My research, however, was about discovering what happened during the 3rd and 4th generations in which my (multiple) great-grandparents were actually slaves. These findings were difficult to dig out even with sketchy public records. Since most Blacks slaves weren’t allowed to read or write, it made recording what was going on almost impossible. All of these things were orchestrated by the slave masters to cover up the widespread incidence of illegitimate offspring, making  establishment of absolute paternity a difficult process even today. In spite of this, what could not be hidden was the massive families of mixed race children. Classifications such as Mulatto, Quadroon, and Octoroon were made based on their outward appearance of the skin color or presence of defining racial features. And how did these multi-varied skin tones and changing of features come about? The open market on sexual exploitation of female slaves came with no shame, no legal violation and was socially accepted in the South. On the other hand, if a Black man would look sideways at a White woman, a White lynch mob would hang him by sundown, which was the case for years after 1865 when slaves were supposed to be free.  

Somehow, to better understand racism in America, we might have to visit why a White slave owner would kill, maim and emasculate a Black male that might even be his own son or grandson.Who at the same time used the Black female slave quarters as his personal brothel. Fast forwarding to the current race relations, White society continues to kill, assault, and incarcerated Black males who could be part of their family tree. Let that sink in. The wrath of racism runs so deep that what America is seeing now is a continuum of the slave master’s agenda to erase Black culture through denial of humanity, agency, and liberty to what could be their own progeny in order to secure his supremacy. It’s enough to be reminiscent of ancient Greek tragedies, like Zeus and Cronus, or Oedipus and his father, except this is real life and not so ancient.

Since they arrived in what is now America from Europe seeking freedom (!) and equity (!)  from their mother country (in the name of religion!), the White power struture has been in control socially and economically. The Black American male wasn’t in the plan, other than as a slave, then and is currently not in the plan now (unless providing income as an inmate in the privatized prison complex). The White power structure over the last 400 years has taken control of land, capital and even who and where the labor is performed. By not allowing Black males resources and opportunities to protect and care for their women and families, Black males are stripped of manhood and forced to live a life of desperation.

The mass media blasts around the world about the monetary success and lavish lifestyles of a select number of Black entertainers and sports celebrities, while exterminating through exploitive reporting the vast majority of Black males across generations. This plan has almost  been executed to perfection. We have witnessed America in an uproar about the killing of  another black man, which is extremely significant but potentially performative.  And if so, Black families in America will continue to spirale down to permanent underclass status. 

We can’t stand back and allow racism to completely destroy a generation of Black families. By  joining the “Black Moms Can “ Initiative, together we can use the power of $1.2 trillion dollars* that Black America spends annually, because these heads of households make spending decisions, influence the trends, and harness the data brands need to capture our population. 

Community Advancement Initiatives INC, a 501(c)(3) non-profit and the Black Moms Can** book sponsor, will use proceeds from the book to reinvest in the economic welfare of Black families, which can be done with any product or service using  digital engagement and marketing networks nationwide. Providing Black families with resources to recapture a share of the wealth that belonged to them is a major strategy to combat racism.

Youth sports was a serious part of growing up in the inner city of Gary, Indiana where the traditional youth leagues were Biddy Basketball, Pop Warner Football and Little League Baseball. Having played and coached baseball for Midtown and Junedale Leagues in Gary, my experience spans 30 years. I often look back and recognize the social and health benefits of participation in youth athletics. 

While growing up in Gary, youth sports leagues represented communities that competed on a level playing field, with little or no consideration to socioeconomic status. Most of us learned to play the games of basketball, baseball and football on asphalt courts, in the streets and vacant lots all over the city. There weren’t any set age groups; in many cases there was only one basketball, baseball or football. A lot of times you took a beating when you were an 8-year-old playing against 12- to 13-year-olds. As you moved up in age (11-12) you competed against guys that were star players on their respective high school teams. 

Even so, there wasn’t any better way to gain physical or mental toughness than playing against those super athletes.

