DAVID E. REDDICK

Interview with the Birmingham Public Library

6/18/2024

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https://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2024/06/juneteenth-q-with-david-reddick-author.html

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Juneteenth Q&A With David Reddick, Author of “Two Dogs and God”

- June 18, 2024

BPL PR Director Roy Williams with Author David Reddick, a vendor at the 2024 Steel City Jazz Fest
Birmingham, Ala. - Over the weekend, while attending the 2024 Steel City Jazz Festival in Linn Park, I sought a vendor to buy some shirts for Father's Day and Juneteenth. I found the perfect one in David E. Reddick, buying both a Father's Day shirt and a Juneteenth T-shirt for me and my son, Royce.
As a published author myself, I was excited to learn that David is also an author. I got three of his books:
• "Two Dogs and God"
• "The Good Little Leprechaun"
• "The Spiritual Side of Goal Setting - Why and How It Works"
Reddick, 46, is from Anniston, close to my hometown of Jacksonville, Ala. That happens to be my mother Pearl Williams’ hometown. He is a graduate of Jacksonville State University, which is where I graduated and met my wife, Patrice. Reddick is a telecommunications field engineer who writes books and does public speaking in his free time.
In a Q&A, Reddick shared his thoughts on why Juneteenth is so important to him and the important role fathers play today. Reddick also talked about how he got involved in selling T-shirts and what inspired his books.
Reddick also shared a powerful testimony that inspired his book "The Spiritual Side of Goal Setting: Why and How it Works." While in the U.S. Navy several years ago, Reddick was involved in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. It left him unable to walk unassisted for three years and put his life in a downward spiral. God brought him through it and his book shares advice for others on how to overcome challenges we face in this journey called life.
BPL: Wednesday, June 19 is Juneteenth national holiday. Why is Juneteenth so important to you?
Reddick: Juneteenth is a celebration of when the last slaves were informed that they were no longer slaves, six months after they were already set free. To me it is a representation of the human condition. Christ set us free over 2,000 years ago, but if we don't convey that fact to our thoughts, words, actions, and expectations we will continue to be free people living our lives in bondage.
In my book "The Spiritual Side of Goal Setting (Why and How it Works)" I give tools and strategies to help everyone experience freedom in their personal lives. This is part of a series that I'm working on called "The Spiritual Side Of: Series." Each book will be another aspect of growth for the human condition.
BPL: My son and I love the Juneteenth T-shirts I bought from you. Describe them and what inspired you to choose these to sell at the festival?
Reddick: My reasoning for the shirt was to inspire people to ask questions. I made them colorful and memorable. Placing the year on the shirts I'm hoping young people will remember it. Next, I'm hoping that when they are bored in history class and hear that slavery was abolished in January 1865 it will make them ask "Then why do we celebrate in June?"

