Akindele Unleashed

Moving Michigan Into A Top Notch Global Market by Akindele Akinyemi

2010-08-10T02:45:00.000-07:00

In 2009, 70% of global growth came from developing and emerging market countries; Africa ranked third after China and India in terms of growth rates. Various companies from developing and emerging markets are increasingly the source of corporate leadership and business innovations. Developing and emerging markets are incubators for the companies growing from within.

Therefore, Michigan and in particular its urban environments must begin to invest in the benefits of whatever speed of broadband is under consideration.For example, telecommunications giant AT&T is investing $19 billion in wireless and broadband services. Investment translates into jobs as well as benefits to companies and consumers. Investment also benefits the entire telecoms sector because the trickle down to partners and suppliers is substantial. Investment empowers the new applications environment and benefits public policy, e.g. by enabling the creation of new platforms for innovation in areas such as healthcare, education and the environment.

However, in order to create a competitive, world-class knowledge economy we will need to develop a plan that includes substantial investment. We must remind our state lawmakers that the government’s job is to remove the barriers preventing investment in R&D and education by the private sector. At the same time, Michigan must cut through the tangle of red tape that makes it impossible to get anything done.

Companies from developing countries are tough and resilient and can deal with challenging environments in their DNA. They understand how to attract a large but frugal consumer base and can withstand macroeconomic insecurity. For example, African entrepreneurs are successful partially because living with uncertainty is in their blood. Now, how do companies in Africa expand beyond national borders and become regional and global players and connect to international borders like Detroit and Windsor, Ontario?

Local companies must understand and be successful in the national market and then overcome regional challenges before going global. A key advantage of national companies over multinationals seeking to exploit domestic markets is an inbred understanding of cultural sensitivities. This understanding pays dividends when companies from developing and emerging market countries expand.

Therefore, the private sector has a responsibility to drive growth and innovation. We also must connect urban communities with the global market by tapping into areas that are emerging markets. For example, Africa is fueled by an entrepreneurial spirit. One has to just look around to see millions of business transactions taking place, from local markets to the business of national champions. However, most African businesses face obstacles in taking their businesses across borders. The challenges of working cross-border are “very real” and can limit a company’s growth. Overcoming these obstacles will be a major driver for growth and create the connectivity to feed both regional and pan-African trade. The question becomes how do cities like Detroit and Benton Harbor tap into potential trade and development since both cities sit on water?

It is important to implementing robust frameworks for business to create a transparent environment that will in return build consumer confidence. Alternatively, the most important thing cities like Detroit can do is to open up, bring in technology to build human resource capacity – particularly by empowering women – and create healthy business ecosystems. This is why we need more public-private partnerships.

By saying this one of the greatest risks we face as we strive to redesign the urban systems we use to govern our lives is not to disrupt whatever behavioral spirits have allowed us to be so successful. We must be careful not to introduce barriers to progress in our inner cities. Nor can we be complacent. Many problems and risks obviously remain. The environment is in jeopardy, the population is swelling along with the ranks of young people without jobs. We have largely failed, moreover, to reduce the global imbalances in savings and trade that set the stage for the crisis.

As we move forward we must keep in mind four fundamental prerequisites to maintaining sustainable long-term economic growth: effective education, social stability, incentives for taking risks and integration with the global economy. More specifically to our present predicament, though, we need to reduce the role of financial speculation in our economy relative to real production. Our urban infrastructure must strive for a better balance in our economy, between spending and consumption, between domestic and foreign demand, between financial innovation and technological innovation, between rapid growth and sustainable development and between globalization and regional integration.

In the decade ahead, Michigan will be first to reach a number of milestones as it seeks to leverage its growing technological sophistication to meet the needs of its population. If we can stay focused with reinventing education through curriculum and instruction our state could be the first state in the United States to succeed in educating most of its population through the Internet. Between now and 2020 our state will need to invest about $1 billion to implement educational distance-learning projects and other technological advances to make us globally competitive.

An advanced educational population can develop quantum computers as an industry where it could enhance National Security. We already have Tech Town here in Detroit where bio-science technology is occurring and right next door is Next Energy where fuel cell technology is being developed. However, let's not stop there. Southwest Detroit could harness a research technology park dealing with life sciences and environmental issues, the East Side can develop an agricultural research technology park with a MSU Experiment Station and Northwest Detroit can become home to a regional technology park that focus on information technology and telecommunications. It's important that these research technology parks collaborate and partner with our community colleges and universities to become successful.

The next 10 years will be a challenge for the State of Michigan. We can no longer afford backwards thinking to dominate cities like Detroit. With industries coming online that are dealing with bio-engineering, water technology, only 10.8% of residents living in Detroit have a bachelors degree and 4% have a graduate degree. Additionally, 33.3 percent of Detroit residents were below the poverty level, compared to 13.2 percent of the U.S. population as a whole. More than half (an estimated 51.0 percent) of “female headed households with related children under 18 years” in Detroit were below the poverty level (nationally, the number was 36.3 percent). This is unacceptable. We simply do not have time to argue about who controls Detroit Public Schools when we are constantly losing another generation to the lost culture. It is up to us to promote both academics and connect the curriculum to entrepreneurship through financial literacy and accountability.

There is no way we can move forward in the 21st century if we do not address education and economics. Let's take a look to diversify our population and make education, trade and skills, and financial literacy a top priority in our respective communities. Urban educational empowerment zones are necessary to help revitalize and transform our community. We have to move Detroit and other urban areas in our state into the global market if we want to survive.

The views in this article are strictly my opinion and do not reflect the views of others.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Let's Move Michigan Forward For Once Instead of Backwards by Akindele Akinyemi

2010-08-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

First, let me begin by saying that this commentary is MY personal opinion not the opinions of others.

Let me continue.

The primaries have passed here in Michigan and Rick Snyder is the GOP gubernatorial candidate. While Virg Bernero is the Democratic candidate for Governor we are witnessing something that has not happen in a long time here in Detroit.

Detroiters planning to vote for a Republican candidate over a Democratic candidate. 40 people have called me, including some people in my close inner circles, said they are voting for Rick Snyder because his message is positive.

Regardless of who you supported in the other races (State Representative, State Senator and County Commission) please keep in mind that the world will not end of your candidate did not win. Even though I did not endorse any candidates in the primaries there were some I was hoping that would win and they did not. I am glad that they ran a clean and solid campaign. And for those who won I hope they do a great job. We still need to move forward on putting together an urban execution plan to help revitalize our cities. This is crucial to the advancement of our great state.

While Rick Snyder is preparing to become the next Governor of the State of Michigan we must do our part of the developmental stages of connecting our urban communities to the rest of the globe. We should be ready to develop an urban community where children can go to bed knowing where their next meal will come from, a powerful inner city with a new mindset and an urban execution plan which offers a better life and better future. This is why the role of our urban conservatives and independents in Michigan is EXTREMELY crucial to victory in November.

We can no longer be living in the past by playing divisive politics and using fear tactics to scare people into voting. Instead we must develop new systems and ideas for not just the 21st century but the 22nd century here in Michigan. Fostering empowerment, through education, skills development, access to finance and leadership must emerge as a key issue, with a focus on young people.

Therefore, we must begin to transform Detroit, Muskegon, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids, Highland Park, and Benton Harbor into economic hubs of commerce and development. Therefore, this community must move to identify fresh ideas for help compete in the global market that can gain traction and are able to attract the support of governments and policy institutions that can make them work. We must push for efforts to reform institutions and mechanisms of governance must be based on the principle of multidimensional cooperation in terms of economics, trade and development in our community to foster growth and development.

Today, in a more closely and deeply interconnected world, the lines between the economic, the social and the political have blurred. Political borders are increasingly meaningless, and domestic, regional and global dynamics are now hard to separate. Because things have shifted drastically we need to work more closely together in the common interest to resolve the challenges that faces us in Michigan. Business, government and civil society must collaborate. The multistakeholder approach is the most effective way forward.

Michigan is an emerging market in the 21st century but it is still being led by 20th century leaders. Regardless of the unemployment and job losses our state have suffered over the past several years we are still looking towards the future. The key is developing emerging leadership that are not afraid to take new bold steps to move our state forward.

With our ever changing demographics here in Michigan, the rising Internet penetration and our young techno-savvy population this will be the catalyst to fuel the drive for innovative technologies, products and processes.

Therefore, our urban hubs in Michigan must become centers of innovation where R&D takes place in places like Detroit, Flint and Saginaw and products are sold in developed markets is happening as investments and consumption continue to rise in this part of the world. We know that most new ideas are coming out of small companies and entrepreneurs, but to help them take those ideas to global markets, a new leadership in Michigan will need to step up with a supportive business environment, including efficient infrastructure, restructuring our tax system. Places like Tech Town in Detroit must be expanded as we rezone land to create research parks in other parts of the city to lure in companies for aerospace engineering, agricultural technology and information technology.

And we will need to invest a lot more in education as well as create a stable environment for investors and entrepreneurs to lay roots. The charter school vs Detroit Public School debate is OVER and its time for education to be taken to another level. This is something Mr. Snyder has been talking about since day one. However, our academic and financial crisis will not end in Michigan when Snyder wins in November.

We, as stakeholders, must understand the painful lessons of our own financial crisis and come up with solutions to help weather the state's financial crisis. However, by increasing financial literacy, education we can make Michigan more attractive by investing in both domestic and global capital from investors who will consider the state a hot market. And, as the state’s wealth rises and its foreign exchange reserves swell, Michigan will also becoming an increasingly important source of that global capital.

Therefore, it's time for Michigan to elect silver rights leadership that will help our state integrating economically and financially. More should be done to harmonize free enterprise so as to simplify intraregional trade and commerce. While it may not be possible to create a completely integrated regional regulatory framework, Michigan should avoid creating a patchwork of regulations that complicate life for multinationals or open new regulatory loopholes. Indeed, while the rest of the world is debating how to better regulate its financial industry Michigan still need to be innovative in their approach to create new industry for our state.

Now, with that said, Mr. Snyder has made our future young leaders a priority to help sustain growth in our state. We should assist with this measure by stop fighting over the governance of Detroit Public Schools and begin to promote urban educational empowerment zones to create economic development centered around high quality schools in our community with an academic focus that will create new student competition to help our children compete globally.

President Obama recently hosted a summit of young African leaders to discuss the development of the future of sub-Saharan Africa. I have been a long advocate of tapping into new resources to help diversify urban areas such as Detroit especially when it comes to Africa. To take this a step further some countries in Africa, more than 70% of the population is under 20. To add on, a young workforce that is not stuck in their ways of thinking will in the long term produce the kind of academic and economic powerhouses experienced in other areas like China and India. With Detroit's median age at 35.7 years we desperately need young people to take on the new challenges that we face globally. This is why I am glad to see young people like State Rep. Justin Amash to be elected to Congress in the Grand Rapids area, and John Olumba and Lisa Howze in Detroit be elected to the State House.

The youth in Africa are also helping fuel the mobile technology it is also creating both innovation as well as a new middle class that is emerging where urban consumers are buying and investing. Now I am not saying Mr. Snyder is going to tackle these issues head on, however, we hope that his administration, along with our State leadership, would foster a better environment for businesses in Michigan that can lead to global business by increasing trade and development by way of our foreign trade zones.

My point is with the right economic climate young Africans will invest in areas like Detroit and Grand Rapids to help change both the educational and economic dynamics of our urban communities.

I think Mr. Snyder will do well as long as he stay on message, not waste his time on a career politician like Mayor Virg Bernero in useless debates, and continue coming to Detroit and other urban areas to hear his message, take action and move forward. We have not had a Republican Governor in over 30 years where they had a positive relationship with Detroit. Former Democratic Mayor Coleman A. Young and Former Republican Governor William Milliken had a positive relationship that helped Detroit. While they slightly differed on the political philosophy they came together anyway because Gov. Milliken understood that the economy of Michigan would die if we did not have a strong Detroit.

We are at that point again. This time, when elected, Rick Snyder has an opportunity to foster a great relationship with Mayor Dave Bing to move not just Detroit forward but move both Southeast Michigan and the entire state forward. And let's not forget about Windsor, Ontario being part of this region as well.

It's exciting to see Detroiters coming out to vote for a Republican candidate. However, we have a personal responsibility to correct the wrongs of our community. Rick Snyder is a stakeholder not a Savior and for those who are viewing him as such is being disingenuous. We still have work to do to assist Mr. Snyder and his upcoming administration. This is where we need to hold our State Representatives, State Senators and County Commissioners accountable.

It's a new day in Detroit with urban conservatives, independents and other people who are seeking change. Let us continue to usher in silver rights leadership with Rick Snyder and others who are ready to deal with the challenges ahead and put Michigan back on the global map.

The Real Truth About Immigration in 2010 by Akindele Akinyemi

2010-05-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

Today is May Day and with the immigration debate in full swing we predict thousands or more Hispanics, Blacks and others will take to the streets across America.

At center stage is the Arizona immigration bill.

The Arizona illegal immigration bill, sponsored by Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce outlined the provisions in this bill that he sponsored.

a) It requires police officers, “when practicable,” to detain people they reasonably suspect are in the country without authorization and to verify their status with federal officials, unless doing so would hinder an investigation or emergency medical treatment.

b) It also makes it a state crime — a misdemeanor — to not carry immigration papers. In addition, it allows people to sue local government or agencies if they believe federal or state immigration law is not being enforced.

Ever since Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill into law requesting tougher measures on illegal immigration we have heard both sides of the debate giver their take on this whole issue. While I strongly feel that illegal immigration is a problem in the United States we need to look at this issue from a different angle.

The United States of America has over 309 million people. Out of the 309 million 10.8 million are illegal immigrants. Are you telling me that 10.8 million people are causing a strain to the economy here in America? Something is not right with this picture.

Two viewpoints I have read are the following:

According to the The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), in the section titled "Costs of Immigration" on its website (accessed Oct. 24, 2007):

"...the net fiscal cost of immigration ranges from $11 billion to $22 billion per year, with most government expenditures on immigrants coming from state and local coffers, while most taxes paid by immigrants go to the federal treasury. The net deficit is caused by a low level of tax payments by immigrants, because they are disproportionately low-skilled and thus earn low wages, and a higher rate of consumption of government services, both because of their relative poverty and their higher fertility. This is especially true of illegal immigration. Even though illegal aliens make little use of welfare, from which they are generally barred, the costs of illegal immigration in terms of government expenditures for education, criminal justice, and emergency medical care are significant.

Francine J. Lipman, MBA, LLM, Professor of Law, Business and Economics at Chapman University, in a Spring 2006 Tax Lawyer essay titled "Taxing Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal and Without Representation," wrote:

"Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are exploiting the United States' economy. The widespread belief is that illegal aliens cost more in government services than they contribute to the economy. This belief is undeniably false... [E]very empirical study of illegals' economic impact demonstrates the opposite...: undocumented actually contribute more to public coffers in taxes than they cost in social services. Moreover, undocumented immigrants contribute to the U.S. economy through their investments and consumption of goods and services; filling of millions of essential worker positions resulting in subsidiary job creation, increased productivity and lower costs of goods and services; and unrequited contributions to Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance programs.

I do know one thing. No one is discussing how private businesses have been using illegal immigrants for their landscaping businesses, their fruit markets and the like just to name a few. Yes, we are talking about those who are promoting the free market. These businesses, who are not complaining about illegal immigration here in the United States, follow the belief of how illegal immigration gives added value through the goods and services they provide as consumers and producers.

At the same time we also have private businesses supporting the need for illegal immigrants to even rent or buy housing. We all know that illegal immigrants should not be able to do this but the powers that be are pushing for this not because they believe in amnesty or love illegal immigrants but because they are looking at this from an economic point of view in terms of exploitation.

Virginia Deane Abernethy, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Anthropology at Vanderbilt University weighs in:

"Buying a house typically involves presenting documentation including a Social Security number. Insofar as it is fraudulent for an illegal alien to have a Social Security number, no illegal alien should buy a house. Presentation of alternate documentation such as a Consular Matricular card issued by a Mexican Consulate is evidence that a person cannot legally obtain a Social Security card. Therefore, it should not be accepted by any government agency, including by a County Clerk whose duty it is the register and issue titles for property.

Yes, there are 460,000 illegal immigrants living in Arizona. However, this is not just about national security this is also about shifting demographics. Both political parties are trying to position themselves to gain the Hispanic population vote. All of us know that the Hispanic population is now the largest minority in the United States.

The immigration issue has energized the Hispanic electorate, making them a lot more interested in politics and a lot more willing to come out to the polls and participate in the electoral process. Also, many Hispanics have been offended by the tone of the debate in the political landscape.

What about redistricting political boundaries? This may favor certain demographics that the oppositional political party is not ready to deal with. If the Democrats continue to secure the Hispanic votes in larger numbers than previously expected this could pose a problem for the Republican Party. Presently 57% of Hispanics vote Democratic while 23% vote Republican. And while Cubans in places like Florida support the GOP that area is beginning to shift demographics as well into a more non-Cuban Hispanics community as well.

While the Republican Party feel that the Hispanic population should vote for the GOP because they share the same social conservative values most Americans are ignorant to contemporary Mexico in 2010 (yes even the ones who go on cruises). The average American perspective on Mexico is outdated by 50 years.

For example, the Catholic Church is much weaker in Mexico than people think. The majority of Mexicans don't attend Mass and the church has failed to inculcate its moral values among much of the younger generations. The Catholic Church can't even recruit enough priests from the Mexican population and so has to import priests from other countries.

Many people ignore the fact that Mexico is an integral part of the Western World. As such, it has been affected by the same philosophical and social trends as the rest of the West. Name any social problem in the U.S., and you can also find it on the increase in Mexico. Family breakdown? Check. Drug abuse? Check. Pre-marital sex? Check. And extra-marital sex has been accepted for years, as long as it was practiced by a married man and an unmarried mistress. Homosexuality is becoming more accepted, and a gay rights movement is gaining strength. About 20% of Mexican mothers are single mothers.
Hispanic women have more abortions than non-Hispanic women. However, the GOP says Black women abort their children MORE than Hispanic women so why are the GOP only targeting Black people on this issue? The GOP cannot use 1980 voter value tactics in 2010.

One thing I would like to point out is how mainstream conservatives keep pointing out how 70% of the residents in Arizona support the new tougher measures. Did they ask the state's largest employer, Wal-Mart, if they liked the measure? I sincerely doubt it. What about the other businesses out in Arizona that hire illegal immigrants to help contribute to the $232 billion economy in that state? I doubt that also. So out of the 6.5 million residents that reside in Arizona who are these 70%? I doubt 70% of Hispanics or even 50% of Hispanics are for the passage of this illegal immigration bill. At the same token these same Hispanics who are against the bill must weigh in on how to secure our borders with better policies not trying to get their cousin in the United States illegally across the Rio Grande.

The real issue here is not the Arizona law that was passed for tougher measures for illegal immigrants in that state. The real issue here is the fear of a shifting demographic that may become the next political force to be reckoned with in the next 5-10 years. This is about ECONOMICS not what you are seeing on television. Illegal immigration is a massive recruitment program for the welfare state as well as for private businesses. These immigrants who are working illegally will work 16-18 hours a day for private American private businesses.

Urban conservatives should be watching how people are going to try to spin the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

The 4th Amendment clearly states:

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

There are going to be lawsuits flying over this issue..especially over the 4th Amendment I predict. For example, the law which proponents and critics alike said was the broadest and strictest immigration measure in generations, would make the failure to carry immigration documents a crime and give the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally. Opponents have called it an open invitation for harassment and discrimination against Hispanics regardless of their citizenship status. While The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a division of the United States Department of Homeland Security, is permitted to search travelers and their belongings at the American border without probable cause or a warrant does the Arizona law fall under similar ramifications?

Then again, all Gov. Brewer did was utilize her states rights to enact and enforce a law that federal lawmakers could not reform. Gov. Brewer also stated how racial profiling would not be tolerated.

I thought that was a cute statement. This has been going on forever in a day. With the racial intensity in this country because some are so opposed of the fact that the demographics of the United States is changing they are willing to do whatever is necessary to stop the increase of immigrants (yes even legally).

From an urban conservative perspective this is the time for both Blacks who live here in America and Hispanics to come together, regardless of political parties, and craft real time solutions away from the rhetoric and negative synergy that is going on with this debate on illegal immigration. Any urban conservative supports the notion that immigrants must enter the United States legally just like anyone else. I also have been saying all along to put troops on the borders to protect us against the Mexican drug cartels who are a HUGE problem. However, there are some local issues we need to tackle.

For example, while Blacks have taken serious measures to curtail drug abuse and the drug trade in our communities its time for Hispanics to put more pressures on the drug cartels that are shipping and selling mass drugs in our communities. I am asking that Chairwoman Roslyn Brock of the NAACP to work with leaders like LULAC to address these serious concerns. Urban conservatives must weigh in on the solutions because illegal immigration, misWe can no longer be quiet on this subject or be divided.

Half of Blacks who live here in the United States felt that Hispanics were taking away land, jobs and political power, while 44 percent of Hispanics were afraid of Blacks because they blamed us for high-crime rates. Meanwhile, police in places like Los Angeles and Chicago are starting to report an increase in racially based violent crimes perpetrated by Black and Hispanic gangs.

Education affects both Blacks and Hispanics in this country. The whole speaking English debate is not on my radar. While we are pressuring Hispanics to learn English how good of a job are we pressuring Black children to learn the same language. Even though 80% of the city of Detroit is Black over 55% of residents are functionally illiterate. Some of our own children are bi-lingual in terms of not understanding their own English and writing skills. Anytime you are turning in academic papers using text message language it is a form of illiteracy.

Both Black and Hispanic America is in serious trouble economically, and both groups are living in “deep poverty.” Black and Hispanic people in America are not just poor by American standards; many of us are third-world poor. While some economists praise the American economy with talk of low unemployment, record housing starts, and a booming gross national product, none of this tells the real story of a quickly declining Black economy within America.

Education is important because it can help eradicate poverty. Instead of falling for the negative stereotypes of each other ethnic groups we need to find common ground to work together for the future of our children. A silver rights approach to building wealth is needed in both the Hispanic and Black communities.

And while people debate what policies should be set for Hispanic illegal immigration urban conservatives should be on notice that that battle with BOTH legal and illegal immigration will not stop there. The targeting of Black immigrants by the INS does not tend to receive as much attention among Hispanic immigrants. Yet Black immigrants, particularly Dominicans, Jamaicans and Haitians, have relatively high rates of deportations. Black immigrants tend to have higher numbers of deportations than Asians and Whites, despite the fact that the rate of immigration from Africa and the Caribbean tends to be slower than the rate of Asian and Brown immigration.

You will not see this on CNN or FOX News.

The other issue with African immigrants is the growing number of incidents taking place in terms of violent clashes. Most African immigrants who migrate from places like Senegal and other countries in Africa are sometimes met with fierce hostility because of their religion. Most of the African immigrants who come here are Muslims and because the media has painted a picture of Islam in a very negative light this is oftentimes reflected with African immigrants who enter our country legally. You now have some Black folks who live in America talking about how African immigrants are "taking their jobs away from us." Sounds familiar? It sounds like White people saying the same thing about Hispanics immigrants taking their jobs away from them.

Until recent years, new Black immigration was little noticed outside a few cities—especially New York and Miami-where communities of West Indians, Haitians, Nigerians, and other Black immigrants flourished. But that has changed in recent decades as Somali communities have grown up in Columbus, Ohio, Lewiston, Maine, and Minneapolis. Immigrant blacks and their children are gaining prominence in many fields, raising their visibility and attracting attention among the general population.

And while these immigrants have high educational attainment—38 percent of African-born and 20 percent of Caribbean or Latin American-born Blacks have a college degree they often are underpaid and underemployed given their educational achievements and experience. Like most newcomers, Black immigrants face myriad challenges as they join the labor force and raise their families in the United States. They too are a threat.

The truth of the matter is we still have many people in the United States who do not trust any immigrants, whether they are here legally or illegally. If you go up in Northern Michigan to the resorts we have some people who live there are upset that Jamaicans work at the resorts instead of them. The Jamaicans are here on a H-1B visa that allow them to work and live here for a short period of time. That still does not sit well with the people who live in these areas year round. They often complain about how these "people" take our jobs away.

This country right now has a problem with immigrants period whether they are here legally or illegally. It's strange for me to say this because America is a nation of immigrants. Whether we were brought here in chains as slaves (illegally) or Ellis Island (legally) we have all contributed to the advancement of this nation. Illegal immigration is a problem to many as well as legal immigration. The reason? We want legal immigrants to actually give up their customs, religion and assimilate into U.S. culture. If they are reluctant to do that then they are viewed as terrorists, illegals, and other kinds of nonsense.

Forget what you are seeing on TV. The whole immigration issue is about economics not the political talking points. Anytime GM ships jobs out the country to allow Mexicans to work slave labor wages ($2 an hour for 18 hours a day) it is about economics. If you want to solve the issue of illegal immigration you have to take an urban conservative solution to the problem.....you solve it economically and educationally. Anything else will force Hispanics to grow the base of the Democratic Party.

Republicans face a shifting demographic disaster if it doesn't change course soon. The 2008 election should have removed all doubt. The GOP lost the Hispanic vote, lost the Black vote, lost the Asian vote, barely won the White vote, and lost the popular vote. By 2012, if present trends continue, it will be mathematically impossible for the Republican presidential candidate to win the presidential election.

