HOWARD BANKHEAD
Blog: January 2013
“What’s Going On?”
For over 20 years, I have cried out that we must “replace sex and violence with sax and violins”. With the Newtown Connecticut School shootings and the countless and senseless violence and vulgarity that our youth are exposed to daily… we must change. Even President Obama stated we must change in his speech concerning the Newtown tragedy. America has become too tolerable to all of the negative messages and marketing from Wall Street; Madison Avenue and Hollywood.
Now that I am in the life and business of youth development and while listening to Marvin Gaye’s album “What’s Going On” and the song “Save the babies”, I have become more aware of what influenced me as a youth and now as an adult. This is very important…we must realize that what we experience as youth also influences your adult life.
Another example of how my upbringing as a youth, is influencing my adult life…my father was abusive. He provided for our family and was very popular in both the Black and white communities. I heard from relatives on my father side, that when he was a youth, the adults use to tie him to a tree to whip him.
As you may not know, the slave masters used to tie the slaves to a tree to whip them. I am surmising here, but I think that my dad’s negative experiences as a youth along with other occurrence from the Jim Crow oppressive era really affected his life. My father’s name was Robert Lee Bankhead Sr., but he was called Big Bubba. I write this because I vowed not to be like my father who was abusive.
But, my father also did some good. He installed the work ethic in me and the rest of my brothers and sisters that all humans need to persevere through rough and tough times. So I guess it does matter about your experiences as a youth. I feel that we have a choice to choose the good or the bad.
If it is God’s will, our youth of today will be the adults of tomorrow. In order for our youth to make the correct decision as adults, we must do our best for them to have positive experiences as a youth. I believe that if a youth has character issues while they are young, they will be adults with character issues.
I believe that business people and politicians that are crooks and liars were deceptive as youths. Give our youth a chance to be all they can be for the right reasons. Let’s give them the opportunity to have positive productive experiences.
I remember back in 2005, when I operated The First Tee of Huntsville program, for one of your community field trips, we went to the Huntsville Museum of Arts. I recall some of the students saying that they had never been to a museum before. They enjoyed the experience and I am sure it will affect them as adults!
For the 2013 year, I will write and do more to make the 3-5-10 Mentoring Initiative a reality in the lives of at least 10 youth!
ROOTS
I watched Roots during the holiday season, I am proud of my ancestries. The saga Roots was not only a story of the oppression of a people, but full of love stories. Love and the power of hope and faith gave our ancestries the strength to eventually overcome the oppressors!
For more information on how to donate to help make a difference in the lives of so many in our communities, we invite you to visit our Web site at http://tvygd.dms-graphics.com or call 256-886-0579.
Give Youth A Gift For Life: Youth Golf Development!
Howard Bankhead
Executive Director
Tennessee Valley Youth Golf Development
604 Jordan Lane
Huntsville, AL 35816 USA
256-604-8172
