Watson Meets US Attorney General
Bermudian Motivational Speaker Dennis Rahiim Watson, Chairman of the National Youth and Gang Violence Task Force, was blessed to be among 600 New Yorkers to be invited to hear a keynote speech by United States Attorney General Eric Holder during a Black History Month program sponsored by Congressman Joseph Crowley designed to honor community heroes.
Prior to the beginning of the formal program, Dennis Rahiim Watson was able to praise Attorney General Holder for his progressive and passionate leadership. Mr. Watson thanked Atty General Holder [a son of Barbadian immigrants] for visiting Bermuda briefly in 2010. Mr Holder stated that he was “impressed by the beauty of Bermuda” and honored and delighted by the gracious and wonderful hospitality he experienced” while in Bermuda—-Mr. Holder also stated that Bermuda reminded him of Barbados with so many cultural similarities.
During an introductory meeting Dennis Rahiim Watson reminded Attorney General Holder that they met at a previous conference held at the University of the District of Columbia, where a host of law enforcement and community leaders gathered to speak out on gun violence and offer solutions and strategies to help black men become better fathers.
Mr Watson said: ‘As Chairman of the National Youth and Gang Violence Taskforce I have been honored by invitations to speak throughout the Caribbean and the USA with recent proclamations from Mayors throughout the USA and nothing has been more touching than receiving a proclamation signed by the 13 members of the Atlanta, Georgia City Council. As a Bermudian- I feel tremendously blessed to be one of the sought after speakers in the USA to address issues of black male gun violence, crime, drugs, unemployment, gangs and prevention/intervention strategies”.
“The major issues facing the African American community is the black-on-black murders that are committed by young black males from ages 14 years old to 21 years old—-it is a war zone in areas where black people live and very few black pastors with the exception of Farrakhan, Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton are out there raising hell and sounding the alarm,” said Mr Watson. “That’s why I always thank God for his mercy and grace for giving me a purpose and mission in life— to wake up this knuckle head/hip-hop generation from ending up in funeral parlors and or prison.”
“Whenever I get on the radio and or TV black folks come out in droves to hear my simple but effective solutions for addressing anger management, self-hate, hopelessness and conflict resolution issues. Recently I was honored with a proclamation by Nashville, Tennessee, Mayor Karl Dean for my anti-gang violence campaign during a “Black Male Conference at Fisk University where I was Keynote Speaker.”
Mr Watson is on a 25 city tour of US Cities with his Black-on-Black Love campaign to draw attention to Black-on-Black violence among Black males and the escalation of Black females into all aspects of the gang and criminal culture. Mr Watson has been invited to by the Governments of Jamaica, Bahamas, Grenada, Turks and Caicos, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, St Kitts/Nevis, Trinidad, and the US Virgin Islands to address community groups, high schools, churches and politicians concerned about the social, political and economic impact of gangs, crime, robberies and guns on tourism, public safety, business and sustainable development projects.
