By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on November 13, 2022 Where do America's most racist people live? "The rural Northeast and South," according to an April 28, 2015 article published in the Washington Post. The answer was based on an April 24, 2015 analytical study published in PLOS ONE. The research paper introduced a novel method for measuring the incidence of racist attitudes: Google search data. The methodology comes from data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. He had used this methodology earlier to measure the effect of racist attitudes on Barack Obama's electoral prospects. "Google data, evidence suggests, are unlikely to suffer from major social censoring," Stephens-Davidowitz wrote in a previous paper. "Google searchers are online and likely alone, both of which make it easier to express socially taboo thoughts. Individuals, indeed, note that they are unusually forthcoming with Google." He also noted that the Google measure correlates strongly with other standard measures social science researchers have used to study racist attitudes. This is important, because racism is a notoriously tricky thing to measure. Traditional survey methods don't really work -- if you flat-out ask someone if they're racist, they will simply tell you no. This is partly because most racism in society today operates at the subconscious level, or gets vented anonymously online. For the PLOS ONE paper, researchers looked at searches containing the N-word. People search frequently for it, roughly as often as searches for "migraine(s)," "economist," "sweater," "Daily Show," and "Lakers." (The authors attempted to control for variants of the N-word not necessarily intended as pejoratives, excluding the "a" version of the word that analysis revealed was often used "in different contexts compared to searches of the term ending in '-er'.") It was also important to note that not all people searching for the N-word are motivated by racism, and that not all racists search for that word, either. But aggregated over several years and several million searches, the data give a pretty good approximation of where a particular type of racist attitude is the strongest. Interestingly, on the map above the most concentrated cluster of racist searches happened not in the South, but rather along the spine of the Appalachians running from Georgia all the way up to New York and southern Vermont. Other hotbeds of racist searches appear in areas of the Gulf Coast, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and a large portion of Ohio. But the searches get rarer the further West you go. West of Texas, no region falls into the "much more than average" category. This map follows the general contours of a map of racist Tweets made by researchers at Humboldt State University. So some people are sitting at home by themselves, Googling a bunch of racist stuff. What does it matter? As it turns out, it matters quite a bit. The researchers on the PLOS ONE paper found that racist searches were correlated with higher mortality rates for blacks, even after controlling for a variety of racial and socio-economic variables. "Results from our study indicate that living in an area characterized by a one standard deviation greater proportion of racist Google searches is associated with an 8.2% increase in the all-cause mortality rate among Blacks," the authors concluded. Now, of course, Google searches aren't directly leading to the deaths of African Americans. But previous research had shown that the prevalence of racist attitudes can contribute to poor health and economic outcomes among black residents. "Racially motivated experiences of discrimination impact health via diminished socioeconomic attainment and by enforcing patterns in racial residential segregation, geographically isolating large segments of the Black population into worse neighborhood conditions," the authors wrote, summarizing existing research. "Racial discrimination in employment can also lead to lower income and greater financial strain, which in turn have been linked to worse mental and physical health outcomes." Do you live in one of the most racist places in America? Does this map of racist places still hold true today?

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on November 10, 2022 An Editorial Opinion Yesterday, I watched black conservative activist and staunch Kanye “Ye” West ally, Candace Owens, lash out at former president Donald Trump, after Trump distanced himself from her. Owens seemed surprised and disappointed that Trump had used her for his political purposes and then ditched her. Trump’s MAGA supporters are fleeing from Owens, as well. Now, Candace Owens is trying to rationalize her very public humiliation. Owens seems to have forgotten that Trump treated Omarosa Manigault, her MAGA political and social activist predecessor, the same way after he used her up. In February 2018, Manigault, who remarried and changed her last name to Newman, publicly criticized the Trump administration and stated that she would not vote for Trump again. In 2018, Ms. Newman wrote a book deeply critical of Trump in which she labeled the former president a racist. Newman also stated that witnesses confirmed to her the existence of tapes of Trump repeatedly using the word "nigger" during the filming of The Apprentice TV show, where she was once a contestant. The New MAGA “Negroes” MAGA Republicans have pivoted away from Candace Owens and Omarosa Newman. They are now promoting new MAGA "Negroes" like sports commentator Jason Whitlock and former football star Herschel Walker as the so-called leaders of their political enlightenment movement for black Americans. Whitlock is already promoting Trump’s 2024 candidacy even though he is a self-declared unregistered voter. What is more, Whitlock is to the world of sports journalism what Clarence Thomas is to the U.S. Supreme Court -- a showcase "Uncle Tom." Herschel Walker is a low-life domestic abuser, serial liar, and absentee father who encouraged multiple girlfriends to have abortions. He was recruited, funded, and promoted by MAGA Republicans to challenge incumbent Georgia U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock in his bid to retain his Senate seat. The two men face a runoff election scheduled for December 6, 2022. Kanye West’s World Imploded in Record Time I first wrote about Kanye West in a series of articles which I published in October 2018. One of these articles was titled, “Stephen, Meet Kanye West.” The article discussed Kanye West’s 2018 visit to the White House to meet with Trump. The Oval Office scene between West and Trump reminded me of Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of the fictional character “Stephen” in “Django”, a 2012 movie about slave life on a brutal Mississippi plantation in 1859. Stephen was the trusted “House Nigga” at “Candyland,” the infamous plantation of shady Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) where Django's long-lost wife (Kerry Washington) was a slave. To me, West’s visit with Trump was life imitating art. Kanye West was the darling of the Trump White House when