Black men quietly combating stereotypes

NEW YORK — Keith Borders tries hard not to scare people.He’s 6-foot-7, a garrulous lawyer who talks with his hands.

And he’s black.

Many people find him threatening. He works hard to prove otherwise. Read more

Cornerstones of Faith: Rebuilding communities with vision and faith.

While city leaders work out budgets and decide which projects will go forth, Greater Shiloh has put its plan in motion and will move into the first phase of the new church complex before the end of 2008. The 37,000 square foot facility will feature a 1200 seat sanctuary, a multi-purpose center, offices and classrooms. The church will also feature what Dr. Wesley touts as an easily recognizable structure - a stunning brick water fountain and walkway which will serve as the monumental display of the rebuilding efforts of the entire West End community. The second phase is not far behind the first with the Civic Center complex featuring many amenities only found in the most desirable of neighborhoods. This outstanding facility will be home to an Olympic-sized swimming pool, state-of-the-art exercise facilities, a full-sized basketball court and two racquetball courts. Not only will it offer recreational facilities, it will also house banquet, conference and meeting rooms as well as an insightful tribute to many of the very individuals that grew up in Birmingham’s inner cities and other rural Alabama towns. Dr. Wesley also points out that one of the most important features and perhaps the most appreciated will be the training facilities for youth aspiring for career opportunities sponsored by corporations and private business partners.

These aren’t the only developments in this once thriving community - just down the road, on Jefferson Avenue, new buildings have emerged replacing unsightly overgrown lots, burned buildings and obviously dilapidated structures. In addition Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and the Birmingham City Council have been working on plans to revitalize Fair Park which will provide an excellent foundation for western community development projects.

With the price of gas only increasing, there is a steady rise in the number of home buyers and developers that are interested in becoming a part of the rebuilding effort for Birmingham’s communities. While the City Center is emerging as the location of choice for environmental and budget conscious consumers, communities like Birmingham’s West End are being identified by young hip couples as the perfect spot to start a family and this has many, especially business owners and realty developers taking notice. New franchises, retail living centers and homes are springing up all over the local area, all in support of a revitalized Birmingham.

One such area seeing explosive growth is the Ensley community. Local attorney and business man, Antonio Spurling has taking a huge leap of faith in revitalizing the Ensley community. Besides relocating his legal practice to downtown Ensley, Mr. Spurling purchased several businesses in the area and converted them into high traffic office and retail buildings. Within one year, Mr. Spurling opened a high-end consignment shop, Recycled Wardrobe; a multi-use facility, The Ensley Live Entertainment Center; a video gaming and Internet café, PlayOver Games & Movies as well as furniture shop, Recycled Furniture, which like its clothing counterpart offers new and gently used goods. Mr. Spurling is also completing a second phase of development which will offer ground floor retail and loft office spaces and the restoration and reopening of the popular Ensley Grill.

Without a doubt these are the type of projects that are needed to help fuel the growth of many Birmingham communities, which started a spiral downward in the early 80’s. Restoring community pride must start somewhere and giving the people of the community facilities, businesses and homes to be proud of should be at the foundation of revitalization efforts. Individuals like Dr. Michael Wesley and Attorney Antonio Spurling are just two visionaries that have replaced cliques and outside influences with God, sincere efforts and utter determination in order to oversee change in the inner cities of the metropolitan area. These two men are showing that through faith and prayer change can become a reality.

How can you help?

Reinforce these and other visionary efforts by visiting the businesses and supporting community events that are taking place across the city.

 

To support redevelopment of the West End Community and find out how you can participate in the Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church brick campaign and other community redevelopment projects call (205) 925-5972 or visit www.greatershiloh.org

 

Please note Brick Campaign Forms are available for individuals and businesses.

 

To find out more about Ensley Redevelopment efforts and how you can support the following business call the numbers listed below.

Playover Games & Movies (205) 788-2388
Recycled Wardrobe (205) 788-7718
Recycled Furniture (205) 781-3116
Spurling & Associates (205) 788-7006
Ensley Live Event Center

 

 

 

Future of Black Men Critical for “American Family”

WASHINGTON (NNPA)  National Urban League President Marc Morial, in NUL’s annual State of Black America address, this week, describes the underachievement of Black males as being among Americas greatest crisis.”This state of underachievement, with its devastating and far-reaching ramifications, is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today,” Morial says in his report,

“The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male,” a 260-page document, released this week. “It’s a problem with a major rippling effect. Not only does it impact individual Black men. It also hurts their families and communities. It’s not just a problem for the African-American community. It’s a problem for everyone in this nation.” The SOBA report, an annual measurement of Black progress, outlines egregious statistics:

Black men are more than twice as likely to be unemployed as White men and make only 74 percent as much a year. Black men are more than six times as likely than White men to be incarcerated and their average jail sentences tend to be 10 months longer than those of White men.

At the end of 2001, 16.5 percent of the Black male population had been to prison compared to 7.7 percent of Hispanic and 2.7 percent of White men. Young Black males between the ages of 15 and 34 years are nine times more likely to be killed by firearms and nearly eight times as likely to suffer from AIDS.