Detroit is NOT Dead But Alive and Ready for the International Experience

2010-03-26T07:43:00.001-07:00

There is an article I read this morning entitled, "Health Care and Detroit: Killed by Government." It was written by Gary North. He discusses how Detroit is in the river basically and how the city has no hope.

You can read it here.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north828.html

I love the critics who bashes Detroit even though they are buying land and pieces of property to invest in so when the market goes back up they can receive a return on investment on their properties. Normally, these same people who talk about how Detroit is dead and how government controls Detroit are the same ones talking to government about how they can invest on Woodward Ave. I have a name for those people.

Hypocrites.

I am so sorry, I know this city has severe problems that drive me crazy but I will tell you Detroit is NOT DEAD. However, we need a change of thinking in our mentality to make it a 21st century city.

We know that it is no secret that Detroit’s infrastructure, along with those of many other Midwestern cities, is aging and failing, and that funding has been insufficient to repair and replace it. Urban engineers of the 21st century face the formidable challenge of modernizing the fundamental structures that support our community.

Last night I went to the State of the City address listening to Mayor Bing discuss how Detroit will need to reinvent itself. This is true. However, Detroit must move away from just being the automotive capital of the world but becoming a financial market to compete globally. Our city needs to become similar to what the Asian Economic Tigers are in SE Asia. If Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam is booming after the Vietnam War ended over 30 years ago how come Detroit cannot rise to the top?

Detroit needs a silver rights approach to development. In fact, our leadership must operate on a silver rights platform if we are going to get anything done. However, it is important to showcase our vision for the poor, the under-served, and the wealthless of our city to show them that all hope is not lost. We simply have to help them see themselves differently. We can do this by helping to expose, to educate, to empower, and ultimately to inspire them to grow and develop into stakeholders.

Detroit, like other urban cores in America, is going through changes. However, urban conservatives support the need for public-private partnerships during this economic transformation in our city and other urban communities across Michigan.

Public-private partnerships have increasingly become an option for governments here, particularly in the transportation and transit infrastructure arena.

This is how it works.

Under a public-private partnerships, a government entity transfers some aspect or aspects of a responsibility traditionally performed by the public sector to a private-sector partner under a well-defined, long-term contract. Some such transactions involve an up-front payment from the private-sector partner to the public-sector entity. In return, the private-sector partner receives rights to a future revenue stream—such as monies from toll collection—over a defined time frame. Other Public-private partnerships structures involve a private-sector pledge to provide a service, such as operating and maintaining a free road or a subset of bus lines, in return for a regular payment from the government entity. In general, the government retains ownership of any physical infrastructure asset.

Detroit is starting to move in that direction. A prime example is the light rail project that will be built between the New Center Area and Downtown Detroit.

You can see a demo of that right here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO2-IKM9Jpo

Urban conservatives support the notion of a public-private partnership because in a silver rights framework we believe that the ultimate answer to eradicating poverty, right here in America, lies in an active, proactive and coordinated partnership, by and between the private sector, government and the technology and the community at-large.

The Detroit Public School system is going through a massive realignment and are leaning towards other organizations such as Excellence Schools in Detroit and the Skillman Foundation to create partnerships to close failing schools and schools with little or no population and recreating new schools that will be more theme based. Mayor Bing announced last night the creation of a public health and public safety academies here in Detroit. Both academies are critical to the development of our city.

The need for a public health and public safety academy will help encourage young people to go into medical entrepreneurship and develop private firms in security that can contract globally.

Educational entrepreneurship are growing also. Urban conservatives view educational institutions as a means to develop new economic infrastructure in desolate areas such as the North End in Detroit. Charter schools fit well into this category.

Some look at public-private partnerships as "authorities." For example, the Detroit Land Bank Authority, Cobo, etc. We should not frown upon those entities. Instead, we should bring our ideas and strategies to the table. Let's put down those who keep promoting fear of "takeovers" in our community and participate in the solution for a better region.

Its important to engage our young people in the fields of urban and regional planning to help them understand that they too have a say in develop and redesigning their own communities.

However, there are some other points urban conservatives would like to share about rebuilding Detroit.

For example, Detroit must stop operating on an island and join the rest of the region. We must support regional projects such as the Aerotropoils.This way our region can plan to make up the difference not just with imports and exports but by investing in infrastructure and promoting inclusiveness through spending in areas like health, education and urban development. Energy will be an integral part of the infrastructure development mix.

The Aerotropolis is important for our region because our global GDP has risen 154%, and the value of world trade has grown 355%. But the value of air cargo has climbed an astonishing 1,395%. Today, 40% of the total economic value of all goods produced in the world, barely comprising 1% of the total weight, is shipped by air (and that goes for more than 50% of total U.S. exports, which are valued at $554 billion).

Who would not want to participate in this project? The FAA predicts annual passenger traffic will increase by about 60 percent to about 1 billion by 2015. If you listen to grassroots people about this project, the same grassroots people who barely travel to begin with, you will never learn the real benefits of the Aerotropolis.

Detroit needs to make the same kind of progress in manufacturing that it has in services, notably in information technology. Silver Rights leaders must be determined to transform the city into one of the world’s most important manufacturing hubs. Some 50,000 jobs must be created to meet the employment needs of new workers who will be entering the job market and to meet the goals of social inclusion set by the public-private partnerships. Education and worker training programs will be needed to address the projected 40% shortfall of skilled manpower by 2025.

A new medical revolution is needed to boost Detroit's medical and bio-technology entrepreneurship in a sustainable way. The health industry is rethinking, redesigning and rebuilding itself through the broader involvement of multistakeholders, and is exploring issues of gleaning more information from available health data. The industry is also identifying innovative delivery models of care from emerging economies that could be scaled up in the developed world. Finally, the industry called on each participant to “be the change they want to see” in fighting chronic diseases – the biggest public health threat society has ever faced.

And we cannot forget about agriculture technology. For critics who dismiss urban agriculture they are thinking with tunnel vision. One billion people on the planet Earth are linked to agriculture and 800 million of them do not have enough to eat; 30-40% of food production is lost before it gets to the consumer; investments in agriculture are four times more effective in reducing poverty than investments in any other sector. We can not only promote healthy living but also open our own Whole Foods store or Randazzos right here in the City of Detroit. Let's also partner with the MSU Extension and build an Experiment Station right here in SE Michigan in Northwest Detroit near Rouge Park.

Outside of agriculture technology is creating groundbreaking ideas for water technology. Detroit has the largest body of freshwater anywhere in the United States. Water is a viable tool of resources. I still do not understand why we have not sat at the table and begin to bottle our own water for revenue.

However, redesigning areas in the city of Detroit into research and technology parks will help sustain development. Studying the uses of water is critical because the water crisis is already with us globally. For example, in Mongolia, one-quarter of rivers are already dry and sandstorms are increasing. Without good management, population growth, climate change, urbanization, change in diet and economic development will make the crisis both worse and more global in its impacts.

The water challenge is deeply embedded in current economic and trade structures that encourage water waste or trade in “virtual water” from relatively water-scarce countries to water-rich ones. The water challenge is also closely linked to the challenge of supplying clean and efficient energy. Large-scale desalinization processes would require extraordinary use of electricity and might contribute to carbon emissions and, therefore, climate change if that electricity were generated from coal, gas or oil. Meanwhile, achieving the goal of 10-20% of renewables in the energy mix could add to pressure on water if the processes that generate the energy – such as biofuels – require large water inputs.

Public understanding remains limited. The volume of water consumed on a per capita basis is generally underestimated, particularly in the developed world. Personal hygiene and drinking account for only 7% of water consumption – a much higher proportion is embedded in what we eat. Raising awareness is key to achieving support for measures such as water pricing. Most governments do not have a coherent water policy, with responsibilities split between different levels and departments. Yet, water is central to development; it should be at the core of planning.

How come Detroit cannot be a leader in designing cleaner and better water systems for areas in the world that need better water quality?

Architecture is an economic engine that we must tap into. Architecture must change in response to issues within the global environment. To date, architecture has only tackled these problems through technical solutions, but revolutionary architect Toyo Ito believes that the 20th century mechanical interpretation of architecture must be challenged.

Too many architects neglect the flow of people, air and water surrounding their structures. Japanese architect Toyo Ito models much of his architecture on the idea of the whirlpool – when an object is placed in a flow, a whirlpool forms behind it. As the flow changes, the whirlpool itself changes.

Detroit could lead the region in architecture firms and PK-20 schools that will help redevelop and reshape our city and urban areas. We already have schools like Wayne State University (the only urban research university in the State of Michigan), U-D Mercy and Lawrence Tech University to partner with to make this a reality. Also, let's not forget about our community colleges such as Wayne County Community College and Henry Ford Community College.

And how can we forget the need for cultural arts in our city? We have intellectual and talent in our city that we must begin to harness to develop a cultural creativity that will empower our community. Brightmoor, Warrendale and Core City neighborhoods are prime targets to help bring culture and life to the City of Detroit.

Engaging in social entrepreneurship will be the next step in recreating Detroit. The rise of microfinance has provided considerable start-up financing to small-scale entrepreneurs. However, a huge gap remains between microfinance and private equity scale ventures. Creating vibrant economies in the our city will require greater attention to this type of business, which currently lacks support. Brainstorming focused on finding mentors for leaders of small businesses and strengthening ties to prominent investors who might contribute to smaller funds.

There is no way Detroit or ANY urban community in Michigan can become a REAL world city without sustainable urban infrastructure. As populations are shifting from rural or urban areas in the world Michigan is no different. We must begin to get on board with a silver rights approach to developing our community that we can take to other urban communities in Michigan.

I am sorry but Mr. Gray is DEAD WRONG when he says Detroit is Dead. Maybe his fear tactics and rhetoric is dead. We are passed the welfare state of mind and now are moving into the silver rights frame of mind where we are engaged in education, family and wealth. Let's put aside our personal ideologies and come to the table like men and women and demonstrate to our children that we too can act civilized when billions of dollars is on the table for infrastructure. Instead of battling over strip clubs let's battle over land use, water, health care, education and public safety.

For those who are running for office this year I hope you will have a serious vision for change like us as urban conservatives. You cannot call yourself a Michigan Legislative Black caucus and only focus on Detroit. Let's launch several educational-economic models in Detroit and take those models to areas such as Benton Harbor and Saginaw.

Now I know if Cleveland, Indianapolis and Pittsburgh can come back from certain doom so can Detroit. If Dayton, Ohio is being developed into a Silicon Valley of the Midwest Detroit can do better. Its up to those silver rights activists to invest, accumulate and design a better model for the city.

The Discussion On The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act Without The Fear Factor

2010-03-26T07:42:00.003-07:00

One thing I have learned NOT to do over the years is listen to paranoia from the Democrats and Republicans. I have learned to read between the lines without fear mongering.

So while people were complaining about health care reform and protesting no one discussed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. For those who do not know what it is its a bill that was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman George Miller that would expand federal Pell Grants to a maximum of $5,500 in 2010 and tie increases in Pell Grant maximum values to annual increases in the Consumer Price Index plus 1%. It would also end the practice of federally subsidized private loans, using all federal student loan funding for direct loans and cutting the federal deficit by $87 billion over 10 years.

President Obama has pledged to make the US the most educated country in the world by 2020. The bill, which closely tracks a proposal by the Obama administration, would eliminate wasteful subsidies to student loan companies, and use the $87 billion in savings to make college more affordable, accessible, and effective.

SAFRA invests $40 billion to increase the maximum Pell grant award to $5,550 by 2010, and $6,900 by 2019. A recent report by US PIRG and the Institute for America’s Future estimated that this would mean an additional 260,000 students receiving Pell grants, and larger grants for existing Pell recipients.

Also in 2007, Congress slashed interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans, but these reforms are set to expire in 2012, causing the interest rates on these loans to jump from 3.4% to 6.8%. SAFRA would make the interest rate variable, but cap the rate at 6.8%, which means borrowers will be able to benefit from low interest rates while being protected from high rates.

Some of the highlights include:

(a) Investing in community colleges and Minority-Serving Institutions. SAFRA would create a competitive grant program for community colleges to create programs that would improve completion rates, improve instruction, create partnerships with employers, and implement other reforms. It will also invest in modernizing community college facilities and create a grant program for the creation of quality online college, high school, and job training classes.

This falls right under Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb's plan to create PK-14 and PK-20 academies here in the City of Detroit. Not to mention community colleges are becoming more affordable and more popular because of the ever changing job market.

(b) SAFRA will invest these funds in the College Access Challenge Grant program, which funds state, local, and federal projects that help get low income students ready for college, able to navigate the admissions and financial aid process, and earn their degrees. In addition, these funds will be used to support programs at both the state and institutional level to that focus on improving college completion rates and financial literacy.

This falls right under the silver rights movement.

What people are complaining about is the student loans. Right now there are two different federal programs that award the same types of loans to students: the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFELP), and the Direct Loan Program (DLP). The FFELP has consistently been found to be more expensive to taxpayers than the DLP, since it uses subsidies and loan guarantees to persuade loan companies to act as middlemen. The FFELP is also more prone to corruption, backroom political deals, and instability during economic crisis (as we have seen recently). SAFRA would originate all future federal loans from the DLP.

In other words, The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act terminates the Federal Family Education Loan program, which provides subsidies and guarantees to private lenders that make student loans. Instead, the federal government would issue student loans directly to borrowers.

So how come Republicans were against this? Fears of government takeovers? Socialism? Communism? Get a grip. Would it help to let you know that 58% of the middle class supported this bill regardless of political affiliation while 39% opposed it? This is the 21st century..get with the program.

A college education is increasingly a prerequisite for a middle-class standard of living, current and aspiring middle-class students and their families are struggling more than ever to afford college. A massive $87 billion subsidy to private companies that make student loans did little to promote affordability. Unless you OWNED and OPERATED a BANK yourself why are you against someone who would piss on you in a heartbeat and KEEP you in debt?

And for the Black folks who went to school on student loans and grants and OPPOSE any level of reform is caught on an ideological plantation. Most of us have filed bankruptcy or worse because of student loans..yet you support high interest rates on the very loans that are supposed to help us with are academics.

And for the people who say we should not have pell grants, scholarships or anything to help us with college but support student loans are hypocritical unless they do not want other people going to college to create a permanent underclass of illiterate people in the United States. Maybe that is what some want in our society. A new plantation of illiterate people who the wealthy educated people can control. Is that what we want here? Please explain because opposing scholarships and grants but supporting student loans makes no sense to me.

In order to win support from lawmakers with powerful non-profit loan companies in their state, bill authors included a provision that would award these lenders no-bid contracts to service student loans. Each company would automatically get to service the loans of 100,000 borrowers or every borrower in their state (if the state has fewer than 100,000 borrowers), and in some states there would be more than one eligible lender.

My only main concern is not about SAFRA being passed. It was HOW it was passed. How come it had to be stuck in a health care reconciliation bill? I would have rather seen this important bill pass on its own with full debate. Give us a chance to actually debate the issues not slide it in a health bill for votes. And how come the GOP did not make any noise to this if they opposed it? Black Republicans (and Dems) who opposed SAFRA I would like to know why when our community is hit the hardest in terms of student loans repayments?

For those who are opposed to this bill I am curious to know how can one person pay their way through school if you are against grants, and other forms of financial aid? Furthermore, how come our GOP team did not see this coming? Are we in the bed so much with the banking industry (who do not care about anyone but themselves) that we cannot see right or wrong?

The State of Kentucky has received national coverage after the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation (KHESLC), also known as the “Student Loan People,” overcharged the federal government $80 million, used the money to offer loan forgiveness to teachers, and then abandoned their promise, leaving many teachers with thousands of dollars of debt that they thought would be forgiven.

Is this right? I can hear the haters now. "They could have washed windows and saved for college." I will tell you what. You can go and wash windows and graduate in 15 years when you could have done it in 4 years.

Or how people are $50,000 in debt and can barely make the minimum payments without their loan going into default.

Or what about Dr. Susan B. Neuman, former assistant secretary of elementary and secondary education and a professor in educational studies at the University of Michigan who served in the Bush administration from 2002-2004?

Her comments:

"The legislation deserves GOP backing first and foremost because it eliminates government waste and saves billions — this is the bedrock of everything the party stands for. This bill will have the Education Department originate all new federal student loans instead of going through banks. The choice is simple —do we help Citibank make millions of dollars in profit from zero-risk student loans or find other ways to use the up to $87 billion in savings?"

She continues:

"Next, $12 billion would go to reform and strengthen community colleges. We know community colleges are the lifeblood for training workers and matching them to local employers. Ask any Republican governor and he will tell you. But, as they say on TV, there’s more! The bulk of the overall savings would help student loans keep up with inflation. Again, this helps us win in a worldwide economy."

Finally:

"The key part of the bill, in my opinion, is the $10 billion for the Early Learning Challenge Fund. This fund will promote improvements in early learning standards and ensure students in the next generation have the skills that they need for kindergarten and the rest of their education."

So why is the GOP against this? I forgot education was placed on the backburner during the Health Care debates and saving the Republic was more important than making sure our children graduate from college. You cannot save the Republic if you are uneducated and you cannot save America if you are functionally illiterate.

It is imperative that we take educational reform seriously. Regardless if President Obama, Mitt Romney or Captain Crunch leads the way we must invest in our future. To fight against reforming the FAFSA forms and helping students reduce debt is insane.

Do we understand that by 4 years old, children from low-income families are already 18 months behind most other 4-year-olds? Education reform must include high-quality early learning opportunities from birth through age 5 to help give children what they will need to succeed. We know if they don’t succeed the outcomes can include dropping out of high school, lower wages, fewer life skills and trouble with the law.

We can no longer afford to ignore our shortcomings in these areas: the average student debt for graduates has reached more than $23,000, and at least 37 states are slashing higher education budgets which will lead to increasing tuition and less student aid.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities will receive $2.55 billion in investments from this bill. But these HBCUs cannot depend on the federal government alone to forge a new reality for our students. We must support out HBCUs by engaging in real leadership, real programs and expand graduate programs that will help us connect with both domestic and international markets. Our students deserve better.

The top 20 lenders have already spent $4,665,000 on lobbying since January, and they represent only a miniscule fraction of all student loan companies. They strongly opposed this legislation. That was money that could have went into investing in education.

In the silver rights movement we believe that the ultimate answer to eradicating poverty, right here in America, lies in an active, proactive and coordinated partnership, by and between the private sector, government and the community. At the same time we believe that individuals prefer "a hand up to a hand out," and actively promote programs aimed at helping people, people help themselves. A person getting financial aid is not a hand out but a hand up especially if they are going to school for engineering or the medical field.

Therefore, for those who choose to work and pay for college please continue to do so and we will support you. But do not block those who need financial aid to go to college in the name of ideologies and fear tactics. At the end of the day we need an educated America to compete in the 21st century against the global market.

Urban Conservatives Must NOW Lead The Way In REAL Health Care Reform

2010-03-26T07:42:00.001-07:00

The historic health care bill in Washington DC passed last night. It took 100 years to make this happen. While this was historic in nature people are still upset and still feel that the government are impeding on their natural rights as U.S. citizens.

This of course will lead to a showdown in all 50 states and DC in November.

From an urban conservative perspective I never understood why we needed the federal government to improve the health care in our community when our community generate $1 trillion. The problem with the $1 trillion is that we are the largest consumers in the United States instead of being the largest producers. With $1 trillion we could easily write our own health policies and fund them. So when I see Black folks screaming for joy over the passage of the health care bill I ask myself is it because President Obama did this, is it because the Democratic party did this or a little of both?

To tell you the truth no political party can save our community when it comes to health care. We have to be able to save ourselves. Urban conservatives have given solutions to this issue many times however, if Blacks would learn not to be distrustful towards each other and actually begin to support each other from a silver rights perspective then we would not have to rely on the federal government all the time. I have no problem with our community partnering with government, private sector and technology to conduct business. What I have a problem is that we would rather much turn solely to a larger entity who is having trouble running the United States Postal System than turn to each other and be innovative about our approaches to health care.

So with the passage of this bill where do we go from here?

Although urban America is rich in natural resources, paradoxically, most of our cities are afflicted and pounded by domestic hunger, poverty, diseases, conflict, genocides, corruption, environmental degradation, and massive underdevelopment among others. Urban conservatives are always seeking other alternatives to address the cultural, spiritual and economic needs in our community. From its natural resources, one would expect to see people enjoying high standards of living. Instead, urban America is full of people still struggling for their basic needs.

There is no magical bullet to solving the health care crisis in our community because our faith based/non profits have not demanded that these coney islands in our community and other fast food restaurants stop building death traps in our community. The reason? Most Black churches in the urban communities serve food that is unhealthy after church service. How can you get an emotional high after service only to make yourself sick later? It makes no sense.

40 years after the Civil Rights Movement, the urban communities in America are still struggling in homegrown solutions and urban talent. The biggest question is why this is happening in a community where people are endowed with the human mind that is creative and innovative? Again, with $1 trillion being generated how come we cannot provide the basic needs for health in our community?

Today most urban communities focused on the “visible wealth” and in some cases what I call ‘tribal organization’. This individualistic structure instead of creating wealth, promotes chaos over resources.

Urban America have perpetually been at war over the 'community cake’ with each community struggling to control only the known aspects of wealth. Few have ventured to create new wealth and migration trends could as well be a pointer to a new breed of Black Americans out to explore new opportunities as opposed to fighting over stale ones. By continuing to fight over the stale issues we had to wait for President Obama to save us from failing health care. This could have been done 20 years ago where our children would have been benefiting from health care reform from our parents. But when you are not thinking with a vision and have an entitlement mentality this is what we end up.

Urban Americans have been unable to produce real health care sensitive to our plight because of the heavy reliance on political external support. It makes no sense that each ethnic group that exploits urban Americans have its long term interests pegged to the support in a way compromises the ability of urbanites to seek to solve their own problems in this health care crisis. Consequently,our urban cores are a desert of concrete solutions to its own problems. Each and every urban community has been made to believe that the solution to our problems is somewhere in the federal or state government. Prosperous ethnic groups exploited people’s talents in order to develop and the urban community must do the same for the inner cities.

The fact that the inner cities are plagued with numerous problems points at the wealth of solutions beckoning problem solvers. Migration to other communities is but a symptom of an underlying problem in urban America. That people are suffering an inner crisis to change. They want to develop and achieve better living standards similar to those in the suburbs; they want security, health, better political and legal infrastructure. Black migrants from the inner cities want electricity, clean water, a good educational system, good roads and generally a happy and satisfying life. One need not blame those who migrate to wealthy suburbs – blaming them is to miss the point.

Intellectuals from urban America migrate to wealthy countries in search of more rewarding challenges, better pay and recognition. This has been possible due to lack of an effective intellectual property regime that will make them stay home and help their cities create wealth. Health care is not an excpetion to this rule.

However, they are harassed and treated with suspicion for merely being intellectuals. To stem our brain drain from the inner-cities, it’s instructive that urban Americans builds educational institutions that will protect intellectual property. Building such institutions will ensure that the urban innovators build upon the already existing knowledge to solve urban America's problems. Inner city innovators should seek to work with Africans in Diaspora and immigrants from other developed nations to offer concrete and workable solutions to urban America's problems. So far little has been done to tap into medicine, and the extra educational economy in the community.

The health care bill does not address hunger and poverty that exists in our community. This is something we must solve as a community. You can open a church on every corner but you cannot feed children on a daily basis. You can complain about strip clubs but will not address child poverty in areas like Detroit.

Urban community leaders should promote the welfare of poor and innocent people in the inner cities and work hard to build amicable and amiable relationships among each other and other communities. Above all, they must determine to promote urban America's economic development, with competitive global markets, improvement of health, a more cohesive social structure, and better standards of living. No health care bill can solve this issue but us.

Urban America do not need delusional epistemological or ontological revolution of paradigms but practical and pragmatic approaches to both economics and politics. Therefore, when we are developing health care policies it is not supposed to and cannot be catered to a political party slogan but a meaningful and purposeful statement of intent with a coherent, consistent and commensurate set of well thought out and achievable objectives and instruments to ameliorate a properly diagnosed policy problem. The policy process should neither be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency as is often the case with many policies in urban America nor be a journalistic or newspaper story. A developmental policy for urban America must be predicated on a vision to transform the economy and society at large.

Its nice to cheer on health care reform in our country and I must admit President Obama got the job done on this. Even with the election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, Obama still managed to navigate the ship and steer it into the dock. Meanwhile, the GOP fell asleep at the wheel with the health care debate. We bitched, faxed, called our Congressmen and women,screamed and even protested. Not only the health care bill passed but the Student Aid bill passed.

Regardless of how you feel about the Student Aid bill how come this was NOT part of the central debate like the health care? Again, when will my GOP colleagues realize that education is the # 1 issue in America? Allow the urban conservative community to help you reshape your debate on the issues when it comes to urban America.

Here is a tip for my GOP colleagues. A core strategy was needed in this debate. I said years ago, there will come a time when the GOP must enter the urban community for votes. It is ridiculous for any Democrat to come into a GOP stronghold and win elections on a pro-life/pro-gun platform. Now the Democrats are going after illegal immigrants and registering them to vote in their party. If you cannot see the writing on the wall then its time for the Frederick Douglass Republicans and urban conservatives to run the show. The GOP could have easily catered their health care plan to the urban communities but as usual chose not to do so.

That is ok because we have to take matters in our own hands.

So what do we do with this health care bill since it will be signed into law by President Obama? Do we sit and complain about the problem or do we take action? I have taught urban conservatives not to even flinch about what is going on in DC. To complain about the passage of the health care bill and not have solutions will show our weakness as a group. We do not have time for this.