he was bashing black America. MAGA republicans elevated West’s profile and promoted him as a role model for aspiring young African-Americans. Controversial political commentator Tucker Carlson even featured West on his FOX TV talk show as recently as October 2022. MAGA Republicans encouraged Kanye West to proudly display his “White Lives Matter” shirt at a Paris fashion show in October 2022. Afterwards, West’s world imploded and came to an end when he declared “Def-Con 3” on Jewish people. Every business partner West had severed ties with him in a display of white flight that is unrivaled in modern history. Kanye West’s estimated $2 billion in net worth plunged to nothing in less than 30 days. Furthermore, West has been branded by white-owned media as mentally unstable. The Psychological and Emotional Castration of Kyrie Irving Kyrie Irving is a professional basketball player with the Brooklyn Nets. He was recently suspended by the NBA for tweeting about “Hebrews to Negros: Wake Up Black America,” a movie that can be purchased on Amazon.com. Irving’s critics have labeled his tweet as antisemitic. After meeting with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Irving was told that his suspension would be lifted if he fulfilled six requirements: Apologize and condemn the film he promoted; Make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes; Complete sensitivity training; Complete antisemitism training; Meet with the ADL and Jewish leaders; and Meet with Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai to demonstrate an understanding of the situation. Silver’s conditions for reinstatement amount to the psychological and emotional castration of Kyrie Irving in a very public way for disobeying the 2020 commandment issued by FOX TV talk show host Laura Ingraham to LeBron James and other NBA players to “Shut up and Dribble.” Being True to Yourself I am so thankful that I have never subordinated myself or my livelihood to any force that would rob me of my manhood. I have always been true to myself, no matter what price I had to pay to (a) maintain dignity as a human being and (b) protect and preserve my manhood. The people that I admire and respect the most (outside of my family members) -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Ramus Rhodes, Nelson Mandela, and Fannie Lou Hamer -- never had any material wealth. However, they were extremely rich in their understanding of God, their intellectual acumen, and their love for humanity. I would rather be respected as a man, than be liked by those who seek to rob me of my manhood. My manhood gets tested every day and in a very public way. What people see and hear from me publicly is exactly what they get from me in private settings. All articles are shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. If you enjoyed this article, please click on these links to follow Donald Watkins: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-watkins-683a7952/ https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald Watkins Copyrighted and Published on October 2, 2020 In 2018, Fox TV talk show host and commentator, Laura Ingraham chastised NBA basketball superstar, LeBron James, about dabbling in controversial social justice issues. “Shut up and dribble” Ingraham said to James, without apology or further explanation. In the week before Labor Day, NBA team owners sent the same message, albeit in more diplomatic language, to the teams and players participating in the NBA playoff games. For one day, several teams – led by the L.A. Clippers and Lakers -- boycotted their games in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. For a brief moment in time, the African-American community nationwide thought that it had a powerful ally on its side in the fight against police violence. Twenty-four hours later, NBA owners had crushed the boycott. They were not going to allow a small group of highly paid players to force them into losing tens of billions of dollars during the playoffs, no matter how worthy their cause might be. Every year, major league professional sports teams in baseball, basketball, football, soccer, tennis, golf, motor car racing, wrestling, etc., generate hundreds of billions of dollars for their team owners and their leagues. Except for Michael Jordan (owner of the Charlotte Hornets NBA team) and Shahid Kahn (owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team), the principal owners of major league professional sports teams in the U.S. are white and all of them are billionaires who made their fortunes in other industries. No player is a billionaire. Players have no ownership interests in these sports teams. They are paid big bucks to generate huge revenues for their owners. They are nothing more than employees with high paying jobs. Players build up the economic value of a team and move on when they are too injured or old to play. The owners reap the benefit of the increased equity in each sports enterprise. The balance of power between owners and players ALWAYS rests with the owners. The ownership group in professional sports is old, ultra-conservative in their politics, Republican-leaning, and has a paternalistic view of players. They acquire, trade, and release players like ranchers do livestock. No player is bigger than the sport he/she plays in. Players come and go; team ownership is a legacy asset. No owner of a major league professional sports franchise has ever been on the frontline of a demonstration to end police violence in the U.S. Like Laura Ingraham, team owners have no interest in the views of their players on police violence, Donald Trump, systemic racism or other sensitive political and social justice issues that upset white people, who comprise the overwhelming majority of their sports fans, merchandise purchases and sponsors. Whites attend and/or watch sports events for entertainment value. This is one of the few ways they can relax over drinks, hot dogs, laughter, and cheering. They adore players who can send them into a euphoric state of excitement during games. However, under no circumstances are white sports fans interested in receiving racial sensitivity training from athletes who are paid to dribble balls, dunk balls, run balls, catch balls, hit balls and win championships. This is why Laura Ingraham told LeBron James to “shut up and dribble”. To pacify the boycotting teams and players, the NBA committed to spend a token $300 million over the next 10 years on social justice programs. The amount equates to less than $1 million per team for 10 years. NBA owners spend this amount for a tent on the “greens’ at the Masters Golf Tournament and for parties during the playoffs. This $300 million was a “fig leaf” cover for players who caved in after a 24-hour boycott. What’s The Larger Message Here? Sports is just a game. Athletes can dominate play in a game. Police violence is real life drama, and it typically targets blacks and other racial minorities. Ending police violence requires a special set of skills that is very different from dribbling and shooting basketballs. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and other notable civil rights activists demonstrated, to lead in the social justice arena, an activist must have BIG BALLS and must be willing to die on his feet rather than live on his knees. When Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968, 75% of white Americans disliked him. When Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, 98% of white Americans disliked her. When Mohammed Ali refused the military draft on religious grounds during the height of the Vietnam War, 95% of white Americans disliked him. Activists of color who worry about being disliked by whites effectively neuter themselves. For black America, your next Martin Luther King, Jr., or Malcolm X is not in the NBA. He’s not Tiger Woods. He’s not Michael Jordan. He’s not O.J. Simpson. He’s not Jay-Z or P. Diddie. He’s not one of our mega-church “bishops” or pastors. He or she will have to be raised up by the African-American community in the same way King and Malcolm were.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on November 6, 2022 An Editorial Opinion I will say out loud what close observers of Alabama’s higher education scene are saying privately -- "Deion Sanders will not be Auburn University’s next head football coach." Is Sanders qualified for the Auburn head coaching job? Yes. Does Auburn need Sanders’ extraordinary talents as a head football coach? Yes. Is Deion Sanders a good fit for Auburn? The people who run Auburn football do not think so. Why? Take a good look at Auburn University’s Board of Trustees. Read their backgrounds. I know the personal and professional histories of the trustees. I was the lead plaintiff's attorney who successfully sued Auburn University in Knight v. Alabama to desegregate its board of trustees, faculty and staff, and student body (until 1994 when I became a board member at Alabama State University). Don’t take my word for it. Read the U.S. District Court's 575-page opinion for yourself. This higher education desegregation case was litigated in the courts from 1981 to 2005. It dragged on for more than two decades due to massive resistance to court-ordered desegregation from Auburn University and the other historically white colleges and universities in Alabama. A couple of factors have doomed Sanders' chances of getting the head coaching job. First, I must excuse the three African-American members of Auburn's Board of Trustees. None of them has the juice on the Board to get Deion Sanders hired as Auburn’s head football coach. While Quintin P. Riggins serves on the Board, so does Zeke Smith -- his boss at Alabama Power Company. Riggins also serves as the lead trustee on the Board’s Athletics Committee. His role on the Committee is more symbolic than powerful. Elizabeth Huntley is a civil litigation attorney with the Birmingham law firm of Lightfoot, Franklin & White, which has deep ties to Auburn University. And, Tim Vines is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, which is a top executive position at a non-profit, private company. The three black trustees are good people, but they do not run the Auburn Board of Trustees. Second, the trustees who control the Board also own and operate their very successful companies. They are Jimmy Raines, James Pratt, Raymond J. Harbert, and Wayne T. Smith. These trustees, along with Zeke Smith, shoulder the financial burden of raising the money necessary to buy out the contract of a fired head football coach at Auburn. Zeke Smith can tap Alabama Power's money for the benefit of Auburn University from numerous sources. Whether in private business or in his role as a trustee, none of these men has ever had to co-exist with a successful, confident, African-American man like Deion Sanders, who has earned his fame, media presence, economic prowess, and power. At this stage in his life, Deion Sanders is not beholden to anyone. Very few black men in America have attained Sanders' degree of economic independence and clout. These trustees are very comfortable around blacks -- as long as they do not seek to control the engine that drives academics, finance, business, and sports at Auburn University. Deion Sanders is successful as a man and as the head football coach at Jackson State University because he has achieved dominance in all of these zones. Based on their histories in the state, I do not foresee these trustees surrendering their absolute control over Auburn football to any black man of Deion Sanders’ stature and independence. End of story.

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on November 1, 2022 The Jackson State Tigers represent Jackson State University (JSU) in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). JSU head coach Deion Sanders has raised the profile of the Tigers in a profound way, as evidenced by the July 2022 Sports Illustrated cover story on Sanders and his Tigers. Today, the Tigers are the hottest and most talked about football program in America. The Tigers have shown us that they are ready for Prime Time football in the FCS. But, are they ready for big-time football and big-money in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS)? I think so. I believe the Tigers can be to Black America what Notre Dame is to Catholic America. FBS Versus FCS In its July 14, 2022 online edition, Cam Merritt of SportsRec laid out the NCAA’s Division I college football requirements. JSU is poised to meet or exceed all of the requirements necessary to compete in the FBS category where the biggest money in college football is generated. Division I is the top level of sports competition in the NCAA. Not all Division I colleges and universities maintain football programs, but those that do are divided into two subdivisions -- the FBS and FCS, where JSU plays. The FBS is home to Division 1-A football programs -- the ones that regularly play on national TV for big paydays. Smaller colleges and universities play in the FCS, which is the home of HBCUs and other Division I-AA football programs. To field a football team in either subdivision, a college or university must fulfill a number of NCAA requirements. SportsRec recapped them for us in both subdivisions. How many FBS or Division 1-A football teams are there? First, there are 131 schools in FBS, which are spread among 10 conferences (i.e., the American Athletic Conference or AAC, Atlantic Coast Conference or ACC, Big 12 Conference or Big 12, Big Ten Conference or Big Ten, Conference USA or C-USA, Mid-American Conference or MAC, Mountain West Conference or MWC, Pac-12 Conference or Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference or SEC). To compete in FBS, a college or university must compete in at least 16 varsity sports, including football. Of those 16, at least six must be men's sports and at least eight must be women's sports. For FCS, a college or university must compete in at least 14 sports, with at least six men's sports and seven women's sports. If a college or university sponsors more sports than the minimum, it must follow NCAA guidelines to ensure equity between men's and women's opportunities. JSU can easily meet the small increase in the number of sports required to move to from FCS to FBS