Of single parent Black households in 2005, only 12 percent were led by men.

More than two-thirds of Black children live in one-parent households in 2005, the majority headed by women.

More than 42 percent of female-headed Black households with children were poor, compared to slightly more than 9 percent of married Black households.

“The absence of the Black man in the Black family will only lead to greater poverty for our community as a whole,” states Morial. “It helps exacerbate the disparities already existing between minorities and Whites in the United States.”

The SOBA report includes op-eds by author, speaker and educator Michael Eric Dyson, and national child advocate Marian Wright Edelman. It also includes essays by NAACP Legal Defense Fund General Counsel Theodore Shaw and noted researcher Silas Lee as well as a foreword by Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Black America is like two stories, states Obama, a leading Democratic candidate for president whom many view as a symbol of success. But, his forward tells two sides.

“One story celebrates the extraordinary fact that some of this countrys top financial institutions have Black chief executives, that a Black woman is president of an Ivy League university, that the current and previous secretaries of state are Black Americans, that a Black coach led his team to victory in the Super Bowl, that the college graduation rate of Black women has never been higher, that homeownership by Blacks is as high as it has ever been, and that Blacks have penetrated nearly every barrier in law, business, medicine, sports, education, politics and public service,” the senator writes in the SOBA foreword. “But, another story must also be told about the state of Black America,” he states.

“A quarter of all Black Americans live below the federal poverty level, a poverty rate about twice the national rate. More than a third of all Black children live in poverty and almost two-thirds grow up in a home without both parents. In some cities, more than half of all Black boys do not finish high school, and by the time they are in their 30s, almost six in ten Black high school dropouts will have spent time in prison. Half of all Black men in their 20s are jobless, and one study a few years ago found more Black men in prison than enrolled in college. The typical Black household earns only about 60 percent of the earnings of White households and has a net worth only about 10 percent that of Whites. The HIV/AIDS rate is highest for Black Americans and Blacks are more often the victims of inadequate healthcare and preventable health maladies.”

This year’s SOBA focuses on the Black male, but it says Black America in general has made little progress since last year. Last year’s SOBA reported that Black Americas “equality index” was at 73 percent of Whites. This year its at 73.3, the report states.

“In other words, Blacks made minimal progress on the equality front in the past few years,” the report states, but it was dismal for Black males.

“While there are Barack Obamas and Lovie Smiths out there to prove just how far Black men can go, there are many whose futures are far from bright,” says Morial. “The equality index shows us that Black men continue to lag behind their White counterparts in every major category; a disproportionate number of Black men are underperforming in our society in a variety of areas for a variety of reasons.”

Despite the obvious crisis among Black males, there were key positives pointed out in the report.

“A higher percentage of young black children are enrolled in early childhood education programs such as Head Start than young White children  66 percent compared to 64 percent,” the report states. “And the youngest blacks have made strong improvements in the areas of school readiness - scoring at 94 percent of that of Whites, up from 81 percent in 2006.”

But, then something happens after elementary school as Blacks - especially males - begin to fall behind Whites.

“Disparities in writing proficiency scores widen as Blacks grow older. At 4th grade, they perform at a level of 87 percent of Whites. By the time they reach 12th grade, their scores are at 74 percent of Whites. And after they reach adulthood, they’re the most likely to have dropped out  15 percent compared to 12 percent of Whites. For Black males, the percentage rises to 18 percent compared to 14 percent of White males.”

The report outlines five specific solutions for the problems facing Black America; especially Black males: Universal Early Childhood Education, especially for children “from disadvantaged backgrounds, a leg-up when they start school.”

Greater experimentation with all-male schools, longer school days and mentoring. The combination of “mentoring and longer days help keep young boys focused on their education and away from distractions that could lead them down the wrong paths,” the reports states. More second chance programs for high school dropouts and ex-offenders. These kinds of programs would bring “ex-offenders and disadvantaged individuals who are out of school and out of work back into the mainstream.”

Restore the Federal Summer Jobs Program to its previous state. A major scaling back of this program resulted when federal lawmakers changed the program from mandatory for states to an optional program. The Urban League proposes its restoration.

Drive home the message that education pays dividends. “Parents need to instill into their children the value of education in achieving their dreams and improving their financial prosperity.”

Concludes Morial: “Empowering black men to reach their full potential is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today. Ensuring their future is critical, not just for the African-American community, but for the prosperity, health and well-being of the entire American family.”

Urbanham.com talks with author KD Hardy

It did not take long for me to realize how KD Hardy became so successful. After all this brother is well educated with great confidence and a salesman mentality. Throw in his million dollar smile and you have what it takes to make it at just about anything. Unfortunately, KD picked up his success in the drug game only to find his world come to an abrupt halt as the authorities finally caught up with him sending him off to prison. After serving his time, Mr. Hardy is now a motivational speaker and author with a simple and sincere message for youth and adults. I got a chance to sit down with Mr. Hardy at a local restaurant and he gave me the details on his upcoming book. Later that week he dropped off a copy of the manuscript for me to check out which I not only read but passed along to my son to read as well.Anyone that is an INVOLVED parent of a teenager can honestly say they often worry about their teens. Driving, drinking, drugs, sex, gangs, school work, college are subjects that often run through your mind and eventually end up as a dinner table conversation. I am sure most parents fear their children could get hooked on drugs through unruly friends and experimenting but very rarely do we consider them taking on the role of a drug dealer.