Instead, we need to take health care into our hands. One way is to start is with a full-scale fight against poverty in an organized and planned manner. We must begin to amass human, material and financial strength and begin to mobilize all sectors of society for this purpose.

While we increase investment to improve production and living conditions in poverty-stricken areas, Urban America must also pay more attention to ecological and environmental protection and for sustainable development.

It's time to handle business not promote fear. We do not have time for protests and screaming when we must protect and provide for our children and senior citizens. We have people in our community who are going to school for nursing. Have we ever tried to steer them into a direction of medical entrepreneurship? Taking them higher as doctors? Opening and managing group homes and the likes with a holistic diet, routine exercise and a reestablishing a spiritual foundation that will enhance their way of life? Independency, not dependency, is the call of the day. I will like to reach out to others in the Diaspora for assistance in terms of a 5 year plan on health care that can benefit our urban cores internationally. Take action not talking about November. By that time more people would have died because you are waiting for some election to vote people out.

A triumph over poverty and improving health care in urban America is not necessarily a symbol of goodwill nor an end in itself, but rather a fundamental and monumental act of justice as well as the protection of fundamental and inalienable human rights, including the right to self esteem, the right to a decent life and dignity. The dignity of urban America cannot be said to be fully restored as long as the inner city masses remain trapped in the vicious circle of poverty. This is our health care challenge. Our job, as urban conservatives, is to lead the fight as social entrepreneurs, from a 21st century silver rights approach.

Urban Conservatives Must Create a Knowledge-Based Economy Through Educational Entrepreneurship

2010-03-26T07:41:00.001-07:00

I guess my mantra of education being the #1 issue in Michigan is starting to come into fruition.

Highlights of educational movements going on:

(a) $540 million academic plan Robert Bobb to change the academic face of the Detroit Public Schools.

(b) A coalition of education leaders and foundations will unveil today a sweeping academic reform agenda that targets failing schools, calls for 70 new programs and launches a national effort to recruit principals. This includes a $200 million plan also aims to build community support this year to eliminate the Detroit Board of Education and make the mayor accountable for Detroit Public Schools.

(c) Opening 70 school programs by 2020, 40 of which will be open within five years.

(d) Pushing for 90 percent of students to graduate high school, 90 percent to enroll in college or post-secondary training and 90 percent to succeed without remedial education in college by 2020.

(e) DPS Reading Corps is in full effect.

(f) The advent of University YES Prep in the fall in Detroit and the opening of the ninth grade academy at University Prep Science and Math Academy.

Even at the national level we are seeing the following.

(g) Underperforming school districts that fail to show improvement would have to cede control of critical Title I funds to state-level officials under a reauthorization plan for the "No Child Left Behind" outlined by Department of Education officials today.

(h) A group of 107 graduating seniors from the Urban Academy for Young Men in Englewood, Chicago is celebrating a great success. That success is every young man in the school’s first graduating class has been accepted into a four-year-college.

While we celebrate these accomplishments we are still a long way to go from our goal of helping our students compete in a 21st century global setting. We are still fighting and debating over why we should not abolish the Detroit Public School Board. This is a very simple process. The Board is past their prime and its time to move on.

I would love to take a poll or survey of Detroiters who have actually traveled and lived in other countries to see how the education works in those countries. We are still stuck on a civil rights approach to education when our students should be learning metric and preparing to study abroad in Tokyo and London.

Educational proponents may not agree on what educational design we need to turn around urban education. But what we can agree on is that the relevance of educational design to the multitude of issues humankind faces is now widely accepted: few continue to view education as a relatively minor step in the process of bringing a product to market, and one that lies far downstream in the value chain. Rather, redesigning education in the urban community is increasingly seen as an integral part of innovation, and a very potent tool in realizing change.

Our mission should not be just building new facilities to make a community feel good. We need to both reinvent and redesign education in our communities. In order to do this we must engage in educational entrepreneurship. From educational entrepreneurship we rebuild our curriculum framework and reinvent our students in the classroom.

Urban conservatives must begin to place a heavy emphasis on educational entrepreneurship because it is essential for developing the human capital necessary for the society of the future. It is not enough to add entrepreneurship on the perimeter – it needs to be central to the way education operates. Educational institutions, at all levels (primary, secondary and higher education) need to adopt 21st century methods and tools to develop the appropriate learning environment for encouraging creativity, innovation and the ability to “think out of the box” to solve problems. This requires a fundamental rethinking of educational systems, both formal and informal. Also in need of rethinking are the way teachers or educators are trained, how examination systems function and the way rewards, recognition and incentives are given.

I often teach urban conservatives to focus on educational entrepreneurship ideas in areas where we can make an immediate impact. Areas like Ecorse, Flint and Benton Harbor are prime examples of building a strong educational entrepreneurship platform. Urban conservatives must embrace charter schools and other educational options as a form of educational entrepreneurship opportunities to create change.

Educational Entrepreneurship is about developing attitudes, behaviors and capacities at the individual level. Inherently, it is about leadership. It is also about skills and attitudes that can take many forms during an individual’s career, creating a range of long-term benefits to society and the economy.

First and foremost, educational entrepreneurship requires close cooperation between academia and business. Past barriers to academic collaboration with business need to be broken down and outreach both encouraged and supported. As demonstrated later in the report through the case studies, companies and entrepreneurs play instrumental roles in promoting entrepreneurial education by providing knowledge, expertise, mentoring, social capital and financial support. In addition, businesses with an entrepreneurial culture contribute directly to the entrepreneurial education process by providing employees with the opportunity to cultivate entrepreneurial skills and aptitudes at work.

The educational "capitalist" who is engaged in educational entrepreneurship should build capabilities of leadership and social responsibility in students and academics. This is mandatory precisely because societal demands based on established social and ethical norms will influence the acceptability and economic viability of innovations and novel entrepreneurial opportunities based on them. Some stress how the dynamic environment of the innovation-driven new industries requires entrepreneurial learning and leadership for understanding and actively shaping what kind of entrepreneurial business concepts will gain societal legitimacy.

Lawmakers at the international, national, regional and local levels all have important roles to play in setting the appropriate legal and fiscal frameworks to encourage educational entrepreneurship and in filling market gaps as necessary. This is why we must stop voting by name recognition and start voting for people who will support educational reforms to help our children become competitive. This includes promoting legislation for a Grade 13 for failing schools and supporting a county ran school model for failing schools to eliminate waste and duplication. I have yet to hear anyone who is running for office support and discuss this openly.

While people fight over Detroit Public Schools and prepare to tear down Robert Bobb and the DPS School Board charter schools must begin to have a critical role as intellectual hubs in entrepreneurial ecosystems by serving as incubators for innovation and research, and focal points for collaboration among researchers, students, professors, companies and entrepreneurs. Foundations, Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) and other organizations can play important facilitation or intermediary roles within the charter school, often helping to link various stakeholders. Most important are the champions (often serial entrepreneurs but also educators, staff or students) who leverage their social capital and serve as catalysts for building the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

When introducing educational entrepreneurship into the academic community, one major challenge is to develop contents and methods that encourage entrepreneurial learning. Entrepreneurial learning is characterized by cooperative learning (creating teams) ; taking entrepreneurs as models (exchange, feedback, networks) ; doing and experience (trial and error) ; developing entrepreneurial ideas ; working out problem solutions, and recognizing that mistakes can be learning opportunities.

As we are redesigning our charter school market to a 21st century model we need to understand how entrepreneurial learning develops problem-solving competences through self-learning processes.

It also develops opportunity recognition and acting competences through a change in perception, action and interaction. In the entrepreneurial learning process, the students are confronted with concrete problem situations, e.g., in case studies. The solutions must be worked out either independently or in a team. Often only heuristics are available for the generation of a solution. This also means that in most cases not one solution, but several solutions are possible for a specific problem.

Moreover, solutions are often linked to a specific time and situation and cannot always be applied to another problem in the same way.

Where suitable for fostering team-based, participant centered and interactive learning this may be supported by IT infrastructure, for example, for individually tailored e-learning modules, business simulations or virtual project communities with participants from different countries or disciplinary backgrounds. Inter-disciplinary collaboration is an essential element in developing enterprising abilities.

The importance of interdisciplinary work in creating entrepreneurial opportunities has been widely recognized. As regards the specific content, programs and courses should be adapted to the different target groups in our community.

But there is more about utilizing educational entrepreneurship as it pertains to social entrepreneurship. Utilizing these tools of innovation at the grass roots level is to find sustainable solutions to overcoming poverty. The upcoming generation of charter school developers must take this into account that they are not just servicing the immediate community in which the school is housed but understanding that with the educational model we implement we can also duplicate this model in other urban places globally.

In order to enable a wider participation of those who are socially excluded, such as women, underemployed youth, those with poor health and people distant from modern markets
or with low levels of literacy, we need to create markets and opportunities for innovation and social improvements. These communities are described as being at the “bottom of the pyramid” and the case is being made to draw them into the income generating capability of the modern world through appropriate and targeted educational entrepreneurship.

The missing piece in the promise of urban education seems to be the ability of people to apply their education for self improvement and a solution to this part of the puzzle also needs to be addressed.

Stakeholders, such as not-for-profit organizations, large local and multinational companies, well-established educational entrepreneurs and others need to come together in networks to create an ecosystem in which up-start educational entrepreneurship stakeholders can flourish.

So keep in mind while everyone focus on Detroit and its school system true social entrepreneurs, educational capitalists and stakeholders will focus on urban communities in Michigan and abroad. Academia needs to work with ministries, the private sector and other stakeholders to rethink the educational systems in their countries to develop entrepreneurial societies. Embedding entrepreneurship and innovation, cross disciplinary approaches and interactive teaching methods all require new models, frameworks and paradigms. It is time to rethink the old systems and have a fundamental “rebooting” of the urban educational process. Incremental change in urban education is not adequate in today’s rapidly changing society. We need schools, colleges and universities that are entrepreneurial in their approach to preparing individuals for the future.

Michigan needs to leverage the resources it has by using its universities and colleges to help create a knowledge-based economy. Most educational entrepreneurs are 100% in the dark in terms of negotiating with universities to open K-12 program right on the university campus to promote a theme-based charter school. In other words, an university can open their own charter school WITHOUT going through the authorization process because they are already authorizing the program. Plus the Board of Regents can be the Board for that charter program. However, no university in the State of Michigan are making this effort to join in the innovation process to help our students compete.

But on the flip side how many educational entrepreneurs who are investing in charter schools are thinking out the box and partnering with Everest Institute, Walsh College and other smaller colleges to create fast-track programs for job training in medical and accounting? We can no longer just rely on the traditional universities for assistance. Use our community college system like Wayne County Community College and Schoolcraft College to partner with to engage in homeland security and information technology training to put people back to work. We cannot wait for a broken government to save us. We have to save ourselves. Educational entrepreneurship is the key to transforming urban communities.

Join in the effort for educational reform. We do not need a band-aid approach to education we need a radical and revolutionary approach to change.

It's Time For The Civil Rights Leadership and Parrots To Sit Down

2010-03-26T07:40:00.001-07:00

It's time for the civil rights leaders in our community to sit down and enjoy their rest of their lives.

It's time for Black folks who call themselves conservatives and parrot the ideologies of mainstream conservatives to sit down as well.

We are in a state of crisis, emergency and straight catastrophe. No longer we need the old guard of leadership to try to lead us into the promise land. This has hurt our cause tremendously.

It still bothers me to see how the Congressional Black Caucus, the most ineffective caucus on Capitol Hill, to clown the Obama Administration because he is not doing enough for Black America.

What?

President Obama is the President of the United States not Black America. And if he was the President of Black America I would tell him to put on a bulletproof vest because there is ALWAYS a hater in the midst.

Black America ELECTS the Congressional Black Caucus to REPRESENT us. Instead, it was revealed how they represent corporate interests. No surprise there since these same corporate interests they entertain have not brought back jobs into the urban community.

But most importantly, we have not even heard them COLLECTIVELY fight against failing education in our community. Oh, I forgot they cannot do this because of the teacher unions.

This is why they need to sit down for good. Not just the CBC but these Legislative Black Caucus leaders as well. We will START with my homestate of Michigan where every urban center is destroyed to the core. From Detroit to Benton Harbor to Muskegon to Saginaw there is zero growth in these areas.

And we keep electing more foolishness into office to constantly ignore the needs of the urban communities. Not just Black Democrats but Black Republicans are NOT off the hook either.

We appreciate everything our leaders did in the Civil Rights Movement. Some of these people died for freedom and justice. If it was not for the Civil Rights Movement we would have still been drinking from separate water fountains, riding on the back of the bus and being lynched for looking at a White woman.

However, there comes a time when we need to re-evaluate our position as a community.

Even with Blacks coming into political power in the late 60 and early 70s, or Blacks becoming Republicans or independents our brand of leadership have not changed. Therefore, it has created a vacuum for our future.

These civil rights leaders have not addressed how our young Black men are barely surviving in the 21st century. In fact, today so many of us do not exist in our community. 50% to 80% of prison and jail populations are made up of Black men although we are less than 7% of the total U.S. population.

And while these same Civil Rights leaders who beg for the crumbs that fall from our masters tables more than 70% of our children are born into single, female-headed households. When we discuss colleges and universities the Black male populations on many major college campuses total a mere 1% to 3%.

Now some feel that President Obama should directly address these issues. I do not feel that way. I feel that these same haters who originally jumped on Hillary Clinton's bandwagon before Obama's bandwagon should be called out and VOTED out for allowing such genocide to occur in our communities. They have never liked Obama and in my personal opinion are no better than mainstream conservatives criticizing him. Maybe they should have voted for John McCain and Sarah Palin or Ron Paul in the last Presidential election and called it even.

Well, these same old civil rights leaders have paralyzed our community with their inept policies. It hurts me to see people cheering on old Black men or women for re-election to send back to Congress, the State House or Senate when they are STUCK in their ways of thought. This is not elevation but stagnation. The voting on name recognition only has killed progress in our community and we need to open this decade with new leadership that will work on our behalf. For those who oppose term limits on any level need to rethink your position. Ask yourself, when was the last time Congressman John Dingell brought anything new to the table? The man has been in office since 1955. Congressman John Conyers have been in office since 1964.

Today, this new generation of urban leaders often fights battles on two fronts: 1) we fight to remedy and mitigate against the vestiges of racism and inequality that still remain; and 2) we struggle with some older generation leaders who are unable or unwilling to make room, make way, get on board, be led or at the very least – get out of the way.

New generation urban leaders often find themselves in a constant struggle to both recognize, honor and respect those who came before while exercising our own authentic leadership relevant to the 21st century and beyond. We struggle to find the space to lead and to do so in our own way, with our own style, vision and methods; and we long to do so with the respect and support of older leaders whom we typically came into our work admiring, respecting and wanting to emulate.

For example, there are a large number of young Black conservatives who lack knowledge of their own history and culture. This, in return, as affected their dialogue to create solutions because most do not know what happened in the past. Part of this reason is because most of these young people were born in the mid to late 80s so they never experienced the Civil Rights or Black Power movements. And most are too young to remember the conscious hip hop movements of the late 80s to early 90s that helped reflect and reinforced our conscious way of thinking.

Mentors like myself not only must educate those who are serious about change in our community but also give them a worldview of education that can help connect them with their past to present and connect them to the global balance sheet that exists out here. When young Black conservatives begin to discuss policy issues and move away from political rhetoric they will (1) be able to begin solution driven policies that are 21st century based and (2) create a new pool of independent thinkers/scholars that value not only the importance of education as a passport to freedom but understand economics, family and urban infrastructure.

Until that happens, young Black conservatives will continue to rely on Glenn Beck and other mainstream conservatives who are (1) opportunists and (2) divisive. These people do not have the right ingredients to solve what is going on in urban America. Older Black conservatives have an full obligation (whether they like it or not) to mentor and educate our young people who are conservative by teaching them the truth about our plight here in this country and where we are going. To do otherwise is failure.

Meanwhile, in the past 50 years we need to ask in urban America what has transformed into making our cities great, our educational system better and our families intact? The only thing our Democratic civil rights leadership gives you today is a headache when you try to figure out what they’re standing for and what they’re doing to remedy the social and economic disparities this community is facing today. It's embarrassing.

On the other hand, Black conservatives use the easy way out by pointing to the War on Poverty programs of the late 60s. But refuse to take the hard way in when it comes to solutions and practices that will help engage action. It's easy for both sides to play the blame game but when its time to talk about infant mortality, unemployment, and education we need to learn that (1) whatever worked in the 1950s is most likely NOT applicable in 2010 and (2) we are living in an information age NOT an industrial age. You can keep conservative values BUT the strategy in the transformation and policy process must be different to keep up in a global competivie society.

Today, this new generation of Black leadership is struggling to find the space to co-exist, thrive and lead with an older generation not always willing to pass the baton and graciously make room. That is fine because we have a history of innovation on our side. Leadership in this community must be policy oriented and spiritual based. When I say spiritual I am not just talking about Christianity. I find more spiritual people who take care of themselves OUTSIDE the church with holistic diets, exercise, and expanding their way of thinking. Everyone who is participating in the transformation of our community will not be Baptist, AME or COGIC. Some may practice Judaism or some might be Muslim. Should we ostracize them because they have a different faith? Again, are you thinking for yourself or is someone thinking for you?

The socio-political infighting amongst each other is not only dangerous and damaging for the negative impact it can have on our communities’ need for real, united leadership but is is also self-destructive in nature. One side is talking about the free market while the other side is talking about Keynesian economics. How about both sides coming together to create a new economic model that we can compete globally and gain our fair share of wealth that we can tap into? This will take a high level of scholarship to develop which means you will have to think outside the box.

I understand that we have some of our elders in the community embracing this new generation of urban leaders who have proven themselves fully capable of taking the mantle to further advance civil rights and social change. The challenge is will older leaders, the trailblazers whose shoulders many of us stand on, get on board to work with and support the new generation of leaders so that we can experience the manifestation of the very dreams they fought hard for?

This is why its time to make the transformation from civil rights to silver rights. Its time to move into the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement. Education is a global silver right and I cannot understand why so many of us will not take to the streets to change our outdated academic system. If we can take the same energy to elect President Obama then what is our excuse of not taking the same energy to save both our families and education system? How come we have to be a reactionary group of people when we should be proactive?

It's time for this generation to fully engage in public-private partnerships, helping convert small business dreamers into small business owners and helping people help themselves to create more stakeholders in our community.

What our Democratic civil rights leadership must understand is that the 20th century was marked, both here and abroad, by issues related to race and the color line. Today, in the 21st century, its marked by issues of class and poverty.

Let's face it the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and it is harder for the average person, simply to remain "middle class." 30 short years ago, middle class meant one parent working, and one parent raising our children at home, as a sort of domestic engineer. Today middle class most often means two parents working, and the television set and popular culture is raising our children, in our place.

And with so many people living from paycheck to paycheck (if they are even working to begin with) is a struggle. In this community we are one paycheck away from poverty. This must change.

An estimated 65 million Americans have no traditional banking relationship. Another 33 million are dirt poor in this country.

Now when you look at Black America and keep in mind our leadership comes from our community we see how one million Black children in the United States are living in extreme poverty. 58% of Black boys do not graduate from high school in the United States. Many of the 42% who do will be given diplomas that graduate them to low-wage jobs or no jobs at all, street-corner hustling, incarceration and violent death. In fact, for most of these students, their high school diplomas will not lead to a decent job, acceptance to a good college or even qualify them for military service.

Today, I can careless what you refer yourself to my concern is can we get the job done?

Our community must immediately disengage from the diversions of mind-deadening entertainment, useless sports, hyper-sexuality, excessive social celebrations, pointless conversations and debates about Democrats and Republicans..conservatives

vs. liberals, meaningless media and the civil rights issues approaches to managing our problems. We must begin to think independently not rely 100% on Fox News, Tea Parties, NAACP Dinners and Fighting the Power. Our market is now global not just domestic. Our destiny has nothing to do with 1776 but 2010.

We must focus on the most important issue in our communities -- making EDUCATION the highest priority. Please, do not come to me about how to make a million dollars when (1) you are broke yourself and (2) possess a hustling mentality. If quality education is not the foundation of your solution then you are wasting time. Black have to get out of this hustling mentality that has created a rat race in our community. The same people who are telling you NOT to get involved in certain policies are INVOLVED themselves if not making money on the side. Think for yourself to create a new level of leadership.

We must create a counterculture of literacy and learning that replaces intellectual apathy and resistance to educational progress. Somehow, we must re-inspire our children to want to learn and to love to learn. But having educated children is not enough. We must have educated families and educated communities. Every Black man, woman and child must become part of this new community of learners.

Now more than ever in our history, leadership in the Black community needs to be cross-generational, united and mutually respectful. Anything less is a recipe for failure.

The Need for Intrapreneurial Development in Urban America

2010-03-26T07:39:00.003-07:00

Urban America suffers from poverty caused by both negative publicity and actions that scare away potential investors to our community. Urban America poverty is also due to bad policies that restrict people in the community from opening the doors of innovation amongst ourselves. Many urban communities in America have a civil rights mindset that restricted silver rights entrepreneurship while local urban governments have criminalized or penalized local entrepreneurship by passing strict, unproductive and unfriendly business practices. For example,Detroit's business climate is non-existent, contracts are difficult gain due to inefficient governmental policies.

High level corruption in our community is fueled by an ineffective government and the private sector. Corruption in urban America is not an individual issue; it is a process, a systematic issue that can only be addressed by discouraging the incentive behind it. Part of the incentive is in the mentality of the people who have the willingness to bank all the stolen money from our community. The begging bowl approach by the civil rights leadership fuels this vice because they approach the bargaining table from the point of weakness and not strength. Does cities like Detroit need rock stars and to fix these problems? Absolutely not.

First of all urban America must recognize that we are not a poor community. Urban America is rich in wealth. With over $1 trillion in buying power Blacks alone can feed the whole community and export the surplus to countries globally. This community has a huge market of millions of people struggling in poverty simply because their lack of understanding to make it difficult to enact a uniform business oriented policy that will make it easy for entrepreneurs to spring up and address the demands of this market. Domestically and globally both Black American and African potential of the women and youth is yet to be tapped on another level. Part of this restriction comes from illiteracy. Our global community offers a huge potential to problem solvers but as long as we continue to fight against one another and not find the common ground that is needed we will never solve the issues we need to handle.

Therefore, urban conservatives must take the lead in innovation and developing new ideas to help eradicate poverty. We know quality education plays a role in eradicating poverty but intrapreneurship is also needed in urban communities. Black conservatives preach about the need for entrepreneurship but rarely discuss intrapreneurship.

Intrapreneurship is basically having a spirit of enterprise within an organization – and it means that you’re taking initiatives and taking your job as you’re running your own business. This means you act in the best interests of the organization. In the eyes of the community we can take this concept and utilize this in a organizational manner.

For example, we want to help the community in which we are trying to serve increase their profitability (businesses), to reduce the costs of their operations (by downsizing), to maybe spearhead or create activities, leads or launches that will really add to the bottom-line of the community.

Every organization in a community or local municipality will value intrapreneurs because at any point in time, if there’s a retrenchment exercise, who are the people they’ll get rid of? The dead-weight. The people who are just doing what they’re told. But intrapreneurs are people who are continuously looking for ways to create value for the organization that will in return help the community. These people will be more valuable and you’ll be the last to be affected in the downturn.

There is a need to promote both entrepreneurship that will lead to intrapreneurship. Entrepreneurship is someone who brings resources, such as land, labor, materials, and combine them to enhance their value through various transformation method while they also bring about change, engender innovation and introduce new ideas and orders. Entrepreneurial process is a major factor in economic development and the entrepreneur is the key to economic growth.

We use intrapreneurship in urban communities by utilizing a process to seek entities such as faith based/non-profits and private businesses to utilize, maintain or retain the edge in innovation and profit-making by asking employees to spawn businesses within the business. Most of these people are given free rein to run a particular aspect of the company, perhaps a new product line or subsidiary.

Entrepreneurs builds something from the ground up while intrapreneurs build something new within an establishment. Both are needed to help eradicate poverty in our communities.

We can take the same synergy into educational entrepreneurship and other business/economic models that will help eradicate poverty and other negative effects in our community.

Therefore, urban America and its cities can make poverty history by owning the problem. What urban people need to recognize is the fact that economies do not grow by one addressing only the demands of their community. Urban investors must look beyond the horizon. Leadership should facilitate the local investors’ ability to expand by recreating policies to enable our community to invest globally. More emphasis must be placed on the educational and business climate in the urban communities, and efforts made to increase security for those who live in cities like Detroit and Philadelphia.

By promoting intrapreneurship in our community, urban America will be able to take care of the health of their citizens, improve our infrastructure and provide public-private services to its citizens.

The Making of An Edutropolis

2010-03-26T07:39:00.001-07:00

I am getting phone calls and e-mails asking for my opinion on the upcoming gubernatorial election here in Michigan. Many people are asking me for my opinion on who would be the best Governor for the State of Michigan. They are asking for who I would support.

To tell you the truth I have not come out to support anyone. Not Mike Cox, Rick Snyder, Pete Hoekstra, Mike Bouchard or even my good friend State Sen. Tom George. I will not vote for a Democrat for Governor in Michigan.

I will say this. I am looking at two elements in this election. I would like to see who will have the strongest urban platform as it relates to infrastructure and who will take educational reform into the 21st century. Who is willing to reinvent urban communities in Michigan.

