Young, Gifted and Black: The Defiant Truth About Our Children’S Ability to Meet Every Foe

By Danny Ray Christian

The most crucial information this generation of African American youth must know is the fact that unless they live their life with a sense of urgency and purpose, the world is going to pass them by. Now is the time for those who want something more out of life than mediocrity and the status quo to go out and get it. The people who are going to survive and prosper in this era of rapid change are those who are able to be radical in both their thinking and dreaming. Young people of today cannot content themselves with waiting on others to give them an opportunity and open doors for them but must become proactive in creating opportunities for themselves. Know this one thing for sure: opportunity doesnt breed purpose. Purpose creates opportunities by virtue of it, driving you out of your comfort zone. I wish for my son and every other African American youth to know that the more of their comfort they are willing to give up, the more of their dream and success they can achieve. You are reading this book because I sacrificed five hundred of my seven-hundred-dollars-a-month income to publish it, without having a place to live or knowing how I was going to make it through the rest of the month. But that is what dream chasers do They throw everything they have behind their dream. I caution every young person to not listen to those who tell you that you cant afford to spend your last dollar on your dream. The truth is, you cant afford not to if you hope to ever see your dream come true.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781524582883

Danny Ray Christian

Danny has been certified by Toastmasters International as a Competent Public Speaker (1991 East Moline). He received his GED from the Chicago City Colleges (1981) and obtained a certificate in Graphic Arts from Southeastern Illinois College (1987). He is a former member of the Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party. He spent twenty years in prison and ten in Elgin Mental Health Center. While in the hospital he wrote over eight-hundred poems, three books of daily meditations, and numerous speeches and Afro-centric anecdotes. He also acted as a mentor for younger consumers while there, leading his own peer-support groups and chairing GROW for four years (2003-07). You can contact him about appearing at your venue at [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2017 by Danny Ray Christian.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-5245-8287-6

                eBook           978-1-5245-8288-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 02/10/2017

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CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknowledgment

Preface

1 Young Gifted and Black

2 63 Things You Better Know and be Able to Do If You Are Black

3 Makings of the Black Man

4 African Americans and Power

5 The Most Positive Things I know About African Americans

6 Addressing Problems as Problems and not the Youth as Problems

7 Character the One Word Secret to Success

8 Universal Laws to Success

9 How to Sculpt the Perfect You

10 Legacies to Follow

Dedication

This book is dedicated to all my nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews and my son, along with every other young African American who is living their lives to make all of our lives and world better

Acknowledgment

My life today would not be possible without the prayers and support of some special people, beginning with my mother, Dorthea Powell, who has carried me far beyond nine months. I owe an unrepayable debt to the mother of my son, Cheri, who has stood in my steed in my son’s life for twenty-seven years. My brother Andrew has been a great help through his phone calls and encouragement for me to pursue my dream of one day being as big as Tyler Perry. Mia Burks deserves a special mention for her being a friend in deed in a time of need when I was trying to publish my third book. Omar Shaheed and Billy Brown who have both been a source of counsel in those dark moments when I had no one else to talk to and was doubting my abilities as a writer. Ray Gregory, who has been an invaluable mentor, warrants a word of thanks as well as Freddie Moffit, who literally charioted around when I still had chains on my ankles. Finally, I am greatly indebted to my best friend, Crystal Dalton, who has been a source of sunshine throughout my journey back to life and freedom. I needn’t say that there are many more people who I have not mentioned who have helped me in untold ways and who have helped me become the man I am today.

Preface

The most crucial information this generation of African American youth must know, is the fact that unless they live their life with a sense of urgency and purpose, the world is going to pass them by. Now is the time for those who want something more out of life than mediocrity and the status quo to go out and get it. The people who are going to survive and prosper in this era of rapid change are those who are able to be radical in both their thinking and dreaming. Young people of today cannot content themselves with waiting on others to give them an opportunity and open doors for them, but must become proactive in creating opportunities for themselves. Know this one thing for sure, opportunity doesn’t breed purpose, purpose creates opportunities by virtue of it driving you out of your comfort zone. I wish for my son and every other African American youth to know that the more of their comfort they are willing to give up, the more of their dream and success they can achieve. You are reading this book because I sacrificed five-hundred of my seven-hundred dollars a month income to publish it, without having a place to live or knowing how I was going to make it through the rest of the month. But that is what dream chasers do, they throw everything they have behind their dream. I caution every young person to not listen to those who tell you, You can’t afford to spend your last dollar on your dream. The truth is you can’t afford not to if you hope to ever see your dream come true.

