Joseph Addison, President of 100 Black Men of Milwaukee
Joseph Addison, President of 100 Black Men of Milwaukee
When I met Joseph Addison, President of the 100 Black Men of Milwaukee, at the Wantable Cafe, he told me he had just left the boy he was mentoring. “I have a 3rd grader mentee at the Milwaukee Academy of Science. We meet every Friday morning to go over his schoolwork. I help him with literacy, and we play games.”
That incident illustrates the calling of the 100 Black Men of Milwaukee, mentoring young and very young African American boys. Some of these boys can be influenced by a negative community environment or a peer group low on civility. They are raised thinking they will never be able to live the life they want. Every African American boy needs the opportunity to create a life of hope. The promise of hope is what the 100 Black Men of America and the Milwaukee Chapter tries to provide.
Addison was raised in Pensacola, Florida. “I had a single mother who put everything aside to focus on me,” he said. “I also had support from my aunts, uncles, and grandparents. I went to church, and I learned the importance of volunteering.” After high school, Addison found his calling in the airline industry.
I understand you spent two years at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for Aeronautical Science, and later earned a B.A. degree in Business at Keiser University. How did you get interested in the air industry?
At first, I wanted to be a pilot. My father was a pilot for UPS. But I didn’t take school seriously, and I enrolled in Keiser University and majored in Business Administration. I was still working in the airline industry at Express Airlines. After college, I worked for Pinnacle Airlines in Alabama. In 2009, I went to work for AirTran Airways here in Milwaukee. I was 24. The snow and cold weather was an adjustment. But I love aviation, truly my passion.
You now work for Derco Aerospace and Lockheed Martin in Milwaukee, and what is your job there?
I am a material support planner/buyer. We work with military suppliers on aircraft. Whatever our customers cannot repair on their aircrafts, they send it to us. We repair that component in-house or send it to a third party supplier.
You are President of 100 Black Men of Milwaukee.
Reading from your website: “We empower our community through mentoring, leadership, health & wellness, education, and economic growth.” How does 100 Black Men go about that?
We start with the youth, especially Black males, whom we believe need structure outside the family. We expose them to things the family are not able to. We partner with Big Brothers and Big Sisters and host the Saturday Academy once a month. We talk to the boys about real life issues from financial literacy to social media and how boys should respect girls. We have a career and resource fair, invite the whole Milwaukee community and support resources for parents. We bring in police officers. We encourage youth to work in retail jobs or work in the Trades where they can earn more than some people who went to college.
What does a mentor do when he spends time with a young man?
Generally, the mentor meets with his mentee once a month. Currently, many of us are working with high school students. The most important thing is to listen—what do you like, what do you dislike. With my current mentee, a 3rd grader, the first session, I met with him, his mother and his brother, getting to know each other. Listening to his likes and dislikes. When he heard I worked in aviation, his eyes lighted up. I love to fish, so does he. I took him fishing near Mitchell Airport, planes flying overhead, which delighted him. I plan to give him a tour of small airplanes.
For how many months or years do you guys mentor the Black youth?
Until. No timeline. Just until. Even adults have mentors and try to stay in touch with them. Mentoring doesn’t have to go away.
High school boys can have issues. What is your approach to mentoring them?
We understand school isn’t for everyone, but that does not mean learning stops. For instance, to become a master electrician or plumber, you have to be an apprentice to learn that trade. At 100 Black Men, we take our mentees so far, and then we might pass them off to further their career or educational growth. We believe in networking.
Are their certain behavioral or personality traits that Black high school boys have in common?
That is an interesting question. Looking back over the years, each generation has this mindset in the form of the cliche, “These kids today!” Every generation says, “These kids today!” My grandparents criticized my parents about the disco era. But today’s kids have the issue of social media, which is so accessible. Social media is times 10 what the previous generation of teens dealt with. The world continuously evolves. Today’s adults have a job to teach some basic foundations. We should be running toward our kids’ interests, not running away. Kids want structure. They don’t want your sympathy. They just want you to listen. Nothing special. Just listen.
Might I say that you are trying to teach the old-fashioned basics like civility, respect, kindness, giving?
Absolutely. How can you expect someone to listen to you if you don’t listen to them? Treat everyone the way you want to be treated. The Golden Rule. You can be in line in the grocery store, and someone snaps. You never know what someone else is going through, a sick child, an illness, anxiety.
You once said, and I quote, “Our motto is, ‘What they see is what they'll be.’ Not only will they see us being civically engaged, we're encouraging them to be civically engaged.” Can you elaborate?