BPL: Just got through reading your short children's book "Two Dogs and God." I love how you use this story of a man and his two dogs as a modern-day parable about the importance of dedicating time to your relationship with God. Briefly describe what the book is about.?
Reddick: Two Dogs and God came out in May 2024 and can be purchased on Amazon.com at:  https://rb.gy/038iz4 This book is a modern-day parable about the importance of dedicating time to your relationship with God. It’s the story of a man and his two dogs. One dog was trained as a guard dog. This dog protected the home and the owner. The other dog was playful and carefree.
The playful, carefree dog caused the man to begin to neglect the guard dog. When the man realized that he was neglecting his guard dog, he also realized that he had been neglecting his relationship with God. This story will help your child realize the importance of balance in their personal and spiritual lives.
BPL: What inspired you to write this story? Reddick: "Two Dogs and God" is a dream I had. I felt as though it was God's way of letting me know that I needed to spend more time on my spiritual life so I wrote it down. One day it hit me, "That's a book!" That's when I found an artist to illustrate it.
BPL: Is it personable - do you have dogs yourself?
Reddick: I have an 11-year-old Great Dane named Goliath. The Great Dane in the book was created from photos I sent the artist of Goliath as a puppy and as an adult. 11 is quite old for a breed of dog that large, so I call him a grumpy old man, but he has been with me for a long time and through a lot of ups and downs in life.
BPL: Hope you had a great Father's Day. As you know a lot of Black fathers are spoken of negatively. Talk about why Black Fathers are so important and what we must do to counter the negative stereotype about Black Fathers.
Reddick: I don't have kids. I'm divorced, but when I was married I wrote "The Good Little Leprechaun." My goal was to have something available for my children that they could always go to glean information and life lessons. Children weren't in the cards for us, but I could share this story with the kids I mentor in my community.
I was raised with my father in the home, which positively impacted my view of the world. My father was the kind of person who "said it once," and if he had to tell us something a second time there would be consequences. My mother was the kind of person that would tell us to do something and there was room for negotiations before the consequences.
Having both parents play their roles taught us two trains of thought. There will be times when we don't have to accept what we are being told, we should negotiate for a more favorable outcome. We also learned that There will be times when there is nothing we can do about our situation. When this happens we have to decide the best course of action to handle the hands we were dealt.
Having two parents available made it possible for each to perform those critical roles. It is difficult "not impossible" for one parent to come across as consistent in a child's development when they attempt to perform both roles. The whole concept of "a bad father" embeds into the black community the thought process of, " if he isn't good enough, he shouldn't be allowed to be in his child's life."
What this does is deprive the child of the opportunity of balance in their developmental process. There is no such thing as a perfect father, husband, or man. God makes us imperfect on purpose. This is because one of the greatest talents God has ever given mankind is the ability to "Learn from adversity." No matter what race you are, what religion you were brought up in, or what era you grew up in, both parents have done something to both screw their kids up and make their kids better people.
BPL: Is your father still living. I unfortunately lost my dad at age 78 over a decade ago. What impact did your dad have on you?
Reddick: My father is currently in the fight of his life with congestive heart failure. Please pray for him and that something can be done soon to help his heart regain it's strength.
BPL: What is the name of your business - what all do you sell besides T-shirts and how long have you done it?
Reddick: My website is Davidereddick.com  You can find the link to my books there and on Amazon.com. I haven't started selling the shirts and other products on my website just yet, but they will be available soon.

**BPL: I understand you first got into self-publishing with your book "The Good Little Leprechaun" in 2019. Talk about that book and what inspired it.**
Reddick: "The Good Little Leprechaun" (ages 8-12) is a simple yet relatable story that will help give your child the courage to be their best selves. This story shows that there can be a real and tangible benefit to being their own person who is kind, loving, and caring.
When each leprechaun is born, they are given a pot. It is that leprechaun’s job to fill that pot with gold. Each pot of gold eventually produces a rainbow. The more gold collected the bigger the rainbow will become.
Typical leprechaun behaviors are to fill their pots weren’t good, but it was the way it was always done. That’s about to change thanks to the efforts of one little leprechaun. The Good Little Leprechaun is the tale of one brave Leprechaun soul who decided to fill her pot by doing good deeds. Her honesty, determination, and tenacity to stand for good will inspire and challenge each reader to want to be a better person.
The principles applied by The Good Little Leprechaun are the same principles you want your child to apply in his/her own life. This is the book you will want your child to read. Available on Amazon at this link https://rb.gy/mdq754

