Dear Kobe

Dear Kobe,

We have never met, but I love you. It is only appropriate that I start with that truth. I never thought of my admiration for you as love until the news of your passing reached me yesterday on January 26, 2020. Why would I shed tears for someone I never met before? Impact. Life is not measured in years; it is measured in the magnitude of our impact on others. While many of us may feel you were prematurely taken from us, the truth is, you remain with us. Your legacy remains through the lives you have touched.

I grew up rooting for your fellow competitor Iverson, so that meant, at times I was rooting against you. As my love for the game grew, so did my respect for you. Eventually I would start rooting for you too. I admired your approach to the game. You never cheated the game. You put in the work and you got the results. Your accolades speak volumes. As I grew older, I began to appreciate your work ethic even more and started to try and imitate it in my own life. How I approached my studies. How I approached my work, like you, I didn’t want to cheat the game. More importantly I did not want to rob myself of the potential that God gave me. As you demanded more of yourself, I demanded more of myself.

Your life is your greatest work – its your masterpiece. Who you are spoke and still speaks volumes. It is not what a man professes but how he lives that shows what he truly believes. You lived and breathed the Mamba Mentality. Your life became a project of what you would become if you put in the work. You became the Black Mamba, which is all about the pursuit of excellence. The Mamba Mentality stands for attention to detail, focus, work-ethic, and becoming the best version of yourself. I also love how you added depth to what it means to be the Black Mamba – it started off being the pursuit of excellence but later was combined with loving your family well and pouring into the next generation.

It is hard to say goodbye but to move forward I will honor your legacy by living the Mamba Mentality. I will commit myself to the pursuit of excellence, loving my family well, and pouring into the next generation – to me that is the Mamba Mentality.

Jeff#MambaMentality

Kenneth Frazier – Black History

Most people think I dreamed of coming to law school because I dreamed of becoming a lawyer. While that is a fair assumption it would be wrong! I am a businessman. I have wanted to be one since I was young and my desire to go to law school has been to further that end. I believe that legal training is superior training that can be used for whatever endeavor you want. Kenneth Frazier is a perfect example of that. Ken doesn’t have an MBA, all he has is a law degree from Harvard, that didn’t stop him from becoming the CEO of Merck.

Ken is from Philadelphia, where he and his two siblings were raised by his father who had a third-grade equivalent education. Ken’s mother died when he was 12. Ken would start his career at Drinker Biddle, a Philadelphia based law firm, where he would make partner. While a partner at Drinker Biddle, Merck & Co was one for Ken’s clients. He joined Merck as it’s general counsel. As general counsel, Ken oversaw the defense against claims that Vioxx had caused heart attacks and strokes. Analysts estimate a potential legal liability of $20-50 billion dollars. He fought the cases in court and the remaining were settled for $4.85 billion.

Additionally, as a pro bono representation, Ken represented death row inmate James Willie “Bo” Cochran who had been accused of murder. After 19 years on death row, the 11^th circuit overturned the Bo’s conviction. Ken also notably stepped down from President Trump’s American Manufacturing Council after the Charlottesville riots and Ken served as chairman of a special investigation committee involving the sex abuse scandal of Jerry Sandusky of Penn state football. Ken Fraizer, we salute you.

Source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Frazier)

Mellody Hobson – Black History

Mellody Hobson is one of my favorite businesspeople. Mellody is the Co-CEO of Ariel investments, one of the largest African American owned asset managers in the country with nearly $13 billion in assets under management. Let me just cut to the chase with Mellody, she is one of my favorite businesspeople for stories like this. Mellody Hobson was presented with the opportunity to work on Bill Bradley’s 2000 presidential campaign. She didn’t want to leave Ariel, but she didn’t want to pass up this opportunity, so she said the following to Bill, “I will work for you part-time in the evenings, but I will give you full-time effort and you will never feel like I work for you part-time.” (as stated in “The Path Redefined: Getting to the Top on Your Own Terms” by Lauren Bias). So, for almost two years, she would work at Ariel from 6am to 3pm and then work for Bill from 4pm to 10pm, you know, MambacitaMentality. It has been said that Mellody’s work ethic and connections made from this experience caused people to offer her opportunities to sit on corporate boards. Mellody has either sat on or currently sits on the following boards: DreamWorks Animation, Ariel Investments Trust, JPMorgan Chase, Chicago Public Education Fund, Starbucks Corporation, and The Estee Lauder Companies. Additionally, Mellody is married to film director George Lucas. Overall Mellody Hobson is a beast. We salute you Mellody.

