Dr. Rick Wallace, Odyssey Consortium Intensify Efforts in Black Community

DALLAS - March 17, 2015 - PRLog -- According to Dr. Rick Wallace, he knew that his efforts to play an integral role in empowering black people would be challenging, so he is not deterred by the fact that there has been very little success in raising the funds necessary to ensure that the programs that he has launched in the black community will be successful. Dr. Wallace, who has just finished with his 16^th book, The Mis-education of Black Youth in America: The Final Move on the Grand Chessboard, is extremely passionate about economic empowerment and the holistic education of our youth. His latest book focuses on the enigmatic issues that plague the current educational process, and he presents simple solutions that can be implemented immediately, while blacks work to generate the funding to build an educational system that is specific to the unique needs of the black community.

Because of the passion that Dr. Wallace has for the proper education of black youth, he launched the Black Community Empowerment Initiative, which is a program that is designed to go into inner city black neighborhoods in order to provide children with the type of teaching that will help them develop an identity that connects them to their purpose. When asked about how the program works, he responded:

“This program is designed with the understanding that academic attainment is not the totality of the educational experience, meaning that all of the gaps must be filled. Black children must be introduced to their true identity, which means that they must be taken through the annals of time to explore their history, but the history that is introduced to them must go beyond being a slave in this country. There is exceptionally more to being black than the experience of captivity and oppression that we have experienced here in America; however, our children are not exposed to our complete history. Now, this is not only the responsibility of the schools. In fact, it is the responsibility of black parents to ensure that their children understand who they are.

This program fills in the gap of those parents who are either unequipped or unwilling to fill in the blanks of their children’s identity. Not only are we teaching these children about their heritage, but we are reshaping their view of the current socioeconomic system and how they fit into it. We are teaching young black boys that owning their own business is not an option, it is an obligation if we want to facilitate the growth and prosperity of our race. We must engage the need to educate our youth holistically, through information and modeling…”

It does not take long to detect the passion that Dr. Wallace has for his people, as he puts it. He says that he will not allow the sluggish fundraising numbers to cause him to back off of his goal of absolute empowerment for the black race.

Something else that Dr. Wallace spoke about was the need for black leaders to embrace long-term visions. He says that one of the major problems that blacks face is that there is no long-term visions. “Everyone is looking for the quick fix, because everyone wants the glory. Black leaders are going to have to accept a couple of things if we want to be effective in leading our people. First of all, we have to stop attempting to be the next Marcus, Malcolm or Martin, and live in our own destiny, that may very well be greater, but we will never know as long as everyone is attempting to be something that they are not.

Next, we are going to have to accept the fact that total success may not come in our lifetime, especially those of us who have reached the midlife point in our lives. We have to be willing to invest in programs and systems that may not produce the desired results for 15, 20 or 30 years. You don’t undo 400 years of conditioning overnight. You don’t shake free of the psychological bonds of slavery instantaneously. You have to work yourself out of it through the same systematic approach through which you entered this state of oppressed thinking. I am sold out to the cause of giving my people what they need to work with in order to break free — their sense of self.”

Dr. Wallace is clear on the fact that blacks need to become more involved in the process. He points to the fact that blacks can support every other event and program that benefits those outside of the black community; however, they somehow find all types of creative reasons why they cannot support programs that are designed to benefit the black community. He says that until we learn how to focus our spending on things that have intrinsic value, and things that serve to elevate those who are in the black community, we will continue to find ourselves at the bottom of the socioeconomic order.

Anyone interested in supporting the Black Community Empowerment Initiative can donate by visiting http://www.gofundme.com/EducateBlackYouth