God's Directions

It's very hard to hear God while listening to other voices...

Testimony to the Washington, D.C. Government Politicians Concerning Returning Citizens from Prison

Testimony of Rev. George C. Gilbert Jr. Executive Director, East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership “District of Columbia Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program Act of 2015” January 28, 2015 Thank you Chairman Orange for the opportunity to testify before the Committee on Business, Consumer, and Regulatory Affairs on this important legislation, the “District of Columbia Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program Act of 2015”. My name is Reverend George C. Gilbert, Jr. and I am the Executive Director of the East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership. The East of the River Clergy Police Community Partnership, or ERCPCP, was founded in 1999 to devise a collaborative and wholistic approach to address youth violence and related issues. We are a faith based program that partners with the police and community to prevent crime East of the River. We work with the police as well as enlist the support of churches and community organizations. The ERCPCP is located in Southeast, DC, home to the highest crime rates in the District. We witness firsthand how violence and crime plague our community. Our community is also home to many returning citizens. ERCPCP’s mission is to reverse the incidence of violent crimes, reduce the rate of recidivism, and foster educational achievement. It works with youth already in the criminal justice system or at greatest risk of dropping out of school. An intervention based model, ERCPCP seeks to change the direction of youth who perpetrate violent crimes and serve as new recruits for violence and failure because of educational dysfunction and disinterest. One of the key factors in reducing recidivism is employment. Without jobs, many returning citizens will return to the crimes that put them behind bars before. Unfortunately, many returning citizens have a difficult time finding employment. Many returning citizens do not have the skills to find long term, meaningful employment. What we find, especially East of the River, are that returning citizens want to find work. They want to provide for their families and provide for them legally. They don’t want to lose any more years to the prison system. Self-employment is a great alternative for returning citizens and B21-0463, the “District of Columbia Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program Act of 2015” provides that pathway. Many returning citizens have tangible skills. Why not turn those skills into small businesses? Barbershops, landscaping companies, restaurants, car services, cleaning companies, the list could go on. There are successful businesses already in the District that are owned and operated by returning citizens but not nearly enough. This bill provides the funding, the education and the training that is necessary to start and operate a successful business. While many returning citizens might have the skills, they don’t have the appropriate background and education to be successful business owners. Accounting, business planning, budgeting, and marketing are important to a successful small business. This bill provides for that. It also provides scholarships and grants for the University of the District of Columbia and the University of the District of Columbia Community College. This is important because many of the District’s returning citizens do not have the financial resources to take college classes. Grants and scholarships make it much more attainable for them. I support this bill because it is an investment in better the livelihoods of returning citizens which is in turn an investment in the District of Columbia. I hope the Council moves forward with this legislation. The District is home to many returning citizens and if this government is serious about reducing recidivism and providing an alternative way of life, the “District of Columbia Incarceration to Incorporation Entrepreneurship Program Act of 2015” is a positive step in the right direction. Thank you again for holding a hearing on this bill and I am available to answer any questions.

Formula to respond to police murder

There is are multiple moves that need to be done: 1. Make sure that the justice department is involved 2. Create a list of demands that includes the investigation of this force, these officers and number complaints of harassment 3. Constant marches and protest that effects the commerce for a sustained amount of time 4. Voter registration to shift the paradigm in the next election 5. Lawsuit from the family 6. Engagement of all generations and all colors 7. Legislation created against these type of police stops that brings harsh punishment to officers and stations involved in this type if systematic racism. 8. A nation wide police brutality call center that folks can call and get immediate response when in these type of situations.

Interview about the black community with me and white public policy student

https://app.box.com/s/uf2jiscsc234npkaneztt1ck04ktuf5p

Statement on Charleston Church Shooting

I was asked to write a statement concerning the church shootin in Charleston, South Carolina. Here it is: It is with great sympathy and heartfelt love that our hearts go out for the victims, survivors and families of the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting. As people of faith, we stand understand, that the black church and pastor, historically, means a great deal to individual lives, the community and the shaping of American values. When the sanctity of coming together for prayer is threatened, due to the ever-present hand of racism, it’s time to come together with one voice that will not accept this behavior from any racist or bigot in our God-fearing society. In 1963, America experienced the bombings of 4 little black girls in Birmingham, Alabama. This America, never thought that she would be in grief over the same stupidity and insanity again. Just yesterday, the police was called and reports were given that shots were fired into a church in Memphis, Tennessee. The African American community is being attacked. We are being attacked from racist police officers, who have chosen that black lives don’t matter. We are being attacked from politicians, who choose to place more money in the budget for corrections than for education and job training. We are being attacked from judges that sentence the maximum sentences and see our community as less that human. We are being attacked from a system that teaches white America that everything Black is wrong and that we are no more than a detriment to the success of this great country.

Fighting Outside Of Your Corner

Just as the boxer must realize that the fight is in the middle of the ring, and he comes to his corner for rest, direction, exhortation, and to be worked on, the Christian Church must understand that the church is our corner but the fight happens outside the walls of the church.