Source (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellody_Hobson)

Ted Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/mellody_hobson_color_blind_or_color_brave?language=en)

Kobe Bryant – Black History

The most profound message I learned from Kobe was to completely exhaust myself in pursuit of maximizing my God-given talent. Kobe lived this.

I can’t help but think of the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30). In the parable, a wealthy man gives each of his three servants money (called Talents) to oversee until he returns from a trip. He gives one servant 5 talents, one servant 2 talents, and another servant 1 talent. On his return, he judges every servant according to what he did with the talents he was given. It is important to note that no servant was judge based on the talents given to another servant, only based on the talent given to him.

Kobe was a man who was entrusted with immense talent, but he was a man who was laser focused on maximizing his God-given talent. He never rested on his laurels. Kobe was the man who was the most talented player on the court but was also the hardest working. He had the heart of Rudy Ruettiger.

When asked what Kobe wants to be remembered for, he had this to say., ““I’ve always said that I wanted to be remembered as a player that didn’t waste a moment. Didn’t waste a day. I felt extremely blessed with a God-given talent. At the same time, I didn’t take it for granted at all. So if I could be remembered as a person with a lot of talent, but did everything he could to overachieve and lived every day like if he’s was the 12th guy on the bench. I think that is a very powerful message to have and something that hopeful the hopefully the players that are here now and those that come later will choose to embody as well.”

Jordan is remembered as the greatest ever. Lebron is recognized as the most gifted player ever, but Kobe has been memorialized as the hardest working ever. The most determined, focused player we have seen. The question is what are you doing with what you have been given? You will not be judged based on the talents that were given to Kobe. You will be judged based on the talents given to YOU. What are you doing to maximize your God-given talent? What will the master say when he returns about how you used what he gave you? I pray that we all proceed with the Mamba mentality.

When we retire from whatever our craft is, our prayer should be to retire empty. We want to be able to say that we left it all on the court. That we gave the game everything we had and like Kobe we can retire satisfied and at peace.

Fans love to do it, especially me, but you will notice Kobe rarely engaged in GOAT talk. He once said that he doesn’t have time to engage in arguments that he cannot objectively win, pointing to the fact that its one man’s opinion vs another man’s opinion. Kobe just let his dedication to the game do the talking and for that reason I respect Kobe of all the greats. Kobe has the mentality that I tap into when I want to overcome a great obstacle. Kobe is the one has a life that embodies my favorite parable, do everything in your power to maximize your God-given talent. This is the Mamba Mentality. Thank you, Kobe.

Aaron Albert Mossell – Black History

Today we honor Aaron Albert Mossell. Aaron graduated from Penn Law in 1888, making him the first African American to earn a law degree from Penn. Aaron was born on November 3, 1863 in Ontario, Canada, making him approximately 25 years old when he graduated from Penn Law. Aaron was the great grandson of enslaved people. I am sure they would be proud of what he accomplished. Aaron came from a family that apparently taught the importance of hard work. Aaron’s father, Aaron senior had a brick laying business. Charles, Aaron’s eldest brother graduated from Lincoln University, studied theology in Boston, then became a missionary to Haiti. Nathan, Aaron’s brother became the first African American to graduate from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
Aaron Mossell would go on to practice law in Philadelphia in various capacities. He would marry and divorce Mary Louisa Tanner. Not before having three children who would carry on the family legacy, Aaron Albert Mossell, Elizabeth Mossell Anderson, and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander. Aaron – the son became a pharmacist in Philadelphia, Elizabeth became dean of women at Virginia State College and later at Wilberforce University, and Sadie….Sadie held it down. Sadie became the first African American to receive a PhD in Economics, and then the first African American woman to earn a Penn Law degree and be admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar.
What a legacy, we salute you Aaron Albert Mossell. Thank you for paving a way of excellence, determination, and no excuses.

