Edit ion Number 38 VOL. 3

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March12, 2011

The Power of Everyday People

Cover Page Photo: African - American Child

Where‟s Daddy pg. 2

Talented Separation pg.3

Featured Writer: Buffy Griffin pg. 4

Fire Starters pg. 5

Black Business and Power for Sale pg. 6

The Populace Now Page 1

Patrick A. Sellers

Publisher

Bobbie Collins

Editor-In-Chief

Jeremi Baker

Technology

What’s Inside This Issue?

Hosted by Miss Bobbie “B.J.” Collins Tune in March 29th and every 4th Tuesday of the month to AM 1570 WFRL from 12:30—

1:00pm or listen on the world-wide web

At: http://www.wekz.com/stationplayer/player.cfm?station=freeport

Sponsored By: Big Radio & The Sellers Media Group

Contributors

Thema Martin,

Patrick Sellers, William

Vann III, Damascus Harris

Bobbie Collins

Page 2

The Populace Now

If you're like me, you've grown tired of

watching sports on television where

many of the black athletes say, “I want to

say „Hi‟ to my mom.” This greeting is

made to the mom because the dad is

nowhere to be found. I am sure white

T.V. viewers are thinking: “Why don‟t

black athletes address their dads?” The

reality is two-thirds of black children will

grow up in a single-parent household. In

contrast, only a third of white children

will. What is wrong with this pic-

ture? How did we, as a race, get to this

point?

When African slaves were brought to

the new world 400 years ago, slavehold-

ers purposely broke families up. They

would threaten slave families by stating

that they would sell their fathers if the

slaves didn‟t work hard enough. Some-

times, slave-holders would sell them

anyway out of spite. Fast-forward to the

year 2011…what is the excuse now?

We can no longer blame the white

man for the break-up of the black fam-

ily. Black men and women have to take

full responsibility for continuing to have

and rear children in a one-parent house-

hold, which is usually headed by the

woman. When a woman has several kids by

the same deadbeat man or by different

sorry men, I have to question her self-

esteem. I can only conclude that her self-

esteem must be low. Why else would a

woman continue to pop out babies by a

man who has no plans to live up to his pa-

ternal responsibilities? Why else would a

woman continue to choose to get pregnant

over and over again by irresponsible men?

Low self-esteem.

It is not easy to build-up a woman‟s self-

esteem. I used to work for a welfare

agency several years ago. It was not un-

usual to see a 17-year old single mom with

3 kids. In some cases, siblings would be

taken care of by their 18-year old mother

and 35-year old grandmother with no dad

or grandfather in sight. It doesn‟t take a

rocket scientist to figure out that these

siblings would very likely repeat this sad

cycle because they think it is the norm not

to have a dad in the home. When I tried

counseling young women on welfare about

their behavior, the overwhelming majority

of them could not and did not want to hear

lectures about the disadvantages of raising

kids on their own. They just wanted their

public assistance because they had no

intentions of changing their way of life.

When you look at the big picture, it

is the children who are affected the

most by these undesirable situa-

tions. The primary roles of a father

include being the provider, protector

and disciplinarian of the family. Unfor-

tunately, like their African black males

are not being reared to know their

family roles. How can a little boy even-

tually grow up to be a good man to his

own family if he didn‟t have a good

dad as a role model? How can a little

girl grow up and know that her boy-

friend or husband should be spoiling

her if she didn‟t have a dad who did

so?

Please understand that I am not

criticizing all single moms. I am just

criticizing the sisters who cannot see

how dysfunctional it is to have several

kids by grown men who need to get it

together. It is very sad and madden-

ing to see break-up of the black family

that started 400 years ago by slave-

holders continuing to this day. In order

for a serious change to occur, sisters

are going to have to raise their self-

esteem to levels that are off the chart.

Where’s Daddy

By Thema Martin, A Georgia Correspondent

We want to know what you are thinking, please email us at : www.thepopulacenow@yahoo.com or comment on our website at: www.thepopulacenow.com and let us know

what’s on your mind.

Page 3

The Talented Separation

By: Patrick Sellers, an Illinois Correspondent

In every culture there are people with

the intelligence and the innate ability to

lead the masses. These individuals are

hidden within the very fabric of all cul-

tures. The most successful cultures

discover these individuals and develop

them into great leaders.

The African-American culture is no

different; we too have special people

that possess these abilities. The prob-

lem is we refuse to develop these indi-

viduals even though we may have al-

ready discovered they are. We do not

nurture, protect, thoroughly educate or

support these individuals all which are

parts of the developmental process.

Instead we leave them to fend for

themselves.