status. Scheduling of Games An FBS team must schedule at least 60 percent of its games against other FBS teams; however, one game against an FCS team can count toward this requirement if the FCS school uses 90 percent of its available football scholarships. An FBS team also must have five home games against FBS teams every year. One game at a neutral site can count as a "home" game in this respect. In FCS, a college or university must schedule at least 50 percent of its games against Division I teams from either subdivision. This allows FCS schools to schedule more games against teams in the NCAA's lower ranks, Divisions II and III. There is no home-game requirement in FCS. JSU can meet this FBS requirement, as well. Game Day Attendance To maintain FBS status, a school must average 15,000 in paid or actual attendance a game at least once every two seasons. The NCAA used to require Division I-A schools to have a stadium with a minimum capacity of 30,000, but that rule was scrapped in 2004. FCS has no attendance requirements. JSU is already meeting this requirement. To maximize the revenues generated from its football program, JSU needs an on-campus stadium. Fortunately, there are private sector resources available to assist JSU in designing, building, financing, and commissioning a state-of -the-art football stadium on its campus for an FBS program. Financial Aid To remain in Division I, a school must grant at least 50 percent of the maximum number of scholarships the NCAA allows in each sport. Alternatively, it can issue an NCAA-prescribed minimum dollar amount of aid to athletes, with at least half going to women's sports. Or it can offer at least 25 men's and 25 women's scholarships in sports besides football and basketball (or 35 of each if the school doesn't play basketball). FCS schools like JSU must meet only the criteria listed above. FBS schools have additional requirements. For example, they must provide 90 percent of the maximum allowable football scholarships and offer at least 200 scholarships or at least $4 million in total athletic scholarships across all sports. With its widespread national visibility and new-found ability to attract big-time corporate donors, this requirement is doable for JSU. Will JSU Make Its Way to the Big-Time Football Money? Making it to the big-money in U.S. college football programs requires a "can do" attitude on the part of HBCUs. In general, HBCUs have not been inclined to leave the comfort zone of FCS football. They continue to languish in small-minded thinking, inferiority complexes, and a defeatist attitude as they struggle to fund their football programs out of their general operating budgets. Meanwhile, their HWCB counterparts have made this move without hesitation or reservation. In Alabama, Troy State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) made the move from FCS to FBS without ever looking back on their institutional decisions. In 2019, UAB convinced the City of Birmingham to pay $90 million toward the $188 million required to build a new 42,000-seat stadium for Blazers football. JSU seems to be more motivated to reach dominance in football than the other HBCUs with FCS football programs. JSU hired Deion Sanders as its head football coach. Sanders does not think small. He projects a confident, winning attitude, and view of college football that goes far beyond the limited mindset of many HBCU administrators and governing boards. If anyone can lead an HBCU to the Promised Land of FBS and its big-time money, it is Deion Sanders.

By: Donald V. Watkins October 30, 2022 An Editorial Opinion My October 22, 2022 Open Letter to Deion Sanders has already broken one record on my website. It surpassed 31,000 readers in just one week. This viewership is the highest number of readers of any article published on my website in a one-week period. The Open Letter is on track to surpass my December 27, 2019 article titled: "The Rothschilds: Controlling the World's Money Supply for More Than Two Centuries." The Rothschilds article, which is all about the accumulation of money, wealth, and power, has been viewed by 228,547 readers, as of October 29, 2022. It is obvious that Deion Sanders' work at Jackson State University has touched the hearts of the African-American community nationwide. The analytical reports that I get regarding each article published on my website indicate that the Open Letter to Deion Sanders has worldwide appeal, as well. The Commercialization of Fame Jackson State University is in a very unique position within NCAA college sports with Deion Sanders heading its championship football program. Coach Sanders is a branding and marketing expert who understands the world of big-money and the commercialization of fame. What is more, Sanders is not afraid to chase big-time NCAA and corporate sponsorship money for the benefit of his football program, Jackson State University and the Southwestern Athletic Conference, his coaches, and himself. College sports generate $19 billion per year. A breakdown of this money for 2019 appears in the pie chart that accompanies this article. This pie chart is not hard to read or understand. College sports revenues for 2023 and beyond are expected to exceed $19 billion per year. Deion Sanders is on his way to making sure that Jackson State University gets its fair share of pie chart money in this multi-billion dollar industry. He is aggressively promoting his football program, Jackson State University, the SWAC, and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) across America on a non-stop basis. This is a good thing for all of America. Other HBCUs should step up their game and do the same. Division I-A Status for JSU Football? I am hoping that Deion Sanders leads Jackson State University to Division I-A status in football. Jackson State could be to black America what Notre Dame is to Catholic America. Sanders has the clout within the international corporate community to get major financial partners for a stadium on Jackson State's campus that meets Division 1-A standards. Jackson State has already established the attendance records necessary to support Wall Street financing of an on-campus stadium. With Sanders leading the charge, I am highly confident that the University can secure enough qualified and capable corporate donors to cover the entire stadium financing costs. The University should not depend on funding from the state of Mississippi for this endeavor. No HBCU has tried to move up to Division I-A in football since Alabama State University made an initial effort in May of 2000. ASU abandoned its efforts two years later solely because blacks in and around Montgomery and Alabama did not believe that the University was capable of performing at this level. Deion Sanders has proven the fallacy of this kind of small-minded thinking and defeatist attitude. Looking Ahead College sports is big business. It about time that HBCUs enter the NCAA's big-money zone and compete for their fair share of the college sports dollars. Looking ahead, I expect that Deion Sanders and Jackson State University will be the ones lead the way to this proverbial "Promised Land."

