Young, Gifted and Black

About the Book

The most crucial information this generation of African American youth must know is the fact that unless they live their life with a sense of urgency and purpose, the world is going to pass them by. Now is the time for those who want something more out of life than mediocrity and the status quo to go out and get it. The people who are going to survive and prosper in this era of rapid change are those who are able to be radical in both their thinking and dreaming. Young people of today cannot content themselves with waiting on others to give them an opportunity and open doors for them but must become proactive in creating opportunities for themselves. Know this one thing for sure: opportunity doesn’t breed purpose. Purpose creates opportunities by virtue of it, driving you out of your comfort zone. I wish for my son and every other African American youth to know that the more of their comfort they are willing to give up, the more of their dream and success they can achieve. You are reading this book because I sacrificed five hundred of my seven-hundred-dollars-a-month income to publish it, without having a place to live or knowing how I was going to make it through the rest of the month. But that is what dream chasers do They throw everything they have behind their dream. I caution every young person to not listen to those who tell you that “you can’t afford to spend your last dollar on your dream.” The truth is, you can’t afford not to if you hope to ever see your dream come true.

About the Author

The old proverb says, “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.” It is towards that end, prevention, that I wrote this book. My last book was written for those already caught in the revolving door of imprisonment, addiction and mental illness. This book is meant to reach the young people who have thus far avoided that trap. I wrote it because I do not believe what many are saying about the current generation of African American youth being a lost generation. I am encouraged by the Scripture in the Book of Ecclesiastes, which states, “There is hope to all who are joined onto the living.” So what you will get from this book is a message of hope and empowerment. Its few chapters are a composite of the lessons I have learned from both my life and the life of my son, as both he and I have fought to overcome obstacles in the form of mental and physical challenges. He was born with cerebral palsy and I have schizoaffective and bipolar disorder. Yet we are both proving ourselves stronger than those forces that would see us defeated. In a word this is a book for you if you are a young person who is not ready to say die. Danny has been certified by Toastmasters International as a competent Public Speaker (1991 East Moline). He received his GED from the Chicago City Colleges (1981) and obtained a certificate in Graphic Arts from Southeastern Illinois College (1987). He is a former member of the Pan-African Revolutionary Socialist Party. He spent twenty years in prison and ten in Elgin Mental Health Center. While in the hospital he wrote over eight-hundred poems, three books of daily meditations, and numerous speeches and Afro-centric anecdotes. He also acted as a mentor for younger consumers while there, leading his own peer-support groups and chairing GROW for four years (2003-07). He has published three books, A Ten-Part Book to Maximizing Your Potential, Life Poems and Three-Part Process to Breaking the Recidivism Cycle, since getting of the hospital in 2013. He has been clean of all illegal drugs and alcohol for fourteen years. His mission is to be the most infectiously optimistic and exceptionally giving person possible and to encourage others to be equally optimistic and giving. Danny is not one who believes you can’t make it because you have some strikes against you; he is one to tell you that, “Anything you can conceive and believe you can achieve,” (Napoleon Hill). You can post comments on my email or contact me for workshops and testimony at dannycrystal7963@gmail.com.