Public discourse, Family Engagement

When I observe the political debates that take place in the public square it often makes me laugh or shake my head. From various points within the political spectrum, vitriol is spewed toward the “other” on a regular basis. Words such as “bigot”, “moron” “idiot” “Bible thumper”, etc are commonly used to refer to people in which we disagree.

I wish our public discourse could be more like the discourse within my own family. Anyone who knows me knows I am VERY opinionated, and I will back down from no man alive, with respect to my opinions. Mi Familia is rather similar. In my family we have followers of Christ, followers of self, republicans, democrats, independents, liberals, conservatives, ratchet people, ordained ministers, financially wealthy, financially broke, gay, straight, etc, etc, etc.

In other words so many of the points that have been used to divide our country, live comfortably together within my own family. We debate, we argue, we discuss, we reason together, and we have real differences, but none of our disagreements outweigh our love for each other and because all of the disagreements and discussions are done in the context of love and respect for one another these issues do not divide us. If it is possible for my family and I suspect many other families then, why is it not possible for my country? I wish America behaved more like my family.

The Value of Black Life in America

Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Jordan davis, Eric Garner, Dontre Hamilton, John Crawford III, Ezell Ford, Dante Parker, Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley, Tamir Rice, Rumain Brisbon, Jerame Reid, Tony Robinson, Phillip White, Eric Harris, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Samuel dubose, Oscar grant. WHO IS NEXT? This is a non-exhaustive live of black bodies that have been killed due to senseless violence. The vast majority of these people were killed at the hands of police officers.

What do I say to all this violence? America doesn’t care about black people. What do I mean by that statement? I mean this: America doesn’t care about black people. As long as America has existed it has left a “trail of tears” or a stream of blood. America with its imperial ways has shed the lives and pillaged the communities of Native Americans, has ripped African’s from their families and captured them from there continent to be forced in to lives of servitude and slavery. Raping black women, taking from their sons, daughters, for their own sinful pleasures and leaving there husbands powerless to stop it, only having the knowledge that they could not protect their own wives.

America has permitted some of the most heinous crimes in history. Don’t you dare try to be the moral police of the world when your own closest is not even clean? America’s bloody past is perpetuated today with racial profiling, police killing black people, and the inequality faced by minorities in this country. Why is this the case? Because America has devalued the black body, America has devalued black people to something they consider worthless. This is the only way that you could participate in something as cruel as the transatlantic slave trade and not have you conscience rip you apart. You have to rationalize in your mind that these people are sub-human. We still seem the legacies and remnants of this thinking in 2015.

Who is to blame? All of us have, so many of us have bought into this lie. It is far reaching in its destruction, the devaluing of black people. Are contributions are heavily relegated to entertainment and are less accepted in more serious endeavors like academics, law, politics, science, etc. Are young people have bought into this lie. The darker your skin, the more out of favor you find yourself. The lighter your skin the more attractive you are to potential suitors. Africa is the butt of many jokes as early as elementary school as some place that is primitive, dark, disgusting and un-enlightened. Black women are devalued aesthetically (Example Serena Williams). While white/Eurocentric versions of beauty are held up as the standard and the closer you are to that Eurocentric standard of beauty the more attractive you are. The further you are from the standard the uglier you are. Black men kill other black men like it’s a sport. Some will kill simply for initiation into a group, to feel accepted; others will kill simply because of the color someone is wearing. All kill because they have a deficit in their understanding of the value of that person’s life. Many of them don’t even value their own life.

Go to the dictionary and look up the definitions for the word “black” and then the word “white”. Some of those definitions reflect the sentiments that we see in society. The devaluing of black people is a far reaching phenomenon. It has reached every sphere of society from church, to academia, to professional life and it is perpetuated in part by images of the media. We have elected the first black president and it seems while he was in office the value of black life has not increased. President Obama has spoken several times on race with regards to Travyon martin and Henry Louis Gates for example. He has also come up with an initiative known as “My Brother’s Keeper, of which black males stand to benefit and I think these examples are great. I still think we have a long way to go before black people are fully valued in this society.

