For years I've heard the famous words of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have a Dream speech delivered perfectly from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial ten years before I was born. While this speech certainly isn't news to anyone, some may know that it was improvised right on site. It seems that Dr. King and his staff were so concerned with the logistics of the March on Washington as they had to help find places for people to stay who were denied hotel and transportation access that preparing his words were the least of his worries. What may be of lesser known knowledge is as he was preparing to end his speech and sit down we almost never heard the words, "I have a dream". It seems that if it wasn't for Mahalia Jackson's cry, "Tell them about the dream, Martin!" those inspiring words may have never been spoken that day. I've gone to Memphis and stood within feet of that famous balcony where he was shot and talked to native Memphisians and none of them I spoke with had ever even heard of this and it's not like these were uneducated people.
If I can make a stronger point, which I doubt but certainly will try-it is why have most of us never heard this in school? This is obviously a very important piece of history to be educated on regardless of race, creed or color. Recently after I gave a commencement address, it was pointed out the vast numbers of young people who made it to the 12th grade and decided they'd had enough of high school and disgracefully bowed out. How on earth can we remotely get them into a level of education where they can understand wealth building investments when we can't even get them past basic skills and let's not even mention the Atlanta cheating scandal right now. The questions and answers are many but none of them hardly new. To help shine the light on a few answers, I'm pleased to announce that Annie Mickle, founder of the ARM Foundation and happenstance by aunt, decided to take matters into her own hands and do something about it.
She frequently refers to the leadership principles from Gen. Colin Powell. According to Colin Powell, "One-third of our youth and fifty percent of African-Americans are not graduating. Our entire country needs to focus on helping with the dropout problem, which is huge and costly to our
nation. High school dropout often leads to low-paying jobs and jail. Cost to taxpayers a whopping 45K, which doesn't include the cost of administration, staff salaries, maintenance and health care. All you're doing is growing the prison population," said Colin Powell, former U.S. secretary of state and Alliance founder." "It's a farm system for the jail system. Did you know student drops out of high school roughly every 26 seconds? Parents, educators, community leaders and government officials need to develop a game plan to fight the dropout crisis."
Her result was creating a program to help students who have not completed high school get their GED's. She's been doing this successfully for the last several years and is looking to continue this annual event at Alexandria VA's Coast Guard Base. She has recruited a young lady who came into the Army as a private who wanted to be like her and transformed her into a Lieutenant Colonel and Battalion Commander. LTC Leslie Dillard will address the audience on the values of her education and how it has shaped her career. After addresses by both veterans, we would that a few of you strong believers in education will step forward and join a distinguished panel to discuss how we might combat today's educational deficiencies. We've invited several business and political guests and are looking forward to a powerful discussion. There will be plenty of food and we look to have a great time.
Cost: No cost to attend but there will be some really great gift baskets to bid on in the silent auction and we ask that you participate!
OK, OK - Just One Piece of Investment Advice!
What did President Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., Pablo Picasso, Sonny Bono, Lenny Bruce, Chris Farley, Florence Joyner, Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Tupac Shakur, Keith Moon, George Gershwin, John Coltrane, John Denver, Peter Lorre, Howard Hughes all have in common? They all died without wills. This leads to unnecessary expenses, dreaded taxes and complications. Court papers reveal that Coretta Scott King had to post a $20,000 bond for Dr. King's estate, while Tupac's camp had to shell out $250,000 which is not the kind of bill you want to face when you're grieving over a loved one! Be sure you have a will and if you have a secretary that knows a lot about you and your business, it's a very good idea to ensure that they are included. The more you're worth, the more the secretary's worth and the more the secretary is worth to your family when you're gone!
Anthony "Von" Mickle
-"If you think the cost of an education is expensive, try paying for ignorance" - Benjamin Franklin
