Bermudian Addresses US Leadership Forum

November 1, 2011

Just days before Bermudian motivational speaker Dennis Rahim Watson delivered a tribute to Dr. Pauulu Kamarakafego [also known as Roosevelt Brown]  at the Progressive Labour Party’s 44th annual banquet, he unveiled his highly popular programme “No More Excuses, No B.S.—Think, Talk, Dress and Act like a Winner” to more than 400 males during a Brother-to-Brother forum at the 11th Annual Leadership Institute conference sponsored by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund at the Sheraton New York Hotel [Oct. 26].

Mr Watson’s speech at the recent PLP Banquet:

“As chairman of the National Youth and Gang Violence Task Force and as CEO of the Centre for Black Student Achievement, I am honoured to welcome so many outstanding black male college students to New York City,” he said.

“You are the best of the best. This generation of black college graduates has a tremendous burden, not only to find employment, but to reach back and help save our communities from gangs and senseless gun violence.

“Every single Black male must make it his mission to be an ambassador for his family and particularly for his mother. Black mothers have struggled against all odds to bring us on this Earth for their glory and not for their shame.

“If we are descendants of African royalty, of kings and queens, it is mandatory that you speak with knowledge, power, confidence and authority—if you are to be taken seriously in this globally competitive world. Take pride in your appearance . In other words, no sagging pants and no nonsense.”

The 2011th Leadership Institute was designed to provide leadership, guidance and career opportunities for students attending historically black colleges and universities. Guest speakers from throughout the United States were on hand to recruit the best and the brightest.

Mr. stated that every black leader from Marcus Garvey to Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, Adam Clayton Powell, Malcolm X, Harriett Tubman, Dr. Martin Luther King, Elijah Muhammad, Jessie Jackson, Muhammad Ali and all the black male groups like the Temptations, the Four Tops, the O’Jays, Earth, Wind and Fire and Smoky Robinson and the Miracles were clean as a whistle from head-to-toe back in the day.

Mr Watson along with the Premier and her husband at the PLP Banquet:

“You don’t have to be good looking to look good,” he said. “If you want to be a winner in the 21st Century, you have to think, talk, dress and act like a winner.”

Mr. Watson reminded the students, “for those of us who were raised by single mothers, we have an obligation to lift up their names by our success and our achievements.”

“This generation of college students”, Mr. Watson continued, “must roll up their sleeves and take back their communities from the thugs, the knuckle-heads and the angry fatherless black males who terrorized the black community each and every day with antisocial behavior and gun violence.”

Students attending the Leadership Institute represented such distinguished institutions as: Tuskegee University, Lincoln, Tennessee State University, Howard University, Virginia State University, Gambling State University, Kentucky State University, North Carolina AT&T State University and the University of the Virgin Islands.

In conclusion, Mr. Watson stated that the year 2011, is the time for young black men to shine.

“You are shining today,” he said. “When we were little, ma and papa use to say, ‘rise and shine’. Back in the day, all black children sang the Negro spiritual, ‘This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine’ ….

“You can’t ‘shine’ in jail, you can’t ‘shine’ in a casket, you can’t ‘shine’ six feet under, you can’t ‘shine’ in handcuffs, you can’t ‘shine’ being lazy or using drugs. You can only shine when you have a purpose, a mission, a goal or a plan to make a difference in the lives of your fellow man.”

Dennis Rahiim Watson has just returned from a 20 city tour of the USA with his “Stop the Gun Violence” message, visiting high schools, communities centres, correctional facilities, churches, colleges and universities.

He toured cities such as Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Richmond, Washington, D.C., Houston, Dallas, Boston, Miami, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands and the Bahamas.

Dennis Rahim Watson With Participants At the 11th Annual Leadership Institute Conference

“As a black male born in Bermuda, I have been blessed, Watson told members of the media, that “the licks—I got from neighbors, aunts, uncles and relatives in my knucklehead days straightened me up and made me respect those in authority.

“In my generation and in my father’s generation black men resolved their disputes and their beefs by giving an apology or with an occasional fist fight—and that was the end of that, but there were no murders and no guns back in those days because to murder someone would be unconscionable and unthinkable.

“As a father of four, I will forever be grateful to, the over 300 black Bermudian men who took me under their wings and gave me a good talking to, or that feared unexpected back hand slap when I was acting disrespectful, mean, dopey or stupid.”

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  1. BermyMiss says:

    he very well may need to give some talks here locally in Bermuda, perhaps at the middle and high school age groups. His message sounds very powerful and relevant to the times we are going through here in Bermuda.