An entire academic dissertation could be written on this topic. I won’t do that today, but when you have video evidence of black people being murdered by police and you’re not sure if the officer will get off with a slap on the wrist or not, we have issues in this society. None of this is new. How dare you show more concern for a lion then a person? Lion King was one of my favorite childhood movies of all time but brothers and sisters are dying in the street EVERYDAY. Value your brother. Value your sister because America doesn’t know how to do that and they need someone to show her how it’s done. Black is beautiful. Black men are Kings. Black women are Queens. So act like it. We need to stop killing each other and we also need the law to start valuing our lives and hold murderers of black lives responsible; whether it’s another black person, a police officer, etc.

My trip to Belize: July 2015

First of all I just want to thank Jesus for the awesome opportunity to go to Belize. I had a great time. The kids were amazing. I met people from all over the country and all over the world, it was a phenomenal trip. It was amazing how much could be accomplished in just three short days with the kids.

My partner and I had 3 students, one of our students was immediately identified as a high performer. She was outgoing, courageous, well-spoken and just a leader in general. We had another student who was extremely shy. She didn’t want to speak, write, or type. She just wanted to use hand gestures, and shake her head to communicate.

Although this particular student was shy, I knew she had something to contribute so I told my partner, before these 3 days is up we are going to connect with this student, this is a personal mission of mine. I have come to find that people naturally are drawn to the “high performers” people want to invest resources into the best in the brightest but I was naturally drawn to working with this student that I perceived to be a diamond in the rough.

Over the course of the 3 days I worked with her and invested extra time into her and she began to open up to me gradually. The kids were working on an idea that they would have to present on Day 3 and on Day 2, this student came up to me and was like Jeff can you show me what I have to do, please show me how to do it. I was so happy because this girl wouldn’t say anything, she would only shake or nod her head or talk so low that you couldn’t decipher what she said.

She was really scared at the thought of presenting in front of a room full of people, when we were working on the power point, she was fine with typing in front of me, but when the other members of the group came over, she refused to type, saying she typed to slow, so I had to tell the other members to work with my partner on the other side of the room while I continue to work with this particular student. That’s how shy and self-conscious she was.

The day of the presentation she rocked it! Even during some of our dry runs. A weird thing happened right before my team went up to present. I looked at two of my students and said are you all ready? And the “high performer” told me she was scared so I had to reassure her and my particularly “shy” student told me that she was going to do good!

I was so proud when she got up in front of the entire camp and presented, she did awesome. I knew she could do it! The transformation that took place in her over 3 days was great. Throughout the 3 days it was hard to tell if I was reaching her or not but she gave me the bracelet that says “My treasure” in Spanish and wrote me a really nice message on my shirt.

Teaching in this context was one of the best things I can remember being a part of. Giving of yourself to someone else is an awesome action and the rewards are great. I know all of those kids have the potential to do great things so I was happy to share what I know with them. I expect great things from them all!

#LoveWon

Warning* Extremely long post. Feel free to read some, all, or to simply ignore.

*Please note – reading this post may inspire random acts of love and Christlike behavior (that is my hope, not a guarantee)

One of the things I love about the Christian message is how through Jesus two seemingly irreconcilable parties are brought together. God is a God of righteousness and his standards are perfection, a standard that none of can reach. Yet God is a God of love and his heart looks upon us with compassion. How do these two concepts merge? Well they intersect at the cross of Christ. There is where eternal righteousness and unconditional love meet. What does this mean? This means that God loved us so much that he wasn’t going to just allow us to perish without making a way of escape. Jesus knew that we fail short and had no hope of reaching his perfect standard on our own, but he also knew that he being a righteousness God could not just overlook sin, this would be an assault to his own perfect holiness. So what is a Righteous, loving God to do? Enter in sacrifice. Jesus became the atonement for our sin. Jesus being perfect and without sin could himself pay the penalty for our sins. So because Jesus loved you and us he swept sin under the rug? No. Overlooked sin? No. Said well everyone sin’s so we must change the rules? No. Because Jesus loved us he took the penalty of our sin on himself.