I have read Rick Snyder and Mike Cox's platform on education. Both Snyder and Cox have taken positions on urban infrastructure but it sounds like the same urban infrastructure that most Republican throw around during election season. I see that Cox is more open to lifting the cap off charter schools while Snyder is committed to transforming Michigan’s educational system is essential to prepare our children to compete globally in a knowledge-based economy. Both are needed to move Michigan forward.

Tom George is also committed to urban infrastructure in terms on reinventing urban greenspace and brownfield in urban areas such as Detroit. I also think this is necessary to build upon to create economic development.

I did not see a platform or ANYTHING on educational reform nor urban infrastructure from Mike Bouchard or Pete Hoekstra. So we will leave them out of the equation for now.

Well, whoever is going to be the next Governor of the State of Michigan need to support urban conservatives on the development of an educational empowerment zone called an Edutropolis. It is a concept that focuses on a K-16 network of academic institutions serving and supporting a multiplicity of educational, social, economic and cultural missions. This include the traditional triad of teaching, research and community service, and also, increasingly, community advancement and enhancement; i.e. economic development.

Most of our urban communities are brownfields. however, like what urban conservatives have been discussing for a while, we are sole interested in transforming urban communities into goldmines. We believe that an edutropolis in an area such as Benton Harbor, Northwest Detroit, Southeast Detroit or Northeast Detroit, Muskegon Heights, Saginaw, Flint and Pontiac will benefit from the edutropolis.

An edutropolis can help rebuild the middle class in these urban areas by reinventing failing schools into high quality institutions. Our aim is to draw students and faculty from an international pool of exceptionally qualified candidates and scholars. An edutropolis can serve an area like the Brightmoor district in Detroit with 21st century programs and academic courses that will improve their lives and advance their position in a competitive society.

K-16 education is a fundamental economic and cultural resource in urban areas across Michigan. Therefore, support for K-16 education will continue to be an important economic and social factor in Michigan's economic and social development, transcending partisan politics, public policy debates, and local, county and state elections.

What most people do not realize is the fact that the concept of campus and community has to be extended to embrace more than town and gown. It has to include the network of all the institutions of learning. This is why institutions such as Wayne County Community College should be allowed to authorize charter schools in Detroit.

The new 21st century model of an Historically Black College and Universities should be allowed to flourish in an edutropolis. That 21st century HBCU model is not based on the traditional school/campus model but now has been transformed into 100% online schools (cyber schools), small learning centers and an international model of education to help prepare students to compete globally.

There are office spaces all over the City of Detroit that are not being used in any capacity. Welcome to your new Historically Black College and University right here that is connected next to a high performing charter school which has a relationship to a high performing Detroit Public School that focuses on engineering. The private K-16 Christian school/college is training and developing new ways to reach a new ministry from a moral and spiritual perspective. When you have a network of these institutions working together they will anchor the middle class. When you develop a network this sophisticated it will begin to take shape in urban areas across Michigan with a high participation rate in education.

An edutrpolis must be able to educate our children in several disciplines:

Art and Design
Business and Management
Education
Engineering and Technology
Law
Medical and Dental
Music and Dramatic Arts
Theology

These core features are needed in urban areas to reinvent urban core here in Michigan. If we create a model here in urban areas such as Muskegon and Ecorse then we can take it to Newark, Los Angeles, Oakland, California and even Camden, NJ.

All too often, attempts to encourage urban renewal and get families to move back into cities fail to address one of the largest stumbling blocks: a lack of access to good schools. Urban conservatives strongly believe that the development of an edutropolis will help reinvent urban communities in Michigan. Working and middle class families with children are vital to neighborhood and city building because they have higher incomes and are more economically and socially stable.

The development of an edutropolis would also provide education alternatives to families through high performing charter schools and leaving the option of converting existing traditional public and private schools to Schools of Choice. As well as providing more educational options for parents, competition among those schools would prompt traditional public schools to improve. Quality education options also would reduce neighborhood income segregation as wealthier families would be attracted into low-income neighborhoods by high-quality schools.

We are not just limiting the idea of an edutropolis to urban areas in Michigan. We would like for urban conservatives to discuss this topic nationally and internationally. We no longer wait for the RNC, the Tea Party people or others to give us the green light to discuss our needs in our community. We have our own platform, our own issues that we need to address and create solutions for without asking for permission. The edutropolis should be on the lips of every urban conservative activist domestically and globally. The reason? Because urban conservatives do not look in the past for support (i.e. Ronald Reagan, Party of Lincoln, etc.). We acknowledge our past heroes on education (Booker T. Washington and Mary McCleod Bethune), our own past heroes on capitalism (Marcus Garvey, Madame C.J. Walker) and look into the future for leadership (Dambia Moyo, Muhammad Yunus, John Hope Bryant, and yourself).

So the next time someone asks you who you are supporting for public office ask them (1) an educational strategy and (2) and urban infrastructure strategy. Would they be willing to support the idea of an edutropolis and not only implementing this model domestically in urban Michigan but internationally in areas such as Lagos, Yaounde and Accra to create our own network and system of international educational excellence.

A Literacy Test Will Not Solve The Problems of Civic Education in America

2010-03-26T07:38:00.001-07:00

Saturday, the National Tea Party convention took place in Nashville, Tennessee. The person who opened up the event was former Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo.

Now Tancredo was the guy who ran for President in 2008 on one issue immigration. As a paleoconservative, I can only imagine that he wants to keep America White..at least that is my guess. However, it was his remarks at the Tea Party Convention that made me shake my head.

First, look at the video here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u27YopczkF4\

Tancredo told the audience that the country had elected “a committed socialist ideologue in the White House” because “we do not have a civics, literary test before people can vote in this country."

Interesting. Tancredo tried to clean it up by saying this afterwards:

"I do think they should have to know something about how the government works.” He suggested using the citizenship test that immigrants take — maybe, he said, voters could take it "verbally.”

And even Judson Phillips, one of the organizers for the Tea Party Convention, said Tancredo's speech was "fantastic."

Please look at his remarks on video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPfBCfm_ZvU

To tell you the truth there was nothing fantastic about Tancredo’s remarks because they were offensive. For years, literacy tests were used across the South to disenfranchise African-American voters, who generally had illiteracy rates 4-5 times as high as whites due to historical discrimination and lack of opportunity. Unfortunately for Tancredo, the 1965 Voting Rights Act makes literacy tests illegal.

Even if I did attend the convention I would have never came back. You cannot be that reckless in your words and think people are going to support you. It's impossible.

Civic education is important but conducting a literacy test is NOT the answer. Urban conservatives push for civic education from K-12 instead of 9th or 10th grade. Civic education should also be available for adult education courses and should be taught with a balanced approach. Conservatives make the mistake of saying how liberal education is without presenting an alternative approach to education to balance out the equation. Tancredo failed to say this.

But then again, was this ever on his mind to begin with?

What is even more embarrassing is the number of Black Republicans who are silent on this issue. How come we have to be silent when Pat Robertson or Tom Tancredo make ridiculous statements with a lack of scholarship but when Harry Reid made his comments Black Republicans were ALL over him? Did we miss the memo? Both Reid and Tancredo are in the bed together and have no intentions of helping Americans. One is a Moron..I mean Mormon who comes from the period where Mormons thought Blacks were cursed and the other is anti-immigrant. Jesus, I cannot imagine what Tancredo thinks of Africans and Caribbean people in this country who are hard working citizens.

My point is if Black Republicans are going to point out the error of Sen. Reid then how come we have not said anything about Tancredo? Are you afraid to get your GOP pass revoked? Please, you better speak up against racism when you hear and see it. This is not the time to be afraid. The comments were disrespectful and silly. Literacy tests? This is the 21st century not Dixie in 1960. You cannot call yourself a freedom fighter when you allow such nonsense to continue in our party. To be this silent shows that we will allow anything to fly past our head. But if Obama, Reid or Pelosi said the same thing I can hear Black Republicans coming out of the woodwork like roaches saying how racist the Democratic Party is and etc. Kill the rhetoric and get on with the business of solutions not getting caught up on plantation politics. Here is a newsflash for you. There is racism in BOTH parties. So it does not matter if you call yourself a Black Democrat or Black Republican both parties are archaic in their thinking, keep people thinking in a box and keep people fighting against each other while we have serious issues to tackle in our community.

Tancredo also mentioned about the cult of multiculturalism. Did I miss something? Perhaps he was sleepwalking when he said this.

The latest breakdown of the Republican Party is this:

95% of the GOP are White.
2% of Blacks are Republican.
5% of Hispanics are Republican.

I can understand why Tancredo is hellbent on immigration not because of Mexicans taking jobs from Americans but because Hispanics in general will be the top population in the near future and that places the GOP at risk because people like Tancredo is against multiculturalism. Or maybe he wants to continue the Southern Strategy..which is why he supported the notion of literacy tests.

He need to get a clue. The world is changing and politics is not about Democrat or Republican per se. It's global. For him to not understand that tells me a lot about his character. And urban conservatives must dismiss him and keep him in the 20th century.

Politics can be a trap and a blessing if you know how to work it to a community's advantage. I personally do not participate in tea parties because that is not my calling. However, for those who do participate in it just be aware of the things that are being said.

Finally, as urban conservatives, we have our own platforms that we must go by not get caught up with other madness.

Our tea party = financial literacy.

Our method of change = Silver Rights on both a micro and macro level.

Our 21st century school districts = Charter schools.

Our educational choices = Vouchers and homeschooling.

Our economic empowerment zone = Educational empowerment zones.

Our higher educational models = Any university but we stress the importance of redirecting our HBCUs in the 21st century.

Our scholarship = The up and coming urban conservatives who have dedicated themselves to change the direction of our community.

Our Heroes = Booker T. Washington, Madame C.J. Walker, Marcus Garvey and Ralph Bunche and men like Brandon Brice, Dr. Timothy Johnson and Richard Ivory.

Our Sheroes = Madame CJ Walker, Mary McCleod Bethune, Alveda King, and women like Michelle Bernard, Shay Riley, Tiffany Shorter, Vanessa Jean Louis and Shirley Husar.

Our financial market = the Diaspora.

Our politics = Both domestic and global.

Our economic model = A relationship between government, business and technology. A model where we can establish our own credit rating system, our own debit card system and our own economic processing where we can make capitalism work for those in poverty.

Our focus = Freedom.

Our solution to social problems in our community = Creating a counterculture.

Our solutions to health insurance = Non-Profits with a working relationship with government and private business.

Our solution to family problems - Faith Based/non profit communities.

And if we had a literacy test it would be rooted in education to help young people read better not turning back the clock to Dixie in 1960.

Celebrate our own accomplishments and leave Congressman Tom Tancredo in 1960.

Gov. Granholm Falls Short on Educational Metrics in Her State of the State Address

2010-03-26T07:37:00.000-07:00

As promised to other urban conservatives across the state who listened to Gov. Jennifer Granholm's State of the State address we are looking at how education will tie into Michigan's urban infrastructure for the next 10-20 years. Granholm talked about education and I do agree with her that it is a pressing issue for our residents in our state. However, I did not hear any specifics on how education can be used as a tool for urban redevelopment.

Let me give you an example. We stress a lot about technical jobs here in Michigan. However, we do not stress about urban and regional planning. When you look at the racial makeup of urban and regional planning positions most of them are White and they are planning for urban redevelopment in predominately Black areas. Now, I am not saying this in terms of a conspiracy theory (the White folks are taking over Detroit crap) but you cannot rebuild an infrastructure of a city without a balance of ideas and skill sets that include the people that live there. They know the landscape better than those who just graduated with their degrees in urban and regional planning and have never lived in any urban area in Michigan. It's easy for urban people to invest in education but they too should be part of the growing process in the very city where they pay taxes. In order to do this people in the inner city MUST have the motivation and drive to do this without anyone holding their hand.

Now maybe its not Gov.Granholm's job to stress the need for more urban planners to help develop new centers such as Muskegon and Benton Harbor but it is our responsibility to promote new job ideas and growth as well. Urban conservatives must take the lead on this.

Education is the #1 issue in Michigan and the United States. Gov. Granholm and the Michigan Legislature must put aside their petty differences and begin discussing the development of an educational empowerment zone. This zone can help benefit Michigan's major cities as part of a strategy to re-establish the competitive advantage of the inner city. A combination of traditional, charter schools, and an expanded education voucher available to low-wealth families, these zones could lead revitalizing efforts by enticing middle-income families with children back into the inner city.

For example, the City of Flint can be used as a general framework and assess the potential
impacts of implementing educational empowerment zones. Transforming a city like Flint into an educational empowerment zone would improve the prospects for revitalization in several ways.

Specifically, the zone could:

a) Create high-quality education opportunities for all Flint children.

b) Add 7,000 children to Flint’s private schools.

c) Free local tax dollars to increase per pupil spending in conventional public schools.

d) Result in more kids attending small schools that improve student learning.

Increasing the availability of high-quality education opportunities in Flint's increases the attractiveness of living in Flint. Expanding Flint’s educational choice program is likely to:

a) Move nearly 10,000 working-and-middle class families to the city.

b) Integrate Flint economically as the number of working-and-middle-class families living in Flint grows.

c) Stabilize neighborhoods as families can access better schools without moving.

d) Increase housing values as more families build new homes or renovate older housing in the city.

Education ties in with urban redevelopment because when people purchase a more expensive home in a urban community, however, they are not only purchasing a home, but they are also purchasing the government services that go with that home. As residents’ incomes rise they not only want more housing, they want better government services. For many home shoppers, the number-one government service they care about is the quality of the local public schools.

This is important because Gov. Granholm has not been able to stop the brain drain even with the bells and whistles of the Promise scholarship.

We, as urban conservatives, should not fret because the Promise Scholarships were cut. This is where we need to learn how to convert our consumer dollars into productivity. The urban community generates more income than most, however, our dollars are used in the least productive manner. We owe our children a good education and we should not always rely on state government to bail us out. Instead, we should develop public-private partnership and allow government to become our partners instead of our parents. These public-private partnerships can provide these Promise Scholarships for our children instead of relying on state government and allowing these scholarships become a target of political nonsense.

An smaller educational empowerment zone that we can duplicate here in urban areas in Michigan is one similar to the Harlem Children's Zone. This zone targets poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem, providing free support for the children and families in the form of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, and child-oriented health programs for thousands of children and families.

If Michigan is serious about transforming the direction of education and eradicating intergenerational poverty then we need to establish some serious fundamentals to make K-16 education competitive.

This includes building learning partnerships between businesses and schools to develop in-demand job skills and talents, expanding mentoring and internship opportunities as well as emphasizing opportunities and training for college-bound and non college-bound students.

We would also encourage businesses to partner with school districts to develop an entrepreneurial curriculum to show students that they are not just coming to school to work for someone else but eventually become their own vision through entrepreneurship.

Building an educational empowerment zone also includes treating the arts and culture as both educational and economic development assets. This will lead to improving core infrastructure as well as linking university research and development with entrepreneurs.

We have to engage our citizens by making them feel that they can be agents of change in their communities and regions.

To best attract and retain job providers and talent, Michigan must invest in and protect those assets which differentiate it from other places—our quality of life, work ethic and pioneering history, business innovation and technology, education and health systems, natural resources, urban centers, and the diversity of our people and communities.

Unfortunately, Gov. Granholm fell short on educational metrics tonight in her message. However, out of the GOP candidates who are running for Governor only Attorney General Mike Cox gives a detail of his urban and educational plan (even though his team should expand his urban plan). GOP candidate Rick Synder gives a "white paper" on his plan for education. I would like to hear further hear both Cox and Synder discuss how education can connect with urban redevelopment in a 21st century framework. Cox is open about lifting the cap off charter schools while Synder has not taken a position on the issue.

Meanwhile, Congressman Hokstra and Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard do not have a plan for education or urban redevelopment. State Senator Tom George is pushing his redevelopment authority as a part of his educational connection to urban redevelopment in places like Detroit.

Urban conservatives are not going to just support a candidate because of party affiliation. We are serious about our platforms, our policy positions and want results not the same old 30 year talking points to help revitalize urban areas in Michigan.

Maybe its time to run urban conservatives for office in Michigan. Let's recruit some to actually FIX Michigan.

The Other War on Poverty: How The Vietnam War Destroyed The Black Family In the 1960s

2010-03-26T07:36:00.001-07:00

Black conservatives always discuss how President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty ripped the Black community into half by utilizing destructive welfare programs. These welfare programs help divide the Black family up. However, one thing that is never discussed from any conservatives is the effect of the Vietnam War and how that helped destroy Black families.

I find it extremely weird how I have heard Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, and other White and Black conservatives bring up all the negative aspects of the Great Society Programs but managed to skip the effects of Black families during the Vietnam War. Therefore, I will discuss the effects of the war from an urban conservative perspective.

In his essay The War on Poverty Revisited economist Dr. Thomas Sowell, who makes his point on the War on Poverty:

"In the liberal vision, slums bred crime. But brand-new government housing projects almost immediately became new centers of crime and quickly degenerated into new slums. Many of these projects later had to be demolished. Unfortunately, the assumptions behind those projects were not demolished, but live on in other disastrous programs, such as Section 8 housing. Rates of teenage pregnancy and venereal disease had been going down for years before the new 1960s attitudes toward sex spread rapidly through the schools, helped by War on Poverty money. These downward trends suddenly reversed and skyrocketed. The murder rate had also been going down, for decades, and in 1960 was just under half of what it had been in 1934. Then the new 1960s policies toward curing the "root causes" of crime and creating new "rights" for criminals began. Rates of violent crime, including murder, skyrocketed. The Black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life."

While Dr. Sowell's analysis is direct on both the negative socialization and economic effects of the Great Society Programs one thing he never points out in his analysis is the Vietnam War and its destructive effects on the Black family. The Vietnam War split our homes up because of Black men being drafted into the War where many were being killed in Vietnam. As a result, many women were widowed and left to raise their children as single parents.

What many in this generation do not understand is how The Vietnam War saw the highest proportion of Blacks ever to serve in an American war. During the height of the U.S. involvement, from 1965-69, Blacks, who formed 11% of the American population at that time, made up 13% of the soldiers in Vietnam. The majority of these were in the infantry, and although authorities differ on the figures, the percentage of Black combat fatalities in that period was a staggering 15%.

Our Civil Rights leaders and other critics, including the formidable Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., described the Vietnam conflict as racist—"a White man's war, a Black man's fight." King maintained that Black youths represented a disproportionate share of early draftees and that Blacks faced a much greater chance of seeing combat.

Draft boards themselves were, by their very nature, divisive and discriminatory. For example, in 1967 no Black Americans were present on the boards in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. Jack Helms, a member of the Louisiana draft board, was a Grand Wizard in the Ku Klux Klan. He described the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as “a communist-inspired, anti-Christ, sex-perverted group of tennis short beatniks."

While Selective Service regulations offered deferments for college attendance and a variety of essential civilian occupations that favored middle- and upper- class whites the vast majority of draftees were poor, undereducated, and urban—blue-collar workers or unemployed. This reality struck hard in the Black community.

Therefore, President Johnson launched a Great Society Program called Project 100,000. This project attempted to enhance the opportunities of underprivileged youths from poverty-stricken urban areas by offering more lenient military entrance requirements. Although more than 350,000 men enlisted under Project 100,000 during the remainder of the war, 41 percent were African American and 40 percent drew combat assignments.

Some felt in the Black community that the U.S. government were using the Vietnam War as a form of genocide against Blacks and their families by drafting young Black men into a war they fully did not understand. Money was being pumped into Vietnam instead of poor Black communities in America. Although Black represented only 11% of the U.S. population they accounted for almost 20 percent of all combat-related deaths in Vietnam during that period. Over 58,000 lost their lives in the conflict. Black families were destroyed through this effect.

In 1965 alone African Americans represented almost one-fourth of the Army's killed in action. In 1968 African Americans, who made up roughly 12 percent of Army and Marine total strengths, frequently contributed half the men in front-line combat units, especially in rifle squads and fire teams.

Black soldiers were drafted into war and went off to fight because some believed they were protecting their country. Other Black soldiers were avoiding prison so they had no choice but to go. It was quite sometime before word leaked back to the soldiers that the U.S. made a mistake by being in this war. Some Black soldiers were angry, while others had to stick with the old "blood and guts of war belief" because if they faltered in their beliefs then the whole war was for not and loss of many American soldiers would also be for not.

Today, anyone will tell you how the Vietnam War was a political and racial mess. It also help divide our familes in ways unimaginable. It's easy for Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and other Black conservatives to discuss how the Democrats destroyed the Black community with the War on Poverty. I saw a program with Glenn Beck on recently with a group of Black conservatives on there discussing Martin Luther King's legacy. How come these same Black conservatives did not point out how Dr. King voiced his concerns and charged the U.S. Government with being “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world" and urged dissenting Blacks to seek the status of conscientious objectors (to the Vietnam War).

And how come Glenn Beck did not point out how after Martin Luther King’s assassination White soldiers applauded his murder. Racist graffiti, cross burnings and Ku Klux Klan material were tolerated on some bases. Young African-American recruits were confronted with the symbol most associated with historical racist oppression, the Confederate flag, daubed on army machinery including tanks, jeeps and even helicopters. Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, the same time President Richard Nixon campaigned on "states rights" in the Southern Strategy which saw a number of Democrats crossing over to the Republican Party.

The American Government also knew full well that Agent Orange and Agent White would cause many problems, and had absolutely no problem involving their own soldiers when these two chemicals were dispersed. Agent Orange was called "The Red Rain" by the Vietnamese. This affected Black soldiers greatly and many died as a result of both Agent Organe and Agent White which also contributed to destroying the Black family.

Meanwhile, Colin Powell began his military career in Vietnam, rising through the ranks to become General. Indeed, since Vietnam many African-Americans have been promoted to the highest ranks of the U.S Army. Therefore, a positive legacy was left for the new generation of black servicemen, but at a cost: 40% of Black veterans suffered from post-traumatic stress, compared with 20% of White veterans. Again, this post-traumatic stress was hard and explosive for Black families. Add the drug trade of heroin into the community and we had a systematic problem. Again, Black conservatives are silent on these issues that affected our community.

In terms of employment Blacks suffered after returning from combat in Vietnam unforgiving working conditions, particularly in the North. Manufacturing firms were relocating southward because of cheaper land, lower taxes, and lower union membership. This placed a strain on the family component and forced some of these families to get on welfare or sell drugs which often led to incarceration or death. Again, the Black family in shambles.

Not only were there great horrors of the Vietnam War and many casualties, Black soldiers had to face the fact often that they were beginning to disbelieve in the war which made it difficult for them. Some soldiers did more than one tour of duty because they knew nothing else and knew going home would be difficult for them. Besides being psychologically confused by all the horrors of a confusing war, they also got word that some of the very people back in the U.S., were calling them so-called "baby killers."

When Black soldiers came home they were met with opposition from their own community and even had some people spitting at them. They were shocked, bewildered and saddened. Not only did many Black men come back with loss of limbs, blind, but also spiritually and mentally broken. Some managed to find jobs, while others had an extremely difficult time adjusting to civilian life. There are still Vietnam Vets in the urban community who suffer from terrible nightmares and find it difficult to function in civilian life.

So while mainstream conservatives will point out consistently about how the Democrats War on Poverty destroyed Black families Black Republicans cannot remain silent on how the Vietnam War also destroyed Black families as well. This is a history that we must continue to explain to this generation. To omit this discussion from young Black conservatives is considered dishonest. We need to tell ourstory as urban conservatives to those who we are trying to free mentally and not fall for the talking points.

The Future of Michigan: Vision, Purpose and Strategy

2010-03-26T07:35:00.001-07:00

I often teach our up and coming urban conservatives how we need to always keep our foundation as conservatives intact. This includes one's understanding of marriage, family, spiritual values, financial values and culture. However, in a 21st century framework our methods and strategies must be executed differently. Our vision must me higher than what it is already.

I have also stated often how urban areas in Michigan are emerging markets waiting to be born. This includes places like Detroit, Saginaw, Muskegon, Benton Harbor and Pontiac. People here in Michigan has written off these urban communities as Democratic strongholds. Of course they are Democratic strongholds because most conservatives gave up the ghost and moved to the suburbs.

But these same urban communities can be re-created with innovation in a silver rights framework and perspective. Presently, most of our urban leadership in urban communities in Michigan are using an outdated civil rights framework that is working AGAINST the interests of the people instead of working FOR the people.

Innovation can only come from real education. Its our responsibility to eradicate poverty through education. Then we must connect our vision with strategies that will create legacies.

In the 21st century we, as urban conservatives, must begin to think out the box. The old policies of leadership is gone. We are living in a global society. Therefore, our way of thinking must be elevated.

Our vision includes how we are going to deal with the food shortages in the coming years domestically. Food shortages are happening globally as we speak. Therefore, we know that the world is entering a new food era. It will be marked by higher food prices, rapidly growing numbers of hungry people, and an intensifying competition for land and water resources that crosses both national and international boundaries when food-importing countries buy or lease vast tracts of land in other countries. Because some of the countries where land is being acquired do not have enough land to adequately feed their own people, the stage is being set for future conflicts.

How do you solve this problem?

Another thing to look at is how researchers have developed an artificial-intelligence program that could help reduce invasive diagnostic testing on patients suspected of having cardiac infections. The software is an artificial neural network that responds to unique situations based on accumulated knowledge, just as doctors do.

The program underwent three separate trainings to learn how to evaluate symptoms of endocarditis--infection of the heart's valves and chambers. Diagnosis typically involves an invasive and risky procedure, with a probe inserted into the patient's esophagus.

The program was tested retrospectively on known cases, and made correct diagnoses "most of the time," with 99% confidence levels.

