JDP

Join me at the table in Star Buck’s with Jonathan Parks for some food, and as Erykah Badu would say “Not the kind that you eat.”

Q: What types of Activism do you do?

A: Can being a truth seeker be one? (He laughs) I volunteer when I feel that a cause is not overly glamorized in a way that it is not being done just because the cameras are going to be there. Actually, to be honest with you, the activism that I do, you would never read about, because the change I’m making, and the change that I’m seeking to make is to individuals, the everyday average Joe. You meet a man on the corner and he needs a pair of shoes, and just so happens to wear your size; am I not to give that man my shoes? My cause is looking at people who can’t pay their student loans, and it’s like either I pay this $500 or I go home for a semester. How do I find that money for that student? You know, there’s not going to be any news stories about that. I’m big on education; I try to be involved in anything centered around education. I read to kids, I take out time to go to different pre-schools to read to kids. Most importantly, I read to my family. You know, activism can start at home. It’s got to start at the house. Real change happens behind the scenes. I like it back there, it’s nice.

Q: How long have you been speaking and making changes?

A: I would love to say all of my life, but in high school, I went to Africa for seventeen days on a missionary trip and that trip changed me. When I was on that trip I was asked how you can be colored and not be from Africa because they consider us colored. I was sixteen or seventeen at that time, I didn’t know how to answer that question so I just told him that you have Brothers and Sisters everywhere. On that trip was the first time that I spoke, I had to do a sermon while I was there. That was the first time that sparked or ignited something. When I came back from that trip is when things kind of clicked for me that its more to life than everything you see now, there is more to life than sitting here at Star Buck’s, ordering a Vanilla Bean Frappucino. I was over there seventeen days without electricity. Whatever you killed that day, you ate. So yes, that trip changed me. I’ll say for six years I’ve been taking it serious.

Q: Who is considered under-represented students?

A: Under-represented students right now, I mean, who made that definition? Everybody knows that they are talking about students from an urban setting, an urban environment because of the graduation rate. I developed a program to help strengthen and create a paradigm shift to get them looking towards the benefit of going for a secondary education. I’m trying to get that light bulb in their heads that you need this and here’s why. Half the people are in an “under-represented” population. They are not poor, they are not un-educated; they just lack drive. You ever have those days, where you have a perfect vehicle but you don’t know where to go? That’s education right now. We sit these kids in a classroom, which is a metaphor for the car, and we are not taking them anywhere.

Q: What common issues are you seeing in the different communities?

A: I can’t. You know when you ask a kid to do something. I’m actually working on a story, with two characters; I can’t and can do. That’s it, two characters. No matter what nationality, race, or creed you’re going to always hear the story, I can’t. I can’t do this and I can’t do that. You’re automatically doomed to yes you can, but you have to ask that why question too. Why do you feel that way? As a child you don’t walk around being fearful. That’s when you’re at your bravest point. So who planted that in your mind that you can’t do this? That word right there is what my whole life has been built around. My whole life has been around proving a point. You know, the Doctors wrote me off a long time ago, maybe even some family and friends. My life is about proving a point. So every time that you say that I can’t, I’m living proof that I can.

Q: What is the hardest thing about what you do?

A: A wise man once told me (Dr. Charles Clark), people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. I love that! But in Detroit, people don’t care who you are until you blow up. I mean that is the hardest thing, getting out there and spreading the message. Do you know how many doors have been closed in my face? You know, I’ll come speak for free. That’s a big challenge, we have to get away from the whole thing of free like it’s something bad attached to free. On the speaking thing, the hardest thing is really getting love from the city. One school wants me to come but then the Board of Education will hold me up because I’m not a preferred vendor. You know, I’m doing it for free, why do I have to be a preferred vendor? I can blog about something positive, I won’t get any responses. When I blog about something negative, then you get everybody hitting you up. From my job side, the one that pays the bills, the hardest thing is parent involvement. You get the kids, but you don’t have the parents. The parents are the ones that are spending the most time. So with the parents, to get them to buy-in on the whole idea of education, they may say that they buy-in on it, and that they want their kid to graduate but after that, then what?

Q: What do you think the hardest thing is for parents in regards to the aspect of education?

A: We just need parents to be parents. I did a blog called “Education needs something big” and that something big was the parent’s piece of it. I hear kids calling their parents by their first name. “Yo Brenda, make me something to eat.” I’m like, what? Parents want to be best friends with their kids and they can’t be best friends they have to be parents. You’re supposed to fear your parents. My Dad is not my best friend; I respect him as my Father. That’s what he’s here for; to stop me from making mistakes that he did and to show me the right way to do things. You are not here to be my best friend and that’s what happens when you’ve got your parent who is trying to be your best friend. I mean, who’s the authority figure. You’ve got kids deciding when they are going to go to class. When they are going to do this and when they are going to do that. So that’s hard. If we just had more parents, just being parents.

Q: Where do you want to be in the future as a speaker and as a person who is involved in the community, what would you like to see happen?

A: As a speaker, well, picture rocking out in front of a hundred thousand people and have everybody in total agreement with you right; but they leave and they don’t get it. That’s not my dream. I can rock out in front of two hundred people and they all leave and a hundred people really get it. That’s my dream, that’s what I want. I want people to really get what I’m saying. My story is no different from any other person’s story, there are other people who have the same story that I have but they are just not using their voice right now. Maybe I can spark them to use their voice. You know, it’s not a competition about “Hey, I have the best story” but when I speak, I want to open your mind and leave you jawless; Like, “I can’t believe he just said that but that is so true.” That’s my one true goal.

Q: What’s next for Jonathan Parks?

A: In September there will be a Back-to-School Rally where I’ll be doing a session on leadership at Oak Grove A.M.E. Church. In October I’m planning a conference in Southfield, it’s going to be a conversation about how we define success.

Q: What thoughts would you leave us with regarding life?

A: The best way to enjoy it is to slow down. Truly take it in. Friendships; don’t worry about changing your friends. See what you can learn from them and apply that to yourself. Education; don’t count on the classroom. There are two types of education; one in the books and the other is in life. Life is the best education but you’ve got to find that balance.

Jonathan’s view points are a well-spring of profound thoughts on issues such as education and politics to name a few. He spoke with me about our starvation from Good Leaders on the local level as well as National levels since the days of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Coleman A. Young, and Denise Archer. I challenge any and every one to have a conversation with this young man and see if you don’t leave wanting to make some sort of change yourself. Jonathan Parks, you are Detroit’s Best Friend!

To find out more about the Detroit Native Jonathan Parks, check out his website at http://www.jdparks.com/