Episodes

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

Dear Hannah ... I'm a #StandupStoryteller. I'm the brother from another planet. Strange people think I am strange. I think that what I experience is strange. And still I rise. I am learning to be #CircumspectAboutDisrespect. Let me show you something ...

[3-2-2024] Hey folks. My name is Derrick Brown. I'm a #StandupStoryteller. I'm the brother from another planet. Strange people think I am strange. I think that what I experience is strange. And still I rise. #HappyBlackHistoryMonth. On a good day, I have a keen focus on life, liberty, and my pursuit of happiness. That focus intensifies during #BlackHistoryMonth. On a good day, I am intentional about my interactions and conversations. That focus intensifies during #BlackHistoryMonth. See - life f...

[2-11-2024] Good morning, good people. Let me show you something ... I am a missionary on a journey to powerful purpose ... with a charge to help others get there, too. That pathway is paved with ministry, entrepreneurship, stewardship, litercy, numeracy, language, self-expression, self-identity, and analysis / synthesis. This journey has given birth to a dream ... that I will use #StandupStorytelling (oration, rap, singing, spoken word, and teaching) to bring messages of hope, healing, and chan...

Dear Hannah - In January 2024, your school (Dunleith Elementary School) won our school district's Reading Bowl for perhaps the first time ever. That's a great story ... but it is part of a bigger story ... one that I do not know how to tell completely. So, I will tell you what I can. Let me show you something ...

Dear Hannah, My name is Derrick. My name means "leader of my people". I am the brother from another planet. My ways are strange - even to strange people. I know why the caged bird sings. And still I rise. I like to gather "my people" for small-group fellowship that facilitates hope, healing, and change. Nothing gathers and connects us like playing games. Nothing divides and alienates us like playing games ...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

In June 2023, The Computer History Museum (Mountain View, CA) published my oral history (https://bit.ly/CHMOH_DB_YT) for my contributions to the computing world as an Internet strategist for The Universal Black Pages (an Internet directory of African-related content), and as the founding director of KnowledgeBase’s Project CHIP (which refurbished and redistributed 1500+ computers to Georgia families and organizations). My oral history experience inspired a new project called #YourStory. #YourSto...

Today, I will share a story that articulates a concrete strategy to create sustainable change through *persistent* efforts to connect (with like-minded people), collect (information), protect (spirit, energy, and identity), and project (collaborate in consistent, meaningful ways).

On 2-4-2021, I hosted and moderated a conversation. The participants in this conversation were all connected to the history and legacy of the Lemon Street Schools. The Lemon Street Schools were segregated schools for Cobb County Blacks. When integration closed the schools and absorbed them into the Marietta City School district, a lot of people were hurt. A lot of their legacy was suppressed, ignored and marginalized … but still they rise. That resilient spirit has been evident in all the conver...

Harriet Tubman conducted 13 rescue missions on the Underground Railroad over a 10-year period. Those long journeys to freedom resulted in lots of hungry people. Tubman was a professional cook - which provided her mission's startup capital, and creativity under pressure. She once stopped at a market to buy 2 chickens, and almost came face-to-face with a former overseer ... so she dropped one of the chickens and started to chase it. The comedy allowed her to escape unnoticed - even though everyone...

[1-16-2017] Being part of a church has helped me to grow - both in my walk with God, and in my understanding of life and people.Church helped me to wake up, grow up, speak up, and wise up. The experience has not always been "pretty" - but has taught me key lessons ... Your gifts can become weapons (against you and others) without the BALANCE of healing and accepting, affirming, accountable, authoritative relationships (SEE TABLE BELOW). Hurt people hurt people. Healed people help people heal....

[3-3-2017] A long time ago (1997) in Petersburg, VA (where my wife Keisha was born and raised), Tim and Daphne Maxwell Reid launched New Millennium Studios - a 15,000-square-foot full-service movie production studio on 60 acres of land ... land with a rich Civil War history. It was the only full-service movie production studio in the state of Virginia. Tim Reid (a native of Norfolk, VA) may be best known as "Ray" - Tia and Tamera's dad on the 1990's sitcom "Sister, Sister". He was also the star ...

[2-26-2017] Charles Darrow lost his job as a heater salesman at the beginning of The Great Depression in 1929. He then created, patented, copyrighted, and licensed Monopoly between 1933 and 1935 - but Monopoly was based on versions of real estate trading games whose patents date back to 1904. Why did Darrow's version flourish - making him the first millionaire game designer? Well, two lessons come to mind ...

[3-5-2017] A long time ago, a movie called "The Matrix" captured our attention. The movie conveyed that reality was not "real" - but simulated and imagined. It made lots of "real" money, though. A few years after, author Sophia Stewart sued the key players behind "The Matrix" for copyright infringement. She also sued the key players behind "The Terminator". She alleged that both movies were based on works she created in the early 1980s. Court documents show that Stewart did not win her lawsuit. ...

[3-17-2017] American history has not been kind to Paul Robeson. Robeson was a complex individual. Even complex individuals can be erased - one dimension at a time. As an actor and singer, he was erased - even as one of the most powerful and popular performers in the world. As a football player, he was erased - even as a Rutgers University All-American. As a civil rights activist, he was erased ("blacklisted") for his "un-American" support of communism and The Soviet Union. Despite these concerte...

[2-4-2018] I was able to attend Brother Darryl Robinson's homegoing yesterday. I drove down with Willie Frasier. We met during the 1985 Clemson Career Workshop, too, and have been friends ever since. He shared some great memories of "Cheese" during our ride. He was Cheese's roommate for a while. I never knew, but was not surprised ... not in the least. Yesterday was amazing in more ways than I can recount here ... but I will stick to the highlights. We arrived just after Omega Psi Phi's memorial...

[1-28-2018] I met Darryl "Cheese" Robinson when I was 15 years old. He was my hall counselor during the Clemson Career Workshop in 1985. He may have been the head counselor - then again, maybe not.But if he wasn't - it sure seemed like he was. His room door was always open, and he was always in there speaking into someone. Older students. Younger students. It did not matter - he was dropping knowledge for the masses ...

I am a "Standup Storyteller". I am comfortable standing up and speaking my truth. Here's today's truth - I have blind spots. Help me to see them today by listening. I have a special set of skills ... acquired over a long career ... that make me attractive as a workhorse problem solving employee ... but not necessarily as a leader. Let me say that this lack of validation follows a pattern in my life. This lack of validation has become my validation.

I don't know a lot about the Tuskegee Airmen. Don't know a lot of details, but now here's what I do know. I know that they were a group of courageous men of color ... who sought to break barriers in a profession ... that constructed a lot of them ... to make sure that pilots were of a certain hue, if you understand what I'm saying. And to overcome those barriers, they had to defeat barriers about intelligence and that means intelligence requirements ... not being able to combine physical, mental...