This type of neglect promotes what I

call the “Talented Separation”. Expand-

ing upon the ideologies of W.E.B. Du-

bois‟ essay of The Talented Tenth

which explains how a tenth of each

culture has to be educated in order to

uplift that culture.

“The problem of education, then,

among Negroes must first of all deal

with the Talented Tenth; it is the prob-

lem of developing the Best of this race

that they may guide the Mass away

from the contamination and death of

the Worst, in their own and other

races.” http://

teachingamericanhistory.org/library/

index.asp?document=174

In the times of Mr. Dubois, the Afri-

can-American culture thrived on educa-

tion and its communities supported

Black scholars and helped to develop

its youth into leaders. Young people

that went off to college were view as

heroes and superstars in the Black

communities of old. There was a high

level of pride within the African-American

culture when a Black person made well

for them self. Mr. Dubois‟ theory of the

Talented Tenths was right on target in

those times.

No one could have foreseen what

would become the African-American cul-

ture of today, or how our actions toward

our talented tenth would adversely affect

their behavior towards our culture. To-

day, intellectual people of African-

American descent are viewed in our com-

munities as sellouts, uncle toms and peo-

ple who are out of touch with the plight of

the Black culture. No longer are our

Black Scholars celebrated, no longer are

the youth that come home on break from

college treated with honor, no longer are

parents drilling the need for education

into the minds of their children. All of

these things are the ingredients that

breed talented separation.

It is natural for us as human beings to

distance ourselves from anything that

hinders, threatens or oppresses our suc-

cess, making the talented separation

phenomenon one of inevitability.

When an individual that is on the path

to success, succeeds without the em-

brace of his/her culture it causes some of

them to feel exiled. This creates the mind-

set, “Since they (meaning the African-

American culture) did not help me suc-

ceed, then I will not help them once I

have reached success”. This proverbial

way of thinking combined with the actions

that initiated the thought places fault on

all parties involved.

This entire process has set back the

African-American culture immensely,

think about it, while other culture‟s are

developing, encouraging, nurturing, edu-

cating and protecting their talented

tenths, we as a culture are not. In an

article, published in The Populace Now

on September 29, 2009 entitled: Chi-

cago Teen Beaten to Death; a young

honor student was killed on his way

home from school. This young man

could have been developed into one of

the talented tenths that Mr. Dubois

wrote about, but we will never know

because he was senselessly taken from

us so early in life. Stories like this hap-

pen within the African-American com-

munities far too often which prove that

we are not protecting our future leaders

and are helping to promote talented

separation.

Why are we like this? What hap-

pened to the bond that held us to-

gether? The African-American culture of

today is one of fragmentation, one of

degradation and of selfishness. Tal-

ented separation is merely a conscious

evolution of the talented tenth, if a cul-

ture is not ready to be uplifted, that

culture will only pull the up lifter back

down.

Page 4

Since 2008, I‟ve written for the Popu-

lace Now (TPN), formally known as the

3rd Ward Communicator.

Writing enables me to express myself,

beliefs, thoughts, opinions and other

things I‟m passionate about. It also al-

lows me to share my creativity with oth-

ers, as well as craft and fine-tune my

writing skill and writer‟s voice!

Some of my other interests are read-

ing, travel, spending quality time with

friends and family, along with helping

others (more specifically, the underdogs

of society) and taking time for myself.

Because so many of TPN‟s articles

meet the needs of many, I‟m thrilled that

we have readers around the world (and

growing) that we can provide valuable

information for. That information enables

one to grow from and aim for a better

quality of life.

Originally, I‟m a Long Island, NY native.

I‟ve lived most of my life in South Carolina

and have resided in North Carolina for the

last three years. I‟ve traveled and vaca-

tioned in various U.S. states, cruised to

the Bahamas and traveled by airway to

Cozumel, Mexico.

One of my favorite books is: Start

Where You Are, by Christopher Gardner.

In addition to writing for TPN, I also have a

personal/business blog at:

www.BuffyGriffin.com and am sole pro-

prietor of www.EnVISIONedWorks.com. I

can be found on several social networks,

two of which are Twitter

(www.twitter.com/BuffyGriffin) and

Linkedin (http://www.linkedin.com/in

buffygriffin)

By: Bobbie Collins, an Illinois Correspondent

You have a voice, join us and express yourself to hundreds of

thousands worldwide. If this sounds interesting to you contact us

at www.thepopulacenow@yahoo.com and let us know .

The Populace Now

Featured Writer for this Month

Page 5

The Populace Now

Fire starters are people who try secretly

to create an unpleasant atmosphere,

and then pretend to be there to help a

person get out of the trouble, leading

that victim to believe that they are in-

debted to the one who caused the

problem in the first place.