BPL: Tell us about your 2023 book, "The Spiritual Side of Goal Setting: Why and How it Works" What inspired you to write it?
Reddick: When I was on active duty Navy I was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident. It took me over 3 years to be able to walk again unassisted, and I wasn't able to work immediately after my injuries caused me to be medically discharged. Because of my lack of financial training, I lost everything. I had to start all over in life, not from zero, but in a negative starting point.
What I couldn't understand was how I could be active in church, an avid tithes payer, a giver, and someone who believed that God can do anything; and yet I was almost homeless and completely destitute. I struggled to get my life back on track and the challenges were even harder because of the bad credit report and the past-due bills.
Using the tools I talk about in my book, I was able to get my life back, my finances back on track, and finally breathe again. My book is a simple guide that is easily understood by younger readers and can help the next person avoid similar struggles. This book covers the parts of scripture that get left out in far too many sermons and way too many Sunday School Classes. It's the rest of the biblical teachings that don't seem to make it to the sermons when the televangelists talk about the importance of tithes and giving offerings.
BPL: The Birmingham Public Library hosts an annual Local Authors Expo in November.
Click here to read a blog I wrote about it last year. https://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2023/11/meet-these-30-authors-at-2023-bpl-local.html
Any advice for others on how to get started in writing and publishing a book?
Reddick: My advice is to write as if you are going to throw the book away when you're done. That means to take the stress off of yourself about what you write. Most self-published authors don't start making any money from their books until their fourth book.
Some don't make any money until their ninth or 10th book. So write because you love it. Don't worry about how many copies it will sell, worry about consistency. Make sure that book two won't hurt your sales once you get book five on the market.
By Roy L. Williams|PR Director, Birmingham Public Library

By Roy L. Williams

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https://bplolinenews.blogspot.com/2024/06/juneteenth-q-with-david-reddick-author.html

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Friends V. Associates (the relief of knowing )

5/4/2015

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                The personal, social and moral obligations between friends are different than those of people who aren’t. When I realized this, a lot of stress left my life. Friendships come with a social contract to be aware of one another’s feelings on a more personal level; whereas acquaintances fall under a regional environmental contract, (be polite, follow the ten commandments, etc) of the area a group of people live in. You wouldn’t invite the guy that stands outside with a change cup to help you move, even if you’ve given him a dollar every time you saw him for the past ten years. You may know his name and why he’s begging but that doesn’t make you friends. Also you wouldn’t just keep driving if you saw your best friend since third grade broken down on the side of the road.

                Shortly after I moved back to Anniston I ran for public office, I didn’t win that race but it did establish me as a man of a curtain character. During that race I meet someone and we began to hang out, we even traveled together to events and such. We both started our own talk show, he started one while I was running for office, my campaign attorney encouraged me to start one after elections were over; so I did. I remember, at the end of my show I would tell the viewers to stay tuned for his show and one other. Unfortunately I never got a chance to see his show because of the amount of work I was putting into my show, so I never got to see his show and how close our formats were.

After knowing him a few years I encouraged him to run for a public office, and he did. We both ran for public office that next term and we were both elected. Almost immediately after we were elected this guy not only cut off all communications with me, but actually attempted to undermine many of my efforts. This caused me great anguish and stress. I remember getting almost enraged trying to deal with him. I didn’t understand “friends don’t do this to each other” was what I kept saying. Years later, he finally told me ‘I never liked you.’ He went on to tell me that he had no problem with any of the things he had done to hurt my efforts because he was upset that I also started a talk show. Apparently he believed that ‘I wanted to be like him because I started a television show,’ even though I was already in the community working and doing public speaking engagements. It was only natural that I would start some kind of talk show, radio or television.

‘I never liked you.’ At first those words stung a little and then relief took over me such as I had not experienced since we had both began running for office. I realized that although I was his friend, he had never been my friend. I was simply someone that he wanted to keep a close eye on. I always wondered why I did so much to further his career and he had never done a single thing to help me in mine. I remember telling him when someone was interested in donating to his campaign, and he never once gave me one of those calls. I even had some of my supporters tell me that he had gone to them and told them that I sent him ask them to give any support that they intended to give me to him instead.

When I realized we weren’t friends I began to see things differently. Everything I had done for him because we were friends, I began to see a simply a gift to help someone out. Even though we were close for over four years, we were never friends. This I had to learn; and it made me a better person. There are people that will come into our lives that aren’t friends. For example; you could work with a person in the same company for years; the two of you could eat lunch together and go to company related events, but when it’s time to compete for a big promotion it is expected for you to outpitch each other.

