Page 2 The Skanner November 24, 2015
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Opinion
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
Don’t Let Your Limitations Limit You
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s a young college foot-
ball star and Olympic
Weightlifting
Cham-
pion, Jim Stovall was
focused on athletics and not
his education. But all of that
changed after a routine med-
ical examination discovered
that Jim was losing his sight
and would be blind in a short
time! He had no marketable
skills and was flat broke.
The shock of this forced Jim
to change his mindset. He be-
gan to search out coaches and
mentors who could direct him
towards his goal of becoming
wealthy.
He sought out people who
helped him work on his mind-
set. And he took courses and
studied material that helped
him grow himself. This is how
Jim Stovall began his personal
journey of self-development
and growth that would lead
him to become a multi-mil-
lionaire businessman.
Jim Stovall is now the found-
er and president of the Emmy
Award-winning
Narrative
Television Network that ca-
ters to blind viewers. He was
selected as the International
Humanitarian of the Year,
joining former President Jim-
my Carter and Mother Teresa.
He’s a recipient of the U.S.
Willie
Jolley
NNPA
Columnist
Chamber of Commerce Na-
tional Blue Chip Enterprise
Award, a world-renowned
speaker and the author of the
best-selling book, The Ulti-
mate Gift, now a 20th Century
Fox major motion picture.
In the book, Forbes Great
Success Stories: Twelve Tales
“
graduate of Oral Roberts Uni-
versity. On May 3, 2008, he
received an Honorary Doctor-
ate of Law from ORU for his
work with the disabled.
During my SuriusXM inter-
view, Jim shared these power-
ful principles:
• Life is really not about what
happens to you, but what
you do about it!
• Money must be seen as a
tool to allow you to do what
you love to do. Money mag-
nifies everything. “If you
love doing good, then mon-
ey allows you to do more
good. But if you love doing
He sought out people who helped
him work on his mindset. And he
took courses and studied material
that helped him grow himself
of Victory Wrested from De-
feat by Alan Farnham, Steve
Forbes, Jr. the president and
CEO of Forbes magazine said,
“Jim Stovall is one of the most
extraordinary men of our
era.”
His accomplishments are
remarkable, in and of them-
selves, yet he found time to
go back to college. He is a
stupid stuff, it will allow
you to do more of that as
well.”
• Money gives you options
and allows you to live on
your own terms.
• Never buy a map from
someone who has never
been where you want to go!
Be willing to ask for help
•
•
•
•
•
•
from those who have been
where you want to go.
The quickest way to get to
wealthy is to make up your
mind to do whatever it takes
(that is moral and legal) to
achieve it! Then go to work
on that goal.
Starting is half the battle of
success! And a good plan
poorly executed is better
than a perfect plan that is
never executed.
Change your mind and you
can change your life. You
have the right to choose
your path. You are one qual-
ity decision away from any-
thing you want.
Don’t let small challenges
become big obstacles. To
have no sight is not a big
deal, but to have no vision
is tragic! Sight is to only see
where you are; but vision is
to see where you want to go
and what you want to be.
Make the decision to invest
in yourself by reading great
books. Poor people have
big TVs and small libraries.
Millionaires have big TVs
as well, but bigger libraries!
You cannot expand your
bank account until you ex-
pand your mind!
Mizzou Students Teach a Lesson in Blackonomics
R
ecollections of my 1995
article on the business of
college athletics danced
in my head when I heard
the news about the University
of Missouri football team’s
refusal to play until the Pres-
ident of that University, Tim
Wolfe, resigns or is dismissed.
The players said, “due to his
negligence toward margin-
alized students’ experience”
and his lax attitude regarding
racial issues on campus, they
would no longer participate
in football activities. (Prior
to the publishing date for this
article, Tim Wolfe resigned.)
When it comes to college
athletics, money is the name
of the game. When coaches
of college teams earn several
million dollars per year and
half-billion dollar stadiums
are being built, the actual la-
borers — the players -- get lost
in the shuffle.
Well, the players on the Uni-
versity of Missouri football
team are far from being invis-
ible as they made a statement
that has divulged an econom-
ic vulnerability.
Everything boils down to
dollars, if you look deeply
enough, and the young men
on Missouri’s team illumi-
nated that reality by their
actions. Instead of wearing
shirts with a nice-sounding
slogan on them, or hoodies
that connote illegal killings of
Black folks, black armbands,
or writing something on
James
Clingman
NNPA
Columnist
their shoes, Missouri football
players chose the “nuclear
option,” as some in Congress
would call it.
They put their prospective
livelihoods on the line, and
they put their scholarships
on the line by actually doing
“
of individual scholarships
and their chances to make it
to the professional ranks sim-
ply because they took a prin-
cipled stand against racism.
Other athletes have already
fought that battle and some
are still paying the price de-
cades later.
Tommie Smith, John Carlos,
Muhammad Ali, Curt Flood,
and Craig Hodges — just
to name a few — took their
stands against the system
and took the blows that their
peers were unwilling to take.
They paid a hefty price for
When coaches of college teams
earn several million dollars per
year and half-billion dollar stadi-
ums are being built, the actual la-
borers -- the players -- get lost in
the shuffle
something substantive rath-
er than symbolic in response
to their legitimate concerns
about the conditions on their
campus.
The sacrifice these young
people are making cannot be
overstated, and I commend
them for being strong and
committed enough to put core
values before fame.
While they deserve our
support and accolades, they
should not have to suffer a loss
having the temerity to stand
up and speak out.
The Missouri football play-
ers now find themselves in
a crucible of consciousness,
and we should stand with
them and assure that they
do not suffer the same fate
as their forerunners. If they
are “blacklisted” by the NFL,
Black people and other sym-
pathizers should boycott NFL
games.
The economic lesson from
the players’ threatened “work
stoppage,” juxtaposed against
Jonathan Butler’s life-threat-
ening hunger strike, is quite
revealing. Butler’s life was
virtually ignored, but when
the dollars came into play,
things changed right away.
The message: A Black life
does not matter, but Black dol-
lars do matter. Considering
all the critical issues facing
Black people in this country,
we would do well to use eco-
nomic power instead of rely-
ing on political influence to
make appropriate changes to
our overall condition.
We should celebrate the
Missouri players for taking
the “road less traveled” as they
fight for their rights on their
campus; they chose substance
over symbolism, action over
passivity. Rather than merely
wearing their complaints on
their chests or their shoes,
they chose to wear their con-
cerns on their hearts by let-
ting the world know they are
quite serious; they took their
protest to the only level that
gets results—the economic
level. Much respect to those
young men and their support-
ers at the university.
James Clingman is the na-
tion’s most prolific writer on
economic empowerment for
Black people. His latest book,
Black Dollars Matter! Teach
your dollars how to make
more sense, is available on his
website, Blackonomics.com.