Many of the naturally talented in baseball, basketball and/or football only played sandlot baseball, basketball on makeshift courts. For 8- to 12-year-olds to play, summer baseball was a constant summer activity. The experience of riding Gary transportation buses to games was our version of “Barnstorming”, when Negro League Teams traveled from city to city to play pick-up games. All the high schools and most of the elementary schools had 10- to 16-year-old summer teams called Pee Wees, Preps or Juniors. Although we also played Little League baseball in the afternoons, these games were special. The games would be played in a neighborhood most of us had never been before. So playing against all the different ethnic groups in the Gary area provided cultural experiences. That was exciting yet also kind of difficult for a 10- to 12-year-old to digest at the time.

Summer pick games played on school playgrounds were local neighborhood rivalry games like the “South 2-5” against the “North 2-5”. Now these games included everybody that lived in these designated areas with no age restrictions. Games were nose-to-nose battles with certain player-coaches like “Preacher” from South 2-5, who disputed every close call, often delaying the game at least 5 minutes, shaking his finger in a preacher-like fashion. Later in life he became a real preacher at a church in the North 2-5 area.

Aside from the core of players the area roster included a number of players that couldn’t play that often usually due to some parental restrictions. Some of the most noted of these players were Avery Brooks (famous actor and scholar) and Jackie Jackson (brother of Michael Jackson and member of the Jackson Five). Both of these guys had potential but Jackie Jackson had natural athletic talent. He was the “real deal” and you could tell this when he was only about 8-9-years-old. But you never knew when these guys were going to show-up because their parents had an agenda that placed a demand on their leisure time.

The following is a roster that combines our summer league and North 2-5 team that played sandlot baseball between the ages of 8- to 12-years-old every summer from 1955-59. All former team members graduated from Roosevelt High School between 1962-1965:

• 1st Base – Ed: Honors graduate, BS Howard University; MD Medical School Graduate, DC Metro. “We all thought he would certainly be a dentist because he wore those braces forever.”
• 2nd Base – Dave “JuneBay”: Honors graduate, BS Wichita State; Professional Accountant, Chicago.  JuneBay was student manager for every Roosevelt Varsity team and was re-named “Frame”.
• Center Field – Phil: Honors graduate, BS Kent State; Professional Architect, Founder of Architectural Firm, Johnson & Lee, Chicago. Phillip and his brother Ricky owned all the bats and baseballs, so it got really brutal when they decided to leave before the game was over. 
• Short Stop – L’Fonzo: BA University of Wisconsin, Professional Tax Accountant, Entrepreneur, founder of non-profit organization Community Advancement Initiatives INC, Chicago Metro. I organized all the sandlot baseball games for the North 2-5 team and kept the spirit of competition alive.
• Right Field – Jackie: Member of the world famous Jackson Five Entertainment Group, Los Angeles. Really young and talented but a member of one of the greatest entertainment groups of all time. 
• Pitcher – Vic: Honors graduate, BA Morehouse; Captain in the US Marine Corp. Pitched a 21-inning game in 90ºF heat (summer of 1956) at Franklin Elementary School that we lost in a really close game (11-10, Gary, IN). He was a small guy with both heart and brains.
• Catcher – Rickie “Ryan Duckie”: Honor Graduate, Grinnell College; US Army Interpreter Viet Nam, now living in Las Vegas. Nobody loved the game more than this guy, he later became an assistant coach at Roosevelt High School.
• 3rd Base – Glen:  Honor Graduate, Indiana State. Glen was a quiet guy. I often thought he had performance pressure due to being the nephew of the school summer league coach.

Following the period after 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball (MLB) color line, some great Black Americans players began to dominate. The owners of MLB teams “cherry picked“ some of the best players from the Negro Leagues. There were over 20 Black MLB players that entered the League in the 50s and 60s that are currently in the Baseball Hall Of Fame. This list includes 

• Jackie Robinson
• Larry Doby
• Roy Campanella
• Don Newcomb
• Willie Mays
• Frank Robinson
• Ernie Banks and 
• Hank Aaron

Although he never played in the major leagues, Josh Gibson was reputed by some of baseball’s icons to be the greatest long ball hitter of all time. He and Satchel Paige, who didn’t get to play in the majors until he was beyond his prime at 47 for the Cleveland Indians in1948.Both were inducted into Baseball Hall Fame years after they had passed away. 