If we could build that technology right here in Detroit it would help revitalize both the education, the economics and diversity of the city.

What about the City if Kalamazoo developing a portable, ultrasensitive virus detector could perceive a virus within just five minutes, using samples of an individual's saliva, blood, or other body fluid. Currently, this device is being developed at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, contains an array of receptors such as antibodies that will bind to microorganisms in the sample, thus creating a detectable interference pattern, like a fingerprint.

The ability to detect viruses almost instantly in clinics or other places without access to laboratories and trained personnel could be a boon to preventing future epidemics. The device can also detect bacteria, proteins, and DNA molecules. The university's spin-off company, Ostendum, plans to introduce the first detector to market in late 2010.

How come Kalamazoo cannot manufacture such technology and generate revenue?

How about Grand Rapids and Pontiac be part of the race for biomedical and genetic enhancement? Humanity is ready to pursue biomedical and genetic enhancements, says UCLA professor Gregory Stock. The money is already being invested, but, he says, "We'll also fret about these things-because we're human, and it's what we do.

To bring this level of knowledge into urban communities in Michigan would put our economy back on track.

Let's not forget about Saginaw, who could lead in the design economy technology of the future that will allow people to download and print their own products, including auto parts, jewelry, and even the kitchen sink. Rapid prototyping, or 3-D printing, and devices like the RepRap self-reproducing printer are allowing people to design, customize, and print objects from their home computers. In the future, cheaper versions of these devices could disrupt manufacturing business models, resulting in far cheaper products individually tailored to every customer’s desire.

Again, a vision for Michigan takes innovation to place it on the global balance sheet.

Will places like Detroit Diesel flip over to making ammonia as a fuel? Ammonia may become the fuel of choice for cars by 2020. As a candidate source for hydrogen used in fuel cells, ammonia (comprising one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms) is plentiful, easier to liquefy than methane, and emits nitrogen rather than carbon, thus having fewer negative impacts on the climate.

And while Michigan is tapping into the green market how about making algae the new oil? According to researchers at a Department of Energy plant in New Mexico, single-celled microalgae, grown in pond water, produce a biofuel that is lead-free and biodegradable, emits two-thirds less carbon dioxide and other pollutants than gasoline, and can run any modern diesel engine. Even better, algae require only a fraction of the land area of biofuel-producing crops. Building a plant that convert algae into oil can be built right off the shore of Benton Harbor.

The State of Michigan must begin to utilize its resources and brain power to become an emerging market through our urban core centers. This is critical as China will most likely become the world's largest economy within 15 years. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace believes China's economy will surpass that of the United States by 2035 but I say this will happen sooner than later. There are debates about whether India's economic development will ultimately surpass China's, but it is clear that Asia's economies are growing. Overall, workers in Asia are becoming more skilled and educated.

With the The United States headed for a "demographic singularity."at a pace of change so fast that the American identity as we know it will be irreversibly altered where do the American politics fit into this category? By 2015 minorities will make up 40% of the U.S. population and will begin to alter politics as a whole.

Urban conservatives must begin to think global as well as domestic. Our skills are needed globally. For example, electrification has expanded around the world, from 40% connected in 1970 to 73% in 2000, and may reach 83% of the world's people by 2030. Electricity is fundamental to raising living standards and access to the world's products and services. Impoverished areas such as sub-Saharan Africa still have low rates of electrification; Uganda is just 3.7% electrified.

Now how come Ypsilanti is not leading in this effort to create power grid technology since Willow Run Airport is part of the Aerotropolis?

Recently, MIT researchers have created a system of floor blocks that generate power when the blocks rub against one another as people walk over them. A crowd of 30,000 moving to and fro could create enough power to run a small electrical system or perhaps bring a subway train safely to a platform in the event of a blackout.

How come the City of Detroit is not using its brain power to duplicate such technology here?

Urban conservatives have been discussing bringing an Michigan State University Experiment Station to Southeast Michigan for years as well as taking the urban agriculture discussion higher such as buying houses and turning them into greenhouses for experimentation. This is real urban agriculture that will result in addressing food shortages, as well as improving vegetation and developing cost effective models that will help develop better agricultural technology both domestically and internationally. Revenue can be generated from such projects right here in Detroit.

What about the city of Inkster leading the way for developing televisions in 3-D. Mathematicians in Finland have produced a blueprint for instruments that would project floating 3-D images by means of nanomaterials that bend light around objects. How about allowing students in 9-12 from Inkster High School and Wayne County Community College to work on technology like this to create a way for the future.

Urban Michigan also must be prepared for mass migration. This level of migration will redistribute the world’s population. There are about 80 million international migrant workers in the world today, and the widespread movement of people from poor countries to richer ones is exacerbating social and economic problems in the host regions. Immigrant workers who perform poorly become a strain on social security systems, while those who do well often divert their financial resources back to their home countries, creating resentment among their new neighbors. Michigan will need to have a system in place to help balance the financial health of the state with a new influx of migrants settling to work and live here in the next 20 years.

Urban Michigan must also become a new hub for education globally. Studies show how more students will migrate for their education. The number of students who will journey abroad to take college courses will triple from 2 million to 6 million a year by 2020. Those students who cannot afford to physically travel to other countries will increasingly look toward online educational opportunities. Demand for transnational education delivered online, via satellite, or though videoconferencing systems will outstrip demand for onshore learning by 6% before 2020.

Meanwhile, urban school districts will build classrooms with no walls, no clocks, and no age segregation. More and more high-school students are leaving the classroom in favor of age-diverse workshops and seminars that focus on their specific interests. Additionally, the traditional 9-to-3 school day will fade as more students learn to take advantage of real-time technology and the availability of distance education to schedule their “class” sessions on their own terms.

Instant messaging and e-mail will bring kids to the head of the class. Cell phones and personal digital assistants might be considered distractions to some teachers, but in one trial at Kansas State University, such devices helped some students become more actively engaged with teachers and classmates. In digitally enhanced classrooms, instructors will be able to give real-time quizzes and get instant feedback so they can adjust their lesson plans.

We have a choice as urban conservatives. Either we can use our foundation to create a new reality or we can stay here and be morally and educationally bankrupt with outdated methods of training, learning and executing our vision in a 21st century framework.

All we need are visionaries who are serious about making Michigan a global emerging market. To constantly lie and talk about politics when nothing will get done is a waste of time and resources. Its time to start electing people who have a 21st century vision and plan. Its time to HIRE people who are global minded and understand the affects of education on a world wide scale.

The War on Illiteracy Has Begun in Detroit Public Schools and the Urban Community

2010-03-26T07:34:00.001-07:00

Twenty years ago, the “Nation at Risk” report declared that illiteracy and poor literacy skills are pervasive in this country. They also found that remedial courses are required for a significant number of freshmen entering our colleges. Many of those issues have not been addressed twenty years later by parents, local public school officials, governmental, business and community leaders.

Especially in urban communities.

Black America is in serious trouble economically, and many Black people are living in “deep poverty.” Black people in America are not just poor by American standards; many of us are third-world poor.

To know the future of Black America in 15 to 20 years, one need only look at the dismal academic performance of 3rd- and 4th- grade Black students today. When it comes to reading, as a group, without the ability to read well, no future exists for Black children in America. The real tragedy is that Black American students are no longer just competing against White American students. They are competing academically against the best and the brightest students globally. And Black students are failing miserably.

This failure exists after six years of No Child Left Behind, 53 years of Brown versus the Topeka Board of Education, and 142 years of being technically removed from slavery. If Black children cannot read today, they cannot become the Black doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers, bankers, accountants, technologists, business people or educators of tomorrow who will make Black communities successful. If Black children cannot read today, they are really no better off than their forefathers who were slaves.

This is why I was grateful to see this past Saturday 3000 parents, educators, community activists from across Metro Detroit signed up for the new Detroit Public School Reading Corps at Renaissance High School.

The Call to Action comes on the heels of recent test scores that showed Detroit schoolchildren ranked the lowest in the nation of participants on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) math test.

In terms of performance levels in the fourth grade in Detroit on the math test, 69 percent of students scored at a below basic level. In terms of performance levels in the eighth grade in Detroit, 77 percent were below basic.

This is a ground breaking opportunity for us to raise up a new generation of literate students who will not only be able to read but to actually use critical thinking skills to change the direction of the city.

In America we can see how,

(a) Reading skill is the single greatest predictor of future academic success. (National Assessment of Educational Progress)

(b) 40 percent of America's children have difficulty learning to read. (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, 2008)

c) Early Identification of poor readers is critical. More than 90% can attain average reading levels through programs that combine phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency development and reading comprehension strategies, provided by well-trained teachers. If intervention is delayed until age nine, 75% of children will continue to have difficulty learning to read. (National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, 2008)

(d) People in the US who are illiterate represent 75% of the unemployed; a third of mothers receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children; 85% of juveniles who appear in court and 60% of prison inmates. (Straight Talk About Reading, 2008)

It's more crucial with your young Black because only 20% of them graduate from high school in Detroit. This must change as well.

Literacy on ALL levels are crucial. Education must be the #1 issue in America in 2010. I STILL cannot understand how so many Americans are not taking education seriously. Instead, we are so focused on the economy that we often forget that we need FINANCIAL EDUCATION to solve the problem. I stress this to ALL urban conservatives that education is the #1 issue facing America.

In other words financial literacy. However, you cannot solve an economic crisis if you have an astronomical dropout rate.

According to The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, a recent study published by Civic Enterprises that shared the perspectives of high school dropouts, approximately one-third of all children, and 50% of minorities in public schools, drop out of high school nationwide. In many of the nation’s “dropout factories,” the percentage of dropouts far outpaces the percentage of graduates.

This is not good for 21st century , and it is an economic death sentence if not changed for urban communities nationwide, or almost 100 million Americans. Can we afford to write-off almost 100 million Americans, or approximately a third of our nation’s population?

Even as Black people earn more money in the United States, the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites grows dramatically. The indices that catalogue the misery in the Black community--poor and useless educational preparation, mass unemployment, low-quality housing stock, disintegrating communities, and failing families--are rising.

Black families cannot wait for the any government to save us. Annually, Black Americans generate close to $1 Trillion within the American economy. However, a 2008 report by the Target Market Group shows that we don’t use our dollars wisely to improve our plight in America. For example, in 2007, we had collective purchases that included $22 billion for clothes, $10.7 billion for furniture, $28.7 billion for cars, $14 billion for phone service, $3.7 billion for consumer electronics (not computers) and 2.3 billion on alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately, the only area where we showed restraint in our spending was on books where we spent only $257 million, down from $303 million in 2002. We spent more on our finger nails and our hair, $6.3 billion on personal care, than on books and reading materials.

So we have to make education and academics sexy again, and we most begin to better show the aspirational relevancy of education to our young people, if we ever expect to meaningfully kick the high school dropout and illiteracy craze.

The DPS reading corps is extremely important because we have another shot to get it done right with our children. With this level of mentoring we are able to increase not just new reading and writing skills to our children but also give them a sense of purpose and direction. This is extremely important at such a crucial time where there is an all out assault on education in our community.

(a) We have to teach our children to get as much education as you can. Higher levels of academic and technical education readily translate into better employment, higher income, and more wealth. Education begins with you teaching your children to read well. The new hierarchy of human needs is air, water, food, and education. Without education, our children might as well be dead.

(b) Invest your money and your time in your skills, your knowledge base, and your self-improvement -- not in cars, clothes, furniture, frivolous electronics, sports, games, the lottery, etc. Second, learn how to let big companies work for you rather than you only working for them through stock ownership. And third, invest your money in the U.S. and global stock markets. The world is much bigger than just the United States.

(c) Two-person headed households are more viable economically than one-person headed households. Marriage can be an economic advantage when both parties are aligned on financial priorities and fiscal realities. Sixty-two to sixty-five percent of Black children are born into single-parent households and begin life trying to climb out of poverty. Most of them never make it.

(d) Start your own business. Few people acquired wealth working for someone else. By starting your own business, you can hire family, friends, and community members. Additionally, you build the economy of your community. Finally, you will also be able to pass on a successful business as a family inheritance to your children and grandchildren.

(e) Create a Will to pass on your accumulated wealth to the next generation. Studies suggest as much as 70% of most households’ current wealth was inherited from a previous generation.

Our children are not exposed to this type of knowledge on a day to day basis.

In addition, financial literacy should be mandatory for every child in school , but particularly low-wealth young people who may lack proper role models. You cannot live in the largest economy in the world and not teach young people the basic language of money, let alone the rules of capitalism and free enterprise. You are setting your child up for economic slavery and disaster.

However, the problem does not start with the children. We have a serious adult illiteracy problem that is not being addressed either. A major reason why Detroit and the United States are having trouble competing globally is because of adult illiteracy.

Currently, the United States ranks tenth out of seventeen industrialized nations in literacy proficiency ratings (reading, writing and math). There are 44 million adults (23%) in the United States who are functionally illiterate and are rated at a level one, the lowest of five levels of literacy proficiencies. Additionally, there are 50 million adults (25% - 28%) who are at the second level.

Furthermore, sixty percent (60%) of the unemployed in the United States lack the basic literacy proficiency skills necessary to be trained for high tech jobs. Also, the United States has one of the highest high school dropout rates in the industrialized world. The national high school drop out rate is at twenty nine percent (29%) and rising. There is no sense of urgency to these problems. These problems need national attention because they have a direct effect on our nation’s ability to compete in the global economy.

One quarter of White high school student dropout of school. For Blacks and Latinos, the dropout rate is fifty percent. The dropout rates are stagnant, essentially for whites, and skyrocketing for blacks and Hispanics. The gap in testing is in excess of thirty percent, whether black or Hispanic, behind white students. Furthermore, statistics show how high school dropouts have much higher rates of unemployment, become tax consumers, involvement with the criminal justice system, negative long-term health issues, welfare enrollment and poverty.

A National 2008 Report Card on High Seniors report that: 27% of High Seniors scored below in basic levels of reading and 39% of High School Seniors scored below in basic levels of math. And the United States of America ranks 17th out of 22 industrialize nations in the number of students graduating from High School. Meanwhile, a quarter of a trillion dollars a year are spent in our criminal justice system on prisons, justice, covering damages and loss GNP.

In Michigan, eighteen percent (18%) of adults, nearly one in five, are functionally illiterate. An extraordinary number of Michigan young adults continue to head to adulthood without a high school diploma or GED credentials. Fifty five percent (55%) of citizens in the Detroit Metropolitan area alone need adult education and training programs because they lack a high school or GED credentials.

This includes the number of many parents and adults in our community who are failing to recognize that Detroit is now locked in global competition with all industrialized nations on this globe, and that their attitude towards literacy proficiency and education will impact how well we are able to compete in the global economy.

In fact, parents' low educational expectations of their children are driving low educational achievement for them, which is making it tough for our country to compete economically in the global economy.

Powerful evidence indicates that the problem of poor literacy skills begin not in the schools, but at home, due to the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy. Poor academic achievement and dropping out before completing school are commonplace among children of parents who are functionally illiterate or have poor literacy skills.

For example, I often hear Democrats accusing Republicans of dropping the ball on Hurricane Katrina back in August 2005. But here is something that both parties will not tell you.

(1) One reason why many people decided to stay in New Orleans was that August 29th was one day prior to the day they would receive their next check. For folks living paycheck to paycheck, missing that next check would have been a disaster for them and their families, they thought. They figured they could ride out "just another storm," get their check and then make decisions they could afford.

(2) In the nearly all-black Ninth Ward (of New Orleans), more than a third of residents live below the poverty level. They ended up below water as well.

(3) Before Hurricane Katrina, 26% of New Orleans residents were below the poverty line, and 50,000 didn't have cars. The average income was just over $17,000 per capita.

(4) The money FEMA gave out wasted because people did not have bank accounts to wire the money electronically.

These are some points you will not hear in a debate on Hurricane Katrina.

The crippling consequences of illiteracy, the intergenerational cycle of illiteracy, and poor literacy skills are: breeding a lifetime of self-doubt, disappointments and a sense of worthlessness, hopelessness and alienation; producing anger, poor self-image, loss of dignity and an imbedded belief of that their future has little promise. Additionally, the consequences hinder communication among family, friends and people that one must interact with just to co-exist in today’s society. They prevent one from being able to read a newspaper, write checks or a letter on their own. Parents are prevented from being able to read to their children, and read and comprehend written instructions.

Keep in mind that Haiti has a literacy rate of 45%. Detroit literacy's rate is similar to Haiti's and there is no way in the world we can become competitive in the global market if we cannot increase our literacy rate.

Just as the Emergency Financial Manager of the Detroit Public Schools Robert Bobb has called for the DPS Reading Corps to emerge from the community we also need to engage our adults in the same movement for increasing their literacy skills. The better the literacy skills the faster we can reduce poverty.

Even though the energy of the DPS reading Corps was electric Saturday the main thing I want to stress is being COMMITTED to the program. That means we have to be consistent, driven and dedicated to our worthy cause. It's important that we prove other people wrong in terms of changing the direction of the Detroit Public Schools and our children in general. We have so many forces that are working against the Detroit Public Schools it is not funny. We have people who do not want our children to succeed and would like to keep our children on a 21st century illiteracy plantation. To allow us to keep voting by name recognition in every election hoping for change when we know change is not coming.

It's time to lift the fog off our eyes and pay attention to the crisis at hand. This is not a gender, race or class issue. This is not about Democrats or Republicans because we have both supporting the DPS Reading Corps. So please don't make this a political issue. Political illiteracy in our communities equates to mental suicide when you take one side of the political spectrum constantly without ever being objective and solution-oriented.

Literacy means freedom. Literacy equates to prosperity.Literacy means power. Literacy with comprehension, is the purest indicator of academic and economic success.

Reading well is the essential step to solving almost every problem in the Black community. Reading well is the gateway to success for Black Americans in the 21st century. The DPS Reading Corps is a start. Let's ignite the movement to increase literacy skills not just in Detroit Public Schools but in all academic institutions here in urban communities nationally.

The Role of the College of Education in the 21st Century

2010-03-26T07:33:00.001-07:00

Recently, there has been some discussion on the article entitled, Black Education, by Dr. Walter E. Williams, an economist from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virgina. While I respect Dr. Williams work in economics and have done so for years and will continue to respect his work there were some points he brought out that I felt was more politically motivated as opposed to solution oriented. Unfortunately, conservatives and libertarians who I have been discussing educational issues with have brought this article to my attention on several occasions and have been using this as a backlash against the education of children here in the City of Detroit.

Before I continue please read his article here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/WalterEWilliams/2009/12/23/black_education

Now allow me to set the record straight.

I have lived in Detroit all but 10 years of my life. As an urban conservative who has done many works in the field of education for years I find it disturbing that we live in a society where we continue to fail our children. Education, as I have always said, is the #1 issue on our agenda because it gives us a foundation for us to build.

I am not, nor never will, make any excuses for the Detroit Public Schools because they have embarrassed us as a community. I am also embarrassed of the recent test scores that were administered to our fourth graders by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP). It's criminal for us to continue in this manner.

But my problem with Dr. Williams assessment of Detroit schools was the fact he said it was because we keep asking for more money for the schools. Civil rights leaders ask for more money while silver rights activists asks for accountability and integrity in the public school system. We are asking for Detroit Public Schools to post their check registers to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy's website to show where the dollars are being spent.

Dr. Williams also took a cheap shot at mentoring:

"What about role models? Standard psychobabble asserts a positive relationship between the race of teachers and administrators and student performance. That's nonsense."

It is reported that boys receive up to 70 percent of the Ds and Fs given to all students, and create 90 percent of all classroom discipline problems. According to a Schott Foundation report, "Given Half a Chance," some alarming educational trends involve young black male students. Their 2005/2006 national graduation rate was 47 percent. That means that most black male students did not graduate with their cohort.

These startling school-related statistics, coupled with the increasing number of children growing up without fathers, are creating a permanent underclass. This underclass can be measured by studying the escalating rates of community violence, economic isolation, poverty and substance abuse.

In cities like Detroit, father absence has hit Black communities hard. It is decimating our communities and we have garnered no adequate response to it. This reality highlights the need for communities to engage in projects that make black men better fathers, better husbands and better community leaders.

Here is my question to Dr. Williams. What should these children do without mentors? The psychobabble is coming from people who stand on the sidelines and do nothing. He failed to even mention how Black owned and operated faith-based and non profit organizations, in the Black community, mentor students who project positive measurable outcomes.

Dr. Williams also failed to expound in his article on how Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb has called for the development of a reading corps. The Detroit Free Press, in partnership with Detroit Public Schools,has called for citizens to volunteer 100,000 hours collectively to tutor reading in DPS schools. People and organizations have stepped up to the plate in hopes of trying to change the tide of education in the City of Detroit.

However, the biggest concern that stood out in the article was this:

"Another issue deemed too delicate to discuss is the overall quality of people teaching our children. Students who have chosen education as their major have the lowest SAT scores of any other major. Students who have an education degree earn lower scores than any other major on graduate school admission tests such as the GRE, MCAT or LSAT. Schools of education, either graduate or undergraduate, represent the academic slums of most any university. They are home to the least able students and professors. Schools of education should be shut down."

This has become the libertarian cry when it comes to education. Just in the past week I have been engaged in heated debate over the role of the College of Education on university campuses. 95% of the mainstream conservatives and libertarians who I have encountered have used this statement from Dr. Williams. But what they all fail to realize is that teachers are not in the classroom to babysit the children. This is the parents responsibility to promote positive habits and norms BEFORE they get into the classroom.

The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom and other countries have a College of Education. This is nothing new. But Dr. Williams in his article said get rid of them.

The College of Education is important because they are certain core elements that are helpful in aiding educators.these elements include teacher education, curriculum, and instruction. Another element is educational administration. As the main institution for the training of principals and superintendents, there is a focus on the administration of schools and school districts. A final element of interest is education policy and reform. Many graduates of schools of education become involved in education policy.

At the same time some of these schools have some serious flaws such as the lack of training potential teachers to deal with hostile environments. Student teaching does not prepare you for such environments 100% because where you may student teach is in the suburbs you may well end up in the worst school district in the state.

But to say they should be eliminated is not only reckless but dishonest. I would have rather for Dr. Williams to say the College of Education on university campuses should be reformed rather then eliminated.

Let's take a look at what some of these College of Education have produced over the years.

(1) The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is a non-profit organization that targets poverty-stricken children and families living in Harlem, providing free support for the children and families in the form of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, and child-oriented health programs for thousands of children and families. The Zone is aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.

Its President and CEO is a man named Geoffrey Canada. Mr. Canada holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College and a Master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Hmm...an educational degree? I thought educational degrees were useless.

(2) When teachers Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg completed their Teach For America commitment and launched a program for fifth graders in a public school in inner-city Houston, Texas. That program today is called KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program). KIPP is a nationwide network of free open-enrollment college-preparatory public schools in under-resourced communities throughout the United States. KIPP schools are usually established under state charter school laws and KIPP is America’s largest charter chain.

More than 95% of KIPP students are African American or Latino / Hispanic.

The Texas Education Agency has recognized KIPP Academy Houston as an "Exemplary School" for almost every year of its existence. According to the New York City Department of Education, KIPP Academy New York is the highest performing public middle school in the Bronx. KIPP alumni have earned over $21 million in scholarships for college-preparatory high schools and are continuing to excel in four-year colleges and universities.

By the way, Dave Levin got his B.A. in History from Yale University (with distinction). Mike Fienberg graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, in 1991 with a degree in international relations. What can you do with a history and international relations degree? Many things. The core thing was how BOTH went through Teach for America to launch their dream and ambition of helping low-wealth students.

(3) There is a Black Republican named Rod Paige, who was the 7th Secretary of Education in the United States. Paige is the son of public school educators. He earned a bachelor's degree from Jackson State University in Mississippi and a Master's degree and a Doctor of Physical Education degree from Indiana University Bloomington.

Hmm...an educational degree?

As a trustee and an officer of the Board of Education of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) from 1989 to 1994, Paige coauthored the board's A Declaration of Beliefs and Visions, a statement of purpose and goals for the school district that called for fundamental reform through decentralization, a focus on instruction, accountability at all levels, and development of a core curriculum. A Declaration of Beliefs and Visions was the catalyst that launched the ongoing, comprehensive restructuring of HISD.

And an educational degree does not mean anything?

(4) Deborah McGriff will forever be my favorite Detroit Public Schools Superintendent. McGriff was overseeing reforms as far back as the 90s. McGirff was named by Crain’s Detroit Business newsmaker of the year for 1992.She is currently president of the Education Industry Association, the leading professional association of professional providers of education services.

She has a bachelor’s degree in education with a minor in history from Norfolk State University, a master’s degree in education, with a specialization in ready pedagogy from Queens College of the City University of New York, and a doctorate in administration, policy, and urban education from Fordham University

Education degrees from a College of Education? A waste of time?

(5) Howard Fuller is the former Superintendent of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Dr. Fuller was an early African-American advocate for vouchers and choice as an urban reform strategy. During Fuller’s tenure as the superintendent of the Milwaukee Public School District (1991-1995), the city started the first publicly- funded school voucher program in the nation. This program grew from 350 voucher students in seven private schools in 1990 to 15,000 in 110 private schools by 2006.

Dr. Fuller also co-founded the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO). BAEO's goals are to increase access to high-quality educational options for Black children by actively supporting parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working-class Black families.

Again, did Dr. Fuller waste his time earning his educational credentials?