KD Hardy shares his life with us in an easy-to-read book that I would recommend to anyone with teenagers, pre-teens or children that will one day become teenagers. I also encourage teenagers and adults to take a few hours out of your day and read this book as it could offer you a valuable lesson on life and the importance of making good decisions.

INTERVIEW

Urbanham: Reading your book I could not help but notice that you were presented with many life changing situations. What would you say is the most important event that helped you realize you needed to make changes in your life?

KD: There were 3 events: The first event was once I begin to read and study my bible during my incarceration I realized that I was living my life totally different than what the bible was teaching me.

The second event was also during my incarceration I learned that drugs cause 3/4 of the homicides in African American neighborhoods and I did not want to be apart of that behavior. I never participated in violence during my street life so I didnt know the numbers were so large so I promised myself I wouldn’t touch drugs again.

The third event was realizing the effect my decisions had on the community and my family. Someone’s life is being altered by using drugs which cause a plethora of problems. I witnessed my parents health deteriorate because they were worried about me. My wife had to raise my son by herself and he was acting out so I made up in my mind I would never do this to the community or my family again.

Urbanham: This book is about making decisions and you take us on a quick journey of your life and your decisions and how each decision eventually pulled you deeper into an inevitable fate. How do we relate this message to our young people, in particular our young men that seem to think they are unstoppable or invincible?

KD: The way you relate the message to our young men is to help them understand the importance of learning from the mistakes of others. They can read the book and make up their minds they don’t want to go to prison like me and a million other people have done. Jail is a very hostile environment and I am here to tell them about it. People die in prison for several reasons. Violence and not the best health care conditions are at the top of that list. Your future is defined by your choices and when I wok up in jail that first night I realized my decisions had put me there so I had no one to blame but myself.

Urbanham: Prison life? Tell us about that. What would you want young people to know about losing a portion of their life to incarceration?

KD: Prison life is a hard and lonely existence. There are no advantages in going to prison. There are a lot of things people don’t realize about prison. You can have an altercation with someone for any reason and remain in solitary confinement for months or even years depending on the altercation. Can you imagine not going outside for a year? Well it happens all the time in prison. The biggest asset you have is your ability to make choices. Never give it up & NOT FOR ANYONE OR ANYTHING!

Urbanham: Les Brown has played an important role in your life. Can you share with us how your friendship with Mr. Brown has helped you?

KD: Les Brown becoming my mentor was one of the best things that happened to me after my incarceration. He helped me realize the people I could potentially save from a life of prison by developing my speaking skills and using them to help people make better lifestyle choices. Les has taught me a lot and he has helped me save a lot of valuable time and money.

Urbanham: We often tell our youth to surround themselves with positive thinking people. This to me is one of those things that seem to be easier said than done. How should a young person go about selecting the right friends?

KD: You want to surround yourself with people who are doing positive things because the people you are around have a great impact on what you become. When I was a college student I started hanging out with drug dealers and I became a drug dealer. There is an old saying that says you are now or you soon will be what your friends are. If you want to be successful find other people that are pursuing success and befriend them.

Urbanham: Fatherhood. As I get older I start to realize how important this task is. As a parent you are responsible for helping this child reach adulthood. With so many single mothers out there what type of advice would you give to mothers and grandmothers that are faced with the challenges of raising a son?

KD: Mothers and grandmothers have done a great job of raising our young men but if they want some additional help then here is what I suggest. Helping a young man identify his gifts early is a great plus because at that point you can start pointing him to mentors. There are a lot of successful men around that are doing what they want to do in life. Help your child reach out to those individuals and if they are too busy then there are always books. When I was still incarcerated Les Brown, Myles Monroes, and Og Mandino became my mentors simply because I read there materials and looked at the paths they had taken to become successful. Then I started doing those same things myself.

Urbanham: Today it seems that many fathers are absent in the regular upbringing of their children. Most seem to be unaware of how important their role truly is. What would you say to them? What type of advice would you offer them?

KD: My advice to the absentee father would be to never underestimate your power to change a life. Your role to your daughter or son can be very significant if done with love. It gives me pleasure to know that I can play a major role in how my son develops and it helps me strive to be the best person I can be. I know he is watching because he wants to be like his daddy. I love when my son comes in and I am reading which is often and he asks “Daddy what are you reading and why do you read so much?” This gives me the opportunity to explain to him why reading is so important and my hopes are that he decides to do what daddy is doing.

Urbanham: If you had one word that best describes your life, past present and future what would that be?

KD: OVERCOMER!

Urbanham: What’s next for KD Hardy?

KD: I am penning my next book. How to become a young (wo)man who never enters prison! 7 things you must understand!

Love (our greatest attribute)- KD Hardy

For more information on KD Hardy book titles and speaking engagements visit www.kdhardy.com or email kdhardy@kdhardy.com

West End Alumni Bid Fond Farewell to WEHS