That’s the beauty of the Christian message, (not that sin is not a big deal to God, because it absolutely is) but because he loved us enough to take the penalty of sin himself so that we wouldn’t have to. What are we to do with this? Continue sinning because we think grace has given us a license to sin? God forbid. “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” (Romans 5:20). The Gospel is while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. (Rom 5:8).

Let us rejoice in the fact that Jesus died for us. Concerning recent events Jesus has given us an example on how to live and treat people in the Gospel. What is that example? That we love people without condition; that we realize that we are saved by Grace through faith, (not by works, lest any man should boast Eph 2:8); and also that we call sin, sin. (Isaiah 5:20 woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!)

Loving your neighbor and having the courage of your convictions are not mutually exclusive tasks (ex: Jesus). Christians – love your gay neighbors just as Jesus would. It is our job to love outrageously, stand for truth regardless of its popularity, and allow the Holy Spirit to convict. How did you come to Jesus yourself? Probably not through criticism, name calling, or getting bashed in your head by someone else’s Bible but it probably had to a lot to do (all) with the calling of God and the prompting and convicting of the Holy Spirit

I encourage you to stand for truth in a loving way. Have the courage of your convictions but also have the mind of Christ because they are not mutually exclusive. Have dinners with people who are different than you. One of the things I love doing is having dinner with people who have a completely different worldview from my own whether they are an atheist or homosexual or whatever the case, not because they are my latest conversion project but because I genuinely love people and Jesus commanded me to love people. This is a person who was created in the image of God and whom Jesus died for and my theology is large and robust enough to believe that for the person even if they don’t believe it themselves.

The message is clear, we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Are we to be complicit with sin? God forbid, but you do not win souls through hate or intimidation, you do that through showing, living out, and embodying the love of the Savior Jesus Christ, because his love is irresistible and he thought you and your neighbor both were to die for, so why don’t we act like it?

Reconciliation in Light of Ferguson

Day 10 of “12 Days of Thanksgiving 2014”

Today is the tenth day of my “12 Days of Thanksgiving 2014”, and today I was going to share how thankful I am to be an American. Timing sometimes has a very interesting way of challenging your thoughts and intentions.

In light of recent events I will amend my statement to address a more urgent need. I am in deed thankful to be an American. Last night did not change something that has been building at this point for 25 years and counting. I however recognize that as an American, I have an obligation to pray for America just like you pray for that crazy uncle of yours who just can’t get right and embarrasses himself every time he comes around during the holidays.

Forgiveness takes one party, reconciliation requires at least two. Although I am thankful to be an American, America as it currently stands is woefully inadequate to fulfill its promise. America time and again has declared itself morally bankrupt and unwilling to cash the attempted withdraws of equality and equal value under the law for many of its own citizen.

I look at this as an opportunity to search the deep recesses of my own heart to see what role I can play in the healing of this nation, and towards reconciliation. We’ve reached this stage in our nation’s history because we have so many people who have such varied perspectives. It is only a small percentage of the populous that makes the effort to try and understand life from the perspective of someone different then him.
Now is not a time to blame and point the figure at the next person. Now is the time to look within ourselves to see what kind of role we can play in the healing of a nation. It starts with individuals all over the nation making a commitment to live a life of empathy towards people who are different then themselves.

I am a black man, so it is very easy for me to empathize with the plight of black men in America. It requires more work for me to empathize with women and how they are treated in society. Am I as passionate about the treatment that women endure in this country as I am about the black man? What about the Jewish immigrant? Or the Mexican worker? Am I taking time to read articles about their experience and research their history, and most importantly reaching out to them and holding conversations with them to gain a better understanding of their perspective?

If I am not yet doing these things than how can I demand that someone else do them for my benefit? Change must start somewhere and nothing will change until we all realize that all change must start within our own heart.

For Edmund Burke said that, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

So with that being said, it is still accurate to say that I am thankful to be an American. I am evening more thankful to be alive at such an important cross road in our nation’s journey to allow me to have a voice into the culture and an opportunity to effect positive change.

I will leave you with the immortal words of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”