Becoming the $100 Million Man; Or Woman in this Case :-)

September 9th, 2008 | By Sonnie Johnson

My Beau and I have this long running joke, If we ever hit the Lottery for a lot of money, we would split it immediately. He would get half and I would get half. I would then spend all of mine and we would have to live off of his.

There is a Community Center across the street from my Childhood Church. The first thing I would do is buy this community center. I’d gut it and rebuild with Computer Lab, Classes for Money Management, Addiction Help, and lots of Community Activities to bring people in. I’d name it after My Mother because she always was willing to help others.

It would be the start to my foundation. A conservative rebuilding of Our Communities. Then I would buy some land in Kansas and build a School. I’d fill it with teachers that don’t take crap or excuses from the kids. I’d fill it with Ghetto Mothers, you know the ones that take care of all the kids in the Neighborhood, to discredit the “you don’t understand what I’m going through”. Throw in a couple Felons who realized a little to late they were wasting their lives and let the sparks fly.

But this wouldn’t be a School for any that apply. No. This is a special School. This is for the Kids that are fed up with dodging bullets and slinging crack. So you might have dropped out at 13 but at 16 you wish you hadn’t. It’s not to late. Apply. We’ll catch you up and get you started again. You might have looked up to your older brother and now he’s dead or in jail and you’re lost. Apply. We got some real Men to guide you through. You might have realized looking for love starts with loving yourself and you just don’t know how to do that. Apply. We won’t coddle you. You will find your own strength.

Now, while I’m getting all the pieces in place for a chain of schools across America, I’d travel this Country giving away Money. Let me tell you how this works. I see a woman with two kids dressed from head to toe in RocaWear, I keep walking. I see a woman rushing her kids on a Bus so she won’t be late to work, I’ll stop her. I’d give her her regular salary for a month. I’d get her a decent car and pay the insurance for a year. Then offer her a chance to volunteer at My School or A Community Center to recieve extra help with her Day Care costs.

I see a group of boys on the corner slinging, I might stop and offer a change to see if they bite. If they don’t, I keep walking. I see a boy crossing the street to stay out of their path, I’ll stop him. Say he tells me, he’s in High School and working a full time job so he can have money for food and clothes. I’d tell him to quit his job, come volunteer at the School or Community center and receive a stipend every month. And while there, I’d make sure he knew of every scholarship available, every grant, and every avenue of assistance he could get to help him get into college, with no offer of Assistance from Me. When it’s time to graduate, he should have the money for his Education. And I could continue is Stipend so he can concentrate on his studies.

And while I’m touring cities everywhere in America, giving away money and building Schools and Community Centers, I’d always be looking for investment opportunities. I’m smart enough to know that you can’t continue to give away money without generating More Money elsewhere. But what most people don’t understand, if you show someone that they can accomplish something, they try harder to accomplish everything.

So say the Woman who got the car contacted me to say thank you. She just wanted me to know because of the volunteer for child sitting trade off, she was able to go back to school and get her degree. Now she wants to open a Childcare service off the same principles of the Community Center. She’s not asking for help, she just wants Me to know she been inspired. I’d send someone over to help her with a business plan and give her start up capital. Put it under the Foundation until she turns a profit, then turn it over to her.

This is where I get the criticism. If you turn it over to her, how are you going to continue to help other people? That’s the Fucked Up principle of the original $100 million dollar man. See he thinks that everyone needs him to make a difference. I’d trust her to continue to make her business grow. I’d trust her to realize the assistance she was given and return it in kind. I’d trust her enough to keep her own money and personally decide to donate to my foundation. I don’t have to make it mandatory.

Let’s say the Boy went to College, got his business degree, and a job at a major technology firm. I would have faith that when they had a whole set of discontinued or devalued computers he would call and give me first dibs on getting them. I would trust he would recommend my foundation when his business started talking about Charitable Contributions. I would trust on “Alumni Day” he would be happy to come back and tell his story. I won’t have to force him to come back, he’ll do it willingly.

Another major source of income is Property. A funny thing about Ghetto’s is their location. Just think about it. Big cities need a pool of blue collar workers. Now most of these workers are not finacially set and there for need to be kept closer to the cities. What’s the point of having big hotels if you have no bell boys? What’s the point of having five star restaurants if you don’t have waiters? So think of the actual value of these under classed pieces of property.

This is where I’d take a huge risk. There a couple things that influence property value. Schools in the Area, cleanliness of the Area, Access to Stores and Businesses, but mostly it’s Violence. You can not raise the property value of an area if you can’t control the Violence. All my first ideas are based on individuals. Helping one person at a time, but this encompasses an entire community.

How can we bring up our community value if we can’t separate ourselves from the rotten elements? I will not lie to you. This is where I get stuck in my grand scheme. See it doesn’t matter how much money is pumped into a community if we can’t first reach the mind of it’s inhabitants. If we help 20 and 200 say what about me, then we get stuck trying to explain the sacrifices Made by the 20. We can say we want to help you excel, but they are still stuck in the mindset that it comes for free. Not from me it doesn’t. You have to work for my help. It’s not a hand out, it’s a step ladder. It’s up to you to climb it.

The question then becomes “Without separating the two, how can we get the 20 and the 200 to at least have a little respect for each other. It doesn’t come from telling the 20, “you have to pay for the 200.” The 20 are going to take their money and go elsewhere. Nor does it come from the 200 getting a free pass based on excuses that are invalid. And while we’re having the same old argument the 2,000 in the middle who don’t care how the situation is solved, they just want to see some progress, are trapped having to pick sides.

They can agree with me on this, but they can understand the other side as well. They want better for themselves and their communities, but they don’t want to leave anybody behind. These are the people that are a major source of our Problems. It might not be fair, but you do have to choose sides.