Simply spending time with a person doesn’t make them your friend, and this I had to learn. My personality causes me to befriend people easily. I’m not naturally competitive; I grew up being part of groups like marching band, jazz band, step groups and such which are set up so that everyone wins together. This causes me to have the mentality of “the better you do, the better I do,” which makes me want to help others achieve their goals. The “me against you” way of thinking was something I never really gravitated towards.

I needed this lesson in life so that I can become a better leader, so for this I am grateful. I see life in a whole new light now, because I’m ok with not being a friend with all of my acquaintances. I suspect that when this individual needs me again to forward his personal agenda that he will reach out to me. If or most likely when that day comes I will be able to deal with him from a new understanding. At the end of the day I suppose that my goal of helping as many people in this world be whatever they want to be is the most important thing to any and all of my relationships. I also realize that there are people in this world that I will never be friends with, and I’m ok with that.

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Unequal Democracy - book report

9/18/2014

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Unequal Democracy

By: Larry M. Bartels

            Every great once in a while a book comes out that is so riveting so edge of the seat entertaining that one can hardly put it down; this isn’t one of those books, but you still can’t put it down. Unequal Democracy is an enlightening work of art that opens to its reader truth about out escalating economic inequality, particularly during Republican Presidential terms. Professor Bartels has done all of the boring mind-numbing work for us (charts, graphs, reviews, push polls, regular polls, etc.) and connected the dots in such a way that much of the inequality becomes understandable and pattern forming. Bartels even creates his own charts for us to see, I saw enough charts and graphs to make me want to break out the old box of coloring pencils again.

            Unequal Democracy starts with the New Gilded Age, in which he shows and interprets economic inequality and what it means to the voters. He talks about how, many voters have what seems to be a form of Alzheimer’s and their memories only work for the year of the elections. Now Bartels doesn’t actually say we all have Alzheimer’s, but I read between the lines and I agree.

            The American public usually focuses on where the economy is during an election year. This is a benefit to the Republican Party because, according to Bartels research from the second year of the Republicans candidacy until a year before the next elections the economy usually goes into a recession and unemployment rises. The year of the election the economy begins to level off and it looks as if things are getting better. This impeccable timing combined with American Alzheimer’s allows the people to feel as if this party is doing a good job. The truth is that while the Republican Party is in power the income gap widens between the working class and the top five percent of elite upper-class. The middle and poor working class suffer more in terms of income and wealth distribution.

            Bartels’ work goes on to show that, during a Democratic Presidency the American economy experiences growth and stimulation and then begins to level off on the fourth year. The economic inequality between wealth and middleclass and poor working class begins to level off. Bartels does admit that although there is a leveling off, this does not mean that the gap closes to any large degree.

            He then shows how, with Democratic Presidents the income for the working middle class is about twice as high as it is under the Republicans. The income growth is six times greater under a Democratic President as it is under a Republican. Supply side or trickle down economics still exist under either administration it is just a little better for the poor and middle class under Democrats.

Bartels goes on to talk about how unemployment rates usually grow during Republican terms and shows how this has little impact on the upper-class. A rise in unemployment is felt more by the middle-class which depends on the working class to buy goods and services, and is essentially not a major factor in the upper-class. He shows how a sustained 1% unemployment growth over an eight year period equals out to about $10,000 accumulative loss in middle-class income. This is a significant amount in a middle class income.

Bartels spends a chapter talking about class politics and partisan change. In this chapter he talks about all the racy stuff to make a good novel, race, religion, sex and income level; too bad it’s an ole’ boring book about politics. He talks about the White Working Class. The white-working class that he is referring to is a particular class of Americans that particular political writings and advertisements chooses as a targeted audience. The white working class is middle-aged, white (obviously), non-college educated and working male. This class identifies “especially in the south” as Democratic but votes overwhelmingly Republican. Not including the 2008 election, the only time that the white-working class voted Democratic in any large number was in 1960 for Kennedy. In 1976 they voted around 50 percent for Carter and in 1992 and 1996 Clinton received around 50 percent of the white working class vote.

