Dr. King’s Success

Today is Martin Luther King Day. A  Day of rest in America, a day or recognition to one of the most influential people of all time. The day being set aside to respect the legacy of Dr. King is essential to understanding the greatest progressions of African-Americans, the beginning of the ending of legal segregation.

Segregation was a major political topic of the 50s and 60s in America. Many southern governors were in favor of segregation of African-Americans from adequate resources. Adequate enough to allow true progress of African-American people in the America. Black people were not given sufficient school supplies or job opportunities. Black people were not allowed to eat in certain areas of restaurants or stay at certain businesses, because they were allowed to be discriminated against to allow the comfort of those in fear of black people living the violent stereotypes they’ve scripted in their minds. It was truly a shameful fallacy that was allowed to be portrayed through laws in southern states and across the united states.

Dr. King was outwardly against the oppression of black people in America. King was an excellent speaker and fought for equality in all areas where black people were not equal. King supported restaurant sit-ins, bussing segregation, housing segregation, voting rights, work placement, state college attendance, and the consistent injustice in the courtroom. What I recently come to realize is why king was successful.

King was successful because first, he had a fearless team with many different talents. King was a preacher and able to deliver a message. But with him were men who specialized in organizing, marketing, law and political strategists. King never had a large church nor was he as popular alive as he is today. But it was the mixture of minds to reach a common goal that motivated them all.

King organized through mass marketing from flyers distributed in markets to announcements in classrooms. Consistent communication through teachers and churches. They would drive down the street and make speakerphone announcements. He would demonstrate in areas that were known to have violent police forces, to allow media presence, and spread the image of what was happening int he segregated south around the world.

Dr. King succeeded through his calm demeanor and consistent belief that change could happen. He rejected the obvious wrongs of society and calmly marched across states in massive crowds to let it be known that people will not tolerate the illicit behavior of the government against any people. King brought attention to the fowl character of the government and an image to people across the world. He worked in love for the progress of black people, and that love is still being emitted today through believers of Dr. Kings dream.

Algebra Workshop Review

The algebra workshop reviewed basic concepts that often lead to lack of understanding of in depth algebra. A interesting note was the lack of elementary math that is missing from the students. Time had to be spent reviewing multiplication before reviewing fractions. Be it that the students were in a grade level to learn algebra, they had a hard time understanding 4th grade mathematical concepts.

It was evident that some students were able to move on in a subject category in spite of lack of foundational skills such as multiplication and division. The workshop identified areas of struggle which and addressed them. This is always the goal of any tutoring lesson and it served its purpose.

Below are some activities done at the workshop.

Above the curator of the African American Museum of beginnings in Pomona is giving a tour of the museum.

Here our young scholar is using skittles as visual aides to comprehend fraction word problems.

Above we have a adult who is using the free workshop as a starter point to sharpen his mathematical skills to enter into the field of education. The student is using playing cards to develop PEMDAS equations which were solved by him then taught to the group. Implying the idea that if you teach it then you know it.

 

 

College Application Checklist

Applying to college can be tedious. Simply the idea of having to gather information such as letters of recommendation, transcripts, and personal statements. But don’t let the tedious task be the reason you do not apply. It is possible to get organized with written structure, such as this checklist provided by college bound. The link below is a simple guide to organizing your steps for the college application process.

College Application Checklist

Summer Jobs

Summer Jobs for College and Grad Students

  Summer is officially here! No need to sit in the house in boredom, try to take advantage of your free time by involving your time in a summer internship or job. The link above has some links to some amazing opportunities from major coroporations that are often overlooked. Take the time this summer to link with a professional organization and develop your professional interactions. Go ahead and apply and try to be a well developed young professional.

Women’s Professional Development Workshop Review

iBrand.Me Young Women’s Professional Development workshop was inspiring, insightful, and uplifting. The strong desire to lead a positive future generation that is well prepared to accomplish goals and proceed through struggles was the motive behind the speakers of the event. The speeches were delivered in very passionate genuinity on the young professional speakers journeys.The topics covered included; Putting your Best Foot Forward, Interview Skills, and Time Management. A guest speaker by the name of Ms. Lesley Cherry also came and gave her input on being a young professional.

The workshop began with a tour by the curator of the very insightful museum. Opening minds and hearts before the workshop began. Mrs. Keyonna Stanford and Ms. Ka’Jahna Johnson both spoke on Putting Your Best Foot Forward and how to be a winner. Some key concepts you certainly missed from the mouths of CIF championship holders.

Next was Ms. Monique Hughes, whom spoke on Interview Skills. A Target HR representative who does hiring and firing. She gave tips and strategies to beating interviews and impressing new companies, a skill set she has been trained to deliver. Ms. Monique was directly followed by Ms. Brandy Williams, whom spoke on Time Management. Ms. Williams, being a student, fitness instructor, contract substitute instructor, and active member of her church certainly balances time well. As she tries to excel in each of these areas the number one area of discussion was self discipline and responsibility, as well as analyzation of self progression.