There are others who have given to improving education including Wendy Kopp and Michelle Rhee. Kopp founded Teach for America and Rhee founded the New Teacher Project, a non-profit organization which works with needy school districts to recruit and train new teachers. In ten years, the New Teacher Project has expanded to forty programs in twenty states and recruited more than 10,000 teachers. Rhee is currently the Chancellor of the Washington D.C. Public Schools...the same school district that Dr. Williams criticize but fail to recognize Chancellor Rhee's effort of turning things around.

Think about the number of school districts across the United States who hire educators from the College of Education at various universities to teach in the school districts and perform well. Blacks are not exempt from this process. As many educators I know personally, who turn out the grade, create and publish curriculums, and have changed the tide of education.

As much as I criticize Detroit Public Schools I also must show the positive. There is a report from the Skillman Foundation called Good Schools. This report can be found here at this website: http://www.skillman.org/good-schools/

Now, Dr. Williams is supposed to be an educator of economics as well as a researcher. How come he did not put in his article about the number of schools that are making the grade in Detroit? Sure, the NAEP showed that we have a long way to go in terms of educational output and yes, I agree that current educational policies as well as public policies have damaged the infrastructure of education in urban communities. But the liberals are not just to blame for this. We are having a hard time convincing most conservatives in business that education is a #1 issue. Both ideologies are at fault for this crisis because its easier to play politics than play solutions.

The Skillman Foundation is a private grantmaking foundation that is a charitable, tax-exempt organization. The chief aim of the Foundation's three programs is to help develop good schools and good neighborhoods for children. Within the Skillman Foundation there is a popular program called the Skillman Scholars. This is a program provides educational opportunities for academically gifted, minority scholars from Metropolitan Detroit to maximize their potential to become future leaders in society.

Not one time, Dr. Williams brought this up in his article. However, lazy ass leeches like those who are constantly bashing Black children in the City of Detroit are reading Dr. Williams's article and taking it face value without every cross examining the real issue.

Williams also did not bring up the fact that other programs such as the YES Foundation have a program called the Yes for Prep that prepares our children to compete in rigorous academic achievement.

College of Education such as Eastern Michigan University is the No. 1 producer of educators in the nation. The school received an "Exemplary" grade from the Michigan Department of Education. Eastern's Teacher-Preparation Program earned a 66 out of 70 possible points; tying EMU for third place in the state.

Michigan State University's College of Education is also high-ranked programs in elementary, educational technology, educational policy, and secondary education. Again, teachers who are actually turning out the grade.

America’s colleges of education play an important role in education but need to dramatically change how they prepare the next generation of teachers so that they are ready to prepare their future students for success in college and careers. In the next five years America’s schools will need to hire up to 200,000 first-time teachers annually and these new teachers will need the knowledge and skill set to prepare students for success in the global economy.

Most College of Education students tell me while they appreciate the knowledge they receive in the university setting some have admitted that teacher-preparation programs need to ensure that new teachers will master the content of the subjects they’ll teach and they will have well-supported field-based experiences embedded throughout their preparation programs.

This can be done with new revolutionary thinking.

While assertions made by these critics include that the typical school of education has a Left-wing political bias, favoring Socialist philosophies such as Paulo Freire's critical pedagogy the truth of the matter is conservatives have allowed liberal ideology to dominate the academic spectrum for decades. This should have never been allowed to happen but moving away from the critical need of education and allowing liberals to run rough-shot on colleges and universities show not only the lack of competition coming from conservatives but also allowing liberal though to dominate HOW classes and lessons are taught. You cannot complain about liberal education without ENGAGING in the process of ideals and thought.

This is the 21st century and while the U.S. Constitution says nothing about education, states for over two centuries states have been responsible for meeting the nation's education needs. But in a world of fierce economic competition, we can't afford to pretend that the current system is getting us where we need to go. Greater federal interference is not the answer -- but neither is a naive commitment to "states' rights." A new model -- standards set nationally, daily decisions made locally -- strikes the best balance. The reason? Education is no longer just an local issue. It's no longer a parental issue. It has become a national security problem. The lack of education has caused a breech in our intellectual capital and therefore needs to be reexamined. This is not the time to always point out the negative in Black communities when it comes to education. If Black libertarians such as Dr. Williams would like to sit at the table with us to discuss ways of improvement in terms of policy,governance and methods of instruction we are open to that in our community.

The Black community has all stars in their midst of students who can achieve higher and greater standards. When we realize that we too have a stake on the global balance sheet is when we will be able to participate in both the educational and economic markets of the world. To keep showing America how dumb Black people are is a demonstration and lack of being solution focused, as well as demonstrating a vision for urban education in the 21st century.

The New Leadership of Detroit: Fact or Fiction by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-11-04T13:19:00.000-08:00

Ladies and gentlemen. While I feel that what occurred last night was a overall disgrace, however, there were some positive things that occurred.

We are excited to see James Tate make it to the Detroit City Council. I supported James Tate since the primaries.

Andre Spivey also made it to the Detroit City Council. This is also great as well.

The three on my team who did not make it were:

Raphael B. Johnson did not make it because he presented a strong approach to community development. That turned off people and actually he was the one who should have replaced JoAnn Watson.

It's ridiculous that we did not elect Fred Elliott Hall to the Detroit City Council. Fear is the ultimate prosperity killer and it showed by not electing Hall to the Detroit City Council. All he wanted was something the unions hate.....regional cooperation.

But for Lisa Howze, a Certified Public Accountant to lose a Detroit City Council race in the middle of a financial hurricane, is not only disgraceful and enbrassing on the citizens of Detroit but it clearly shows how inefficient Detroit is when it comes to financial literacy.

When Lisa would speak to forums about her intense credentials in finance only 7% of the crowd heard her while the other 93% missed it.

You cannot begin a silver rights movement without having working knowledge of your home, your finances and education. In Detroit, we lack all three. I mean when you look at the bigger picture in our city we see how ignorance has become the language of money in the contemporary world that reduces people to being economic slaves.

Lisa would have brought that fiscal spirit to the table of the Detroit City Council.

Instead, we re-elected JoAnn Watson back to the Detroit City Council. This is awful. We really believe that President Obama is going to bailout Detroit? Words of wisdom for those who are stuck in the civil rights/black power movement. The government is not going to bail out Detroit like they did Wall Street or the Big Three. We have to think creative if Detroit is going to survive.

While we have Mayor Bing and a new City Council and two new elected school board members ready to work on behalf of the people I think we need to go higher than local issues. It's time to think regional and global if Detroit wants to survive. Our dignity is on the line and we need to stop thinking about local rat races and get involved in higher thinking if we are going to survive.

In order to think higher we need to change our thinking process. Even though we elected Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, Andre Spivey and James Tate to the Detroit City Council people still re-elected Ken Cockrel, Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta and JoAnn Watson. The ONLY way Detroit will move into the 21st century in a silver rights movement is if the 5 newcomers work together and vote against the old guard 80-90% of the time. This includes fostering a stronger relationship with Mayor Bing and his administration.

This new council cannot get caught up on old things that has traditionally scared Detroiters. Things such as privatizing, regionalization and globalization must roll off their lips if they are serious about moving Detroit from an automotive market to a financial market.

The new Council needs to understand that Detroit problems cannot be only solved by money. No money will make Detroit a safe heaven for its citizens. Something should be done- but what is it? Since the 1960s, Detroit has been receiving money in terms of loans, projects, aid, you name it but has the situation changed? There is still constant, starvation, poverty, HIV/AIDS, child abuse, death from curable diseases and corruption.The common citizen has not benefited from the 'well intentioned' projects. As donors pour money into Detroit, the citizens are busy pumping their tax-payers’ money plus natural resources back to the rest of the region. The value of the money and property taken away from Detroit is much more than what the region receives. Detroit is consequently becoming poorer and poorer.

What should the younger Detroit City Council and its counterpart the Detroit Charter Commission generation do to make the Detroit a safe place for its citizens? What should it do to make them not dream of flying out to 'safe heavens' outside Detroit?

Detroit must erase the need for a Marshall Plan as proposed by Councilwoman JoAnn Watson. We already see what federal aid does to our city when there are no checks and balances. For her to lie to people is absolutely insulting.

What Councilwoman Watson is not telling you is that such a plan would extend to poor communities like Detroit and how the common man in the street will end up paying higher taxes in the future as he is forced to bow before robbery as we see in investment in third world countries currently where much wealth is robbed as the citizenry cascade into abject poverty.

What’s more, this so-called Marshall Plan would be money given by the left hand but it ends up being snatched by the right one. The right one being the wrong people.

This new leadership must present itself as ambassadors to the global market. African exporters are telling U.S. markets, that despite the economic downturn, the $11-trillion US market still offers many opportunities to African entrepreneurs willing to stay abreast of the dynamic marketing environment of the United States and market their products to meet consumer demand. Detroit must open its ports and allow free enterprise to make its way throughout Southeastern Michigan.

I have heard some in Detroit discussing the need to rightsize the city instead of utilizing land banks to get rid of property. Urban agriculture does not mean planting large acres of seeds in a lead-filled area. Urban agriculture means bringing an Agricultual Experiment Station to Detroit. It also means transforming abandonded homes into greenhouse space.

Urban Agriculture does not mean eating watermelons near the incincerator. It means allowing African exporters to sell their products in the Metro Detroit market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA allows about 9,000 agricultural and manufactured products to enter the US duty and quota-free. It's something to think about when you are researching policy.

Clearly, the resources Detroit needs to develop can be found in Detroit itself – only if its leaders were willing to reform their abominable economic and political systems, re-orient their development policies toward regionalization, curb corruption and invest their wealth-legitimate or ill-gotten in Detroit. But the old leadership, wedded to the old “blame Oakland County” paradigm, is not interested. There are no race battles or take over the city jewels schemes between Oakland County and Detroit. This is fostered by the media to keep our region divided.

All scholars and intellectuals agree that there have been both external and internal causes of Detroit’s crises. The first is what relative weights to assign to the factors. Whereas some urban scholars would assign 80 percent of the causes to external factors, I would assign only 20 percent to the external. Second, for far too long the internal factors have been ignored. The average intelligent person looks both ways before crossing a street or risk being hit by a truck. Detroit is in bandages because its leaders always looked one way – at the external. Third, I lay more emphasis on the internal factors because they are subject to our control. Take corruption for example. We can curb it if we are serious. Hopefully, what I see is the same for our new leadership.

Politically, we should move away from celebrating numbers to celebrating quality. Detroit needs leaders that can rally people to realize their potential here on earth. To brag about numbers (votes) while ignoring the fact that we are talking about poor citizens who cannot afford a meal a day is to insult the very essence of governance. Competitive advantage in politics should focus on policies that ought to reverse the wave of poverty in the city.

So if this new Detroit City Council along with the Detroit Charter Commission and Detroit School Board is serious about transforming Detroit then they need to do it from a regional perspective. I am not interested in supporting anyone who has a tribalistic mentiality. Detroit needs to join the rest of the world if they want to survive. And even though Detroiters just elected a new City Council I still remain on my original word that we need to look into consolidating city-county governments to cut down on duplication of services to keep our budget in the black. This includes taking a look at regional policing and privatizing trash and EMS. Other cities are doing this..what makes us special? The charter commission has to revise a code where privatizing of city services can be done to allow competition in the market place. I am hoping people like Ken Harris will lead the way on this since he already believes in the free market of capitalism.

Education is a passport to freedom. According to The Silent Epidemic report written by Civic Enterprises that shared the perspectives of high school dropouts, approximately one-third of all children, and 50 percent of minorities, in public high school drop out of high school nationwide. In many of the nation’s “dropout factories,” the percentage of dropouts far outpaces the percentage of graduates. This is not good for 21st century Detroit, and it is an economic death sentence if not changed for the urban community. Nationally, can we afford to write-off almost 100 million Americans, or approximately a third of our nation’s population? Who is going to fund our Social Security fund in retirement if we do?

Education is the ultimate poverty eradication tool, for when you know better you tend to do better. But financial literacy is the means by which one moves from simply avoiding the poverty trap to embracing a true prosperity agenda; for themselves, their families and their communities.

What if we unleashed upon Detroit, and the world, a new vision for the 21st century? An aspirational generation of role model inspired, positive and contributing young entrepreneurs, self-employment projects and “doers” over the next 20 years? I’ll tell you what would happen, Detroit would get a genuine second shot at keeping this party called American prosperity going over the next 100 years, because you cannot keep a third of the American population on the economic and aspirational sidelines and otherwise expect that it will. But we have to stop always looking for larger government to give us a handout when we need a handup.

Let's see what this new leadership does in Detroit and for our region. If they believe in globalization then our city will win. But if they allow adult illiteracy to influence their vote at the council table, charter commission or school board then we will continue to beat a dead horse on a plantation.

The Michigan Effect by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-11-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

I am fully convinced that the plight of the State of Michigan will boil down to education. Any lawmaker that does not understand that educational reform is the #1 issue facing Michigan voters next year should probably reconsider about running for any office.

This is why we need to change the discussion on education.

On Monday, I attended the first Michigan preview screening of "The Providence Effect," the award-winning documentary about an amazing inner-city school in Chicago, IL. This movie, for 30 years, 100% of the seniors from Providence St. Mel have been accepted to college, and the school model was replicated as a highly successful public charter school in 2006.

I got a chance to meet with Angela Williams-Johnson who is the powerhouse Principal of the Providence Englewood Charter School in Chicago, Illinois. After watching the movie with a group of educational stakeholders her style reminded me of another powerhouse principal right here in Detroit named Shawn Hill, who is the Principal at the University Prep Math and Science Academy here in Detroit. Both are young, engaging and innovative in their leadership styles. Both are observant with their instructors and are leading great institutions.

Our panel discussion was a very interesting one as well. Led by Mike Tenbusch of the United Way, panelists included Dan Quisenberry, President of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies, Rachele Downs, Leadership Detroit Education Support Committee, Jessica Rauch, The Generation Project, Angela Williams Johnson and Reginald Turner who sits on the State Board of Education. They discussed policies, as well as alternative teacher certification.

One thing we saw coming out of both the movie presentation and the panel discussion was a need for change. An evolution must take place in our state if we are serious about educational reformation.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the charter movement “one of the most profound changes in American education -- bringing new options to underserved communities and introducing competition and innovation into the education system.” However, there are still resistance in this state when it comes to educational quality and reform.

Williams-Johnson believes that education in the 21st century needs to be radically different from the 19th century models of education we have become accustomed to. This is the reason why universal values should embedded in the framework of education itself. Becoming "good" or virtuous is given more importance than becoming "smart" or competent, though both are considered important aspects of education in this new century. She has taken a charter school whose state test scores were rock bottom and have taken the scores to the top. Her vision for the children goes past college. She is building future careers for her students and staff.

After attending the screening of the Providence Effect and looking at the Detroit elections yesterday I am fully convinced that our city needs to re-create a new educational atmosphere that will challenge the way people think, vote and analyze information. Our children must be well equipped to demonstrate the ability to think global without fear or intimidation.

Charter schools are educational and economic incubators in urban communities nationally. Here in the State of Michigan we need to lift the cap off charter schools. This is why I support Senate Bill 925 by State Sen. Buzz Thomas to authorize the establishment of “schools of excellence,” which would be charter schools authorized by either a local school district, Intermediate School District, a local community college or a state university. Existing charter operators in Michigan or other states that for three years have been given the state's highest designation would not be subject to existing state caps; up to 25 new or other schools (without a three year top score) could be authorized.

I also support Rep. Tom McMillin's bill (HB 4490) to to eliminate the 150-school cap on the number of charter schools (public school academies) that can be authorized by universities.

I support SB 965 by State Sen. Wayne Kuipers to authorize an “interim teaching certificate” for individuals who have a college bachelors degree with at least a 2.75 grade point, and who are taking a 12 credit hour alternative “intensive teaching program” that meets standards set by the state superintendent of public instruction. This bill would help strengthen alternative teacher certification requirements already in the Michigan School Code.

Sen. Kuipers also introduced SB 636 which is a bill that is designed to authorize “neighborhood schools” run by parents and teachers under contract to a sponsor, such as a mayor, a city or the state board of education. They would have to meet certain standards, but would have more flexible rules than existing public schools (they could institute merit pay and would not be bound by strict seniority “tenure” mandates, for example). Teachers and parents at existing public schools could vote on whether to go independent, and applications to “secede” from a failing a failing school district and create a “neighborhood school” would have priority.

And while Rep. Phil Pavlov introduced HB 5236, which is a bill to eliminate the Detroit school board, and place the Detroit school district under the control of the mayor, I have discussed with Rep. Pavlov directly to think about eliminating the school board but allowing Wayne RESA to run DPS.

Rep. Pavlov also introduced HB 5237-5238 which is to authorize the conversion of individual Detroit public schools into a form of charter school called “conversion schools,” if half the teachers or half the parents in a school submit a petition for this. The petition would have to be filed with the school district first, but if it was not approved within 60 days it could be sent to one of the other entities authorized to grant a charter (a university, community college or intermediate school district). If the school district became the chartering body then employees would be subject to the same union contracts as regular Detroit schools, but if it was chartered by a university, community college or intermediate school district the union contract would not apply. Plus, they would get the lesser of the per pupil foundation allowance of the surrounding conventional school district, or the minimum foundation allowance plus $300.

Rep. Tim Melton introduced HB 4787 to to authorize the conversion of failing public schools into “turnaround schools,” which would be charter schools managed by a private charter school management company with a successful record. This would be one of the options the Department of Education could exercise when a school has failed to meet performance standards for four years in a row. Another would be to replace a failing school with a charter school within five miles. Reportedly this would apply to 30 to 35 schools statewide, mostly high schools.

What we want to do with traditional public, private and charter institutions is to make them more global to create an effect like no other. We will not need things like Proposal S (that passed yesterday in Detroit for building new schools in Detroit Public Schools) because our primary objective would be to raise awareness and support the implementation of relevant, sustainable and scalable national education sector plans on a global level through the increased engagement of the private sector. By developing unprecedented partnerships and the continuous commitment and support of the partners and members of various think tanks and economic forums, our Michigan Effect aims to scale education partnerships globally.

There are many reform efforts going on in the State of Michigan today. The question becomes when do we, as grassroots educational activists, get involved in policy making decisions as well as electing qualified officials statewide to give our own version of the Providence Effect statewide? We must push for quality education, hold parents and faith-based leaders accountable, and scrutinize educational policies that hurt students and communities.

This Michigan Effect must now embark on a process aimed at addressing the relevance of education for economic growth, innovation and entrepreneurship at the global agenda. This includes launching a workstream with the objective of advancing educational entrepreneurship as one of the key drivers of sustained social development and economic recovery. Not one policy maker discuss this openly for fear of retaliation from the teacher unions. However, in the global educational arena, the teacher unions are obsolete.

We need to run candidates for elected office who want to consolidate existing knowledge and global good practices in entrepreneurship education across three focus areas, which cover the lifelong learning process of an individual: youth, higher education, and social inclusion. The report also outlines specific approaches that are needed for each one of these areas, as well as opportunities, challenges and practical recommendations for key stakeholders.

Are you ready for the Michigan Effect?

Disgraceful by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-11-04T06:17:00.000-08:00

Mayor Dave Bing will continue moving Detroit into the 21st century after he defeated disgraceful challenger Tom Barrow 58-42%. This is good coming from those unions who endorsed Barrow in hopes of using fear tactics to scare undecided voters away from Bing. Mayor Bing is the best person at this point to lead the City of Detroit and unite a region that lacks cooperation because of those people like Barrow.

However, Detroit lost on the City Council elections. Once again, adult illiteracy killed any real change on City Council.

Charles Pugh, the former Fox 2 anchor and radio host, will become the new Detroit City Council President. While social conservatives in Michigan are vomiting and are asking Detroiters how can the city elect an openly gay person to lead the City Council they have no one to blame but themselves on this one. Most churches in our city are compromised and are already ran by homosexuals so why the big surprise?

My concern about Pugh is the fact that he lacks public policy positions, however, that will quickly change thanks to groups that support a cool city concept of what Detroit should look like.

Gary Brown is questionable. Brown with 80,698 votes. Not only he will receive money from his lawsuit from the city but he will also receive a salary as well.

Saunteel Jenkins rode the ghost of the dead (Maryann Mahaffey) into victory. How amazing. Congrats.

Ken Cockrel got back in thanks to our senior citizens.

Brenda Jones returns to the City Council.

Andre Spivey, one of my two global silver rights candidates, did make it to the council. He will help reshape the policies of our city.

James Tate, another global and regional candidate, also made it to council.

Kwame Kenyatta should have NOT made it to the City Council in my opinion.

But the Biggest and major crisis and immediate downfall of the evening was JoAnn Waston winning.

She defeated Lisa Howze 54,602 to 48,414.

I have no damn faith in this city. You mean to tell me that we would rather re-elect a woman, who looks like someone on a pancake box, who lies about how she has a doctorate degree, who is a fake ass black nationalist and is a real time socialist over an educated black woman with a MFA degree in finance and can actually contribute to balancing the city's budget?

This is a serious offense to me on a personal level. Yes, while I felt that Fred Eliott Hall and Raphael Johnson should have made the cut not placing Lisa Howze on the Detroit City Council is not only a grave and serious mistake but it should be highly offensive to ANY intelligent human being. We would rather re-elect someone who is anti-regional cooperation, fans the fear of lies and deception towards those who are uneducated, and has no respect for other human beings than elect someone who was ready, willing and able to go to work on day one.

When I saw Carol Weaver lose to Jimmy Womack in last year's State Representative races I was blown away but not offended. When I saw Carol Banks lose to anti-charter school incumbent Bettie Cook-Scott I was not offended. For JoAnn Watson to get the ninth spot over Lisa Howze is absolutely ridiculous and if Detroit is serious about regional cooperation then we need to take a look at censoring Watson. She played on the fear of the illiterate people in this city and should not be taken seriously.

And I am not stopping there. These slates who did not endorse Lisa Howze (Fannie Lou Hamer, etc.) should not be taken seriously either. In fact, they are the part of the problem of why Detroit is in the condition its in. Instead of actually educating voters on why we should elect JoAnn Watson or Charles Pugh we give them a debate/candidate forum that is poorly attended due to the lack of advertising, and continue to keep people in the dark. These slates and churches are seriously compromised, they have no faith in God and are agents of the Devil.

The Charter Commission was a disaster. We elected Reggie Reg Davis and John Johnson to the charter commission over Tonya Myers-Phillips. While Jenice Mitchell Ford, Ken Harris and Ken Coleman made it how could voters NOT vote for Myers-Phillips, Olumba John Olumba or even get this...Patty Fedewa (who I did not even support but respected her work). Again, another BLUNDER in Detroit politics.

Tonya Myers-Phillips is the BEST, INTELLIGENT and PRECISE candidate who should have been seated to charter commission. Like Lisa Howze, Myers-Phillips came in 10th Place. Moreover, I was offended that the Michigan Chronicle did not even endorse her. They will never get a subscription from me and I am urging others NOT to support a paper who would supported Reggie Reg Davis, a Radio One DJ who ran on a anti-youth violence platform, over Tonya Myers-Phillips, an attorney who has ALREADY worked on the Detroit City Charter during the Kilpatrick scandal.

Going back to Carol Banks for a second, I must give her props for winning a seat on the Detroit School Board. But Lamar Lemmons also won a seat and Reverend David Murray RETURNED to the school board.

Reverend David Murray, a Detroit School Board member and leader of a church of 10 people, lost custody of his four children after allegations of abuse, neglect and domestic violence surfaced. Yet, we re-elected a child abuser back on school board.

If you do not believe that we need Wayne RESA to run Detroit Public Schools then you are living in a fantasy.

A recap of events that went on last night.

1. Detroit elects its first openly gay City Council member as President of the Council (Charles Pugh).

2. Detroit elects a hero for bringing down Kwame Kilpatrick to become Council President Pro-Tem (Gary Brown).

3. All I need to do is raise the dead and ride the ghost of a woman to victory (Saunteel Jenkins).

4. If I continue to fight a mythological war between the Suburbs and Detroit and keep everything pro-black then I can get re-elected (JoAnn Watson).

5. I can walk away from my house, not take any personal responsibility and STILL get re-elected to City Council (Kwame Kenyatta).

6. Damn, if I beat my wife, or my wife beat me, get called Shrek and stay arrogant I can get 4th place on City Council (Ken Cockrel).

7. Let's see, I cannot read, write, and comprehend information which means as a professional I do not know what is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) even though the city is facing a $720 million deficit in the next 2 years but I cannot vote for LISA HOWZE because she is simply too intelligent for me. I would rather give the last seat to JoAnn Watson, who looks like someone one a pancake box.

8. I did not vote for Raphael Johnson because he committed murder. But I support candidates who kill babies in the womb of the woman.

9. Fred Elliott Hall scares me about regional cooperation so I did not vote for him because I do not want to give away the city's jewels.

10. I did not vote for Tonya Myers-Phillips because Reggie Reg Davis has more knowledge about the charter commission than Tonya.

11. I was duped into voting for Proposal S.

Yes, Detroit we did it again. Made our city look like an ass all over again. Nothing will ever change in this hell. Maybe bankruptcy is our only option to change Detroit.

We, The People by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-11-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

We, the People, of the City of Detroit, declare and assert:

Whereas: The City of Detroit has consistently fostered a long tradition that celebrates robust public discussion of issues, including the unfettered expression of opinion at public demonstrations; and

Whereas the healing of wounds begins with an apology, and the current leadership of Detroit has never apologized for their horrific lack of leadership and racist practices against our region during the past eight years, nor held accountable for the residual impact that those atrocities and practices are having on us today,

Whereas from 2005-2009 the Detroit City Council, under the leadership of Councilman Kenneth V. Cockrel, has refused to take our city in a different direction by becoming a more regionalized entity.

