Me at the brooklyn bridge

Originally uploaded by Unbowed.
I’m still trying to get a handle on work, and on my NYC trip. It is likely I won’t be able to get it all down.

Suffice it to say that the network that I’ve worked to build for the last 20 years is a powerful one that deserves replication and study. Formed primarily of black Michigan graduates (YBP 1.0), I rarely have to worry about much as far as the niceties of life. Need a place to stay? Chill in the lower east side with one of my boys….then stay in his brother’s spot in Manhattan. Need a connect to do some work in the schools? Holler at my boy who has an in.

This is real. We can talk all we want about “black people” but the reality for me is that there are not black people as much as there are black men, black women, black concierges, black taxi cab drivers, black day laborers. And there are some black men and women who are making more than a life for themselves. They are not only providing a living for themselves, in some important ways they are building new opportunities for their families, and indirectly for younger brothers and sisters who never imagined it possible to build a life off of the love of sneakers (for example).

But there’s also the other side.

Which I think I’ll keep for the next post.

Suffice it to say that NYC is the closest thing to a police-state city I’ve ever been in.