So; why does the white-working class vote against their own interest so overwhelmingly? One thought offered by Bartels was myopic voters. Commonly Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a refractive defect of the eye in which collimated light produces image focus in front of the retina when accommodation is relaxed. Those with myopia typically can see nearby objects clearly but distant objects appear blurred. The opposite defect of myopia is hypertrophy or "farsightedness" or "long-sightedness" — this is where the cornea is too flat or the eye is too short. In political terminology, these voters only look at their current status to determine how well the current administration is working. I call it American Alzheimer’s.

Bartels also talks about how, these working-class whites accept their condition as just a part of the process, and it just becomes inevitability. With the current class system in place and the fact that many of the people affected aren't properly educated they just adopt a form of apathy.

Finally, the thing I really like about this book is the fact that it doesn't actually choose sides. It is just empirical evidence showing how democracy, political parties, and class all tie in together, and the ardent affects to these facts. It can seem as though he is bashing the Republican Party; but I really don’t see that point of view. Facts are facts. I like that Bartels, was able to read between the lines and see the big picture, therefore enlightening the reader. Hopefully I won’t forget about how we need to… I can’t seem to remember, it must be an election year. ;)

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The Victim v. Fighter Personalities In A Work Environment

8/30/2014

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In our everyday lives we tend to surround
ourselves with people that compliment our personalities and ambitions. One of my
mentors would always say, "it is easy to tell where you are going in life. Just
look at the company you keep and you will see yourself." However, in a work
environment we don't have the luxury of picking who we surround ourselves with.
If we understand the personalities of our co-workers, it can help us have a more
harmonious work experience. I would like to take a minute and talk about two
personalities that I call The Victim and the Fighter.

The victim personality is usually someone that as a child was the
product of some type of abuse. This person may have had an alcoholic father or a
mother addicted to drugs, they may have had someone abuse them physically,
sexually or mentally. Because of the abuse suffered someone or a group of people
may have given them special treatment or attention because of the abuse. For
example, as a young boy Marcus' father would drink heavily and go into a drunken
rage and beat young Marcus. Because of this abuse Marcus' mother would allow him
to spend more time at a neighbor's house. The
neighbor would allow Marcus to stay with them knowing
about the behavior that the father was prone to, and even allow Marcus to stay
up late and have special treats. As Marcus grows he is more prone to reaching
out to be rescued by compassionate and sympathetic people.

The problem with the victim
personality person is that, if left unchecked they could
become manipulators, causing division everywhere they go. The
victim becomes skilled at getting friends and
co-workers to believe that another friend or co-worker is mistreating them. The
victim will exaggerate encounters with whomever they pick to be their
abuser. Usually the victim is insecure about
his or her ability to do his or her job. This person will pick the person that
they feel is the most capable person or biggest threat
to their job and attempt to turn everyone at work
against that person.

The fighter personality person is someone that
believes in tackling an issue head-on. They may at
times be viewed as aggressive, but they are usually
just trying to resolve a problem or issue. The fighter much like the victim may
or may not have been the victim of some type of abuse as a child but chose to
not allow themselves to feel helpless ever again. Unlike the victim the fighter
would have had a parent or some other authority figure that was confident and
self aware. The fighter's authority figure could have held a position of authority at work,
or have been an organizer or even a community activist.

The fighter would have looked up to the
powerful person and chose to follow that path to protection. The fighter would
not allow the sympathy of another person to make them weak. This person would
view the childhood abuse as a stepping stone placed in their path to make them
stronger. This behavior would cause the fighter to be a chance taker and bold,
he or she would attack any problem head on in an effort to resolve the issue.

In a situation where there is a fighter and a
victim in the same work environment the victim will see the fighter's
personality and seize the opportunity to make this person
appear to have abused them in some fashion to all of
the sympathetic personalities in that work environment. The victim will taunt
the fighter in some fashion until the fighter lashes out. Once the fighter
lashes out, the victim will then go to all sympathizers and embellish their side
of the story to appear to need the sympathizer's protection.