Whereas the anti-regional and global Detroit City Council continue to verbally attack Republicans, Conservative Democrats and Independents because we want to free our people through global education and grant Detroiters their silver rights.

Whereas Detroiters cannot fight blight, crime and failing education without addressing the need to decrease adult illiteracy. Adult illiteracy has paralyzed us on all levels in Detroit.

Whereas Detroit needs its own version of a tea party through financial literacy. This is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances;

Whereas raising levels of financial and adult literacy in the City of Detroit should be one of the top priorities of the local, county and state governments because many are being misled through bad information.

Whereas an educational reform movement has been launched here in Detroit to help keep Detroit competitive and assist the Detroiters in understanding and addressing financial, voter and educational matters;

Whereas a survey has found that one out of three Detroiters are not saving for retirement;

Whereas research shows that when employers offer financial education programs, in the form of brochures or seminars, workers in the City of Detroit increase their participation in retirement plans, which allow them to save and invest for their own retirement;

Whereas minorities in the City of Detroit are more likely to be functionally illiterate;

Whereas even though the Detroit City Council incumbents received the vote of many Detroiters in the last election they have embarrassed our city. Monica Conyers, Barbara Rose Collins and Martha Reeves have turned Detroit into a disgraceful city.

Whereas Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who had an opportunity to transform Detroit into a regional network, he instead failed to do so. Instead, he resurrected the old racial politics of the 1970s and in the end resigned from office.

Whereas the Detroit School Board has been dysfunctional for the past 10 years. This dysfunction stems from the lack of leadership, vision and attitude to help transform the school district and;

Whereas the Detroit School Board have characters such as Reverend David Murray, Otis Mathis, Terry Catchings, Annie Carter and Marie Thornton have paralyzed the district with their anti-educational reform behaviors.

Whereas the City of Detroit is on the brink of transformation on Election Day, November 3, 2009 and will become regional.

Whereas the next Mayor of Detroit, must work with business leaders across the region to educate them on the importance of regional cooperation.

Whereas the mission of the New Detroit City Council is to expand economic opportunity in underserved communities through economic education and empowerment to connect us globally;

Whereas the mission of the Detroit School Board is to prepare to merge with Wayne RESA once Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb leaves because the school board is obsolete.

Whereas the New Detroit City Council will place rebuilding families, reducing government, fiscal accountability, connecting with our region, empowering our community with easier access to resources, creating a business friendly Detroit and understanding that Detroit is no longer an automotive market but a global financial market. That the New Detroit City Council are people who believe in the vision of silver rights, working with all levels of government, business and technology to move our region forward.

Whereas the New Detroit Charter Commission will rewrite the entire city charter, making the language transparent, supporting council by districts by electing 5 members to city council with 2 at-large, and give better checks and balances for city government. This includes moving Detroit into the information age of technology.

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, that We, the People,

(1) supports the efforts of those working with the public and private sectors to increase adult literacy in both school and in the workplace, to increase access to financial services, to establish measures of national civic literacy, to conduct research on financial knowledge, and to strengthen global education programs; and

(2) recognizes the need for change today in the City of Detroit through a radical and revolutioanry procedure to bring about a financial market.

And be it further resolved, that We, the People, acknowledges the serious responsibility of the City of Detroit to continue the City's long tradition upholding the free exercise of First and Fourth Amendment right while protecting both public safety and constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties for all parties during the upcoming November 3rd Elections.

Resolved, The City of Detroit must keep Dave Bing as Mayor for four full years as he continues to help transform our region with the help of Oakland, Macomb, Monroe, Livingston, Essex and St. Clair Counties.

Resolved, The City of Detroit must elect Lisa L. Howze, James Tate, Andre L. Spivey, Fred Eliott Hall, Saunteel Jenkins and Raphael B. Johnson to the New Detroit City Council.

Resolved, the City of Detroit must NOT elect Councilwoman JoAnn Watson and Alberta Tinsley-Talabi back to the Detroit City Council. While Talabi has been on council for 16 years she is out of ideas and Watson is a complete obstructionist to the regional process by pitting Democrat vs Republican, black vs white and Detroit vs Suburb.

Resolved, the City of Detroit must elect Tonya Myers-Phillips, Olumba-John Olumba, Jenice Mitchell Ford, Ken Harris and Ken Coleman as the New Detroit Charter Commission team that will help usher in the new silver rights movement.

Resolved, the City of Detroit must NOT elect Reverend David Murray, Marie Thornton, to the Detroit School Board. These two members must be replaced with Carol Banks and Deborah E. Davis until Robert Bobb's contract expires in 2011 and allow Detroit Public Schools to merge with Wayne RESA.

Resolved that Detroiters must vote NO on Proposal S because our city cannot afford it.

Resolved that Detroiters must vote YES on Proposal D because our city needs Council by Districts.

Resolved that Detroiters must vote NO on Proposal O. Allow Wayne County government to trim government instead of raising taxes on the backs of people.

Now, therefore, for the documented atrocities and accumulated wrongs inflicted upon the City of Detroit through the current City Council and School Board, we must go forth and NOT vote for name recognition but vote for a new movement that will help place Detroit back on track on November 3, 2009.

The Global Silver Rights Dream Team by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

I was at the Perfecting Church Detroit City Council and Charter Commission candidate forum last night on the city's east side. Of course, as always, the Perfecting Church PAC always do a great job in informing the public before hand about the candidates and issues and run the best candidate forums in the city. They never fail on this at all and should be commended for their hard work and dedication to creating a better Detroit. This includes Richard Mack, my Emerging Leaders Think Tank partners Kimberly Hill, Reggie and Capri Scott, and the one who keeps me in check when I stray away from the path Lisa Jennings. Also, I thank Bishop-elect Marvin Winans for allowing the public to hear from our current and future leaders on the Detroit City Council.

After leaving that forum I feel that its time to give Mayor Dave Bing the help he needs to move Detroit into the 21st century. I am already convinced that Mayor Bing will be rewarded a full 4-year term to the Office of the Mayor because Tom Barrow cannot gain traction other than pandering to the old guard of leadership (unions). Therefore, Bing will provide the decisions that we may not agree with but at the same token will get us back to fiscal health and move Detroit into a global market.

The old ways of doing things must end before its too late. However, there are some on the Detroit City Council who want to continue the same song and dance, keep this mythical war going on between Oakland County and Detroit, and will fight regional cooperation at all costs. They pretend that they are for the citizens but never address how adult illiteracy has paralyzed businesses and developments in the City of Detroit. Of course these incumbents will never discuss adult illiteracy because they already know as long as over 50% of the population is functionally illiterate they can keep getting elected without scrutiny.

So we need global visionaries on this council that will connect us to both the community and the world.

At the top of this list is Lisa L. Howze. As she would say she is the only Certified Public Accountant running in this race. In times of desperate need we need all CPAs on deck to try to balance the budget. Here is someone who can not only balance the budget but can also put the city in a surplus. Hello, when was the last time Detroit had some money left in the bank?

In a silver rights world, it is important that all of us increase our financial literacy skills to understand how the city's budget is supposed to be without the waste. Lisa Howze is ahead of the game when it comes to this. She already understands how financial literacy is an integral component in the fight against poverty. We need to help her by (1) electing her to the Detroit City Council and (2) demonstrate to her of how we are investing in our city’s residents and our shared future. Lisa cannot do this alone so we need to support her.

She also understands how the mark of the twenty-first century here in Detroit will be poverty. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and it’s harder to be middle class. As we embark on a new city council, and people move from the working class, through the stakeholder class, to the middle class, their path is not really about making more money, but making better decisions with the money they make. This is why Lisa Howze must be at that council table.

Another global candidate that we need to elect to the Detroit City Council is Fred Elliott Hall. You are talking about someone who understand that Detroit is not just competing with Oakland County but also competing with Beijing and Singapore this man got it. He understand how to bridge the gap between businesses and pure inspiration for those who want to move Detroit from an automotive market into a financial market similar to what you see in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, South Korea and Taiwan.

He understands regional cooperation, connecting Windsor, Ontario with the rest of the region, utilizing the Port Authority to generate trade and goods to the region and fighting adult illiteracy to help prepare our community in global education.

James Tate is another silver rights candidate who understands how fear has become the ultimate prosperity killer in the City of Detroit. He also understands how fear have a hold on the citizens hearts that money is still on the minds of the community. Like Hall and Howze, Tate fully understands how adult illiteracy has crippled progress in the City of Detroit and how name recognition has destroyed any real chance of enhancing our city's future.

Tate knows how to transform the community in our city. The family comes first in his viewpoint and without rebuilding the family unit everything else dies off. He feels that we cannot begin to rebuild Detroit without keeping the family unit intact.

He also understands how the impact of the economic crisis is being felt here in Detroit, but the root cause isn't economics, nor is it the failure of free enterprise and capitalism. The problem in our city is the abuse of free enterprise and capitalism which equals to greed. The purpose of electing James Tate to the Detroit City Council is to kill the greed which has killed the spirit of the city and restore family values in a traditionally rich city.

Speaking of the spirit of Detroit it does not hurt to have the Rev. Andre Spivey on a city council that believes in the values of silver rights. Whenever I talk to Rev. Spivey he reminds me of those leaders who will only undertake a project or initiative when he determines that no one else can bring together the parties involved. He is a man that is fueled with passion and purpose that is driven by a big idea.

Rev. Spivey's mission is to show a vision for the poor, the under-served, and the wealthless of the our city is to help them see themselves -- differently. He want to help expose, educate, empower, and inspire them to be originators of their own destiny. To see our citizens who live in Detroit for what and who they truly already are; rich in spirit. Assets, and not liabilities on the world's global balance sheet.

He understands that Detroit is a future emerging markets waiting to be re-born in the spirit. That one person can make a difference, and we are that one person.

We’re moving from race-based and place-based discrimination to class-based discrimination -- discrimination based on education and access and information. In the new Detroit, the poverty eradication tool will be education. Wealth will be decided by your access to information and education. If you have a more educated populace, they make better decisions. If they make better decisions, they’re going to make more conservative decisions.

If you are a black or brown community activist, or better still, a transparent conduit for God in the faith business, there is a genuine, unique opportunity to seed hope and grow a new crop of stakeholders in our blighted inner-cities and under-served communities. There is a genuine opportunity to eradicate poverty, but it will be “hands up” based, and not “hands out” based. Rev. Spivey has accepted this call and is ready to lead Detroit to the next step.

Raphael B. Johnson makes up the final element of this global silver rights dream team. While many are trying to criticize him about his past let's discuss what is going on right now. Here is a man. who is a community activist, a father and husband, who will go to bat for anyone who is doing the right thing. However, as the first candidate to embrace my Covenant for Detroit platform, he fully understands how we must connect Detroit with the global market.

Raphael knows that without addressing adult illiteracy we cannot begin to not just heal our community but also rest our financial assets. He knows that financial literacy is key to uplifting ourselves out of poverty. He understands that without addressing the illiteracy crisis in Detroit we will continue to deal with crime, poverty and the lack of relationship building that is key to building marriages.

The most important thing about Raphael is his understanding of connecting trade and development with Africa. Because Africa is an emerging market Raphael embrace the need for more global connection between here and the continent. This proves to him, and should be a powerful signal to government, that there is a passionate interest amongst both Detroiters and those abroad, in not just government to government treaties, but business to business deal making too. That we are not focused, ultimately, on a hand out philosophy, but a hand up strategy – you just need help figuring out how to do the things you want to do.

Raphael wants us to become more successful by start building our business and creating jobs for others. In return, we will increasingly need less government in your life, not more. By Johnson's viewpoint, by connecting Africa with Detroit we will explode successfully into the global economy as a new, promising, emerging market worthy of attracting private investment dollars, and not simply aid and hand-outs.

While people keep saying how Raphael should not run for Detroit City Council and instead run for school board I think most of his critics are not looking at the bigger picture of things. Then again, in Detroit most of us never do. While Raphael has a great respect for Councilwoman JoAnn Watson (who both said they would like to serve together) I think Raphael's vision is more connected with the global market through community reinvestment while Watson's "Marshall Plan" platform is no more than asking for a handout from the government. Just last night she openly said that the government should bailout Detroit because we are in a deficit.

What she did not explain to the public is WHY Detroit is in a deficit. For one, we have a current city council that does not turn in the city's audits to the State of Michigan Treasury Department on time. Therefore, our revenue sharing is held up. Also, she never developed a plan to retain young people in the city to stop the brain drain. Lastly, her so -called mythological war between blacks and suburban whites have paralyzed race relations in our region. That is why, with all due respect, we need to move our city in a different direction.

If Mayor Bing, along with the five people I have highlighted here, can win their elections and work with other silver rights and educational advocates like Robert Bobb and others I think we will be setting Detroit and the region in a new direction.

Education Is On Everyone's Mind by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

There are two critical forums that are coming up in the next 10 days that people should pay attention to.

The first forum is a Detroit Public School Debate with the candidates running for the Detroit School Board. This will be sponsored by the Emerging Leaders Think Tank and the Detroit Parent Network.

For those of you who have never heard of the Emerging Leaders Think Tank it is a non-partisan organization comprised of leaders representing various sectors of the community, including education, politics, religious and business. The think tank do not endorse candidates, but endeavor to inform the community of pressing issues.

Recently, the think tank convened several educational leaders, under 40, to engage in a comprehensive urban education reform initiative, which includes school board candidate interviews, school board debate and developing a White Paper. Many of our members and advisers include teachers, parents, and educational advocates.

The purpose of this forum is to educate people about the DPS school board elections. There has been zero coverage about the school board elections. I find it interesting for the mainstream media to focus more on the Detroit City Council elections than the school board elections. Yes, we know that the DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb is running the show, however, we still need a long term strategy for the largest school district in Michigan. That debate is ongoing.

The Detroit Public School Board debate will be held Thursday, October 29, 2009 from on the campus of Wayne County Community College (Eastern Campus) at 5901 Conner (in the Cooper Community Room). Mix and Mingle begins at 5:00pm and the debate will begin at 6:00pm.

Moderators for this debate are Detroit Free Press Education Writer Chasity Pratt-Dawsey and Educational Community Advocate Sherry Gay-Dagnogo.

Another critical forum that all of us need to attend is the first Michigan preview screening of "The Providence Effect," the award-winning documentary about an amazing inner-city school in Chicago, IL. The community meeting will take place Monday, November 2, 2009 from 4:00pm - 5:30pm in the Oakland Room, Cobo Hall in Downtown Detroit followed by the movie screening that will be held at 7:30 pm in Room M2-29.

For 30 years, 100% of the seniors from Providence St. Mel have been accepted to college, and the school model was replicated as a highly successful public charter school in 2006.

Find out how the right environment and high expectations can help all kids achieve -- and join a conversation about how to implement these same strategies in Detroit.

Angela Williams Johnson, Principal, Providence Englewood Charter School will lead a community conversation with the following invited special guests:

Robert Bobb, DPS Emergency Financial Manager

Carol Goss, President, Skillman Foundation.

Dan Quisenberry, President of the Michigan Association of Public School Academies

Mike Tenbusch, United Way of Southeast Michigan

Rachele Downs, Leadership Detroit Education Support Committee.

Jessica Rauch, The Generation Project

Organizational Co-Sponsors include:

- United Way of Southeast Michigan
- Detroit Regional Chamber
- Leadership Detroit Educational Support Committee
- Detroit Parent Network
- 21st Century Schools Project

Education is the number one issue in Michigan right now. You cannot discuss fixing the economy unless you have a working knowledge of education. Please save the date for both events.

Urban Profiles: Tonya Phillips..A Visionary for Detroit by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

A Charter Commissioner reviews and formulates charter proposals by soliciting ideas from citizens, city staff and elected officials. A city charter is the constitution governing the municipal government that defines the powers the citizens agree to give their city government and how the government is to be structured. The charter defines which officials are elected, their term lengths, duties, powers and responsibilities and establishes the lines of authority for the departments.

Sounds like a job for Tonya Myers-Phillips who is running and is within striking distance in clinching a seat on the Detroit Charter Commission. Elections will be held on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.

Now of course people like Freman Hendrix, Teloa Hunter, and Rose Mary Robinson will be there. But what about Tonya Myers-Phillips?

One thing I do know about Tonya is the fact that she understand Detroit must move into the 21st century if it wants to be successful. The Detroit Charter Commission will have to make recommendations and/or take actions that will impact some or all of our constituents. If the commission is to be remotely successful, it’s representation should be as diverse as the community itself.

Tonya understands that revisiting our charter is about more than the simple nuts and bolts of governance. If elected, she will offer a glimpse at how we put our beliefs about community into practice, how we do our business.

I am not sure that allowing leadership to become a game of musical chairs promotes the best interests of the community. I am not sure that it promotes continuity of services, of vision. Maybe that kind of turnover allows for a constant flow of creative and new ideas. I might make the point, though, that it doesn't really allow those ideas to take hold, and demonstrate to us that they are good ideas. And that on a basic human and economic level, it doesn't promote efficiency.

The reason why I am urging you to support Tonya is because she intend to bring common sense, and not positions to the table. She will bring her experience in government to the dialogue. She will bring her willingness to listen, to gather facts, and intend to bring her demonstrated ability to synthesize ideas into workable solutions into the mix.

Tonya believes that we need a Charter Commission that starts from a position of inquiry, and arrives at a set of solutions that meet the following criteria that are forward looking, that institutionalize a high degree of participation in governance, that promote the most efficient and creative use of resources, and that is grounded in research and development.

This is why we must elect Tonya Phillips to the Detroit Charter Commission in November. There are no room for excuses on this one.

Stop Gov. Granholm from Killing the Michigan State University Extension Program by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

The State of Michigan is going through a third world crisis when it comes to the state's economy. We have both Democrats and Republicans fighting over tax increases vs tax cuts. The same old song and dance.

One thing that no one is talking about in public is the status of the Michigan State University Extension Program. Urban Michigan cannot begin to discuss urban agriculture or horticulture unless you mention MSU Extension.

For those of you who have never heard of the MSU Extension it is a statewide program that has focused on bringing knowledge-based educational programs to the people of the state to improve their lives and communities. Today, county-based staff members, in concert with on-campus faculty members, serve every county with programming focused on agriculture and natural resources; children, youth and families; and community and economic development.

Operating synergistically with the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and other MSU units, MSU Extension extends the University’s knowledge resources to all Michigan citizens and assists them in meeting their learning needs through a variety of educational strategies, technologies and collaborative arrangements. I have, for years, lobbied for a Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station to be brought to the heart of Detroit.

MSU Extension is committed to an ongoing process of recognizing, understanding, and accepting differences and how leveraging diversity and multiculturalism can lead to organizational and programming excellence.

So now we have reached a crisis in the MSU Extension Program. It is threatened to be eliminated if Gov. Jennifer Granholm gets her way.

MSU Extension has valued a partnership with county, state and federal government for 86 years.

This past week, state budget decisions related to our partnership are of extreme concern with the following two scenarios on the table: either a 44% reduction in general fund that could become permanent after federal stimulus funds are exhausted OR a line-item veto resulting in zero funding for MSUE and MAES.

The impact of our state partners’ decision of either scenario has devastating consequences to MSUE and our county partners. Most (80%) of our state funding supports the staff of MSUE.

If our funding lines are vetoed, MSUE will be forced to cancel all county and campus based programs and meetings immediately and until further notice. This includes but is not limited to:

All 4-H club operations.

All educational workshops across all program areas.

Oversight of any county grant activity led by MSUE.

How you can help—Immediate Action is Needed:

Prevent the veto. Reach out to the Governor and her leadership team to make the point that these programs are critical to your county.

Override the veto. If our lines are vetoed, help legislators understand the need to override the veto with a 2/3 majority in both House and Senate.

In the 44% scenario- MSU Extension would have to reduce staff by at least this percentage across the state and greatly reduce programming to a very limited focus. This would become the base budget for future years. They would likely lose additional positions because so many of our staff positions are funded by matching funds, and loss of state funds will jeopardize the matching funds.

If it is the veto scenario: The state legislature has a limited window to pass an amendment to restore this funding before we would need to initiate layoff notifications to staff. A number of our staff members have one-year renewable appointments, and we would not be able to lay them off until the anniversary of their appointment.

JUST A FEW OF THE IMPACTS

4-H will not exist in Michigan, which serves 236,000 youth and 27,000 adult volunteers.
Master Gardener Program will cease to exist.
More than 3,000 MSUE and MAES employees (not including County staff) will loose their jobs.
MSU Product Center will immediately cease to support hundreds of entrepreneurs across Michigan.
Project GREEEN, the successful grant program that has supported the plant industry in Michigan would immediately stop funding its programs.
Millions of Michigan residents will not receive vital services that help them live, work and thrive.
The cuts to MSU Extension and MAES means no support to help farmers and food processors with timely information affecting the business of growing food, thereby halting any progress we’ve made with the state’s only thriving industry.

If you feel that the MSU Extension partnership has brought value to your county, I encourage you to contact your state representative and state senator today. Share with them why you value the MSU Extension partnership. Tell them that their vote has the power to restore this funding and is necessary to keep the MSU Extension partnership that you have committed to intact.

Our community are depending on us. Please do nto let programs like 4-H go down the drain in the name of politics.

Transforming Urban Communities into Real Digital Networks by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-10T13:43:00.000-07:00

Conservatives and liberals must understand that the world they once knew no longer exists. The resistance of evolving technology, education and infrastructure is fading away as we transition from a 20th century way of thinking into a 22nd century way of thinking. We are no longer secular but universal in our way of solving problems in our communities.

Therefore, urban conservatives must lead the way when it comes to holding urban communities accountable when linking up with the rest of the world. We have to become more in tune with digital technology. For example, developing an urban regional wireless network in areas such as Benton Harbor and Muskegon will deliver affordable broadband wireless services to citizens in all areas of the region. If implemented it will be the largest project of its kind in the world and may transform the urban landscape region by enhancing the lives of community neighborhoods and overcoming the digital divide. Universities such as Western Michigan and Grand Valley State can partner with the urban municipalities to envision how a broadband wireless network can transform the lives and experiences of its citizens and visitors alike. The urban regional wireless network could provide a source of inspiration for novel ideas as well as a living laboratory for examining new applications.

Urban communities in Michigan have become mired in problems like accidents, crime, poverty, traffic and failing education. Despite the advancements in society at large, a significant portion of urban residents have been left behind. The emergence of digital technology in urban communities in Michigan will give us a chance to re-shape the landscape of the urban community. We have the opportunity, as well as responsibility, to design this emerging digital urban environment right, so that it benefits people in all walks of life.

It will require the creation of both a large-scale information infrastructure that will cut through existing physical and social infrastructures in the city and the design of new services and applications. It also requires new media both in form and function that can take advantage of the mobility and the ubiquity of information. By designing new digital urban communities and networks it will help us to re-think the meanings of familiar activities, while at the same time it allows us to envision novel forms of social interactions. Also, it will demand new forms of partnership between public and private sectors, researchers and practice, and the social and technical realms. The digital urban community, then, is a socio-technical innovation space where new forms of digitally mediated social interactions are designed and the meanings of old social interactions are re-shaped and mediated through new technologies.

Like water, gas, and electricity, access to the Internet and other information technologies can no longer be viewed as a privilege, yet it remains out of reach to the disabled, communities of color, new immigrants, non-English speakers, the homeless, and low-income families. The struggle to control broadband technology and the infrastructure that facilitates Internet connectivity is contested by public, private, and nonprofit sectors. Broadband access involves a digital landscape that few city officials are willing to take direct responsibility for.

One group that is connecting large urban areas digitally through wireless networking is the City of Philadelphia. A nonprofit organization called Digital Impact Group is leading the way in the city of Brotherly Love. A long-term vision is for Philadelphia - now among the least connected cities nationwide - to become the nation's most connected city. Our focus on developing programs to connect all of our citizens to the Internet is leading the way toward universal digital inclusion through creative collaboration with small business, large corporations, community organizations and the public sector.

As a result of Philadelphia's bold leadership on this issue, low-wealth families across the city are gaining access to computers and broadband service, enabling them to take advantage of opportunities that before were closed to them. Philadelphia stands alone among major cities in the development of a collaborative, comprehensive, community-based strategy to provide low-wealth families the tools they need to connect to the Internet.

Building research and technology parks in Benton Harbor that will bring in information and digital research companies will bring in much needed revenue as well as a tax base for an area that is desperate for job growth.

Urban conservatives in Flint, Saginaw, Detroit, Lansing, Muskegon and Benton Harbor should lead the way in innovation and digital technology by supporting smart policies that will benefit urban areas in Michigan.

The Mythical Check and The Future of Detroit by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Detroit is facing an economic crisis of proportions not seen in decades. Personally, I do not think people realize how deep the situation in Detroit is when it comes to stability. Most days people feel that we are headed towards anarchy in this city. When you add poverty to the crisis we have a serious catastrophe.

This past week we saw how truly depressed and distressed came out in droves seeking housing and utility assistance payment from the City of Detroit as part of the "Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program," a federal stimulus fund designed to help residents pay rent and utility bills. 35,000 people were so desperate for help with mortgage and utility bills that threats were made, fights broke out and people were nearly trampled.

Keep in mind that our city's official unemployment rate is 28.9 percent.