By: Donald V. Watkins October 27, 2022 I entered the world of banking in January 2000 by co-founding and opening Alamerica Bank in Birmingham, Alabama. Alamerica was the first and only bank chartered by the state of Alabama to an African-American. Alamerica Bank had a commercial focus, rather than a retail one. What is more, the bank became my continuing education classroom for learning what I needed to know about the complex world of business financing, mergers and acquisitions, international monetary policies, and global wealth creation. The bank was also where I learned the world of money, the ever-expanding categories of bankable assets, and the many forms of wealth. My bank ownership experience helped me to understand why 3.5 million African-Americans households in 2021 had negative net worth and another 4.3 African-American households had less than $10,000 in net worth. The Wealth Disparity Paradigm According to a November 15, 2021 McKinsey Global Institute report, global assets more than tripled between 2000 and 2020. Assets rapidly grew from $440 trillion in 2000 to $1,540 trillion in 2020. GoBankingRates.com estimates that there is approximately $40 trillion in circulation at any given point. This figure includes all the physical money, and the money held in savings and checking accounts. When all investments, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies are added in, the world’s financial wealth exceeds $1.3 quadrillion. Forbes magazine reports that there are currently 2,668 billionaires in 2022. They have a net worth of some $12.7 trillion. Forbes also found that more than 1,000 billionaires are richer than they were in 2021. America still leads the world, with 735 billionaires worth a collective $4.7 trillion. Elon Musk now tops the world’s list of billionaires for the first time. China (including Macau and Hong Kong) remains number two, with 607 billionaires worth a collective $2.3 trillion. An annual study prepared by OxFam was released ahead of the 2020 yearly World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This report showed that the combined fortunes of the world’s 26 richest individuals reached $1.4 trillion -- the same amount as the total wealth of the poorest 3.8 billion people on the planet. The world’s richest 1% have more than twice as much wealth as 6.9 billion people in a global population of 8 billion people. The world’s billionaires have more wealth between them than 4.6 billion people. The 22 richest men have more wealth than all of the women in Africa. With $40 trillion dollars in circulation around the globe at any one time, there are plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs of all ethnicities to get into the game of international business. The opportunity zones that have done well for the last 3,000 years have been associated with the foods, fuels, and pharmaceutical industries. In the last four decades or so, information technology businesses and platforms have made their impact in the calculation of global wealth, particularly in the U.S. and China. Since 1998, I have focused on the world of clean energy. Due to concerns about climate change and the commitment of 196 nations to the 2015 Paris Agreement, this zone is a hot spot right now, and will be one for the rest of the 21st century. Fortunately, I have been able to develop a substantial network of international partners in the global energy sector. As a People, African-Americans Must Get in the Game Of the 2,668 billionaires in the world, only 19 of them are people of color. Ten of these billionaires are Americans. In the second quarter of 2020, white households—who account for 60 percent of the U.S. population—held 84 percent ($94 trillion) of total household wealth in the U.S, according to the Brookings Institution. Comparatively, Black households—who account for 13.4 percent of the U.S. population—held just 4 percent ($4.6 trillion) of total household wealth. For the most part, African-Americans do not own and operate Fortune 500/New York Stock Exchange companies. We are not major defense contractors. We do not own major Wall Street banks or accredited financial institutions. We do not own international multimedia conglomerates like Rupert Murdock and John Malone. Except for David Stewart of World Wide Technology, we do not own major international technology companies. We do not manufacture spaceships, airplanes, trains, trucks, buses, cars, or yachts. We do not own major international oil and gas companies. We do not own integrated global telecommunications companies. We do not own major retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, H&M, the Gap, and DSW. We do not own technology infrastructure companies and platforms like Cisco, Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, PayPal, Cash App, and other comparable infrastructure and social media companies. We do not own major airlines or space exploration companies. We do not own international solar, wind, and hydrogen-powered clean energy companies. To my knowledge, I am the only African-American with a competitive company in the international waste-to-energy sector. We do not set monetary policies or the price of gold each day. We do not own skyscrapers in any of the world's major cities. Except for Michael Jordan, owner of the Charlotte Hornets basketball team, we do not own major league football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, rugby, NASCAR racing, or yachting teams. Likewise, we do not own venues where major professional sports are played. Epilogue At some point, African-Americans must get into the game of serious wealth creation or we will be left behind for good. The first step towards wealth creation is a belief in yourself and your ability to succeed against all odds. We must also pursue, develop, and consummate strategic business alliances between our companies and international conglomerates. These must be true and substantial partnerships. The days of minority business set asides are over. Our companies must bring real economic value to these business alliances. Finally, our political leaders in Washington (and elsewhere) must demand that African-American businesses are included as partners in progress in the flood of government and corporate contracts that are routinely channeled to white companies on a non-bid basis.

