Follow this link the get the truth about the media’s role in creating Donald Trump.
The Virginia Festival of the Book – A Wonderful Experience
In March, Donna and I were presenting authors at the Virginia Festival of the Book. I participated in three events. On Wednesday March 16th, I talked with fifty students at Albemarle High School about preparing for success in college. Several of the students told me how much they appreciated the advice and how I shared it with them and the teachers were glad to hear their messages reinforced by someone the students enjoyed listening to.
Wednesday evening, I was one of two panelists discussing the adolescent mindset and the best ways to help students prepare for and have a successful college experience leading to graduation in four years with good grades and good job prospects. There was a standing room only audience who had sons and daughters in college or preparing to go so they were quite interested in our presentations. They demonstrated their interest by purchasing all the books I had brought for sale!
Finally, Sunday morning I briefly discussed College In Four Years at the Links of Charlottesville brunch for Festival authors who wrote books relevant to African Americans and/or people of color. I told the audience of 200 about the value of the book for students and parents and how it could be instrumental in helping them work together for success in college. The message resonated with them and they also purchased every book available for sale.
In addition to these presentations, I will be sharing more information with students in Charlottesville high schools in May.
Needless to say, I am thankful for the opportunity to participate in the Virginia Festival of the Book and thrilled with the reception College In Four Years got at all the events and with an opportunity to share information with more students in May. Take a look at the pictures below from the events.
Virginia Festival of the Book
A Review of: “The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race In America
I just published a review of “The Black Presidency: Barack Obama and the Politics of Race In America” by Dr. Michael Dyson. You can read it at:
http://www.afro.com/rating-the-first-black-president/
Let me know what you think.
The Virginia Festival of the Book
I want to let you know that I will be participating in the Virginia Festival of the Book later this month. Here’s a list of the events, dates, times and locations. I hope you can join me there:
Presentation of College in Four Years at Albemarle High School at 2775 Hydraulic Road, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901. The presentation will be at 10:30 AM on Wednesday March 16th.
A discussion of College In Four Years as part of the Virginia Festival of the Book at 6:00 PM on March 16th at the Northside Library at 705 Rio Road, West Charlottesville, Virginia 22901. The discussion will be from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM.
Participation in the 13th annual Celebration Brunch 11:30 AM–2:30PM at the Charlottesville Omni Hotel on Sunday, March 20, 2016 sponsored by the Links of Charlottesville where each author will briefly discuss his/her book.
Who Are State Colleges and Universities For?
I recently read an article about a disturbing trend in student demographics at state colleges and universities. Schools have been increasing the number of out-of-state students they accept and reducing the number of in-state students they accept. This is being done for money. Out-of-state students pay more tuition so schools want more of them to enhance their revenue each year. The result is that they are excluding more and more in-state students. At the University of Alabama, for example, 72% of freshman students were in state in 2004. In 2014, only 36% of incoming freshman students were from Alabama. If this trend continues, it will make college less attainable and affordable for state residents who support flagship state universities with their tax dollars.
Dr. Granville M. Sawyer, Jr. Appears on The Thornton Business Hour Wednesday, January 20, 11:00 AM, WOL 1450 AM
I’ll be the guest of Pat Thornton, on her radio show, The Thornton Business Hour on WOL 1450 AM tomorrow January 20th at 11:00. You can also listen to the live stream at http://woldcnews.newsone.com/ if you are outside of the listening area.
Pat and I will be talking about how to earn a college degree in less time with less stress for less money. If you would like to leave a comment or a question that you would like for me to answer during the show please do so in the comments section below and tag it #ThorntonBusinessHour.
African America Part II: Changing Demographics
In African America: What The Media Won’t Tell You, I wrote about growth in the African American population from “The Untold Story” – a Nielsen Corporation report. There are other important facts about us in this report I want to share with you. First, African Americans are, on average, younger than the non-hispanic white population – 31.4 years for African Americans versus 39 years for non-hispanic whites in America. This means that advertisers have a longer period to build brand loyalty with African Americans and that we should be careful about what companies we have long term relations with. Our dollars will be even more important to them in the future so we should spend them carefully.
This will be even more important in the future because Blacks in America are going to college in greater numbers than Whites in America – 70.9% of black high school graduates versus 67.3% for non-hispanic whites. This means we will consume longer with more money to spend because we are better educated. The impact of more Blacks going to college is also reflected in the increased African American presence in the STEM disciplines. In 2011, 6% of STEM professionals were Black up from only 2% in 1970.
Finally, Blacks in America are not just focused on making and spending more money. As our incomes rise at faster rates than non-hispanic whites, so does money allocated for the future in categories such as insurance policies, pensions and retirement savings. This is important because too much black wealth has been in real estate instead of financial assets. That’s why the real estate bubble that started the recession we’re recovering from now greatly reduced Black wealth in America.
This is just some of the information that shows African Americans will continue to play a more important economic and demographic role in American than what is shown in the media. Let me know what you think about this data. Next time I’ll share more information with you about how diverse the black population in America is. We’re not just one group of people.
A Review of ‘Where Everybody Looks Like Me’
I just published a review of “Where Everybody Looks Like Me” By Ron Stodghill on Afro.com. You can read it at:
http://www.afro.com/where-everybody-looks-like-me-and-the-challenges-facing-hbcus/
Let me know what you think.
African America: What The Media Don’t Tell You
I recently read a report done by the Neilsen Corporation on African American consumers in America which they titled “The Untold Story”. There is so much important information in this report that I am going to do a series of four posts on it. This post is an overview of the report and includes some very interesting statistics.
First of all, our numbers in America are increasing. From 2000 to 2014 the African American population in American grew 35% faster than the overall population of the country and more than twice as fast as the white population in America. You need look no further to better understand the anger and fear some white people are feeling as shown in the news media on a regular basis. By 2060, Nielsen estimates that the Black population in America will be 74.5 million comprising 17.9% of the total U.S. population.
We are also becoming more educated. The percentage of Black high school graduates enrolled in college was 70.9% exceeding that of both Whites and Hispanics. Also, the high school graduation rate rose to over 70% outpacing all other groups in America.
We are also making and spending more money. The percentage of black households making over $200,000 a year increased by 138% and African American income growth rates outpaced that of non-Hispanic Whites at every annual household income level above $60,000. The result is that African American consumers spend 1 trillion 100 billion dollars annually!
This is not the picture of African America you will see in the media but it is the truth – it is who we really are in America today. I’ll share more information with you in the next post. In the meantime, let me know what you think about these surprising facts. I’d like to hear from you.
In addition to the blog posts, I am going to begin podcasting my content in an effort to share information with more people. If you are interested in subscribing, please let me know in your comments about this post below.