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It Has to Be A Love Story!!!
Roslyn and Sandra Yarbrough it was a pleasure to autograph your books, but I must tell you why! While guiding my development as a writer, my wife Dot always admonish, “It has to be a love story, or why bother?” I embraced her admonition developing “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop!”, the book you are about to read. This love story began in slave pens long before the Emancipation Proclamation was ever a consideration. Love for one another enabled descendants of American slavery to begin their upward struggle to create the international culture referred to as hip hop today!! That trek began with their first major decision as free people, which was, to make families and build communities. Their next effort, gaining education and learn to communicate, gave their first decision real value. Family, education and communication strengthen their community building endeavors, which brought their descendants to where we are today.
I share these words with you because most individuals who played crucial roles and laid the foundation on the yellow brick road of entertainment remain unsung, while others have been denigrated, if not destroyed, by a society devoid of compassion or sympathy. America, as a society, has refused to recognize the contribution of such unsung heroes, and the crucial roles they played breaking down barriers and setting a course of survival that allowed slave descendants to emerge, as one people. Their defiance, enduring the of actions white people, which was designed to keep them locked in perpetual slavery, was the single greatest, survival act of any people the world over.
I selected two black families to illustrate this point in tell their stories in “The 400th”. First, Will Yarbrough, a husband and your father, represent the unsung in “The 400th”. Will, and many like him, battled in the shadows, breaking into the field of audio technology, was ignored, even though he played a leading role. Those who told the story of the growth and development of American entertainment, not only ignored contributions of black men, like Will, they glossed over or left their stories out altogether. More than that, they whitewash the entire story you will read, as presented in “The 400th”, which details how American entertainment began in “slave pens.
The other example I selected illustrates and reflects how a black man’s body of work is disregarded, similar to how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s indiscretions are raised to show he was not perfect, when no human is without faults. It is the impact this black man had on my life though we never met. The son of sharecroppers, whose family escaped Mississippi under the cover of night and most fortunately, was able to find shelter among the poorest of the poor in a place called “Greens Ally.” Again, similar to a beckon to a ship far out at sea, and beyond the inspiration from my mother and new father, one image in the late 1960s, gave that child a hero that looked just like him. No “Stepin Fetchit” or “Mantan Moreland,” who had to conform to white’s “blackface” demands, this black man was suave, debonair, intelligent and ready with a solution, when his white counterpart was at “wits end!” Yes I dare speak the name of Dr. Bill Cosby, as a hero and foundation layer of opportunities for most blacks who aspired to be professionals in the entertainment industry or some other endeavors.
Unlike Will, your father, Dr. Cosby was not in the shadows. He was out front for all to see and most wanted to be him, as well as envied his success, even though he gave so many like you, a leg up beginning your career!! I was one of those who wanted to emulate such stellar success. He raised my expectation for what a black man could do in America, and I was not alone. Black men without an image of professional success in their lives, for the first time, had an example of what an individual black man could accomplish. I have never meet Dr. Cosby, but I spent the last 2 hours of his life with Dr. King, at the Lorraine Motel, and in those moments, his indiscretions did not tarnish the thoughts and image of what it meant and still means for descendants American slavery’s ability to draw on his inspiring leadership. I never imagined having such an opportunity, and I wonder today, had he lived, would his legacy be defined by his indiscretions, as Dr. Cosby’s for many???
So Sandra and Roslyn, wife and daughter, you have a very important role of supporting someone in their declining years, who gave so much to many, by opening doors and supporting those without opportunities, who have no idea what life would be like for them had men like Will and Dr. Cosby actually been the demon many make him out to be today. This is why my wife's admonition is so powerful to me!!! John Burl Smith author of “The 400th From Slavery to Hip Hop!!!!
Be the change you want to see! Join the NREL team as we confront the #climatecrisis w/ innovative, equitable #cleanenergy solutions in pursuit of a #sustainable energy future for ALL.
Now that you have seen our new logo, it's time to take a peek at our new website! Once we found our new logo, we teamed up with Open Media Foundation to make sure our website matched our new brand. From the photos of our students on our Scholarship page, to details about Individual Giving, and our brand new News page - this website now embodies our new brand. We hope you enjoy it!
We just launched our inaugural Evaluation cohort! SVP Denver Partners will be working alongside our local nonprofits to improve the way they collect data, measure progress and put their learning to work in growing impact. Thanks to SVP Denver Fellow - and evaluation expert - Melissa Chiapetta for leading the group. We’re excited to work with Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking, Open Media Foundation and Convivir Colorado to advance their amazing work!
The problem of using media to manipulate the masses is a complex one, but at Denver Open Media, we believe the solution to bad speech is *more speech*, not censorship.
With our parent nonprofit Open Media Foundation, we've built TV stations and Radio Stations from the ground up. Our denveropenmedia.org website was once the 3rd most visited nonprofit website in Colorado. If someone had used one of these free-speech conduits to foment something like what happened last week, we honestly wouldn't know how to solve it. We don't believe in censoring anyone ever, but in the situation we're in, there is no simple solution.
We are a wounded and unhealthy society and our systems for communicating (media) and making collective action/decisions (government) have, for the most part, become nothing more than tools to make the rich richer. We can't use these broken tools designed for one purpose (wealth concentration) to accomplish another purpose (healing and informing).
America lacks the tools today to right the ship. Years ago, we realized we must grow beyond simply being a free-speech outlet to address this. We must focus also on raising the visibility of nonprofits and local media who put mission ahead of profit. In 2021, you'll see a new face and home for Open Media aligned with that vision. We also must focus on local governments, where there seems to be more understanding of the need for campaign finance reform, transparency, and meaningful civic engagement. Through our
www.open.media transparency & engagement tools, we're helping state and local governments lead the way. We hope their example will expose the path to either correct our outdated and dysfunctional federal government, or make it irrelevant.
Then, perhaps we can start collectively fixing our communication systems to be capable of addressing misinformation without censorship. Right now, they can't because they simply aren't designed for it. All corporate media is designed ONLY to generate money, deliver eyeballs to advertisers, and increase shareholder wealth.
We're grateful to be working with so many individuals and organizations working to get our community and our nation back on-track. ACLU of Colorado, Community Shares of Colorado, The Colorado Channel, COLab, The Colorado News Collaborative, League of Women Voters of Colorado, KGNU Community Radio, Second Wind Fund, Inc., Rocky Mountain PBS, Lane Council of Governments, KUVO Jazz, AP, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, Lakewood Colorado City Government, Knight Foundation, 2020 Eyes Colorado, City of Thornton, Colorado Government, Groundwork Denver, High Country News
“When someone dies by su***de, research shows that at least 6 people are intimately traumatized by the death.” (source: @psych_today ) In the 2nd episode of TRUE. TALK. DOCS. learn how Shania was deeply affected by the su***de of her friend, Christopher. Premiering in two days.
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