In life, you want to be around like-minded people. You look for someone who is doing something positive. The reason people look up to athletes and entertainers is that they see the fame and fortune. But they don’t see all the hard work it takes to get there. If Milwaukee youth see the adults becoming more actively engaged, being kind, talking to someone, volunteering in schools, voting - those are positive role models. For instance, an adult taking one hour a week to do something positive in his or her community. You take care of your neighborhood one step at a time. As a young person, if you see mom and dad, grandpa and grandma picking up trash in the neighborhood, you will fall in line. Adults instill those foundational things in youth.
100 Black Men of Milwaukee is committed to Milwaukee's African American community based on these four precepts: respect for family, spirituality, justice and integrity. I spend time in the inner city, talk to residents, correspond with them, and know some of the street leaders. The Black family if often more extended than the two parent family. Caretakers can include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins looking after the children as much as parents. It’s because the single mom might have to work a job, sometimes two jobs. How does this affect a young man?
Black culture is different. We need leaders, mainly Black leaders who understand the urban Black culture. Generally, minorities are more community-based. We have a lot more extended family. In my family, my mother has family friends who we call “cousins.” What you are saying hit home because there are things going on in the Black culture that others are not aware of.
For instance, I see the Black culture as more emotional than traditional white culture.
People might ask, ‘Why are you getting loud, why are you upset?’ We’re not, we are just showing our passion.
My experience with small town culture is that the residents are more quiet, less talkative, less emotional. Their vocabulary is way different than urban Blacks. My point is this. Why do we have to criticize each other’s cultures? Can’t we learn to respect the other culture? We are all Americans.
Absolutely. I grew up in the South. Sundays in the Black community are devoted to church and family, laughing and relaxing. We come together because Monday morning we might catch hell on our jobs. Like you said, we need to be more accepting of other cultures, get out of our silos.
Let me quote you from Instagram: “Raise children to treat a janitor with the same respect as a CEO.” Can you elaborate?
My grandparents taught me this. Everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. Just because you are on top today does not mean you will be on top tomorrow. You should treat each person with respect. Never underestimate a person because of their title. If a teacher ever needs anything, they go to the janitor because the janitor knows everything going on in the school.
Regarding 100 Black Men, their motto is, “What they see is what they'll be.” You added, “Not only will they see us being civically engaged, we're encouraging them to also be civically engaged.” How do you go about that?
In Milwaukee, we follow that practice. If young men see us giving back to our communities, the next generation will do the same. Volunteerism is what makes the world go round, makes your community better. If you are doing something for free, then you actually care. I have two daughters, 13 and 14. My goal is to see them marry men who will give back to the community, show my girls what a man should be doing. My daughters see me doing volunteer work.
Do you see a commonality among young Black men? Problems they deal with?
Some young men think society is putting them in a box. For example, a lot of those boys play video games, a creative endeavor. They might someday be computer coders or mechanical engineers, or graphic designers. I ask the boys, “What aspect of this video game do you like the best?” We have a 14-year-old in our junior academy who loves video games. He has a YouTube channel with over 1,000 viewers. He will soon be making money from his channel.
Do your 100 Black Men of Milwaukee members ever meet together?
Yes, we have a monthly meeting, sometimes via Zoom. That is part of being a chapter of the 100 Black Men of America. We talk about future events and what we are doing in the community. We have subcommittees. We check in with each other to make sure each of us is okay. We are a brotherhood.
I have gotten to know Dr. Ken Harris, former President of 100 Black Men of Milwaukee, Concordia College professor, talk show host, and 23 years as a Milwaukee cop before retiring. He told me, “As the longest serving President of a 100 Black Men chapter, the mission of the 100 has always been important to me. Black men helped a fatherless boy like me and made me the man I am today. The 100 programs have been key for me to lend my life skills and experience to others.”
I am also acquainted with 100 Black Men member, Howard Eddie, a technical wizard. Eddie is the Imaging Engineer for Signature MRI. He fixes imaging device problems and does design upgrades for hospitals in the Wisconsin and Chicago area. He told me, “The 100 Black Men has provided me the opportunity to not just “see” the problems that face our children, but also to address their issues with the understanding and experiences I have gained throughout my own existence. Interacting with these boys, I get to offer them a chance to see life through the lens of facing and overcoming challenges and see themselves in a positive light.”
Perspective mentees and perspective members can contact the organization at milwaukee100@gmail.com
