block, only one of them reads at a proficient level.  If you count 100 Black males in your city, only 10 of them read at a proficient level.  In Milwaukee and Cleveland, only 3 out of 100 young Black men read at or above a proficient level. Do any of the cities below have a plan to improve these scores?  Not of which we know. Knowing this, it explains the super-high unemployment rates, the unconscionably high incarceration rates and the absence of supportive Black men in families.  They can't READ!   Slaves were beaten and killed if they could read.  New schools for former slaves were destroyed as an attempt to stop them from learning.  It did not work. 2011 Reading Levels of 8th-Grade  Black Males from the Lowest-Performing  Large American School Districts*  City\Percentage of 8th-Grade Black Males Proficient in Reading*  Milwaukee - 3% Cleveland - 3% Detroit - 5% Washington (D.C.) - 6% San Diego - 7% Dallas - 7% Baltimore City - 7% Chicago - 9% Jefferson County, (KY) - 9% Atlanta - 9% Los Angeles - 9% Philadelphia - 9% Austin - 9% Houston - 9% Hillsborough County (FL) - 9% Boston - 10% Miami-Dade - 11% Charlotte - 12% New York City - 13%  * Source: Minority Students and Public Education by Dr. Michael Holzman.  This information was extracted from the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2011. Support 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working In Your Community  Churches Across America Should  Provide Jobs for Young Black Men.  You cannot fix the problems of young Black men if they don't have constructive employment.   Churches can change this... In times of economic strain, our whole community suffers from the complications of unemployment. In an effort to develop a new model of community outreach and economic sustainability, The Black Star Project is launching the 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working program.   These are the employment facts for young Black men in America: Young Black men have the highest unemployment rate of any group in the country. Unofficially, some academics believe that only 8 out of 100 young Black men have jobs. White adult felons are more likely to have jobs than young Black men without criminal records. Upper-middle class Black youth are less likely to have jobs than low-income White youth. The Black Star Project is offering the opportunity for your church or faith organization to participate in this program. Each church or faith organization can: Take up a special collection of $100.00 per week Hired a young, African American male to work in the church, temple synagogue or mosque for 10 hours per week, or Refer the young man to a local not-for-profit or business to work  Pay the young man minimum wage to $10.00 per hour for 10 hours per week  Ensure that each young man gains valuable work experience Ensure that each young man has valuable mentoring experience To get your church involved in 1 Church, 1 Job, 1 Young Black Man Working or for more information about this program, please call 773.285.9600. Please Click Here for more information.  Register Your Students for Saturday University - Starts This Week There is no way that schools in the 21st century, by themselves, can ever educate the masses of Black children in America without parents, families and communities becoming engaged in the educational process.      We have 22 free Saturday Universities operating in Chicago and in the west, north and south suburbs. Please call 773.285.9600 to open a Saturday University, to register your child for free academic enhancement or for more information about bringing the Saturday University to your community. We need teachers and tutors for our sites. Please call 773.285.9600 to volunteer. Daughters Grab Your Fathers for  The 5th Annual Valentines Day  2014 Daddy Daughter Dance Saturday, February 8, 2014 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm at The Black Star Ballroom 3509 South King Drive Chicago, Illinois     Young women 4- to 14-years old are invited to dress up and show their fathers a good time at The Black Star Project's 5th Annual Daddy Daughter Dance.  Cost $30.00 per couple and $5.00 per extra young lady.  Please call 773.285.9600 to register your couple or to get a free organizing kit to bring theDaddy Daughter Dance to your city.  This event is sponsored byThe Black Star Project's Million Fathers Club.  Attire: Dress To Impress Music - Dancing - Food - Fun - Crafts - Pictures!!!

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