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Wright Enterprises-Community Spotlight
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News Release
Nov. 11, 2016 |
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Election Results in New Horizons...
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Moderator Gugu Cele of Johannesburg, Anchor CNBC Africa; Ron Busby of Washington, D.C., originally from Oakland, President U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.; Aubry Stone of Sacramento, President, California Black Chamber of Commerce & Board Member of the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.; Jackie Wright, President Wright Enterprises of San Francisco & Dallas; and Ipeleng Mkhari, Founder & CEO Motseng Investment Holdings of Johannesburg, South Africa discuss "Sustainable Economic Growth and Wealth Redistribution" at the Essence Festival Durban Business Conference. Not pictured Carmen West, Business Development Specialist Access to Capital, U.S. Department of Commerce, Minority Business Development Agency. (Photo Courtesy of Damon Jamal of Los Angeles, who is producing a documentary about the historic California Black Chamber of Commerce Trade Mission to South Africa).
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Durban, South Africa---The thought came before the election about how providential it was that I am in South Africa because if the country were to choose Barabbas, rather "Trump" for POTUS, I could ask for asylum and just stay. Stunned as I read the election result as most of America slept (that must be the problem America is sleepwalking), I thought I'd have to quickly learn South Africa's national anthem, a combination of 'Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika' (God Bless Africa) and 'Die Stem van Suid-Afrika' (Call of South Africa).
But reason combined with resolve and I will be, "Lord Willing" on my flight home after the historic California Black Chamber of Commerce Trade Mission, November 4-13 during the inaugural Essence Festival Durban (November 8-13 with Essence Magazine Editor and Chief, Vanessa K. De Luca, the Reverend Al Sharpton, Steve Harvey, and other American and African luminaries). With a pre-launch on Tuesday, it will end on Sunday. I am ever the more determined to work for "liberty and justice for all" to keep our nation from going to "hell in a hand basket" as some have said while laughing, smirking and crying.
Working with the outstanding talent of Her Worship, the Mayor Cllr Zandile Gumede, the
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Cllr Zandile Gumede, Her Worship,the Mayor of Durban, South Africa.
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Durban Chamber of Commerce, the Durban Film Office, The Trade & Investment KwaZulu-Natal Office, The Essence Festival Durban and others, I have been given me an additional tool. It is the knowledge that I can do business in South Africa and encourage others to do the same. As a Nielsen Report indicated, African American buying power if harnessed would make African Americans the sixteenth largest economy in the world. There is no need for Blacks in America to ask for, nor wait for economic success.
Attending the Essence Festival Durban, the first of its kind, means I have made contacts in South Africa, Nigeria, Cameron, other parts of the continent and in the United States that can result in additional commerce and horizons beyond the borders of the U.S. halting the impact of possible upcoming restraints by a new administration with old views. With more details and contact information to come, here's just a glimpse of the growth one can expect:
It is providential and inspirational to be in Durban as It's about thinking and acting globally to help create economic parity. Connecting with leadership of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Black Chambers,Inc., the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Unit via Vee Govender Digital Media/Global Relations of South Africa and Roland Washington of San Francisco, has already expanded my vision. Hopefully, others will think and "ACT outside of the box" as well. So business as usual in the U.S. means I have been inspired to use my freedom to do business "Straight Outta Africa" and the rest of the world. You can't trump that!
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"In Memory and Honor" by Retired/MSgt. Ray Bows
New Smyrna Beach, FL-For nearly three decades Ray Bows and his wife Pia have been researching the history of installations in Vietnam that were named after fallen Vietnam War heroes.
"It's been my life passion because it's important that we not forget the sacrifice of those fallen soldiers," said Ray Bows. "The soldiers who fought in Vietnam suffered on the battlefield and they suffered when they came home because they were not honored for answering their country's call to duty. The sacrifices of the fallen Vietnam heroes are even that more significant; so I have worked to honor those that gave their all!"
Bows' memorial project that began in 1987 is a self-funded project. He does not solicit donations nor authorizes anyone to do so on behalf of the project. The purchases of Bows' books from his website or book signings are an investment for future publications and enable continued research.
"Ray Bows' work is very important to my family and the thousands of military families like ours and too many of them don't even know about his books. With our mother dying six years to the day of our father's death in Vietnam, my siblings and I had little knowledge of our father's impact in Vietnam," said Jackie Wright. "As children and most of our adult lives, we did not know about the 'Shannon Wright Compound' in Vinh Long, Vietnam. So, it is a treasure to know that someone chronicled the history and that knowledge will now be available for generations to come."