Fire starters come in all shapes, sizes

and colors. They usually start their at-

tack gathering as much information as

possible by watching for patterns. Then

they use gossip, or any other propa-

ganda to create unpleasant situations

or environments. Once the victim bows

down to the fire starter the unpleasant

situation can be paused.

How do you deal with fire starters?

When you first sense that information

is being gathered on you, first figure out

why. You may just have a fan club! If

that‟s not the case, then use analytical

themes from the

game of chess or

learn how to play

chess fast be-

cause fire starters

know how to use

their resources

well. Knowing this

is half the battle.

In the game of

chess both players

have the same

resources, but the

one who uses the

pieces correctly,

strategically and

in a timely fashion, wins the game. A

chess game can be long or short; it just

depends on how long the players want to

play. Metaphorically, when playing

against a fire starter, one must be pre-

pared to play for awhile. Why? Usually on

an adult level there is something tangible

or intangible to be gained, even if it's

just bragging rights.

By William Vann III, a Michigan Correspondent

Fire Starters

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

The Populace Now, a Subsidiary of the Sellers Media Group is currently looking

for self-motivated individuals to join our account representatives team.

These are part time commission based positions offering flexible schedules and

company advancement opportunities. Interested applicants, can contact us by

email at the3wc@yahoo.com or by phone at 815-908-8386.

We are a fast growing company, providing ample opportunities, come grow with

us!

I have heard, as have some of you, the

statistics outlining the low re-circulation

rate of Black dollars in the Black commu-

nity. As a member of the Black commu-

nity, I have often had my consciousness

pricked by this sad fact when I am en-

couraged to “buy Black”. Sometimes

this can mean longer delivery times and/

or poorer quality. Sometimes it means

superior quality and service, but it almost

always means an opportunity to show

loyalty to my community and its welfare.

So why do I bring this up? Well, I ran

across an article in a recent issue of

Black Enterprise magazine that dis-

turbed me. According to the article, Phat

Fashions, L.L.C., the clothing line

founded by Russell Simmons of Def Jam

fame has been sold to Kellwood Co. for

$140 million. The new owners will begin

production of the line in the fall of this

year. Mr. Simmons states that this move

is in an effort to expand the business for

Phat Fashions, where he is slated to re-

main CEO. First allow me to acknowl-

edge that the

article does

explain that

such a move is

sometimes nec-

essary to meet

growing de-

mand for product. The article sites an-

other now defunct Hip Hop clothing inno-

vator, Cross Colours, as an example of

what happens when such demand is not

sufficiently met. The article also notes

that Mr. Simmons will continue to run

the day to day operations and receive a

share in the future profits of the com-

pany. Finally, it is noted that his, at the

time wife, Kimora Lee, would continue to

influence creative decisions for the Baby

Phat line of clothing. What the article

doesn‟t address is the fact that the sale

represents yet another market that

Blacks have created and lost control of,

while simultaneously robbing our com-

munity of financial and political power.

How are

we sup-

posed to

grow as a

c o m m u -

nity and

r e -

circulate dollars in our community if

every time we have a successful busi-

ness it is sold to another community? I

realize that many businesses start off

small, grow to be mid-size companies

and then go public in order to grow more.

I also know that larger companies buy

smaller ones regularly. However, if a

White man sells his business to a larger

White business those dollars still return

to the same communities. The hands

that will pay taxes on that revenue, the

hands that will pass a portion of those

profits along to politicians, and the

hands that most likely open the doors in

the executive suites will be White. In

other words, the White man‟s community

loses nothing through this sale. When a

Black man does the same transaction,

that power is sold along with the busi-

ness.

How long are we as Blacks going to

allow other communities to take the mar-

kets that we create and grow (Hip Hop

music and clothing, Jazz, Blues) and turn

them into mass-produced profit centers

for people other than ourselves? Let us

start sending the message to potential

buyers and investors that if one of our

businesses is sold that our patronage of

that said business does not automati-

cally come with it. Until we have eco-

nomic, political and social equality we

can ill-afford to be so loyal to a brand or

style of clothing that we forget to de-

mand that its control remain in our

hands.

The Populace Now Page 6

By Damascus Harris, An Illinois Correspondent

Black Business and

Power for Sale

How long are we as Blacks going to allow other commu-

nities to take the markets that we create and grow (Hip

Hop music and clothing, Jazz, Blues) and turn them into

mass-produced profit centers for people other than our-

selves?

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PRESENTS:

Gospel legend Tramaine Hawkins

performing live at the Coronado

Saturday March 19, 2011 at 7:00

pm. Also performing will be

A.C.M.E Baptist Church’s award

winning choir along with the

King’s Men Four Quartet. Tickets

are on sale now!