Officials said a total of about 65,000 people over the past few days have gotten applications for a share of $15.2 million in federal stimulus money to help people avoid foreclosure or quickly rebound from homelessness. Only 3,500 people may receive the help. The sad thing was how people lined up thinking that they were going to receive a check or debit card. A mythical check was waiting for them.

It looked like scene from Hurricane Katrina.

The reality is that poverty exists for several reasons. One major reason is the lack of education. The other is that black people in this city will not hire one another in terms of employment. A third reason is the 100% dependency and victimization mentality that has paralyzed the city through racial paranoia and fear.

We cannot begin to even heal with this type of mentality. Let alone we have city officials who think like this and love to fan the flames of ignorance from community to community.

While Detroit struggles to come into the 21st century it will also struggle to come into the global picture. The automotive industry is dead and along with it the unions who have controlled the politics of the city for over 5 decades.

When I speak to urban conservatives on the future of our city and other urban areas across America I often tell them to have vision. We have moved past those who want to continue to keep the status quo.

One thing that no one running for any political office in this city (or any urban area) is the need for micro-insurance. This is a term increasingly used to refer to insurance characterized by low premium and low caps or low coverage limits, sold as part of atypical risk-pooling and marketing arrangements, and designed to service low-income people and businesses not served by typical social or commercial insurance schemes.

It's a financial arrangement to protect low-income people against specific perils in exchange for regular premium payments proportionate to the likelihood and cost of the risk involved.

Sharing risk through micro-insurance could help communities rebuild after natural disasters. The United States poorest people often live in the places most likely to be struck by disasters and they are the least likely to have insurance. If we allowed Detroiters to turn to micro-insurance programs it will allow participants in a community to pool their risk and hence lower their premiums to as little as $2 per year.

While we are talking about urban agriculture in Detroit how come no one is discussing the need to develop biobutanol? This is an advanced biofuel made from wheat, corn, sugarcane, and other agricultural feedstocks. Biobutanol’s advantages over ethanol will become more obvious in the years ahead: Its energy content is closer to that of gasoline, it is less corrosive, and it can be delivered and dispensed using current infrastructure.

Building an biobutanol plant here in Detroit can put people back to work. This project is tied in with building research parks in our city. The same for tactical bio-refineries that can turn garbage into fuel. A portable generator developed for military applications can turn food, paper, plastic, and other trash into electricity. Not only will this help troops stay mobile, but it will also increase their security by eliminating telltale information in a unit’s waste. Detroit should lead in this industry.

While building our research parks it should house the world's most innovative information technology companies. While we are transforming Detroit from an automotive market to a financial market we should also train and innovate a new generation of career-path information technology workers who will help design and market new high tech computers such as the quantum computers. These are computers that use spinning electrons rather than silicon-based chips to process data could do in seconds what would take a modern computer billions of years, raising the prospect of infinite processing power by the year 2020.

Already most security systems use what is called biometrics. Governments and corporations are using fingerprints, hand geometry, the iris, voice, and facial features in a growing number of identity verification systems, with fingerprints making up 67% of these applications. The question is where are the firms in our city and other urban areas across Michigan to build and program this level of technology. Again, putting people to work.

If you think what you saw at Cobo Hall is a sign of mass breakdown of social services wait until we evolve where electronically enabled teams in networks, robots with artificial intelligence, and other noncarbon life-forms will make financial, health, educational, and even political decisions for us. The reason for this is because technologies are increasing the complexity of our lives and human workers’ competency is not keeping pace well enough to avoid disasters due to human error.

So while we are still fighting over things that should have been solved in the 20th century we must look ahead to our immediate future if we do not want to fall further behind the wheel. Detroit must be able to diversify its economy if it wants to stop shrinking as a city. However, I see Grand Rapids surpassing Detroit as the largest city in Michigan by 2020 because Grand Rapids's infrastructure is ready for what is outlined in this article. Detroit's future looks bleak unless we embrace silver rights, 21st century strategies and begin to think ahead instead of playing race games and staying in poverty.

Urban Profiles: Ron Edwards by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-05T11:12:00.000-07:00

Oftentimes, I hear some far left wing liberals discuss how social conservatism is dead in the water. They point to people like President Obama and how people did not use the Bible to make a vote. Well here is the reality. Social conservatism is not dead. It simply needs to be retooled.

It is being retooled as we speak and this time black social conservatives are truly leading the way.

One such leader is Star Parker (pictured here). But I would like to discuss about someone local who I think many need to get to know. His name is Ron Edwards and the brother is no joke. If we want to seriously look at how to revitalize social conservatism then simply look at Ron Edwards.

If you ever get a chance to hear him on Joshua's Trail like I have (and also shared the mic with him many times on WDTK 1400 AM on Saturdays) all you would hear is things that are uncomfortable coming out of his mouth.

That means he is telling the truth or as he put it "simply blowing the myths away."

The Edwards Notebook is his signature editorial that he gives during the broadcast and also at the top and bottom half of the hour anywhere between 11AM and 7PM during the week. This notebook is designed to do two things. (1) To remind you that there is no God but God and (2) to remind you that America is the best thing since slice bread. His no nonsense approach to politics often teaches us a lesson on why the United States must continue to function as the greatest country in the world.

What kills me is how black people try to deny the fact that they are social conservative. This is nothing new as we have shown time after time that blacks support marriage between man and woman, frown upon abortion and support prayer in schools. Ron Edwards understands the needs for not just blacks but all Americans who worship under one God.

For 20 years Ron has been a forced to be reckoned with, educating people on issues that the regular mainstream media would not do. and now From WJMO, WCPN & WGAR in Cleveland to WWJ and now WDTK-AM here in Detroit here is a man who will not bend his Christian values for no one.

He sounds like my kind of guy. A man who will stand up for what's right. If Ron understands that America is caught up in a cultural war how come most of us are on the sidelines silent?

For those who feel that social conservatism is long dead in a post-Obama world is highly mistaken. As long as people like Ron Edwards is here to help spread that gospel of truth and victory around the social conservative movement is not going anywhere.

Continue to support Ron Edwards by listening to the Edwards Notebook online at http://www.edwardsnotebook.com

A New Economy for Urban Michigan: Building A Hair Dynasty by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-05T10:31:00.000-07:00

In the City of Detroit you will find almost on every corner a hair and cosmetics business. The major problem is most of these stores are not owned and operated by people of color but our Asian counterparts. Now I do not have a problem with diversity, however, I often ask myself would Asian support a Chinese buffet owned and operated by blacks in an Asian community? The answer to that is no. So why do we allow people to come in and control 90% of the economy in our community?

According to Target Market News blacks spend over $18 billion annually on hair care products. Black women use five times more hair products than their white counterparts and spend close to $23 billion annually on hair and beauty supplies.

This opens the door to a new economy in areas like Detroit called hair manufacturing and distribution.

The purpose of this is to help existing black producers who already produce black hair products. One generation after blacks fought in the civil rights movement whites and Asians took control of the nation's black hair care and beauty supply businesses. Today, they own 82% of Black hair care and beauty supply dollars. Asians have built a monopoly because of the wig industry from China, to the manufacturing of hair and beauty products and now have manicure and pedicure booths and stores in urban areas across the country. These types of monopolies aimed at black people in America helps produce wealth, income, and recession-proof jobs for Asians.

One can look into history to see how Madame C.J. Walker developed and dominated the black hair care and beauty industry that helped generate income and wealth for people of color. Because blacks never developed a true distribution system others were able to squeeze out those black producers who could not buy them out.

In a silver rights era we must open the doors of competition in urban areas to help develop new economies to keep a certain level of sustainability in urban communities. We often look to government to give us our fare share of revenue sharing when people right here in Detroit can produce revenue sharing by building hair distribution systems to (1) keep competition going against stores like Lee Beauty Supply and (2) reduce the unemployment rate by hiring people who are qualified for the job.

One thing that I keep on telling people is that the city needs to reproduce what is recession proof. Barber shops and beauty salons are recession proof jobs that can be strengthened by connecting the products they use in their shops with both production and distribution companies right here in the City of Detroit. We have to be in the business of building careers not building hustlers on the side. Detroit is engaged in a hustling mentality and we must convert this into building careers and wealth.

Once again, urban conservatives need to reach out to the hidden constituency called the Diaspora. This is something we must not ignore. We have a number of Africans who reside here in Metro Detroit who have a unlimited number of braid shops and lockticians. These women help generate wealth and in many cases send money back home to places like Senegal and Ghana. Building bridges with this group can also turn a domestic revenue generator into an international market by building distribution centers in both Detroit and Senegal.

When we marry education with silver rights we will not have to rely on Lansing to give us our fare share of revenue sharing or cut jobs. We will be in a position to produce a legacy.

A New Economy for Urban Michigan: Aquaculture by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-10-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

While urban planners here in Detroit are trying to "rightsize" the city by implementing urban agriculture one thing we have not discussed fully is urban aquaculture. The City of Detroit, Benton Harbor and Muskegon are ripe for urban aquaculture to help generate revenue into these cities.

Aquaculture is fish farming. This is where people can cultivate fish for food in a controlled environment, such as a tank or pond, and harvesting them when they reach preferred size. Some may be interested in raising an easy-to-breed species that is fairly inexpensive to feed and relatively free of parasites and diseases. In a time of over-fishing and degradation of wetland habitats, aquaculture presents itself as an environmentally and socially sound alternative. Urban conservatives can help develop programs that will provide fresh, high-quality fish at a fair price to local ethnic markets, along with potential jobs for vendors.

This industry can be built due to the high consumption of seafood by blacks. Blacks consume 3-4 times more seafood than other races of people in the United States as well as spend nine dollars for every one dollar that whites spend on seafood. A seafood factory will meet that growing need. However, what are we doing to produce an industry that will help generate revenue as well as investment opportunities for areas such as Detroit, Benton Harbor or Muskegon?

Fish farming sounds a lot easier than it is. It involves close monitoring of the water chemistry and fish health, along with the daily work of feeding the fish, transporting them, and finding a viable market. Besides the challenge of physical labor, aquaculture systems are also expensive. The controlled environment required to grow fish in tanks includes an aerated water circulating system, carbon filters to clean water, fish feed, transporting tanks, and equipment for monitoring the water's chemical composition.

Examples of this can be found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with Growing Power. This is a two-acre urban farm that was founded by Will Allen in 1993. Growing Power inspires school kids and entrepreneurs alike with the fresh produce, meat, and fish it grows in the heart of the city. Growing Power now has satellite farms and community gardens around Milwaukee and Chicago.

Others are following Allen’s lead, growing fish and plants in a three-tiered aquaponic system. In aquaponics, fish and plants are grown in one integrated structure. Fish waste fertilizes the plants, and plants and bacteria clean the water for the fish. Aquaponic systems mimic the natural water purification that takes place in streams and wetlands.

Milwaukee is emerging as a leader in the urban farming revolution, especially in aquaculture. Local organizations are recruiting more urban agrarians through education. Growing Power has regular workshops, and a nonprofit Urban Aquaculture Center that includes an education center as well as a production facility that is in development.

Aquaculture has been increasing around the country, and urban fish farms like Sweet Water are on the cutting edge. Purdue University’s Kwamena Quagrainie, who specializes in aquaculture marketing, does not know of any other commercial urban fish farms.

Detroit, Benton Harbor and Muskegon can benefit from urban aquaculture. Urban fish farms may help fill these gaps, with Detroit and other cities reaping economic, health, and environmental benefits. Urban agriculture and aquaculture provide jobs near a ready workforce, fresh foods for underserved populations, reductions in fossil fuels for food transport, and an use for empty industrial buildings.

If urban conservatives can lead the way to help other succeed it will provide a valuable business model for entrepreneurs in Detroit and other urban cities in Michigan. It will also strengthen the current of change that is reshaping how we grow our food.

The Mackinac Experience: Reaching Out Globally by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

Everytime I go to Mackinac City and Mackinac Island I am fascinated by the Jamaicans who work on the island. Their hard work and determination to do what's right should inspire all urban conservatives. However. when I come back to my community we have blacks who simply hate on our West Indies community.

our Of course, for some who live in Detroit who have fallen for the cultural stereotypes of Jamaicans simply are ignorant. This is why I push for education because it is a tool that helps eradicate ignorance and stereotypes. While I was on I-75 coming back from Mackinac City I was in a intense discussion with some of my female friends on the phone from Detroit. They lambasted me because they felt that I was seeking a weaker woman in the Jamaican. They feel that Jamaican women will work for the crumbs that fall from the table instead of fighting for what is right. I could not believe that these women from Detroit were ridiculing their Jamaican sisters because they work in the service industry.

Then more stereotypes followed. "How many jobs do they have? 3 or 6? How many babies they have 10?" The other sister on the phone cried about how Africans and Jamaicans take jobs away from African Americans. They clowned about how Jamaicans cannot speak proper English. They both agreed to think that Jamaicans are better than African Americans and felt that I was a traitor to our sisters here in Detroit if I was to date one of them.

What they did not know that all of the Jamaican women I spoke to were married. The two sisters on the phone from Detroit were divorced.

It always depresses me when black people hold ignorant views of other black people across the Diaspora. No wonder our community is a joke here in Detroit. Being bi-cultural myself I have been targeted by other African Americans in this community as being better and not being in the in-crowd in terms of following the status quo. We practice so much cultural oppression in this community it is not funny. We clown the Senegalese women for braiding hair, and if that family is a Muslim them they must be terrorists. Nigerians are looked upon as scam artists and not wanting to help African Americans (which is false). Where are they getting this nonsense from?

What’s REALLY depressing about it all that essentially all black and African people have the exact same negative stereotypes for each other, the same stereotypes western Whites and Europeans gave us. You think people would listen to themselves. We’re all unceremoniously labeled as shiftless, lazy, morally loose, repugnant, violent, prurient beasts with animal-like behaviors who love sex and sensibility.

To show you how ignorant these sisters were they forgot that both groups suffered the traumatic experience of slavery (slaves were often shipped back and forth between the Caribbean and the United States), were cut off from our African homelands (forcing us to create a new identity in the new world), and both of us have black skin in a racist society. However, people from the Caribbean do not complain and use race as a crutch. Even after fighting wars, AIDS and malaria Africans come over to the United States and prosper. Meanwhile, some African Americans have a belief that government is supposed to take care of us instead of providing us the services that we need. Everyone else understands the role of government but we still think the white man who runs the government is against us. That sound like some who do not want government involved in anything.

Anyway, when I was talking to our Jamaican sisters on Mackinac Island they wondered why our women complained about everything. However, one Jamaican woman said something that struck a serious nerve in me. She said how come black people in this country blame racism for their condition when it was clear all they really needed to do was sacrifice and work hard for what they wanted. Pull themselves up by their bootstraps by working hard and invest in our communities. She said African Americans were too sensitive to the subject of race and politics.

It sounds like urban conservatives have been going after the wrong constituency all these years. I walked away from that conversation thinking that maybe we need to rethink our strategy in terms of outreach to black folks in urban communities and look towards something greater and something more international. Jamaicans, who come from intact households, appreciate hard work, love God like no other, and will support their men at all costs. I have noticed similar behavior traits with Nigerians and other people globally.

Black people in America will continue to vote Democratic in large numbers for whatever reasons. That will not change. However, I think Republicans, especially urban conservatives, need to reach out to other people in the Diaspora. They lean towards our values. The women are easier to get along with, the men are serious about family building and the children are serious about education. We do not need to keep reminding blacks in urban communities about what we did as Republicans in the 20th century. We need to reach out and communicate with people that look like us who come from other parts of the world who have come to America to seek opportunities.

My conversation continued with our Jamaican women in Mackinaw City. Another woman asked me "how come African-Americans could not simply “get over race”. We are operating in a new age where opportunity was abundant. Instead of complaining, African-Americans needed to apply their energy towards a career or an education and stop using race as a crutch."

That was MINDBLOWING.

It’s sad when people try to place their prejudices on others. I do not have anything against our people in Detroit or other places. I simply want to deal with people who are not afraid of commitment, afraid to speak their mind in a peaceful manner and think global. Some blacks here think too local and that leads to other issues that are counterproductive. We should not have to make our Jamaican brothers or sisters (as well as others) Americanized. We should allow them to keep their values. In fact, I like it when Jamaican women keep their values instead of trading them in for something corrupt. It shows me that they are serious about their culture and God.

The real problem is we are so far removed from our roots that we no longer realize how much we have in common. We don’t realize that our language, our food, and our traditions are similar even though we are thousands of miles apart. The more we learn these commonalities the easier it will be for us to unite.

This is why urban conservatives must create a new path of distinction in our community by connecting with those across the Diaspora. We have the same issues (none of us want higher taxes), are concerned about global education and want to improve the quality of life. Also keep in mind that we have African Caribbeans in the United Kingdom and African Canadians who are conservative and share some of our concerns. The same with our British counterparts. Urban conservatives do not make any distinction between Christians, Muslims and Jews because we come from our father Abraham.

Regardless of how confusing the media tries to portray people we are one family. Its time to stop playing politics and play policies that will work in urban communities. Reaching out to Jamaicans are no different. Urban conservatives both respect Booker T. Washington and Marcus Garvey the same way mainstream conservatives respect Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

I am not excluding our Hispanic brothers and sisters nor our Arab, Jewish, Asian and Indian families. They too are urban conservatives. We all need to kill the stereotypes about one another. I met a Puerto Rican woman at a store recently who wanted to teach me Spanish while she wanted me to teach her about the Yoruba in education. The point here is when we reach out to new people you will realize how much we have in common.

It's time for our community to expand our horizon in relationship building. Maybe the woman you are looking for is Jamaican or the man you looking for is Senegalese. Either way it goes open the door to kill the stereotypes. We may even begin rebuilding our families if we look past the stereotypes.

The Mackinac Experience: Pushing for Conservatives of Color by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-09-27T18:07:00.000-07:00

I was amazed of how 2100 Republicans registered for the Michigan GOP Leadership Conference on Mackinac Island. Unfortunately, only a few minorities were at this conference. In fact, it was so noticeable that people started asking me questions as soon as I got off the ferry boat Friday evening.

The question? Where are the minorities at the conference and where are they in the party?

Therefore, a small group of us had an impromptu discussion on this issue Saturday at the Grand Hotel.

I got a chance to hear some of the debate between the gubernatorial candidates early Saturday morning. While they discussed the economy one thing people always forget is how urban communities are instrumental to the advancement of the State of Michigan. They talk about Detroit and bringing Detroit back but there are other communities that need to be bright back as well. However, it seems like the biggest challenge is how Republicans can approach urban areas.

The answer is simple. Just talk about issues that are relevant. I think I brought this up several times in our discussion. Instead of template talking points and foreign platforms I stressed the need for discussions on mental health, family building, global education, and even participating in race relation discussions. The key here is relationship building. You simply cannot just come into the black community hoping to find some votes during election time. It's impossible.

A big point that I stressed is how the GOP must understand the demographics of where they are targeting voters. You cannot take a boiler point platform into the Brightmoor section of Detroit. You will get shot. Instead, find out what community groups and neighborhood associations are over there and build relationships with them first. We wait too long to do this. Not just in Detroit but find out the landscape in all urban areas across Michigan. Find out why their schools are failing. Don't just say the teacher unions are blocking progress. There are other ways to go around the teacher unions.

How many people in the GOP are connected to groups like the Skillman Foundation or Detroit Parent Network? The NAACP? The Urban League? We know the GOP has ties with various Chamber of Commerces across the State of Michigan but are we partnering with other community based groups who have direct access to people in our community? When was the last time the GOP connected with Focus Hope? The North Oakland Republican Club volunteered to work in a soup kitchen in Pontiac not too long ago. Most GOP clubs will not even conduct meetings in urban communities. That alone shows the disconnect.

Have we viewed ourselves as a party that want to cross barriers with other people or are we just simply talking? For example, how many Republicans who were on Mackinac Island talked to our Jamaican brothers and sisters while they were there? I have said repeatedly that we are forgetting about a hidden constituency that we have not tapped into. I got a chance to speak to several Jamaican women on the island. These women had ONE THING IN COMMON. God, hard work, not seeking a handout, honoring the man in the house through God, family oriented, not allowing anger to blindside them, valued educational values, not blaming other races for holding them down and loving life to the fullest. One even expressed the fact that she does not wear skirts to church but long dresses. Out of the 12 women I spoke to 11 of them were married.

That sounds a lot like the GOP to me. Yet, most of us looked at them as just servants and not stakeholders in this party. I can say the same for Nigerians, Ghanaians, Senegalese and others across the globe. If we want to attract conservatives of color into the party then you have to give them a serious reason to consider. We also have to realize that every black or Hispanic that want to participate in our party may not be Christian. Do we alienate them or do we open our arms and agree to disagree and move on?

Civic education forums are needed to inform constituents on the issues as well as creating solutions. I said nothing about bashing elected officials. I said solutions. If the GOP becomes more solution-oriented we will see a positive outcome in urban communities. If we keep up this tirade of bashing people we will not win in 2010.

You cannot neglect urban communities because they are the very instrument that can help revitalize Michigan. Even Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty stated in a luncheon I was at on how poor urban areas are recruiting grounds for new Republicans. Creating jobs and improving schools are goals that resonate with all parents. The message has to be consistent.

But our dialogue was awesome. I enjoyed meeting with the stakeholders in this meeting. We need to have more and actually conquer our fear of one another.

The Mackinac Experience: Fix Michigan by Akindele Akinyemi

2009-09-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Republican Party has just completed its 28th annual Biennial Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference and trust me it was worth the 4.5 hours getting there. As usual, the stakeholders in the party are here for one thing.

Fix Michigan.

Yes, while our state is suffering massive unemployment and Lansing's lack of ability to lead many grassroots, business, educators and state party leadership came together to find solutions and ways on how to Fix Michigan. What caught my attention is how John Rakolta simply told the audience in the first Fix Michigan panel that race still plays a role in blocking regional cooperation.

This is true.

However, with Michigan's general election next year we need to prepare ourselves to move forward. But we cannot fix Michigan if we still think going back to a security blanket of ideas will work. We live in a different America now as opposed to 1994 when we had the Contract on America.

What I heard from some of the people attending the conference was how the party must go on offense if we want to win in '10. We cannot get arrogant and lazy this time around. We assumed in 2006 that we had Gov. Granholm and the rest of the Michigan Democrats on the ropes. Instead, Michigan Democrats reloaded quickly with Jon Stryker and the Coalition for Progress. They got a whiff of smelling salts in the corner, had their eyes cut, was splashed in the face with some water, and charged out like a bull, knocking the GOP back on its heels. We did not recover in 2008 either but things will change.

It's time to get personal and get specific. I have been saying all along how we need to touch every demographic without fear.

Finally, we need to stop wasting time on insane, utterly ridiculous goose-chases such as MLB steroids, or televangelists. How completely ridiculous. People are sickened of the fact that our Senators have nothing better to do than to investigate Benny Hinn. This convinces people, more than ever, that the Republicans are out of touch.

I am approaching Mackinac City off I-75. After ducking state troopers and sheriffs I finally made it.

We are getting on Shelper's Ferry to cross over from Mackinac City to Mackinac Island.

I love the Mackinac Bridge. I crossed the bridge to see the Upper Peninsula. What a different world.

The Straits of Mackinac. The water is beautiful.

Congressman Eric Cantor from Virginia speaking to us at breakfast.

Congressman Eric Cantor takes a picture with the urban conservative.

Nick DeLeeuw from Right Michigan doing God knows what.

State Senator Mike Bishop throws a party at the Pink Pony on Mackinac Island. People could barely get in the party because so many people were there.

State Representative Paul Scott has his supporters. Many wonder if Rep. Scott will run for Secretary of State of Michigan. We shall see after the budget crisis.

More supporters for Paul Scott.

9th District GOP Chairman of Oakland County Glen Clark pumping up the crowd for State Rep. Paul Scott.

5th District GOP chairman Lutullus S. Penton of Genessee County pumps up the volume for Rep. Scott.

State Rep. Gail Haines, Sheriff Mike Bouchard's daughter and State Rep. Sharon Tyler making their presence known at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Dr. Tom George speaks to Kelly Mitchell.

Ingham County GOP Chair Linda Lee Tarver is on her way to the evening reception with her husband Clint. Both of them are always stylish as usual.

Finally, it's silly to chide donors for not "opening their wallets" when as of now, they have nothing or no one to open them for. Stryker was important, not because he poured money into the moribund Democrat Party, but because they gleefully used the money to attack Republicans. Something to think about.

History shows us that since the end of the Whigs (who never had a chance, hence they were called "stillborn" by one historian), we have had two viable parties and only two viable parties. That won't change. Change must come within the GOP. We did it before, we can do it again. But a major purge is in order, and I fear some black times are ahead for the state until we get our act together.

But the conference was awesome as usual.

Here are the straw poll results from the weekend:

Governor
Votes cast: 1,244
Mike Bouchard: 298 votes (23.95 percent)
Mike Cox: 300 votes (24.12 percent)
Tom George: 41 votes (3.30 percent)
Pete Hoekstra: 219 votes (17.60 percent)
Rick Snyder: 386 votes (31.03 percent)

Attorney General
Votes cast: 1,212
Mike Bishop: 446 votes (36.80 percent)
Bruce Patterson: 69 votes (5.69 percent)
Bill Schuette: 697 votes (57.51 percent)

Secretary of State
Total votes: 1,186
Cameron Brown: 311 votes (26.22 percent)
Judy Emmons: 11 votes (0.93 percent)
Michelle McManus: 404 votes (34.06 percent)
Anne Norlander: 248 votes (20.91 percent)
Paul Scott: 212 votes (17.88 percent)