Too many of us believe that if we serve in the church, come faithfully, and hold positions that we are doing our part. That thinking causes frustration, stagnation, and failure to be the salt of the earth which is one of the roles of church. This responsibility can not be left solely on the Pastors, but must become the atmosphere of the membership of the church. Evangelism is suffering in most churches because members have not decided that they will take their love for the Lord to their family, friends and co-workers.

Commencement Speech to 2015 High School Graduates

When I was called an asked to come as talk with you today my first reaction was, why me? You see, many look and see my work in the city (jobs, boys/men, speaking up to the powers of the city), you see the degrees and me teaching at the seminary. You see me preaching around the DMV. But what they don't see is I grew up on the southside in the 90's when D.C. was the Murder Capitol of the United States. What they don't know is that my 9th grade principal wouldn't give me my diploma until I turned in a 5 page paper of why I deserved to graduate from junior high school. What they don't see is how the only reason I made it through high school is because my principal, Mr. Ralph Neal refused to throw me away. They don't see that it took me longer that 4 or 5 years to get my Bachelor's degree. They don't see that all my homies are either in the grave or had to do hard time in prison. So I realize that the reason I was asked to talk to you is because when some of you see me you see some of yourself. Yea no matter how high I get, I will always be an OG from the southside. 41st and Georgetown! But as a Baptist preacher, I have been to too many funerals. And there is three things that I always take notice of when I look at the deceased program. The 3 things that I always notice is the birthdate, the dash and then the death date. What I want you to be concerned about is the dash between you birth and your death. What are you going to do with the dash? What are you going to do with this life you have been blessed with? What are you going to do with the opportunities that you have been given? Some of our fathers, uncles, mothers, brothers sisters and friends have decided to waste the dash of the life. But the question is what are you going to do with the dash? The first thing I want you to do with the dash is DON'T ALLOW YOUR ISSUES TO DEFINE WHO YOU ARE. You may live in a challenging situation but that is not who you are. You may live in a poor neighborhood but you can have a rich mindset. You may have been counted out, but that doesn't mean you won't make it. You are looking at someone who chose to go to UDC not because that was my first choice, but because my 12th grade high school counselor refused to sit down with me and help me get in college because she told me she wasn't going to waste her time on me. She said George you ain't nothing but a street boy. But I didn't allow her to define me. I didn't allow her to stop me. And So don't allow your issues to define who you are and where you are going. Secondly, when asking you what are you going to do with the dash, the 2nd point I want to drop into your ears is EMBRACE YOUR BLACKNESS When God created you, God didn't make a mistake. When your family sees you they see beauty. You come from royalty. You come from a people who made it through death and hell but they made it. You come from a people who stolen from their home, but they still made it. You come from a people who had dignity and pride. Young men pull up your pants. Young women cover up your breast. We are a people with dignity and pride. Walk in your greatness. Walk in your strength. Walk in your swag. We live in a country that says everything about the young black males and females of America is bad. They call you thugs. They fear you. They want you to assimilate into society and blend in. But I stand today to challenge some Anacostia graduate that you leave this graduation with the mindset of turning this upside down world right side up. You have the power to make a difference. You have the power to fix your neighborhoods. You have the power to change the course of somebodies life. Greatness is in your DNA. When you decide to be great no one can beat you. No one can beat you on the court or in congress. When you decide to be great, nobody can beat you on stage or in the senate. When you decide to be great, nobody can beat you at wimbledon or in the white house. When you decide to be great nobody can beat you on broadway or in the board room. Embrace your blackness. The last and final point I want to encourage you to do with the dash is to TAKE YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER WITH YOU EVERYWHERE YOU GO. You find out that there will come a time that momma won't be able to help you. There will be a time a your future that your homies won't be able to help you. There will be some test to come in your life that you will need to fall on your knees and ask for some help. There will be sometimes that you are going to find yourself in some situations that you don't know how to get out of. There will be some opportunities, some jobs, some positions that you want that you may not be qualified for. But let me tell you everybody sitting in this room today is sitting here only because of the grace of God. And you can make it. You can make it. You can make it. I got 3 reasons why I know you can make it. Number one is because he woke you up this morning. number 2 is because he woke you up this morning. Number 3 is because He woke you up this morning. And if woke up this morning, I don't care how bad your life was yesterday, today is another opportunity to make it. I want to leave you with this story. You are looking at someone who was didn't get a scholarship to go to graduate school to Howard University because my grades weren't up to standard in UDC undergraduate school. But I was determined to get my Master's Degree from Howard University, for that is the University my father graduated from. So with no money in my pocket, and no scholarship to attend I go and register. I go and stand in line, and while I'm in line the Dean of the Divinity School sees me, and ask me my name. I tell him George Gilbert. And he says, step out of line, and come with me. I follow him to his office and he says because I know your father, as long as you go to Howard you won't have to pay a dime for a class or a book. See little did I know that while I was on my way to the school to register, my father had already called up to the dean and made provisions for me to go. Well I'm here today to tell you Anacostia to go and take the heavenly fathers name with you, because your heavenly father has already made provisions for you. While you are trying to figure it out He has already worked it out. What are you going to do with the dash?