While growing up, however,  it wasn’t a realistic dream to play professional baseball. More importantly we were expected to transition into adulthood and achieve higher social and economic status than our parents. These sandlot summer league games, however, were memorable learning experiences. Through baseball we learned the value of community ,dedication, hard work and many other virtues we would carry into adulthood.

This tradition continued to be replicated in Black communities all over the country from the 1940s to mid-1960s. The common denominator was strong, Black two-parent households, living like neighbors vested in the welfare of their communities. Where doctors, lawyers, educators and factory workers lived side by side. These were the grandchildren, born in the early 1900s, of slaves who were still fighting with the backlash of Reconstruction and Jim Crow lawlessness. That leveraged segregation and racism in order to build thriving black communities.Certainly, they should be considered among  the greatest generation of African Americans that ever lived.

Now when we witness a Black man being tortured to death by some racist, mentally deranged White policeman, it’s really a rerun of the thousands of violent acts committed against Black men for centuries, most of which you will never see. Ask any Black man, since current statistics indicate 50% of all Black men have been arrested by their 23rd birthday. This is one statistic that I can  attest to, having been arrested several times during civil unrest and other times just coming out of a grocery store in Chicago. I was well dressed with a full-length black cashmere coat, coming out of the store after purchasing a bottle of wine for a late dinner. The White policeman stopped me and wanted to know if that was a “booster” coat I was wearing with pockets on the inside. I said no, showing him the inside of the coat. Then the White policemen wanted to know my name and what I did for a living. I answered with my name, identifying myself as the owner of a courier service. One of the White policemen wise-cracked that I must be talking about a “Jitney service”, otherwise known as an unlicensed taxi service operating in Black communities.

Then they wanted to know if I had any parking tickets. That was all they needed to handcuff me and take me to jail, where I was handcuffed to the wall with several other arrestees. Several minutes later a big White policeman came into the holding room and physically assaulted the Black man handcuffed to the wall right next to me. He stated that the guy had a knife in his pocket. As it turned out, another White policeman brought the pocket knife into the room. It was so small, old, and rusty that he couldn’t even open it. Shortly after that, another White policeman, who appeared to be a lieutenant, entered the room and wanted to know if any of us (being detained) had seen anything. Of course not, even the black guy that got assaulted didn’t say anything. I thought to myself that if I didn’t post bond (whatever it might be), I was looking at spending the night in jail followed by being shackled like a group of slaves when taken to the County for arraignment the next morning. Imagine every other Black man going through this arrest process at least once, and in many cases several times, during his lifetime.

If you’re charged with a misdemeanor/infraction and you can pay the fine or bail, you will probably go home. But if you are a Black man being charged with a felony of any class, you need a good attorney and bond money. This is the point where most Black males plea bargain, represented by public defenders making a deal with the prosecutor on their life. All while being detained for months awaiting trial. Thus, the short story of jails being filled up with Black males, many with first offense drug-related crimes, doing the maximum time allowed by law.  With the majority of these incarcerated Black men having children, the true burden of “Black Lives Matter” falls on Black single moms like Ebony, to support, raise, and who struggle to avoid the institutional racism that can misguide, incarcerate or even kill her children. America can sit back and speculate, have sessions, and feel comfortable about their proposed solutions to win the 300-year #WarAgainstRacism. Until they open their eyes, however, and see that Black Moms are the “linchpin” that need support in this war, she loses the most and suffers for a lifetime.

The #BlackMomsCan Initiative is focused on constructing “social business models” that allow Black Moms and families to be economically included, which in itself will keep thousands of Black youth and young adults from victims of  the entire judicial system. “BlackMomsCan” will use digital technology to create viable opportunities, resources, marketable training, and economic guidance. In this way, Black families and young adults can reconnect to the economic mainstream.

We need the help of all concerned Americans to provide intellectual, financial and marketable resources for developing economic opportunities for Black families.