Head Football Coach Jackson State University 1400 John R. Lynch Street Jackson, Mississippi 39217 Dear Coach Sanders, We have never met, but I watched your recent 60 Minutes interview on CBS. From 1994 to 2002, I was a member of the Alabama State University Board of Trustees. During this period, I served as the Chairman of the Board’s Athletics Committee. As Chairman, I pushed the University to pursue Division I-A status for its football program. Fellow trustee Buford Crutcher and I spent our personal money and a lot of time traveling to NFL and university stadium financing seminars around the country to gain the knowledge we needed to finance and build an on-campus stadium that would accommodate the University's quest for Division I-A status in football. At the time, ASU was playing in an old, dilapidated city-owned stadium in Montgomery. In May of 2000, we officially launched the plan to build a state-of-the-art $60 million stadium. You can click here to review the planning document. Dr. David Bronner, my law school classmate at the University of Alabama and the head of Alabama’s $45 billion Retirement Systems, assisted me in developing the stadium financing component. I hope you can use this stadium design and financing template in your quest to build a suitable stadium on JSU's campus for your championship football program. There was stiff opposition to a new on-campus stadium from many ASU alums who were conditioned to playing games in inferior sports venues. It took 12 long years to bring this stadium project to fruition. Due to the passage of time, the new ASU stadium ended up costing $62 million. ASU was able to finance the stadium on Wall Street in its own name using the University’s A-1 credit rating and an unbroken string of outstanding annual audit reports from well-known national accounting firms. Apart from the personal assistance of Dr. Bronner, the state of Alabama did very little to help ASU with its stadium initiative. At the time, Troy State University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (which had nothing but a football club) were seeking Division I-A status for their football programs. Behind-the-scenes, they encouraged former governor Robert Bentley to kill ASU's stadium financing deal. Bentley tried to do so by placing ASU under a special investigation that lasted for several years. Bentley’s bogus investigation produced no evidence of wrongdoing, but it did strain ASU's relationship with its stadium financing partners. In 2017, Bentley was forced to resign from office after my online news platform exposed the governor’s “sex-for-power” scandal with his married girlfriend and his repeated violations of the state ethics laws. You and your JSU team visited the stadium on October 8, 2022, and defeated the Hornets at their homecoming game. No historically black college or university (HBCU) in America has on-campus athletics facilities on par with ASU. Coach, JSU does not play home games in the kind of nice, state-of-the-art, on-campus stadium that the Hornets call home. Yet, your football program dominates the Southwest Athletic Conference because you and your assistant coaches have instilled greatness in your players and JSU's football program. By doing so, you have elevated the visibility of all HBCU sports programs in America. Looking back on it now, I realize that getting a new stadium and related athletic facilities on ASU’s campus was the easy part. Achieving greatness and dominance in ASU’s football program is the hard part. After I left the Board, ASU abandoned its quest to pursue Division I-A status for its football program. Troy State and UAB continued in their quest and eventually made it to I-A status. As for me, I am seeking to become the majority owner of one of the 32 NFL teams. I am working hard and diligently every day to bring this personal goal to life. It Takes a Great Man To Lead an HBCU and Its Football Program to Greatness Your work at JSU and your 60 Minutes interview have changed the landscape of HBCU sports, forever. The last HBCU head football coach who received this kind of national recognition and who positively impacted a sports program at a HBCU at this level was Eddie Robinson, Gambling State University's legendary football coach (1941-42 and 1945-97). (Robinson is not related to ASU's current coach, Eddie Robinson, Jr.) By all objective standards of measurement, Coach Robinson was a great man, a great head football coach, and a great ambassador of goodwill for Grambling. Jackson State University deserves congratulations for selecting you as its head football coach. You are a modern-day version of Grambling's Eddie Robinson. Coach Sanders, you are a “winner.” I admire your passion for winning and applaud your work ethic. You reached the top of the world of athletics, as a college athlete, a professional athlete, and a university head football coach. All along the way, you performed in an outstanding manner and did whatever was necessary and proper to attain excellence in each of these endeavors. You radiate confidence and a standard of excellence that HBCUs desperately need in their head football coaches. If any head football coach wants respect for his university, his football program, and himself, he needs to work hard and smart enough to win all of his team's games on the playing field. He and his team should view every game as a milestone on the road to excellence and dominance in his sport. America owes you a debt of gratitude for what you are doing for JSU and HBCU sports. Your efforts are sincere, productive, and inspirational for all HBCUs. You are obviously working to erase the badge of inferiority that has plagued all HBCUs for far too long. You are on a mission from God to change young lives, and it is working. You are showing HBCUs what their sports programs can achieve if they truly want, demand, and pursue greatness. Too often, we complain about a lack of resources, when the real problem is a lack of heart, grit, and determination to be Number One in the competitive zones of academics, sports, and business. You probably know by now that there are a lot of blacks who resent your success at JSU. I call these people, “haters.” They have always been among us. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., found a multitude of them in Alabama and elsewhere in the nation. In 1958, one of them nearly stabbed Dr. King to death in Harlem. Eddie Robinson encountered plenty of haters in connection with his work at Grambling. So did Buford Crutcher and I, when we launched the ASU stadium project in 2000. As a people, we must stop hating on those blacks who choose to live their lives free of a self-imposed inferiority complex. We should celebrate the fact that there is a growing number of blacks among us who are not languishing in a permanent state of psychological castration and mental slavery. Any HBCU can wallow in mediocrity. However, very few HBCUs are willing to do what it takes to advance their institutions to the forefront of nationwide competition for all colleges and universities. Let me know if I can help you in any way. Sincerely, Donald V. Watkins Sacramento, California October 22, 2022 All articles are shared on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. If you enjoyed this article, please click on these links to follow Donald Watkins: https://www.facebook.com/donald.v.watkins https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-watkins-683a7952/ https://twitter.com/donaldvwatkins