An example of this relationship would look
like the following. Marcus and John are both new hires and both viewed as
potential supervisors for various departments at their companies. Marcus would
befriend John and find out what pushes John's buttons. Marcus would then
begin to subtly do the things the he knows bothers John from time to
time at first and then more and more. John will go to Marcus on a one on one
basis and explain to Marcus that his behavior isn't appropriate. Marcus would apologize to John in the one on
one session, and then continue the same behavior that he knows bothers John again as soon as they are around
a group of co-workers. John would continue to attempt to resolve the issue with
Marcus one on one, not really putting it out to the rest of their co-workers that he is having
these problems with Marcus.

John is unaware that Marcus is going to all of
the sympathetic co-workers and telling them that John is mistreating him and
bullying him. Marcus would continue this behavior until an event, such as a
company retreat. Marcus would then begin to escalate the bad behavior in such a
way that John will erupt on him in the presence of all of their co-workers
during this retreat. At this point Marcus acts as if he has no idea why John
went off on him in front of everyone. Marcus would then go to all of the
sympathizers and pretend that this is the way that John treats him when no one
is around. Marcus would attempt to get everyone to rally around him to protect
him from John. Marcus would deny any opportunity to bring the two of them
together in an attempt of resolve, knowing that everyone would discover what he
has actually been doing. He would tell everyone "just trust me" or "I have tried
that already, but John just got worse."

In the victim fighter scenario, the victim has
to keep everyone from taking the time to analyze what is really going on. The
victim knows that if the co-workers ever put two and two together they would see
right through his game, so the victim must continue to appeal to the
emotionalism of the sympathizers. The victim is an expert at understanding how to make
appeals to the sympathizers because of his or her abuse during the abusive
upbringing. The fighter will attempt to resolve the issues with the victim,
never really realizing that this only plays into the hold that the victim has on
the sympathizers. This cycle of division will continue until one of the
sympathizers realize what is really happening and opens the eyes to the other
sympathizers in the workplace. Once this happens the victim will attempt to make
a bigger audience feel as though the entire workforce is abusing him or her. If
this doesn't work the victim will typically leave that environment and go
somewhere else that he or she can be victimized.

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October 31st, 2013

10/31/2013

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                                                        “ODE TO THE REDDICK LINEAGE”

                                                                            Who is David Reddick?

Diamonds are formed from
heat, pressure and time. The thing to diamonds being formed is that not enough
pressure and they stay coal, too much heat and they burn up or turn to lava. Any
other situational difference than the idea amount of heat, time and pressure you
don’t have a diamond. I am not a diamond “yet” but I believe that I am well on
my way.

I was born in Anniston, Alabama to a mixed race household. At the time I
was born being a black man married to a white woman wasn’t too popular; 1972 was
the tail end of the “Jim-crow South.” There was a time that my father and mother
were almost lynched for being together in public. My father was arrested for
“kidnapping” and my mother for loitering, they were then taken to the jail were
Klan members dressed in “Sons of the Confederacy” outfits had begun to arrive.
They were talking about where they were going to dispose of their bodies in
front of them. The one thing the police hadn’t considered was that, one of the
people that witnessed them kidnap my parents was active in the civil-rights
movement and ex-military. He called every black leader, preacher and politician
he knew and they organized the black community. Reverend Abernathy along with
Reverend N.Q. Reynolds, called to the
Talladega police department they were being held at and said “You have 15
minutes to have them back in Anniston, or we’re coming down there.” They gave
them a police escort back to the city limits. I grew up with this sense of “need
for justice” as a result of hearing some of the story’s I heard my father tell
and some of the injustices I witnessed growing up.

When I was a young child my family was the first minority family to move
into the East 23rd Street (all white) section of Anniston.
The way this was accomplished was, my mother went and meet with the leasing
person with one of the Caucasian members of Miracle Revival Temple, (The church
my family attended). She would explain that my father was at work and would sign
his section of the agreement once he had a day off. When she said my father
worked on the Ft. McClellan army base, the agent just assumed he was white and
gave my mother the key. My parents have never been very affectionate people; so
on moving day everyone assumed that he was the mover. My brothers and I were
very fair complexioned, so everyone assumed that we were white. At that age I
looked Irish with my freckles and curly red hair. My older brother had jet-black
hair with large curls, he looked Italian. My younger brother was just a toddler,
so he spent most of moving day in a crib. When my father went in to the leasing
office to sign his portion of the contract to get the gas cut on he was told,
“ya’ll can’t move in here!” My parents were prepared for this because the church
had already hired a lawyer, who explained to the agent that, if they refused to
allow us to move in that would be racial discrimination, and we were prepared
to sue. We were allowed to stay.

