Let’s Talk SDMNEWS wants to encourage Black San Diegans to take this time to talk to each other while at home 5 Habits of Highly Effective Communicators
Recently some new science studies have backed up their claims and I feel it makes for a very compelling case to overhaul my own communication efforts and maybe it’s some inspiration for you too!
Have you ever walked away from talking with someone that you’ve just met and thought to yourself “Wow, this was one of the best conversations I’ve ever had!”? I’ve recently had one of those and at first I quite selfishly concluded “Wow, I’m a great communicator”. But then I realized, hang on a second, I think this other person was the reason I felt so good about this talk, how did he do that?
Let’s dig in: 1. They listen first – then focus on being Active and Constructive
I started to think about a few of the things this person did, that made me feel so comfortable and open to speak with him. In usual Buffer blog manner, I thought of finding some real science to back up some of the simple habits this newly found friend had so ingrained when talking with me. So what I’ve come up with are 5 of the most effective habits famous communicators have used for hundreds of years.
The word conversation generally brings to mind talking—at least for me. However, if you’ve ever seen two people trying to talk to each other at the same time, you’ll know that listening is just as important. In fact, listening is half of a successful conversation—you take turns to talk, and everyone feels heard. This is great communication. You might have heard of active listening before. It’s something we often get confused with passive, silent listening. Active listening, in fact, means taking part in the conversation and working on the rapport between you and your partner. It’s made up of three parts: paraphrasing, inquiry and acknowledgement.
3
The San Diego Monitor
RE-BRANDING
BLACK AMERICA BITCOIN CAN TRANSFORM THE LIVES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS Jack Dorsey is encouraging his Twitter followers to take a closer look at a new book that discusses Bitcoin’s potential to benefit the African-American community. Dorsey’s endorsement calls attention to the challenges racial minorities often have with the legacy financial system.
Much has been said about the potential for blockchain technology to benefit underdeveloped regions. What may be surprising is that it is poised to have an equally transformative impact in much of the developed world.
The book, Bitcoin & Black America presents an in-depth analysis of the role cryptocurrency can play in bringing financial autonomy to African-Americans. Author Isaiah Jackson notes that blacks have traditionally been vastly underserved by the banking industry, yet have been slow to take up blockchain assets as an alternative.
Simply put, a close parallel can be drawn between the limited banking access available in poor countries, and the lack of banks in America’s minority neighborhoods. Banks, along with institutions such as grocery stores and medical providers, tend to avoid these areas. The result can create serious problems for residents and dramatically diminish upward mobility.
Change, according to Jackson, will require a thorough understanding by African-Americans that they no longer need the current banking system to manage their wealth. Also, many blacks believe that BTC is a scam, or that it no longer exists. Jackson asserts that these misunderstandings must be corrected. 14 BTC & 30,000 Free Spins for every player, only in mBitcasino’s Crypto Spring Journey! Play Now! Jackson published his book last July, but it is getting a renewed interest, likely due to the resurgence of the crypto market. BLOCKCHAIN REPRESENTS AN ECONOMIC GAME CHANGER
Equally harmful is the fact that racial minorities are far more likely to be victims of financial exploitation. Using ATMs, cashing checks, or sending money to relatives tends to be vastly more expensive and difficult when banks are not available. Use of cryptocurrency can thus be a tremendous benefit. With the opportunity so substantial, AfricanAmericans and other racial minorities in the United States should be rapidly embracing cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, adoption has been slow. As Jackson points out, misinformation has been a problem in their communities. Also, lack of banking access has made purchasing and investing in crypto a challenge Cont.pg.8
What do they Want you to KNOW? What Everyone Needs to Know About 2020 Census Questions
By law, the U.S. government is required to count the number of people living in the United States every 10 years. Getting an accurate count is important because census numbers impact daily life in the United States in many ways. For example, census data are often used to determine how much federal funding is allocated for important projects and services that benefit local communities. The census also plays a vital role in our nation’s system of government by determining how many representatives will be sent to Congress from each state.
