Today in the pouring rain, 10,000 or more brave souls joined 400 plus proud Morehouse College graduates --- all crowded under ponchos, hats and even program books -- to hear their President "bring the message," to and for young black men of the future. And rain or no, the President did not disappoint.
And yes, I was one of those 10,000 being pounded by rain that seem to come on schedule. But no regrets here. Dr. King, my personal hero Ambassador Andrew Young, and countless others in the civil rights movement dealt with much, much worse, for much, much longer.
President Obama spoke directly to young black men who come at a critical time for America, as well a critical time of and for the traditional African-American experiencein America.
Young men who, if pointed in the right direction and truly inspired to make a difference, could very well remake and reset the very future of Black America. A Black American community that is arguably at a historic tipping point nearly 50 years since Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
Recently my Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland teams came together and had a very successful Banking on our Future volunteer event at Francis Scott Key Middle School in Silver Spring, MD. There were over 100 HOPE Corps volunteers present and involved, and included employees from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Women in Housing and Finance, Capital One, Fannie Mae, M&T Bank, Bank of India, BB&T Bank, Sandy Spring Bank, Bank of America, First Mariner Bank, FDIC, City First Bank, ETrade Bank, Wells Fargo, Bank of Georgetown, and FINRA.
A special thank you to my friend and financial dignity supporter, Maryland State Comptroller Peter Franchot, who teamed up with US Comptroller of the Currency Barry Wides to teach a Banking on Our Future financial literacy class. Maryland Comptroller Franchot and US Deputy Comptroller Wides also spoke to the volunteers about Franchot's mission to get each county in Maryland to adopt a graduation requirement for a financial literacy class in the senior year. Severak counties have already signed on to support this financial dignity leadership initiative of Comptroller Franchot. Operation HOPE certainly supports him.
A special acknowledgement to Jackie Starr, who is our Operation HOPE market president for the Washington, D.C. and Maryland.
Operation HOPE, Washington, DC and Operation HOPE, Maryland are part of the larger mission of Operation HOPE, which is now a leading global provider of financial literacy to financial dignity empowerment services for the underserved, the working poor and the struggling middle class.
With 2 million clients served, 20,000 HOPE Corps volunteers, and more than $1.5 billion in private capital directed into America's low wealth and underserved communities, creating thousands of homeowners, small business owners and entrepreneurs over the past 20 years, Operation HOPE is making a difference. But we cannot achieve our mission alone. We cannot seek to advance the final work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., eradicating poverty and achieving a measure of economic justice for all, alone.
Operation HOPE operates the HOPE Financial Dignity Center Atlanta at Ebenezer Church, located on the campus of the King Center and as the anchor tenant of the Martin Luther King, Sr. Community Resource Complex. Martin Luther King, Sr, or "Daddy King" as he was called, co-pastored Ebenezer Church with his son Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the civil rights movement, and served on the board of a bank for 40-years; a little known fact. Daddy King was also focused on making free enterprise work for all, as his son was focused in the last years of his life on poverty eradication and economic justice.
The mission of Operation HOPE is civil rights to silver rights, or making free enterprise work for all.
Today I was jazzed to spend
time with a group of future business builders, future industrialists, future
entrepreneurs and future leaders for modern South Africa, in Johanessburg.
Sure, South Africa has
problems and many challenges, but her true hope lies within these young people.
And on this day, today, they showed me the best that they had and I was
impressed. Truth be told, young people in the states could learn a thing or
two about being hopeful for one's future in the face of adversity, and no
matter what one's circumstances, doing something about it.
This is the inspiring story
of so many that I met today. Many, who looked me in the eyes and with all
sincerity made clear their commitment to rise to their own level of human
potential. For South Africa, and for our world over.
Bestselling business leadership author and philanthropic entrepreneur
As I noted in another 'Solving Poverty' piece for The Huffington Post, the new racism today is actually poverty.
Yes, it feels really bad if a racist calls you a highly offensive name, but it is completely un-dignifying when you cannot pay your rent, make your mortgage payment, or you find that your car has been repossessed by the lender while you were sleeping. You can walk away from the racist. And more so, when you know who you are, there is actually very little the racist can say or do to change the way you feel about yourself.
You cannot walk away from poverty.
The reality of poverty faces you as a parent every morning when your child looks up at you for lunch money, and as you reach into your pocket, finding only lent and marked up job wanted ads instead.
Or every time you stop for gasoline and have to stop the pump at $6, or you're at the grocery store, intent on collecting the ingredients for that special meal for your family, but finding that you are $20 short and have to put the healthiest choices back.
Poverty faces you in the unfortunately regular arguments you have with your spouse or mate (money is the number one cause for domestic abuse and divorce in America today), or the first time you have to address your teenage child, whose daydreaming about which four-year college they desperately wish to attend. And today, what I am describing is not a 'Black thing,' it's a 'green thing.'