You can spend your life and money consuming somebody else’s dreams or spend it producing your own dream

Chapter 1

Young Gifted and Black

The Defiant Truth about Our Children’s Ability to Meet Every Foe

A Formal Rebuttal

Introduction

I dare any man, woman or child to tell me as the father of a son who was born two months premature to parents who were less than perfect, and a father who was in prison at the time of his birth, and spent twenty-two of his twenty-seven years of life going back and forward to prison, that he is irreparably damaged by the whipping life has given him thus far and that he has no future. The nightly news, teachers and community activists are all telling us that our children are a lost generation and that the enemy they face is unlike any we as a race have ever faced, and therefore, they are right to feel like life is hopeless and has no purpose, and to even say that there is no God. Today I stand up to speak for the hopeful prospects of my son’s future and potential and all other young black children’s future and potential.

At what point did black children go from Being Young, Gifted and Black, to being lost, hopeless and disposal able? Today’s black youth will have us believe that they are somehow a totally different species of Black Folk than has ever existed on the face of this earth. But as I look at them walking around with their pants hanging off their butt, with their tats and unkempt hair what I see is not despair incarnate, but children who are the very substance out of which tomorrow is going to be built. Am I blind to all the behaviors they display which mark them as being more fit for hanging out to dry with everything else we see no use for than being reasons for us to believe that the Day of Jubilee is immanent? I do not have my head in the sand by any means, I simply know that the better future of our children begins with what we see of them when we look at them. Thus, this short booklet is my attempt to shift the picture from one of hopelessness to one of hope and promise when conversation is made of today’s African American youth.

I have had enough as of this day, October 18, 2016, of people throwing in the towel on our children simply because, Life ain’t no crystal staircase for them, like it ever was for any generation of our people in this country. I take it upon myself as the father of a young Black man who could make an excuse for giving up on himself and life because of the hand that was dealt him, to declare that to, Be Young, Gifted and Black," is still a wondrous thing, just as Nina Simone said in 1969 in honor of Loraine Hansberry landmark play about the youth of her day who she thought were the epitome of Black Achievement and Prosperity.

An Open Letter for the Young Gifted and Black, Who Are, Every Bit Worthy of Our Support and Adoration for their Negritude Born of their Aptitude

Written in tribute to my son, Dionte, an example of the fortitude and potential of today’s Black youth

Here is the real deal, young people, the world will give you excuses for not living up to your full potential for the simple reason of keeping you from your destiny. But I am not going to do that for my son or you. I am here to tell you that great challenges make for great people. Life has taught me as a man who has had more than his share of failures and obstacles to overcome, that while life surely does have its difficulties that it doesn’t do you or me any good to say that because the odds are great against you and I that we are justified in giving life less than our best.

Listening to your, no-stuff taking talk and tough bravado, I know that you think you are the baddest thing that has ever walked this earth. I feel you on this; if you don’t blow your own horn, who is? I only caution you that sometimes you can be too bad an ass for your own good. What I mean by this is that by going around with a chip on your shoulder prevent you from seeing the beauty of your situation. I’ll school you on a little known fact of life, and that is that strong people are only made from battling strong opponents. I hear the young brothers who wear their pants below their waist saying that they are stronger than any black men that have come before them. I won’t burst their bubble by telling them that I doubt this because if they were, they wouldn’t have their pants hanging off their butt with their draws showing to the world. Entertaining their swag, I will just say that I welcome them to step up and to be the men and women that they say their fathers and mothers weren’t.

Many of you say, That ain’t nobody ever gave you anything, so you don’t give a damn about anybody else. I am sorry to tell you that you weren’t birthed from your mother’s womb with, GAME. Somebody had to give you the GAME. That is essentially where your problem lies in my opinion, who you got the game from. You can’t get game from jokers who ain’t a year older than you and expect to get anywhere in life. When I was coming along, the GAME such as it was, was given to me by cats much older than me. I am not going to tell you that I feel sorry for you because the game you are getting ain’t worth two cents, but I will say, you should check your source. I can right here spit the whole GAME to you in one sentence. If you really want to get the ups on life you would be wise to take note of what I am about to say to you.

This is the GAME in a nutshell: You can always win when you keep your eye on the horizon, meaning that you always have to look higher than where you are standing.

I know that you have been told that, If it don’t make dollars, it don’t make sense. But what you may not know it that Bill Gates is not the richest man in America because he has the most money. His wealth is not defined by his bank account but by the contribution he makes to society. The Doug Boys on the corner have been got by those who want them to believe that if they are counting stacks they are actually standing on something. The reality is that as long as they can be kept chasing dollars they can effectively be kept from making a difference in their community and the world, and that is what the real hatters of their game want. The advice I give my son, is to not look for a way to make money, but to look for a way to make a difference and when he does money will find him.

I’m going to grant it to you that ain’t nothing about life easy, especially, when you have to deal with the things that the children of today have to deal with, coming from broken homes and impoverished communities. But if what the youth of today require is, REAL TALK. Here is some REAL TALK for you. Even if you are starving and homeless, and have caught nothing but hell since the day you were born, the answer isn’t to strap up and go for what you know or to fold and sell yourself and your soul for a funky dollar or even a warm place to sleep. Don’t tell me like somebody did today, that it is easier said than done, to tell the youth that they are somebody and can make