Our Speaker Ms. Lesley Cherry spoke on her journey to become a LMFT and gave great insight on having a positive network and being disciplined in routine. As well as having a plan to your goal, and sticking to that goal. Overall, the workshop was impeccable. Much respect to those who came, and if you missed this one there are many more to come.

Ms. Keyonna Stanford and Ms. Ka’Jahna Johnson speaking on Putting you Best Foot Forward

Strengths and Weaknesses Activity

Ms. Lesley Cherry speaking on her journey to become a marriage and family therapist.

Ms. Monique Hughes speaking on

Introductions of officers.

Ms. Brandy Williams speaking on time management.

Unfortunate Event of Walter Scott

R.I.P. Walter Scott

On April 4th at about 930 a.m. another young black life was taken. The young man was pulled over for a broken tail light, he ran out of the car through a parking lot where he was then hit by a taser. After he was hit by the taser he was then shot in the back. He was unarmed and had not turned and displayed harm to the police officer. Another unarmed black life taken by an officer.

This is a situation we Americans have heard of many times before, but with the wide spread of technology these incidents are being recorded and much more difficult to hide into lost files. The question that has risen amoungst iBrand.Me is, is this a learned behavior or are these police so stressed that they feel threatened by common stresses that they have been trained to deal with. The problem is that young black men seem to be the ones that die at the hand of a police officer more than other ethnicities. And the shooting of Walter Scott was so non chalant (as perceived on the viedo). However, how can the issue of police brutalitly and illegal behavior be addressed before it reaches levels of comfort, in more police departments?

I am unaware of what type of further training can be done to subdue these irrational thoughts. But a true investment in displaying proper training on how to handle a difficult criminal would be sufficient at this point. To give more sensitivity training and cultural diversity understanding would be beneficial. Anything would be beneficial, but to help develop a greater sensitivity whether people are criminals or straight edge. Black or white,  there needs to be a low tolerance for police brutality within the police force to stop the fear of police by citizens, and fear of citizens by the police.

Young Women’s Professional Development Workshop

Come join iBrand.Me as we will be discussing women’s professional development for young women ages 15-22. The workshop will be hosted by:

African American Museum of Beginnings

1460 E Holt Avenue

Building 3

Click to View Flyer: Womens Development Flyer

When Celebrities State Facts…..

iBrand.Me loves facts! And attention being brought to areas of grief. John legend made a beautiful statement at the grammy’s and mentioned some horrific statistics. The statistics he mentioned involving the incarceration rate of black men versus the amount of slaves, 14 years before slavery was abolished, prove that the detriments of slavery affect the black community today, more so than when African people were slaves. The beauty behind John Legends statement is the fact that his words reach more audiences.

John Legend, being a successful musician, may have touched someone whom the average American cannot reach. John Legend, may have sparked some minds and made people pay more attention to the bias of incarceration rates. The thought that should come to most minds is first “wow,” and second “why?” The reasons are plentiful, however the most blatant is that racism still exists in America. Though African-Americans have high numbers of people living in ghettos, they do not commit crimes at higher rates than their white American counter parts, they are just receiving harsher sentences.

When celebrities address these unbelievable statistics, it shows importance because they took their time to mention it, and study it, and show compassion for people that are consistently overlooked. Our question is, what changes would occur if the overlooked populations were looked at and spoke about by the John Legends of the world, bold enough to state their passions and bring justice to unjust situations? What if their were more people willing to bring change to and build communities to support unjust issues? John Legend did his part by mentioning the unbelievable fact of incarceration in America, but what is your part to bring change to unjust system after you have been informed? iBrand.Me believes we are to be the change, and see what petitions we can sign to lighten convictions of young black men in America.

Hot Topic Night: State of Black America

The current hot topic night discussion covered the state of black America. The question posed was, “If you could make one statement to sum your opinion on  one of the following:

How to improve the state of black America?

What is the largest issue in black America?

What is the most prevalent condition of black America?……

What would that statement be?”

Several ideas were posed, from why African-Americans are behind in comparison to other minority counterparts academically and in the work force. The goal was to focus on how to implement change to better the condition of young minorities, and what approach to take. Some said that there should be petition to shows that exploit black women and more display of successful black women to stop to hypersexualization of women, and stopping the oppression to the idea that black women too can be beautiful and educated. An issue black men stated to find themselves struggling with as well, having constantly been portrayed as “hypersexuality beasts,” to sum up the thoughts of two attendees.

Other opinions spiraled from the thoughts of lack of knowledge of history and lack of knowledge of self. The idea that if you do not know who you are, then you can not reach for higher goals and think for yourself. Rather you fold and mold into the opinions of others without knowing, and reach for a lot less than if you understood self value.

No matter if the state of black America is seen as poor, proud, or unreachable. The opinions of several people on how to improve impoverished conditions and bring realization to lack of drive to receive resources or for resources to reach to small communities, is how thought is provoked. The idea of having youth in deep discussions of current events help people provoke thought and bring admiration to the possibility of change and making conditions more manageable to live in. But it starts in the home and with the spark of one mind, young or old.

 

If you would love to give your opinion on the state of black America, please share it below.