Black Girls Rock New York City

Black Girls Rock is a program in New York City that is a mentoring outreach program targeting at risk teenage youth and women of color. The charity was established to promote the arts and encourage dialogue about the images of women of color in hip hop music and culture.
Black Girls Rock seeks to raise [...]

Black Girls Rock is a program in New York City that is a mentoring outreach program targeting at risk teenage youth and women of color. The charity was established to promote the arts and encourage dialogue about the images of women of color in hip hop music and culture.

Black Girls Rock seeks to raise the self-esteem and self worth of these young ladies thereby changing their outlook on life, broadening their horizons and helping them to empower themselves.

The 2009 New Yorker Festival: "Precious: Based on Novel "Push" by Sapphire"

Gerard Spinks is the CEO of Spinks Industries; an original web content producer and online marketing agency in Atlanta, GA USA.

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2008’s album sales are in and look very dismal. In 2008, 115,000 albums were released into the United States market. Out of this number, only 110 albums sold over 250,000 records. Only 1,500 sold over 10,000 records. I think that artists should stay in the studio AND have an alternative hustle. Just know that breaking into the 110 is going to be a long hard road.

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The Black Mans Emergency Survival Kit

As steel sharpens steel, men sharpen men

I used to attend Muslim meetings at Your Black Muslim Bakery on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland, CA with Adisa Banjoko and Dr. Bey used to always say “As steel sharpens steel, men sharpen men and vice versa for women.” I agree.

As the world has been literally shocked with the violent death related news of several black men, I thought it prudent to come out and help tell our black men how to stay out of morgues, jails, and prisons.

Black Men Beware of beautiful prisons designed just for US.

Black Men Beware of beautiful prisons designed just for US.

First of all, when an encounter or beef starts to escalate, we men handle it differently than women. Black women can get in each others face and not let it escalate. We do NOT handle in your face tactics. If someone gets in your face and challenges you, walk away. Do not retaliate. Do not buck up. Do not start screaming and yelling. This helps you stay alive to live another day.

Learn to know when to buck up and when to walk. Most encounters happen because of our male ego and especially as black men. We typically don’t want anyone seeming superior to us so we will act a fool when someone decides to get loud or challenge our manhood. Again, know when to walk away. Not every situation requires you to prove you’re the man. Sometimes being the man is swallowing your pride and walking away. Learn to control your anger or it will completely DOMINATE YOU.

If it appears as though someone is ready to take out a knife and start a battle with you, even if you have a gun, walk away. You don’t need to kill them and take their life. You are setting in motion something that you know nothing about. Walk away even if you feel confident with your .44 Magnum locked and loaded. This does not make you a man and determine your power. You will be headed for a 25 years to life bid in the big house.

Know that violence is not always the answer to every black mans problem. Just because you may be having a hard time and some one crosses you, you do not need to resort to violence. Solve this by learning to come to peace with who you are as a man. Run into the church and get your spirit washed and cleansed. Get healed of anything that makes you feel inferior or like you can’t achieve your dreams.

Find another black man and talk to him about how you feel. Find him at bible study or find him at the church, mosque, masjid, temple, or somewhere in a spiritual or educational environment. He is out there waiting to help.

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Black College Students Required to Study Technology

We already have enough artists. My twitter is filled with every young black man and woman headed to the studio and it seems like this is all young black people strive for. We need to get out of the studio and study hardcore math, technology, life sciences, and medical. If we don’t, we are headed for disaster.

To fight through this recession and compete with immigrants for jobs, black students should be required to take mandatory technology courses in college. I would like to petition all Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) to make this mandatory in order to rebuild the black middle class. The technology can be any type of technology that should include software engineering classes, hardware engineering classes, bio-technology, and even pharmaceutical technology.

Black Students are the Future of the Middle Class

Black Students are the Future of the Middle Class

We already have enough artists. My twitter is filled with every young black man and woman headed to the studio and it seems like this is all young black people strive for. We need to get out of the studio and study hardcore math, technology, life sciences, and medical. If we don’t, we are headed for disaster.

I wrote an article on H1B Visa’s taking over and the Indian dude that commented wanted to insinuate that I didn’t know anything. Little did he know I’m a highly skilled software engineer and his people usually work for me. However, that’s me and I’m somewhat rare. We need to impart this into our youth and get out of the studio and into the math and computer science lab. We need more candidates considered for jobs at Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Genentech, Cisco Systems, etc.

HBCU’s need to make at least HTML and XML coding classes mandatory or at least an Oracle or Microsoft class and not let our kids skate through.

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Michael Vick Re-United With Nike

Thank goodness! I’m so glad to hear the news that Michael Vick was re-united with sports super powerhouse Nike. The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick.

Thank goodness! I’m so glad to hear the news that Michael Vick was re-united with sports super powerhouse Nike. The deal was announced during a panel discussion at the Sports Sponsorship Symposium by Michael Principe, the managing director of BEST, the agency that represents Vick. I knew that Nike would seriously reconsider after seeing that Michael Vick’s jersey is one of the top 10 selling football jerseys on The NFL Shop website. Nike, always one to make money, know they have a goldmine.