Because getting an accurate count is so important, the process is designed to be fast, easy, and safe. On average, it takes no more than 10 minutes to answer the questions on the census. How Are Census Data Collected? During the first census in 1790, census takers visited nearly every U.S. home to gather data. In 2020, households will have the option of responding online, by mail, or by phone. The Census Bureau expects many households to complete the questionnaire online, using instructions received in the mail. These instructions will also include information about how to respond by phone. Some households will receive a printed questionnaire which they can mail, postage-free, back to the
Be Counted! SDMNEWS’S Motivation Information
Census Bureau. A small percentage of households, primarily located in remote areas of the country, will be visited by a census taker who will help collect the necessary information to complete the form. Who Receives the Census Questionnaire and How Is It Filled Out? Most housing units in the United States that receive mail at their physical location will receive a letter by mail with instructions on how to complete the census questionnaire. Housing units include houses, apartments, cabins, mobile homes—pretty much any place where people live in the United States. In areas where the majority of housing units do not have mail delivered to their physical location, census workers will leave questionnaire packages at every identified housing unit. The census process also includes special provisions to count people who are homeless and those in other types of living quarters, such as college dorms, military barracks, ships, prisons, nursing homes, and homeless shelters. The person in the housing unit who fills out the census questionnaire or talks to the census taker is known as Person 1. Typically, Person 1 is the owner/co-owner or renter/corenter of the housing unit. READ MORE sdmonitornews.com
5
The San Diego Monitor
Mo-town Senegal new epicenter of Black Excellence
Akon created his own city in Senegal called 'Akon City'
And most recently, the rapper (and Akon City founder) shared via Twitter that his city in Senegal is official. "Looking forward to hosting you there in the future," he shared with his followers, alongside news that he had "finalized the agreement." While it sounds like something out of a supervillain’s playbook, Akon plans for the city to be “renewable” with a focus on solar energy (a statement claims that his charity project Akon Lighting Africa has provided "scaled solar power solutions throughout 18 countries to date in Africa"). The same statement also revealed Akon City is intended to be a “100% crypto-based city with AKoin at the center of transactional life”, described as a “real-life Wakanda”.
You may not have thought about Akon since his song 'Lonely' became an earworm a decade ago, but the musician has moved from conquering the charts to building what has been dubbed his very own 'Wakanda.' Between setting up his own cryptocurrency AKoin and vowing to bring electricity to 600 million people in Africa, Akon has been quietly building his own 'futuristic' city in Senegal named after himself. He previously revealed that he was working on creating a “100% crypto-based city,” and in November 2019, he shared on Nick Cannon’s radio show Power 106 Los Angeles that building is already under way. The city has been named Akon City.
The singer, who has previously said he would consider running for President of the United States, told Cannon, “It’s Akon City. It’s all renewable, the Akon-tainment solar city. A real physical place, it’s going to have a real airport.” “It’s a 10-year building block so we’re doing it in stages. We started construction in March and stage two is going to be 2025,” Akon continued. The city is based in Senegal and after Cannon hinted it would take a billionaire to build an entire city, Akon criticised the term. The singer, who also owns two record labels on top of running his charity Akon Lighting Africa, said, “I always felt like if you have to label yourself a billionaire, I don’t think billionaires even label themselves billionaires. Cont.pg.9
6
The San Diego Monitor
SDMNEWS Must Read 2020 CA Census Guide Table of Contents Section 1: General Information (PDF) •
Initiative and Referendum Qualification Requirements
•
Candidate Qualifications and Information
Section 2: Nomination Requirements (PDF) •
Presidential Candidates
•
United States Representative in Congress, and Member of the State Legislature Candidates
•
Nomination Documents – Nomination Papers and Declaration of Candidacy
•
Signatures In Lieu of Filing Fee
•
Signatures In Lieu of Filing Fee and/or Nomination Papers
•
Ballot Designations
•
In General
•
Campaign Filings and Responsibilities
•
Candidate Intention Statement
•
Campaign Contribution Account
•
Exceptions
•
Additional Filing Information
Section 3: Candidate Filing Information (PDF) •
Required Filing Fees, Nomination Signatures
•
Write-In Candidates for the Office of President
•
Write-In Candidates for Voter-Nominated Offices
In-Lieu
Signatures,
Section 4: Candidate Checklist (PDF) •
President of the United States
•
United States Representative in Congress
For download please go to www.sdmonitornews.com
and
8
There is no question, however, that the tide is turning as crypto adoption is picking up among all segments of American society. A need clearly exists for better financial freedom, and increasingly non-whites are learning what this new asset class has to offer. Simply put, cryptocurrency will not leave the underserved behind. How can bitcoin benefit the African American community? Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. The book, Bitcoin & Black America, written by Isaiah Jackson and published last July, analyzes the role cryptocurrency can have in helping a group historically underserved and underrepresented by major financial institutions. However, Jackson also notes that one of the biggest problems in pushing African Americans to bitcoin is the negative perception African Americans have of cryptocurrency. Jackson wants to change that and wants to help the African American community take advantage of new technologies including bitcoin. Jackson also wants African Americans to take advantage of blockchain. Blockchain is a spreadsheet containing
The San Diego Monitor information on transactions. Each transaction generates a block and each block refers to the previous block, which together makes the blockchain. “The next wave of innovation is, I believe, centered around blockchain technology and of course bitcoin as a payment system,” Jackson told Anthony Pompliano on the “Off The Chain” podcast. “So when I say ‘miss it’, what I mean is economically. If you want to be viable as a community you have to have some sort of technological expansion to ensure that survival. I think this is one way to do it, not just from a price standpoint (buying bitcoin) but also from a technological standpoint — building the products that we’ll use in the future. That’s what I mean by the black community not missing it this time around.” Jackson added on the podcast that misinformation coupled with a lack of banking access has made investing in cryptocurrency a challenge among African Americans in the United States. Jackson says this must change going forward. Earlier this month, Nigeria received its first bitcoin ATM and the bitcoin craze in 2017 lead to many wondering if African American businesses as a whole should invest in bitcoin.