We’re in a crisis in America without a National Plan,

Yet we have the greatest warrior the world has ever known

#BlackMomsCan

**The Book Black Moms Can will be released July 2020.

This day will be a tribute to all Black moms for being the lifeline of our intergenerational existence, past and present. The mother of mankind. Truly known by many but unknown to the world. For the masses of Black Americans there is no teaching or rite of passage that allows you to honor and immortalize the creator of our existence. It wasn’t until later in life that I had the opportunity to look back and realize that Black women were placed on this earth to shape and guide our lives forever.

Today millions of Black moms are struggling for survival and trying to raise children in some of the worst social and economic conditions we have ever known in the richest nation in the world. I was forced to step back after 30 years of living, working, and implementing programs in the Black community to face the reality that Black Americans are spiraling deeper into poverty. Case in point: the homeownership gap between Black and White Americans is larger today than it was 50 years ago, before the Fair Housing Act was even passed. In fact, the wage gap between Black and White workers is also significantly wider now than it was in 2000, according to the Pew Research Center (2018), Black households have 10 cents in wealth for every dollar held by White households. 

For over a half century we’ve witnessed “War on Poverty” programs fade from one administration to the next. Black Americans should know by now that policies or government initiatives will not create economic equality. We live in a competitive racist society. If you are unable to compete at a high marketable level and you are Black, you are destined to become part of the permanent underclass. According to the Institute for Policy Studies (2018), if the Wealth Divide is left unaddressed median Black household wealth is on the path to $0 by 2053. 

Realizing that many Black families are already at $0 wealth, the Black Moms Can Day is a national initiative and a reminder that we’re not going to sleep on this. We’ll be spending 24/7/365 days a year collaborating, networking, and using technology to create marketable opportunities for Black families. We need the participation of at least 1 million Black moms signed up to keep this initiative going forward. With 1 million Black moms in the BMC network, Regional Coordinators will develop vertical markets that allow Black moms and families to share in the profits from the sale of products and services. Looking beyond the racist news media portrayal of Black Americans to direct our attention to the 1.2 trillion dollars spent by Blacks annually in support of major business sectors and financial markets, it starts to become clear where we can make an impact. Understand that 1 million Black Moms can actually represent the voices, preferences, and desires of some 6 million Black moms. Essentially, this allows them to capture the answers to the most vital questions facing major brands today: 

(1) Why should a consumer/Black consumer consider buying a certain brand? 

(2) Should Black consumers buy certain brands because paid advertisement is being placed in their personal space or is being endorsed by a Black celebrity? 

(3) Do major brands know more about what Black consumers want for products and services? 

BMC collectively will have the answer to these questions that major brands are paying millions of dollars to find out. Black Moms Can might not own a manufacturing plant in China, or have access to billion dollar venture capital funds, or even the resources of a major marketing firm, but BMC would be populated by the most vital sector of 1.2 trillion dollars in consumer spending as well as the major influencers and trend setters in all generations.

BMC will be able to test markets, place content to a targeted population of Black consumers, utilize the latest social media platforms, and establish reliable electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) that could create a viral buzz if addressed appropriately. The timing is right since commercial ad marketing and selling of products and services is going through major changes. This will be the age of the engaged consumer. Most of the biggest, recognizable brands realize that traditional advertising is not enough.

It is BMC’s objective to create a focused social impact platform that requires minimal entry level skills and yields marketable wages and contracts to improve the social economic outcomes for Black moms. Onboarding a massive number of Black moms in 20 major markets could influence millions of Black people to join a movement for economic equality. In addition, 75 million millennials are watching Black women and young adults as our cultural traditions and innovations make up the latest trends. BMC will fully utilize video technology on social media to give equal access and maintain transparency for all subscribers at no cost.

The global movement to declare the first Sunday in February annual “Black Moms Day” in the wake of Black History month to honor all Black moms, past and present, is a massive showing of solidarity for leveraging economic power to build wealth for Black families and communities. 

The time to act is NOW!!!!!

If we continue to do nothing, the destruction of a generation of Black American families is real.

** The Book “Black Moms Can” will be released July 2020