Michael Vick returns to Nike

Michael Vick returns to Nike

In another blog, I already broke down the numbers of the Michael Vick sales and it adds up very quickly. See The Spinks Industries blog here. Nike fully knows that once people forget about the past that Michael Vick merchandise will represent huge numbers for them. Especially if he returns to top form, which I expect him to sooner rather than later. Let me put it this way for all you non-believers: Mike Vick can move the ball down the field better than Oakland Raiders quarterback JaMarcus Russell who can’t even put up touchdowns yet has a $31 Million guarantee in his contract.

I rest my case. Mike Vick will return to prominence. Let me go ahead and order my new Michael Vick Eagles jersey and order a new Atlanta Falcons throwback jersey. Finish Line NBA

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slzZKE_S6CA&feature=player_embedded]

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Black America Wealth Planning

The key, which people heavily overlook and simply do not like to do, is to write it down and hold your self accountable to your own plan. You don’t need a bunch of business books telling you this.

Getting started building wealth is about making a plan, creating a goal, and executing your plan on a daily, weekly, and/or monthly basis. Whatever your wealth objective is; create a plan. If you’d like to earn $1,000 in the next month, write down that goal and create a plan to help you get to that goal. If you’d like to earn $4 Million per year, write it down as a goal and develop a strategic plan in writing to get you to that point. Your plan will serve as your navigational map and will get you up and out of your present situation.

Home Built by RMT Construction of Lithonia GA

Home Built by RMT Construction of Lithonia GA

Your plan needs to correspond to where you are in your life right now. If you are young, in your teenage years, and want to buy a car, you should start with a small plan. Sometimes it may be unrealistic for you to buy a car when you are 16, 17, or even 25 so you’ve got to go with a realistic plan that will help you get to that ultimate goal.

Create a plan that details how you will earn enough income to afford the monthly payments, the insurance, and gas. Get a job on the side that pays you enough to clear these expenses so that you can afford to buy and keep the car. If you have a plan to go to college but have no idea how you’re going to get there, write down the goal and begin to scour the Internet for grants and loans that will help you get into college. If the United States government has money for a war, it has money set aside for you to attend college regardless of how much or how little money your parents make.

If your goal is to earn $250,000 annually, again, write this down on paper or on the computer so that it is documented and write down a plan to get there. The plan will have to include much more than just getting the job that will pay you $50,000 per year. But, the job is at least a start. Now you need to lay down the strategic plan to make up the additional $200,000 in income annually. The plan needs to include options on generating income in other ways and must be highly realistic. Maybe some additional income comes from being a Google Affiliate Network marketer or a Market Leverage affiliate marketer that you operate as a side hustle.

The key, which people heavily overlook and simply do not like to do, is to write it down and hold your self accountable to your own plan. You don’t need a bunch of business books telling you this. You need to write the plan down and then actualize the plan and be accountable to your own plan. Don’t let yourself slack. You owe it to yourself to make the plan and the dream work. It’s all you have in this crazy economy.

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How To Become The Best

My friend Mike Pechina, an Olympic Judo Champion from San Bruno, California, always says “Repetition is the Mother of All Greatness”. Become the best is not an overnight thing. Becoming the best whatever you choose in your life has everything to do with constant action and effort.

My friend Mike Pechina, an Olympic Judo Champion from San Bruno, California, always says “Repetition is the Mother of All Greatness”. Become the best is not an overnight thing. Becoming the best whatever you choose in your life has everything to do with constant action and effort. No one person has a lock on being the best. Mary J. Blige may be the best R&B singer. P. Diddy may be the best urban clothing designer. Why? How? Why is Lil Wayne the best rapper alive? How did they do it? How did they get there?

Judo Champion Mike Pechina

Judo Champion Mike Pechina

There is no secret to being the best. There is no magic wand. I knew Puffy when he had a black and white business card with a little baby boy on it. I met him at the Gavin Convention and he was just starting out. He just kept going at it. This is your key to becoming the best you. Find out your passion and then just stay at it until it starts to pay. The key is doing it until you start to see financial results. Unless you’re not in it for money. But, if you’re in it to make money, keep after it every single day.

Do not wait until some magical condition or some magical moment to start being the best you. I heard someone say that they were waiting until all things were perfect and until things started popping off to get going. This is ignorant. There is no thing to wait for. Websites are free now on WordPress. You don’t need a ton of money to get cracking. You need passion, energy, commitment, and work effort to become the best.

Aim high and shoot straight and keep doing your thing every single day. Even do it 7 times per day if you can. The key in being the best lies within you. Only you will determine how high and how far you can go. And remember, you can be down and behind in the count and still hit the ball out of the park.

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Derrion Albert – Lessons Learned

The key to staying alive and protecting ya neck as a black kid is to know when to fight and know when to run. The key is knowing when to run and not letting pride and ego overcome you. Kids will never put down weapons in the ‘hood.

