Useless Information?

 

YouthUSA's Public Facebook Page makes doing something positive for youth 

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By Eric Stradford, USMC Retired

AMWS, February 27, 2013, Atlanta – Useless information is among the greatest challenges to the self-proclaimed, Marine Corps-trained “information specialist.” It falls somewhere between one’s educational, social and recreational vision of the whole person one hopes to be.

Today’s information-driven society and our sustained economy of haves and have-nots somehow perpetuate the oxymoron, “Digital Divide.” In case the term has not yet germinated in your temporal economy, this figure of speech uses seeming contradictions that threaten the security of anybody on the wrong side of the crack.

The national security threat is just being defined in national political debates. We hear Wall Street Bail-Out, Fiscal Cliff, Debt Ceiling, and Spending Cuts without considering the impact of negative words on the economy. “Economic security” or financial security is the condition of having stable income or other resources to support a standard of living now and in the foreseeable future. In the United States, children's economic security is indicated by the income level and employment security of their families or organizations.

As Chief Information Officer for Youth Achievers USA Institute, my job entails surfing a tsunami of useless information that threatens future generations of historically disadvantaged Americans. For too many of them, navigating Digital Divide is like crossing the middle passage endured by their historically disadvantaged ancestors. Swimming seems to be a logical solution, but getting into the water is a scary first step to take. Among the measurable outcomes are higher percentages of unbanked neighbors, more failed businesses, limited access to employment opportunities, reduced value in educational systems, higher percentages of incarceration, and more folks getting killed because somebody couldn’t see the value in you. At the same time, too many disadvantaged information consumers buy portable devices that barely graze their information needs.

Ordinarily, a volatile issue such as Digital Divide has incited apathy over action. Let’s face it! It’s easier to sweep stuff under a rug than bend over, pick it up, take it to the trash, and put the trash out on the curb for the garbage men to collect.

When the garbage truck came this morning, a mechanical arm picked up the uniformed receptacle, over the top of the truck and dumped the trash into the truck without spilling. The reality of a Digital Divide became ever so clear. Somebody watched the Jetsons cartoon, and incorporated a vision into a reason to learn. The visionary invented something that turned my dream of becoming an uneducated, underpaid garbage man into a nightmare of being unqualified for employment as a deployable refuse retrieval engineer.

As the wheels on the truck went round and round, some seemingly useless information popped in with a childhood memory to disturb an otherwise uneventful day. Come on, you know the song. Sing along.

“Wake me, Shake me, Don’t let me sleep to late. (Bom Bom Bom)
Gotta get up in the mornin’ about a quarter to eight.
I had a dream, had a dream, (Well) I looked over yonder, and what did I see?
I saw two great big garbage trucks comin’ after me.
Ridin’ side by side and I said,
Swing down sweet garbage truck and let your buddy ride

The actual work put off by this momentary distraction was a charitable mission to change the reality of Digital Divide. Today’s task was to reach out to more than a hundred university presidents, chancellors and care-takers for a partnership that targets investments for their students. I’m still struggling to recall exactly when and where this mission became my life’s work.

As a U.S. Marine, I attended the Defense Information School and worked with some of the most creative people on the planet. There was Chas Henry, a combat correspondent who could move information from a battlefield to a radio or television control room without breaking a sweat. I met Henry and career broadcaster Eudith Austin Rodney during my early days as a Military Broadcast Information Specialist. In retrospect, my list of learning assets seems endless.

Just recently, 21^st century social media bridged my own information divide between past and present. On Facebook, I ran into Randy “Ranbo” Gaddo, Steve Merrill and Renaldo Keene whose information strategies impacted national news in the Sex for Secrets espionage trial of Marine Sergeant Clayton Lonetree. A Marine photojournalist, known today as Ray Tademy, PhD, captured the essence of a national news media pool that included notable national correspondents George Curry and Joe Johns. Lessons learned from other media professionals remind me of the value in our words. I also connected with my sister Mattie in Mississippi, nephew DeLon in Ohio, and great niece Lakeisha in Florida for a live chat. I’m connecting with kin and cousins I never knew or have since forgotten. My bride, boss, and BFF, Stephanie reconnected with hundreds of friends from her Alma Mater, Philadelphia High School for Girls.

One of the most extensive demonstrations of inclusivity has been a group of connected church members on Facebook. In this particular group 13,432 members from around the world gather when they want, to say whatever comes to mind, and then move on. A conversation started by Richard F. Norris III, spanned four days and drew more than a hundred comments and “likes.” “One of my pet peeves in our church is that I see churches that have an Assistant Pastor, when in fact, in the A.M.E. Church, there is no such thing as an Assistant Pastor,” posted Norris.

The comment came as I weighed my own “pet peeve” against some needs for sweeping institutional reform. Norris’ post stimulated a memory of my late father. Depending on the appointed pastor and the time, The Reverend James Milton Stradford might have been recognized as assistant pastor, associate pastor, pulpit associate, or just Rev. Some folks from Smoots Chapel and Grace Mission AME Churches also knew him as pastor. Co-workers in a West Virginia Coal Mine and at the Chase Brass and Copper foundry called him Jimmy. My nieces and nephews remember him as “Big Dad.” I choose to remember him and my mom daily through The Reverend James and Alma Stradford Fund of YouthUSA.

The Reverend Dr. Calvin H. Sydnor, Editor of the church’s newspaper, inclines an unofficial ear to the dialogue which probably helps people feel better about some historically unmet information needs. Economist and Christian Educator Bill Dickens chimed in, “we indeed do things out of custom. In addition to the practice/custom of Assistant Pastor, note the custom of some churches having a 'co-Pastor'. The BOD (Book of Discipline or Doctrine and Discipline) doesn't sanction this title either.”

Today, Elder Willem S. Hanse, a church leader from South Africa, posted, “I do not know how the Lay Organization does it, but when General Conference comes a couple a questions arise every 4 years: first the channeling of funds question.” Depending on where one sits in church, the “channeling of funds” issue opens either Pandora’s Box or a window for pouring out a blessing.

The elder raised a piercing partnership concern that requires change in our applications of useful information. The Connectional Lay Organization and specifically the Connectional Lay Economic Development Corporation is one of the pressure points between the historic African Methodist Episcopal Church and its constituency of historically disadvantaged Christians. Speaking of an “oxymoron,” how can a true believer in the endless, sovereign power and authority of God Almighty be economically disadvantaged?

Some evidence of the need for change arose in an assertion by Allen University student Carl T. Watson concerning the Historically Black College’s four year graduation rate. A USNEWS online source reported a four year graduation rate of “2,” which astonished church leaders in the conversation. In response, Youth Achievers USA Institute immediately invited 106 university presidents to partner on behalf of their students.

“There is an old saying, If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Too many of our young people are tall timbers in the forest of life and no one is hearing them when they fall, struggle or are hurt. Our young people are falling and no one is hearing or seeing them,” posted Rev. Dr. Grainger Browning.

From Carl T. Watson’s perspective, there’s a need for change, but change agents are challenged by perceived barriers between what they see and what needs to be. “There are a lot of things there that need to be investigated by you Dr. Sydnor…,” posted Watson.

In all fairness, Allen University’s top priority is the student, supported by a vision of outstanding educational facilities, financial support, technologically furnished classrooms, and extracurricular activities, according to the institution’s website. The value in the information available ultimately influences its usefulness as an asset and therefore not a liability.

The truth is, there is no shortage of useful information or resources …JUST RESOURCEFULNESS.