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on October 24, 2022 Like many Americans, I watched Hollywood actor Tom Cruise receive worldwide accolades for playing Lt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in Top Gun (1986) and Top Gun: Maverick (2022). Both blockbuster movies are exciting and entertaining, but they are only fictional accounts of a real-life military program in aviation excellence that has been in existence since 1949. A riveting account of the first Top Gun competition is laid out in an article written by Stephen Losey for the May 2022 edition of Military Officer. For Americans of interracial goodwill, this story will make you very proud. Here is the true story: After the Air Force was made its own branch of the military, it had its best pilots square off against one another in the first Top Gun competition, known at the time as the "Fighter Gunnery Meet." The competition took place in May of 1949 over Frenchman Flat, a test range in Nevada near Las Vegas AFB, now known as Nellis Air Force Base. The competition included white and black combat pilots. The white pilots in the Top Gun competition flew in state-of-the-art F-51s and F-82s. A team of four Tuskegee Airmen pilots, consisting of Captain Alva Temple, 1st Lieutenant Harry Stewart, 1st Lieutenant James Harvey, and 1st Lieutenant Halbert Alexander (alternate), competed with their propeller-driven Republic F-47N fighters, which were older, obsolete planes. The Tuskegee Airmen team in the first Top Gun competition at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. For 10 days in May 1949, the Tuskegee Airmen team squared off against the other pilots on aerial gunnery at 12,000 and 20,000 feet, skip bombing, rocket firing, strafing, and dive bombing. Notching perfect scores, the Tuskegee Airmen dominated the competition and held first place all the way from the first day. When the Tuskegee Airmen team was announced as the Top Gun winners, there was dead silence in the room. Not one of their white colleagues applauded this remarkable accomplishment. The Tuskegee Airmen team was presented their victory trophy and posed for a photograph with it. Air Force Capt. Alva Temple, 1st Lt. James Harvey III, 1st Lt. Harry Stewart and 1st Lt. Halbert Alexander pose with their "Top Gun" trophy in May 1949 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. The trophy, which went missing for 55 years, is now displayed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio. (Air Force photo) The victory won by the Tuskegee Airmen was quickly erased from history. Somehow, the trophy vanished and was not seen again for 55 years. For decades, the Air Force Association’s annual almanac listed the winners of the 1949 Top Gun competition as “unknown.” In the 1990s, the records of the first Top Gun competition were uncovered at Nellis AFB, and the Tuskegee Airmen team’s victory was officially acknowledged by the Air Force as the winners . The trophy was found in 2004, some 55 years after the Tuskegee Airmen team won it. Zellie Rainey Orr, historian and president of the Atlanta chapter of Tuskegee Airmen Inc., uncovered the trophy in a storage area at Wright Patterson AFB in Ohio. It is now on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB. Tom Cruise (and my fellow Americans), please meet Lt. Col. James Harvey III, USAF (Ret.), and Lt. Col. Harry Stewart, USAF (Ret.). These men are "real" combat pilots. They are also the last two surviving winners from the inaugural 1949 Top Gun competition. These men loved America when she did not know how to love and properly honor them. Mr. Cruise, this is not a movie set. You are now looking at the faces of unparalleled "greatness" in combat aviation. Mr. Cruise, if there is a Top Gun 3, it should be the story of these four brave men and their team's exceptional performance and triumph in the face of tremendous odds against them. By chasing perfection, the Tuskegee Airmen team established a standard for excellence in the Top Gun competition that still exists today. For African-Americans, I close with this observation: No ethnic group in American history has done so much, with so little, for so many people while being hated every step of the way because of their skin color. Join me in giving these men the long-overdo salute that they deserve! Never doubt who we are as a people, and what we can do! Lt. Col. James Harvey, III, USAF (Ret.). Lt. Col. Harry Stewart, USAF, (Ret.).

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on October 19, 2022 An Editorial Opinion Black women, a new study released on October 18, 2022 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute links the use of hair straightening products to an increased risk of uterine cancer. As a consumer group, black women are more adversely impacted by these products than other consumers due to their higher use of them. The study includes data on nearly 34,000 women in the United States, ages 35 to 74, who completed questionnaires about their use of certain hair products, including perms, dyes, relaxers and straighteners. The researchers, from the National Institutes of Health, also tracked the incidence of cancer diagnoses within the study group. The researchers found a strong correlation between hair straightening products and uterine cancer cases, but the use of other hair products – such as dyes and perms or body waves – was not associated with uterine cancer. The study data also showed that the association between hair straightening products and uterine cancer cases was most pronounced for black women, who made up only 7.4% of the study participants, but 59.9% of those who reported ever using straighteners. Black women have long associated straightened hair with “good” hair. It is a present-day vestige of the slavery and the post-slavery era. For centuries, white society imposed unrelenting pressure on black women and other women of color to conform to the European standards of beauty defined for white women. The practice of straightening the hair of women of color became a major part of the cultural custom for conformity and assimilation in the United States. Eventually, this social pressure for conformity invaded workplace settings. Employers demanded control over the hairstyles and appearances of women of color. Working under this kind of micro-management and facing a constant threat of discrimination because of their color, hairstyles, and manner of self-expression, many women of color simply conformed to the employer’s expectations of Eurocentric beauty standards. Hair products that are marketed directly to black children and women have been shown to contain multiple chemicals associated with disrupting hormones, and the products that are marketed to black women have also been shown to have harsher chemical formulations. Black women also tend to use multiple products simultaneously, which contributes to black women on average having higher concentrations of these hormone-disrupting chemicals in their bodies. Black women and other women of color should immediately stop using hair-straightening products. Do not let these dangerous products place your health and life in jeopardy. Accept who you are and the way God made you. There is no need to imitate old-fashion Eurocentric standards of beauty. As we all say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Above all, protect your health and life!