When I was growing up in a rough neighborhood in Peoria, Illinois, the one thing we learned is to never go around a beefing crowd. The murder of the youngster Derrion Albert is very unfortunate. The one thing about crowds is that they get very hyped unnecessarily. I watched the video on Huffington Post, which I’ve decided to not post here, and he got cold clocked by someone who was literally standing right next to him.

Derrion Albert Killers caught on film

Derrion Albert Killers caught on film

In a crowd, you can’t tell your friends from your enemies. And sometimes you have frienemies around you in a hostile crowd. This is a sad state of affairs to see a young black child die in such a senseless manner. But my mother was right. Keep your kid away from the ‘hood if you want your kid to stay alive. The ‘hood is nothing but negativity and people wildin’ out. I pray for Derrion Alberts family in this difficult time but word to black youth: stay away from the crowd and when a fight breaks out, down run into the tornado; run away from it.

I know this is difficult especially when you see your friends caught up in the tornado but these crowds always get onlookers who you don’t know. In Oakland, I saw a huge riot one day near Castlemont High School. The crowd had built up a frenzy and you couldn’t tell which side which kids were on. I decided to NOT jump into the crowd and help because I couldn’t tell friend from foe. I encourage all black kids to stay out of the fray. When the crowd becomes an angry mob, head in the other direction even if you believe it’s braver to head into the storm.

The key to staying alive and protecting ya neck as a black kid is to know when to fight and know when to run. The key is knowing when to run and not letting pride and ego overcome you. Kids will never put down weapons in the ‘hood. It’s too dangerous and most people believe they need to protect themselves. So, I stayed alive by knowing how to stay away from the ‘hood and stay away from senseless mobs. Prayers to the Derrion Albert family and friends who have to deal with this.

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Kimbo Slice Is A Total Sham

Kimbo Slice is a total and complete sham and should retire from any MMA fights. He should think of another way to raise and feed his six kids.

Whenever I used to watch this ghetto street fighter named Kimbo Slice fight in back alleys on the Internet via Youtube, I would always question the ability of his opponent. I watched him fight a police officer who had ground game and as soon as the fight went to the ground, they stopped the fight and brought it to Kimbo’s strength of standing up trading blow to blow.

Supposed MMA fighter Kimbo Slice

Supposed MMA fighter Kimbo Slice

Any real fighter would tell you that to cater to a fighter’s strength only is not real fighting. Yes Kimbo Slice is a tough dude. Yes, he can beat the average cat in the club that’s rushing the talent he is hired to protect. Yes, he can beat the crap out of the dude in the backyard in Miami. But, to sell us on the fact that he could really fight was a joke.

I don’t think anyone in any real fight circles ever thought he could fight. His image was tough and gruesome on Youtube when he became a street phenom. Now, Dana White is painting this dude as a family man with six kids to support at home. This is a joke and Kimbo Slice is a joke to any real Mixed Martial Arts fighter or fan. I don’t want to see someone get knocked out in 14 seconds by another dude with pink hair like Kimbo Slice did.
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I have watched MMA since my good friend Adisa Banjoko hipped me to it with the Gracie brothers way back in the early 1990s. We would watch this at my home in East Oakland and at Adisa’s home in San Bruno like religion. We were glued to the screen and would have friends over to watch these fights not because of the blood and gore but because we were impressed with Royce Gracie and his whole entire family and Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

We are devout MMA fans because of skill and talent not because someone can beat the crap out of someone in the streets. We are fans of Willy Cahill in San Bruno, California because Mr. Cahill is the best in the world and trains the best fighters in the world. Kimbo Slice is a total and complete sham and should retire from any MMA fights. He should think of another way to raise and feed his six kids.

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John Madden NFL 2010 Bay Area Tournament

I first started playing Madden kind of late in the game back in 2009 when I first bought my XBOX.


Madden 2010
is again off the chain. I first started playing Madden kind of late in the game back in 2009 when I first bought my XBOX. I immediately fell in love with the game and this was the best graphics I had ever seen in a football game. I was originally a first person shooter type of dude that only played Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six Las Vegas.

NFL Madden 2010 Tournament

NFL Madden 2010 Tournament

After a few home based tournaments in my condo in Atlanta, my crew urged me to get the Madden ‘09 and play tournaments. What did this start?! It was crazy! I began having tournaments in the condo in Atlantic Station which then spawned tournaments at my friends’ house, and in turned spawned tournaments in some of Atlanta’s hottest sports bars on big screen TV’s. It was insane and I was hooked.

This year, I came out to the Bay Area and went to go see a movie in Brentwood, California at a theatre called Rave. I talked to the manager because I fell in love with the huge 3D big screen and the sheer awesomeness of this theatre. He tells me that the dude at Gamespot across the street wants to do a NFL Madden NFL 2010 tournament. Say no more. I got on it immediately and organized a tournament with my friends at KMEL radio station and the organizers of Midnight Basketball.

This is going to be a phenomenal tournament. I will post tournament details soon.

All posts are original content by Gerard Spinks Publishing, LLC, Atlanta, GA USA