It’s not black against white. It’s not rich against poor. IT’S WRONG AGAINST RIGHT. Simple. If you have pity for ‘Debo’ because his dad is in jail and his mother is on drugs, demand more from the Men around you. Don’t give ‘Debo’ more excuses, tell the fathers you know aren’t taking care of their responsibility the truth. You know your son or daughter is going to carry the same hate for you as you carry for your father. And if after hearing this, they still make no attempt to be apart of that child’s life, you should no longer have pity for them. When they say, “I don’t know how to be a Father.” You say “That’s no excuse for not trying to learn.” Hold them accountable.

So when they come to you and complain how unfair the world is. Remind them that’s what their Son or Daughter will think one day because you’re not showing them how to navigate through all the mess. Make it about our future, not the appeasement of self caused problems. Tell them to stop thinking of themselves.

And please stop grouping yourself with the do nothings. This really ticks me off. If you get up everyday and go to work, if you save money for emergencies, if struggle and strive and still come up short; stop grouping yourself with those that do nothing. There are those that need a little bit of help and there are those who want everything done for them. To many people are in the former group advocating for the latter.

The problem with that. You won’t get the help you need because the one’s at the bottom need more than you. Let me explain. If you got a little behind in your house payments because you wanted to send your child to a better school, you should be in a completely different category than someone that went out and bought a new house that was 3x’s more than they could afford. I don’t mind helping you, but that other person needs to learn a real lesson before getting assistance. Why spend money saving their home when chances are they are going to lose it anyways because they really can’t afford it, even at a lower rate?

The lower rates and riskier loans were but into place to help with Minority Home Ownership. Making it more accessible for those without sufficient savings to own a home. By doing so, a lot of people got into new homes. That’s how we got our house. We saw a lot of beautiful new houses being built but the prices were ridiculous, so I said let’s look at some old houses. We qualified for a new model but I felt uncomfortable about the price. I found an older house with a great bookshelf and I was sold. Because of that, we weren’t completely crushed when the oil prices rose. My Beau wanted the bigger better house then but he’s grateful he listened to me now.

His sister and her husband owned a Townhome before the Housing boom. When the prices started to rise, they decided to sell their home and upgrade. Got a huge house with an adjustable rate. They lost their home and now are renting. But there is a silver lining. It won’t happen again. This was a major lesson learned. His sister went back to school and her husband is working towards his own business. One day they will own another big house and this time nobody will be able to take it from them.

There are some people out there that really deserve help and there are some out there that need to learn a lesson. A opened ended policy of just pouring money into everybody doesn’t help this cause. Those that need a little help will never get it, if we continue to bail out those that want it all with out the work involved. A mother of four can’t get help because she does own a home, but a mother of four with no job gets free housing, free food, and free money. Which brings us back to wrong and right.

You know it’s wrong. But you need help so you group yourself with the give me, give me. So when I speak up about helping you, it get’s lost in the argument of Us against Them. The 20 vs. the 200. But if the 2,000 in the majority step up and say Enough. Those on the left, we can do it for ourselves, thanks but no thanks for all the free stuff. It’s time we start working for it. Those on the right, we don’t have to change who we are to accomplish this, so you can back off too. Then we can start to see changes.

In fact, it would turn my risky investment into a Gold Mine. See, I want to return ownership. I want the people in Urban areas to own 80% of the businesses in those areas. This is important because then they would care about their communities. Not just because it’s where they live. But because it’s where they make their living. Just imagine everyday people fighting with the same zeal as drug dealers to protect a block. Just imagine them working with the police, making it harder for senseless crimes to go unsolved. Imagine them roasting a black politician that comes in and says I’m going to take more of your money to help the people less fortunate.

I’ll pretend for you. “I help the less fortunate every time I open a new store and provide new jobs. I help the less fortunate every time I offer health care to part time employees who are still attending College. I help the less fortunate will real help that will last them a life time. Don’t you dare come in here and tell me to give them something for nothing. I had to work for everything I have. And yes I got some help along the way, but it wasn’t in the form of a check for nothing. It came with self confidence, self sacrifice, and self respect. And when I learned those things I was able to understand Community and my place in it. I learned I can hold people accountable for their own judgments without being judgmental. I can expect more from my People and point out when we aren’t living up to our potential. ” Just Imagine.

The Point

If I were the $100 million dollar man, the big house would not be the same. Because instead of finding new money to keep people in, I would be telling them your time to make a mark on the world is coming. This house will be here if you lose your way or you encounter problems you just weren’t expecting, but let it be known this is no place to make your home. Unless you come back with a business plan to stake out your piece of Real Estate. Unless you come back because you realize this is where you came from and where you need to start leaving your impression.

And nothing in my Big House is for Free. Nothing. Everything costs. Even your right to complain. If you haven’t acted on your plan, then do not come to me and tell me things aren’t working out. I will laugh at you. Tell me you’ve tried this and tried that and you still can’t figure it out. I’ll get you some help. Don’t hang out with people you know are going to get into trouble and call me to bail you out. I will laugh at you. When you do get out, I’ll be willing to give you a second chance but don’t push it. Now if you happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, I’ll be on my way to get you. Depending on the situation, you might even get my full attention in defending you. And it won’t be because the story is a Media Sensation. It would be because there was a real miscarriage of justice.

I guess all this irrelavent since I’m not Oprah. But if I were you, I wouldn’t be surprised if you looked up one day and saw me walking down the street stopping Random people, giving them just a little bit of hope that everything is going to be O.K. And watching that grow into ideas and self renewals. I may never hit the Lottery but that’s not the only way to get rich. Sometimes it just takes a Fiesty attitude from a Smart Fairly Attractive New Voice. Just ask Oprah. Let me go.