Living on East 23rd was also interesting for me. At first I
had a lot of children to play with. When their white parents realized that we
were black, they no longer allowed their children to come outside when we did. I
spent a lot of time outside, so I don’t know what the other kids did for fun.
The older ones would sneak out and play with my older brother, even though their
parents told them not to. I had no idea at the time that living on East
23rd was ground breaking;
I was just being a kid. Today I can look back at my old memories not with jaded
disgust, but with a sense of pride and a lot of love. I am grateful that my
parents didn’t share with us the ugly side of racism that they faced each day,
but the love of all men and women no matter their race or anything else. I am
also grateful that my parents were bold enough to take the actions that they did
to make the world a better place, one city at a time.

I returned to Anniston after ten years of being away in 2007. After only
seven months back home I ran for public office. I didn't win that election; I
actually lost by approximately 30 votes. Again in 2012 I ran for public office
and won. Today I have the wonderful opportunity of serving as “Anniston City
Councilman; Ward 2” in the city that my family had done so much work in. These
political campaigns allowed me to get to know some of the men and women that
were also part of integrating Anniston. They began to tell me stories of my
grandmother (Evelyn “James” Reddick) and the work she used to do with
organizations like the Alabama Democratic Caucus (ADC) and the Southern
Christian leadership Conference (SCLC). They began to tell me stories of how my
grandmother would not only partake in marches, meetings or anything else she
could do to make a change; but they also bragged on how she was always in the
lead. They called her fearless! “We could always count on Ms. Evelyn” these
leaders would say about her. “Grandma” Passed away my senior year of high
school, but I always loved being around her (except when she made me watch
soap-operas on television), and learning from her. One of the last things I
remember hearing her say to me was, “God made me a promise that He would use my
family,” and she believed that too! I had no idea that my “Grandma” was so
politically and civically active. I do however, remember being at her house or
walking the streets with her and people would either come by or stop her in the
street and tell her how they were having a problem. She always seemed to know
just what to say or just who to talk to, to place each passerby at ease.

I find it amazing that all of this history and progress was going on
around me and I had no idea! It was just a part of the life we lived in my
family. I assumed that everyone’s life was just like mine because that was the
only life I knew growing up. As I have grown older, I now realize that my father
was grooming us for greatness. Whenever my siblings and I brought a problem to
him, he expected us to have some idea of what we planned to do to remedy the
situation. If our ideas of what needed to be done was a bad idea he would offer
a better solution, and then he would basically stand back and allow “us” to
attempt to remedy it. If we brought a problem or situation to him with no
options, he would tell us to go figure out how we were going to fix it and then
come back to him. Of course if it was an emergency or something he knew we
couldn't handle he would intercede on our behalf, but other than that he was a
sounding board for each situation. My father even had me read schematics on
advanced video game components as early as 14. This showed me how to use
reasoning and critical thinking that I have been able to convert to situations
that I may face today. I love that I am now able to see things in so many ways,
and be mostly objective at all times.

I had the great opportunity to serve as NAACP president in the state of
Alabama from 2010-2012, and I am active in many civil and civic organizations. I
moved away from home right after barely finishing high school and joined the
U.S. Navy. There I had the privilege of being able to work with every ethnicity
of person imaginable. I also got the opportunity to travel to many foreign
countries and territories. I heard a comedian say that “we are the sum total of
our lives experiences” and I feel as though I am a lot of person. It’s hard to
sum up my life in just 1500 words but if I had to describe myself in only two,
those words would be “diamond destined.”

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