By: Donald V. Watkins Copyrighted and Published on October 18, 2022 AL.com, Alabama’s largest mainstream media organization, uses sex ads to prop up its sagging sales. Its principal newspapers are The Birmingham News, The Huntsville Times, and The Mobile Press Register. Serious news reporting left this media company decades ago. Investigative reporting is almost non-existent. Its editorial board and opinion columnists refrain from condemning racial rants by powerful public officials in Alabama. AL.com core financial support is tied to ads placed by the corporate oligarchy that runs Alabama. Its sexually suggestive ads target “click-bait” readers who lust for discreet soft-core porn in the mainstream digital world. To my disgust, two of these sexually suggestive ads ran in a thoughtful and profound October 13, 2022 guest editorial submitted by Bart Starr, Jr., that AL.com titled, “Bart Starr, Jr.: Republicans must denounce Tuberville’s ‘ignorant and hateful’ remark.” On a side note, no Republican leader in Alabama, or the nation, denounced Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s racist remarks on October 8, 2022 at a MAGA rally in Nevada. Likewise, AL.com’s editorial board and opinion columnists also refused to condemn Tuberville’s racist rant. AL.com placed two sexually suggestive ads in the middle of Bart Starr, Jr.'s editorial. The photos of these ads accompany this article. This ad placement was shameful, disrespectful, and highly inappropriate. Every time I think AL.com has reached a new low in what it calls “journalism,” the organization surprises me by sinking further into the gutter. Let me recap AL.com’s descent into "gutter" journalism. First, The Birmingham News was an original and active participant in the FBI’s covert COINTELPRO campaign to destroy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s reputation in Alabama’s white and black communities during the 1950s and 60s. The News regularly denigrated Dr. King in its news coverage and its editorial cartoons. The News continues in its coveted COINTELPRO role to this day. Second, The Birmingham News committed years of fraudulent business practices against a groups of its distributors for which the newspaper was ordered by an American Arbitration Association arbitration panel and the Alabama Supreme Court to pay $16 million in damages in 2004. The arbitration panel was headed by me, which is a conflict of interest fact that the News never disclosed in any of its biased reporting on me and its racist cartoons about my business and political activities. Third, on November 29, 2018, Birmingham News columnist John Archibald fabricated a racist quote and attributed it to me in an article he published. Only the threat of litigation forced the News to retract the fake quote on January 13, 2019 and issue a public statement of regret for publishing the article on two of its media platforms. Archibald never apologized to me or the public for his actions. Gutter journalism has become a staple at AL.com, and it is endless. At www.donaldwatkins.com, we do not need to sell ads of any kind to stay in business. We are “unbought” and “unbossed.” This is why we can publish the cold, hard, truth on any subject of significant public interest. This is also why our media footprint is growing throughout America and around the world. We are a trusted news mediaource that no government agency, corporation, or individual has been able to compromise or shut down. never disclosed in any of its biasedd reporting on me and its

By: Donald V. Watkins October 16, 2022 An Editorial Opinion Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Donald Trump’s bid to allow a special master appointed by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon (Florida) vet more than 100 classified documents that were seized from his Florida home at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2022. The documents are at the heart of a criminal investigation into Trump's handling of sensitive government records. The justices denied an emergency request Trump made to the Supreme Court to lift the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision that prevented the special master from reviewing more than 100 documents marked as classified that were among the roughly 11,000 records seized by FBI agents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach on 8 August. There were no publicly noted dissents by any of the nine justices to the decision, which came two days after the U.S. Department of Justice urged them to deny Trump’s request and keep the classified documents out of the hands of the special master. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices who were appointed by Trump before he left office in January 2021. Federal law enforcement agents obtained a court-approved warrant to search Trump’s residence after suspecting that not all classified documents in his possession had been returned after his presidency ended. FBI agents searched for evidence of potential crimes related to unlawfully retaining national defense information and obstructing a federal investigation. Trump went to court on August 22nd in a bid to restrict the Department of Justice’s access to the documents as it pursues a criminal investigation. His lawyers shopped the case to Judge Cannon, a judicial nominee who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate after Trump lost the 2020 election. Options Available to Trump Trump’s devastating losses in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and Supreme Court signal that the unconditional political loyalty Trump expected from judges he appointed to the federal bench does not exist, except for Judge Cannon. This neophyte judge had no jurisdiction to hear Trump’s request for a special master, but she ruled in his favor out of political loyalty. Trump appointed 234 federal judges to the bench who were confirmed by the United States Senate. This number includes three associate Supreme Court justices, 54 judges for the United States courts of appeals, and 174 judges for the United States district courts. As evidenced by the 60 or more election contests Trump lost after the 2020 election and the recent court action in the criminal investigation, these Republican judges have largely abandoned him. Without judicial protection from Trump’s army of federal judges, he will likely be indicted, tried, and convicted on a plethora of federal criminal charges arising out from his conduct in inciting the January 6, 2021 insurrection and his retention of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. The federal criminal justice system is “rigged” against Donald Trump and every other criminal defendant. The federal judges appointed by Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Trump, himself, have chipped away at the basic constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial for accused persons, to the extent that these rights do not exist today. They have been reduced to empty words and phrases on a historical piece of paper written by the “Founding Fathers.” The only option that would save Trump in the federal criminal justice system is the exercise of prosecutorial discretion by the Attorney General of the United States to dismiss any criminal charges against him. Merrick Garland’s Department of Justice would never voluntarily dismiss criminal charges against Donald Trump. There is simply too much evidence that Trump: (a) incited the January 6th insurrection, (b) obstructed justice, (c) suborned perjury, and (d) maintained classified documents at Mar-a-Lago for nefarious purposes. Only a political hack that Trump appoints to Attorney General would dismiss the charges against him. To effectuate this result, Trump must: (a) stall his criminal trial, if any, until after the 2024 election, (b) run for president and win the 2024 election, and (c) get sworn-in as the 47th president of the United States of America. Once Trump is president again, he can find a bevy of political hacks who, if appointed as Attorney General, would be delighted to dismiss all of the anticipated criminal charges against him. This is why Trump continues to dominate the political agenda and direction of the Republican Party. Trump must control the Party to ensure that he is its presidential nominee in 2024. Trump must also win, or steal, the 2024 election for president. If not, Trump must prepare himself to become another “railroaded” defendant in a “rigged” federal criminal justice system, and he must get ready to go to prison for the rest of his life. This is truly a “do or die” event for Donald Trump, who will use any and all means necessary to avoid prison time.