Get Your Shirts!

And if you look on your right you will notice "Garvey's Ghost" T-shirts for sale. So what's the deal? Simply put I want to raise money for the Olatunji Foundation. Therefore; in addition to putting up my own cash to fund the Scholarship(s) offered there, I am putting up for a little something for those who support the endeavor. Now why is the "s" at the end of scholarship in parenthesis? Well to be frank, whether or not more than one scholarship will be awarded is entirely up to you hence the "(s)". Now how can we make this happen?

1) In order to fund all scholarships, pay bank fees, web hosting fees etc. we need at least 160 people to donate at least $25. Since we are paying for shirts we'll actually need more than that. That gets us 6 fully funded scholarships to students who display academic promise and are conscious Pan-Africanist minded to boot. At the time of this post over 5,200 unique people have loaded this blog. This month 550 people have visited this blog. If 10% of those numbers gave we would be in excellent shape.

2) If you know of students who fit the requirements for the scholarship let them know to apply. I first offered this scholarship last year and exactly 1 student called asking for information. That student did not apply though. Having been the only student had she met the minimum requirements she would have had $500 towards her fees and books. Oh well. While I am sending out mailings to financial aid offices and specific departments to advertise the scholarships, if the students don't apply I can't give the money away.

What is the Olatunji Foundation about? If you look at the advertisement to your right you'll see that we ask this question:

Who are we preparing?

If you visit just about any institution of higher learning you will find advertisements for fellowships and scholarships. Look at them. Ford Foundation, NSA, FBI, Dell, Microsoft, Abercrombie and Fitch, and various foundations and think tanks. Now look extra carefully are any of them from conscious black organizations? No I'm not talking about the Council of Negro Women. I'm not talking about the United Negro College Fund. Nor am I talking about the CBC foundation or the NAACP. None of these organization are Pan-Africanist. So when we see "negroes" graduating from schools of "higher learning" with absolutely no other purpose but to get paid why are we surprised? When we see a new generation of blacks with absolutely no clue why are we surprised? I remember how I was told that "black stuff" won't get you anywhere. They were right in a sense. I definitely was not going to get a scholarship while espousing the philosophies and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. Just imagine that essay. So the Olatunji Foundation was started as a means to address this glaring problem. We must fund our next generation.

This is Kujichagulia, Ujimaa and Ujamaa at work.

Now some people are thinking "I don't have $25." Maybe. If you went to the movies this month with a significant other (and live in a metropolis) you spent $25 on the tickets, gas, and food. If you took your wife or husband out to dinner for a birthday this year you already spent $25. If you bought two pairs of shoes from Payless Shoe stores you spent $25. Heck if you filled your gas tank at any time this summer you spent $25. Did you have a pizza? Did you pay for lunch this week? $25 gone.

The point here is that $25 is easy for anyone who is not "working poor". We do not need to be rich like Oprah or Bill Gates to make a significant change in our communities both local and global but we all have to do our part. Everyone has a part to play this is an opportunity to do a part. This is the time to put your money where your mouth is. Let's do this.

Let's Do This!

Technorati Tags: Blackanomics, Olatunji Foundation, Pan-Africanism