You know, you have no idea. But the crazy part about it though, when I hear stuff like that it makes me sad.” “When I travel, I see so many things that happen - so many people that need assistance and so many things that just need to be resolved - and if you can have a billion dollars sitting in the bank while you have all these people suffering and struggling? Man, it’s just crazy,” he said. “It’s like a waste of a billion dollars sitting there, literally,” Akon continued. Akon told Cannon that he was in the “impact business” and added that he wanted to “build a legacy." According to a statement about AKoin, the city will be built on “2,000 acres of land gifted to Akon from the President of Senegal” and will be a five minute drive to the airport, plus nearby Dakar. He also said he hoped that AKoin would take off on an international level, saying that it was the project he was “most excited about personally” rather than his namesake city. He said, “You might just go to vacation and when you transfer your American dollars into their money, you might just be transferring it into AKoins. That’s the goal.” Page Six reported that at an appearance last June, Akon talked further about cryptocurrency and AKoin. Saying that blockchain and crypto “could be the saviour for Africa in many ways”, he responded to technical questions about the blockchain with, “I come with the concepts and let the geeks figure it out.”
According to Arabian Business, Akon also appeared at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival and criticised other celebrities for what he perceived as badly thought out moves into cryptocurrency. He said, “I think a lot of the entertainers went with the wave and also the hype of cryptocurrency, not understanding what it was or what it is and I think a lot of them got caught up into the companies that got eventually folded or were scams.” “That’s just a lack of education in getting into certain things because as an entertainer you find yourself endorsing a lot of products that you don’t do due diligence on,” he finished.
2020 Black POWER
Authoring your own story
FIST FUL OF MONEY How do we learn to 'feed' the stories that heal? It's not something we think about often, is it? The notion that some stories we've told ourselves for decades may be doing us more harm than good. Or that changing our perspective on events from our own pasts is not only possible, but may help us heal decades-old wounds. We think of our personal histories as being set in stone, unchangeable, in the past and therefore out of reach. But this is not so. Because history is rooted in memory and shaped by those who recall it. Crack open a German history book to the section on World War II, it's likely to highlight and emphasize VERY different events than an American or British or Japanese history book. Not because historians are lying or mistaken, but because each culture has its own, specific memory of that long and brutal war. And each set of historians was tasked with recalling the war in a way that is unshakably connected to their own native culture, each group retells the war's events from the perspective of their home country. It's all history, and it's all valid … but very distinct versions are created in each telling. And this is good news for individuals, too, because it means that the way we remember past events may be more influential and important than the events themselves.
How we frame and recall pivotal experiences may be more important than what “really happened” based on our memories or photographs. Which means that painful, traumatic, or infuriating events that have plagued us for ages can be re-cast and reconstructed to be meaningful in more positive ways. You've probably gone on vacation a time or two in your life, right? And while you were away, a few things may have gone haywire: Your luggage got lost, you caught a nasty cold, the museum you were dying to visit was closed for renovation. At the time, you were frustrated and enraged … but what happened when you discussed the trip with friends and coworkers three weeks after you'd returned? In all likelihood, you “retouched” your memories to highlight the good and omit the bad. (I've done it myself for virtually every trip I've taken!) And while this may seem dishonest on the surface, it's actually a brilliant tactic. Because it enables you to let go of the minor inconveniences and celebrate the joys. Focusing on what you loved about your trip crystalizes it as a positive experience in your mind and memory. Our brains do this naturally with some experiences—like vacations—but others need a bit of help. If you are aware of certain relationships, experiences, or lessons from your past that have been perpetual thorns in your side, the easiest way to re-cast them is to do some focused journaling. You can quite literally rewrite your own personal history, tell stories about your past in ways that are healing and transformative. By focusing on lessons learned, positive feelings experienced, and strengths gained, even situations that once seemed utterly catastrophic can soften into significant but beneficial events.
11
The San Diego Monitor
State Findings: California, 2019 Strengths: Low prevalence of smoking Low premature death rate Low infant mortality rate
Challenges: Low percentage of high school graduation High levels of air pollution Large difference in health status by high school education Highlights In the past year, excessive drinking decreased 8% from 19.2% to 17.6% of adults In the past year, disparity in health status decreased 14% from 37.1% to 31.8% Since 2012, physical inactivity increased 10% from 19.1% to 21.0% of adults Despite decreasing since 2012, air pollution increased 12% over the past three years from 11.4 to 12.8 micrograms of fine particles per cubic meter In the past 10 years, chlamydia increased 43% from 388.3 to 553.4 cases per 100,000 population Since 1990, cardiovascular deaths decreased 37% from 377.0 to 236.7 deaths per 100,000 population
WWW.SDMONITORNEWS.COM