Wright, who grew up near Fort Benning, GA, and is now based in the San Francisco Bay Area, first found out about the work of Ray Bows from veteran Steven Elliott of Jacksonville, Florida, also the home of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. Elliott had found out how to contact her from the Internet stories concerning the reburial of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. and his wife Ouida F. McClendon Wright at Arlington National Cemetery during the 50th and 44th anniversaries of their death (See story link: http://sfbayview.com/2015/04/love-story-at-arlington-national-cemetery/). Elliott had been searching for years for a photo of Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. to help Bows whose nearly thirty-year investigation had left him empty-handed.
"Did you know that Ray Bows wrote a book that includes information about the 'Shannon Wright Compound'?" queried Elliott. "I promised Ray I'd help him find a picture of your dad and I was finally able to from the photo you posted on the Internet," added Elliott. "For years, I searched schools, libraries and found nothing. Thank you for posting the photo and helping me keep my promise to a fellow veteran."
The photo Elliott referenced, and that is included in the 800-page "In Honor and Memory - Installations and Facilities of the Vietnam War," was hand-painted by Vietnamese photographer Quang Van Phat. It was the last anniversary present that Sp5 Wyley Wright Jr. signed to "Ouida, the love of my life." After going to Vietnam in June 2015 to find the "Shannon Wright Compound," it is also the photograph that sisters, Jackie Wright and Phyllis Wright Cameron shared with the family of artist Quang who died in 1999.
See the link of finding the "Shannon Wright Compound" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-Drc0kdRxw. Here's a link to meeting the Quang Family:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXTjODHjbBM&feature=youtu.be.
CLICK HERE TO READ ENTIRE ARTICLE
All the Best to Veterans and Their Families Around the World!
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LAST WEEKEND!
SHOW ENDS ON NOVEMBER 12TH!
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Every 28 Hours is a series of one-minute plays written by 90 contributing artists from across the nation who focus on the widely shared and contested statistic that every twenty-eight  hours a black person in the United States is killed by a vigilante, security guard, or the police.
Inspired by Black Lives Matter, this national project was co-created and first produced by Dominic D'Andrea of the One Minute Play Festival and Claudia Alick of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival after the killing of Michael Brown, a young African American, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in August 2014.
The Bay Area production of Every 28 Hours opens Friday, October 21st at PianoFight, 144 Taylor Street in San Francisco, for a four-week run October 21-November 12.
The local project was spearheaded by FaultLine Theater which formed a collaboration with A.C.T., Berkeley Rep, Campo Santo, Crowded Fire Theater and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre to mount the production in the Bay Area.
Directors include:
Lorraine Hansberry Theatre's Artistic Director, Steven Anthony Jones,
Donald Lacy, Luna Malbroux, Mina Morita and Tyrone Davis.
Each event is followed by facilitated discussions led by local activists and artists about this critical Civil Rights moment in America.
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REDUX REMINDER.... Prophet Ahead of the Times.... Jinho "The Piper" Ferreira's "Cops & Robbers" directed by Ami Zins and Lew Levinson--- Two years before Ferguson, Piper wrote the play. Before #Blacklivesmatter, Piper, wife and husband team, Zins and Levinson, worked together to get the message out for America to address police involved shootings and the culture of the silent blue wall.
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Jinho "The Piper" Ferreira of musically acclaimed "Flipsyde" performs his one-man prophetic show "Cops and Robbers" directed by Ami Zins and Lew Levinson.
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Newsweek Magazine
by Sean Elder
KQED Radio Hosted by Joshua Johnson
Cops and Robbers: violence and Moral Culpability in Oakland
(Review by Cy Ashley Webb 8-19-14)
In addition to the play, Jinho "The Piper" Ferreira created an audio version of the play performing all seventeen characters for itunes called "Cops and Robbers the Audio Experience" and the wrote a book with his wife Dr. Dawn Williams Ferreira, "Cops and Robbers: Past, Present and Future" found on Amazon.
Had we listened, where would we be today? Just Sayin'!
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Let Healing Begin...
 \ FRED GRAY
DEFENDED ROSA PARKS
Click Image for Details!
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