All posts are my own opinion and do not represent any organization I am affiliated with.
My co-worker Joel Alcaraz wrote a touching open letter to Former President Obama today. I highly recommend reading:
Especially in uncertain times, it's good to remember how amazing and beautiful our world can be. What a Wonderful World will be playing on a loop in my head for the next couple of days.
I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
But they're really saying I love you.I hear baby's cry, and I watched them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Yes, I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Endearing and hopeful.
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
But they're really saying I love you.
My friend Kate Catlin put together this great blog a year or so ago where she asked a bunch of people the question "What would you tell your 25 year old self?"
I spent some more time reading through it tonight and really love the answers people came up with. Absolutely worth reading.
http://turning25.weebly.com/blog
I love this speech by David Abney about the American Dream. David began his career as a part-time package loader and rose to be the CEO of UPS. Read it here:
Today I spent some time reading about Martin Luther King Jr and learned some new things about him that I didn't know before. Here are some of those things which I found most interesting:
It is mindblowing to me that this was happening in the 1960s, just over 50 years ago. Amazing how much social progress has been made in that time. However, there is still
For some statistics on how imbalanced our justice system is, read What It’s Like to Be Black in the Criminal Justice System. And to do something about it, and help all of those entrapped by our justice system and it's inability to rehabilitate, support Defy Ventures. Defy Ventures is an entrepreneurship, employment, and character development training program for currently and formerly incarcerated men, women, and youth. Empowering those who were once in prison get by, and even thrive, on the outside.
To better understand the connection between our justice system and racial equality, consider this. Approximately 1 in 110 white children, one in 15 black children, and one in 41 Hispanic children have a parent who is incarcerated. Black children are seven and a half times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison. Hispanic children are more than two and a half times more likely than white children to have a parent in prison. [source] And according to a study conducted by Central Connecticut State University, children of those incarcerated are about three times as likely as other children to be justice-involved. [source]
Defy Ventures helps by removing people from the justice system permanently. The recidivism rate for those that go through their program is less than 3%. Compare that to the normal recidivism rate of close to 76% and it's obvious how big their impact is. [source] Here is an overview video of Defy:
As part of #GiveFirst
Building on the amazing work of those including MLK, I believe there is a much brighter and more equal future ahead. "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." Thank you, Dr.