Whether you are white, black, red, brown or yellow, today you just want to see some more green. U.S. currency, that is. We are all in this mess together.
I am honored to be spending
the week in South Africa this week, focused on our silver rights empowerment
work at Operation HOPE, South Africa, being done in more than six provinces in
the country.
While here I will be
encouraging a spirit of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and what I
call individual job creation (self-employment projects) amongst the generation
of young people coming up today in the country.
These young people have
benefited from the incredible and life-changing civil rights justice work done by the likes of former President
Nelson Mandela, and my friend Archbishop-Emeritus Desmond Tutu, but all too
often these same young people are not seeing that history and tradition translate into what I would call silver rights
empowerment opportunities for all, today. And that means they are then less
interested in school, less interested in their families, less interested in
"doing right," and less hope for themselves. And the most
dangerous person in the world, is the person with no hope.
Last year I traveled at the invitation of our Global Dignity Brazil Country Chair, Young Global Leader Ms. Christina Lopes, to participate in their Global Dignity Day celebrations in and for Brazil (more than 50 countries participated on October 17th, 2012 around the world). I had no idea what I was in for, but when you witness the spirit of the energy of these young people, you cannot help but to be moved. I actually was hesitant to watch this video, because I knew that I would be both sad, and inspired at the same time. I knew I might cry. All were true, but ultimately, I was left with an immense feeling of hope for them, for Brazil, and for our world.
Hanging with a cool kid in Oslo, Norway. Honored to live this life.
John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), the only African-American bestselling business author in America, and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama. Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum. Mr. Bryant is a thought leader represented by the Bright Sight Group for public speaking. Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE), a specialty finance company that is managed by an affiliate of Ares Management LLC, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $59 billion in committed capital under management as of December 31, 2012.
I am really excited to join my 'brothers from another mother," Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland, and myself from the USA, this week at the Global Dignity Country Chair meeting in Oslo, Norway this week. Friends since 2004, when we met as Young Global Leaders (YGL's) through the World Economic Forum, we formed Global Dignity with strong YGL member support from around the world. Today we also benefit from Global Shapers around the globe, and have 36 Country Chairs presently.
Global Dignity has reached and empowered one million youth around the world, through Global Dignity curriculum and our annual Global Dignity Day (October 17th, 2013) program, since inception.
Brothers, partners and friends, working to make a difference in our world.
John Hope Bryant is a thought leader, founder, chairman and CEO of Operation HOPE and Bryant Group Companies, Inc. Magazine/CEO READ bestselling business author of LOVE LEADERSHIP: The New Way to Lead in a Fear-Based World (Jossey-Bass), the only African-American bestselling business author in America, and is chairman of the Subcommittee for the Under-Served and Community Empowerment for the U.S. President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability, for President Barack Obama. Mr. Bryant is the co-founder of the Gallup-HOPE Index, the only national research poll on youth financial dignity and youth economic energy in the U.S. He is also a co-founder of Global Dignity with HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Professor Pekka Himanen of Finland. Global Dignity is affiliated with the Forum of Young Global Leaders and the World Economic Forum. Mr. Bryant is a thought leader represented by the Bright Sight Group for public speaking. Mr. Bryant serves on the board of directors of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation (NYSE: ACRE), a specialty finance company that is managed by an affiliate of Ares Management LLC, a global alternative asset manager with approximately $59 billion in committed capital under management as of December 31, 2012.
8,583 people in the United States were murdered with the use of firearms in 2011 alone. 565 of them were under the age of 18. 119 of them were 12 or younger. In 2008 and 2009, gun violence was the number one killer of African American males between the ages of 15-19. And although African American children were less than 15% of the total child population -- they accounted for 45% of all youth gun deaths.
"I value my cell phone, and my family (more than Mandela)..." A young person actually said this to a reporter from CNN, who was in South Africa asking youth of their view of the revered Nelson Mandela in today's day and age.
Mandela, known to those who love him as Madiba, has no doubt changed not only South Africa, but he has inspired a generation along the way, and our world along with it. That said, this shocking comment (amongst others) was made just recently by a young person born after Mandela's amazing accomplishments, but still during his lifetime. And as far as this young lady is concerned, she doesn't understand what all the fuss is about.
Now, let me start by saying I am shocked, appalled, and even saddened by this story.
It touches me personally, as I had the privilege of meeting then President Mandela during one of the pilgrimages of the late Rev. Leon Sullivan and his African-African American Summits to South Africa, and it remains on of the thrills and precious memories of my life. I even remember my friend and fellow hero, the late, great Secretary Jack Kemp, encouraging me not to take a photo of Madiba, because of my camera flash, and then watching him (Secretary Kemp) take one instead (smile).
We were both smitten by Mandela, Madiba, and the man, and Secretary Kemp and I too were separated by a generation of life experiences. But we still "got" the man's irreplaceable contribution. But not this young lady interviewed by CNN, nor several other young people interviewed with her, in the South Africa of today.
