About Oscar Kent
Oscar Kent bio Oscar Kent born in Southeast Missouri 1954, son of a sharecropper and a preacher man, would struggle from that humble beginning to become independent, experience global travel, and become an advocate for global peace and equality. His personal mission statement is “to teach others how to break the cycle of poverty and to lay a foundation for future generations”. Oscar holds BA Spring Arbor University, Major: Management of Human Resources and Organizational Behavior 1991; Associates of Arts, Michigan State University Social Science Prelaw and Public Policy 1982. Additionally, he had trade licensing in pest-control and chemical management, life, health, property casualty, annuities insurance license, mortgage brokerage, series 7 securities representative, and labor services representative credentials as chief steward, and union local Vice President, M.S.E.A. Michigan State Employees Association of The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). After leaving the Department of Management and Budget State of Michigan in 1989 Oscar owned and managed several businesses. Oscar did substitute teaching throughout the Lansing school district specifically to do research into why 66% of African-American men aged 18 to 65, the working contributing years, were incarcerated in America. The other substitute teaching goal was to role model success, and teach financial and investment principles, so that young African-American children would see a living example. Oscar’s employment experience ranges from chopping cotton in the blazing sun and feeding hogs on the farm to developing and executing algorithmic stock trading systems that trade on Wall Street. Oscar learned mechanics from working with his father as a farm machinery and automobile mechanic. Vowing never to work on another piece of equipment, chop cotton, or a feed another hog; at age 16 Oscar left the farm to work in a grocery store while still attending high school. Farm working conditions were harsh to say the least. An unforgettable memory is burning buckets of coal to keep warm when the tools were so cold they would stick to his hand. Oscar left the harsh conditions of the farm, but he never fully escaped the shackles of racism and discrimination. It seemed to be an ever present. Nonetheless, he would not have made it had not been for the generosity of a few good white men and women who sheltered him, and trained him in management, investments, and simple life skills. To them he will forever be grateful. The first was Fred Glover, his fifth grade English teacher. Who told him “you will forever be black, if you want to be successful you must work hard, do more, and better”. At age 10 in the fourth grade 1964, Oscar was removed from his all-black school and integrated into an all-white school at Morehouse Missouri. Blacks were not allowed in the town after sundown. He was told that the curtains had to be closed on the train to keep rocks from being thrown at blacks on the train. That’s where he went to school. He never received above a C average all the time he was there. When they asked all the students what they wanted to do when they grew up, he said he want to be an attorney, He was told to be realistic, that he should think about digging ditches. He had fights with white kids, fighting a whole gang of them daily. It was this training and martial arts that eventually led him to become Super Oscar later in his career. He stayed there until the ninth grade where he was moved to an integrated school, Sikeston Senior High, 6 miles away. It was with the greatest of anticipation and excitement that he met his greatest disappointment. He thought that the black children there would welcome him, and it would be like the fantasized returned to Africa. He was a 15-year-old black male who has been cultured in all white environment during the formative years. The black children had their fun with him. They said he sounded white and acted white. So, they were very cruel physically and emotionally. They called him more honky nigger. So, he has the privilege of being called a honkey and a nigger in the same breath. This explains, his independence. It was developed out of rejection. Therefore, he accepted being an alien and learned to have books and tools as his companion. Consequently, throughout his life he has had very few friends. The second benefit of discrimination against him and teachers making little effort to teach him, was that he learned how to read books and learn independently. Consequently, with lots of time in his hand and his father having the wisdom to buy encyclopedias, medical, mechanical, and all types of scientific journals, for him when he was young; he studied many subjects. Several noteworthy events shaped Oscars worldview. Another was when he was 19 years old. He became the first African-American employee in the grocery store where Blacks were forbidden to shop. Oscars father was the vice president of the NAACP of the Tri-County area. Their activism and changes in civil rights laws forced white grocers to either close or integrate. They hired Oscar as a produce department manager where he replaced a retiring white male. They hired him with the express intent that he would fail, and they prove that Blacks doesn’t belong there. His first day was welcomed by white employees declaring that they would quit rather than work for or with a black. The meat department manager was a huge man nearly 7 feet tall. He stood over Oscar and declared “I left Memphis to get away from niggers, I damn sho ain’t going to be working with one”. Talk about intimidation. Keep in mind that in Sikeston 1937 they had dragged a black man through town behind a car. Somewhere around 1973 white kids posted the lynching and a statement on the school bulletin board saying all Blacks need this. The race riot shut down the school where Oscar got locked in the class. Fast forward to 1976, Oscar had survived and become a local celebrity. The same-store that initially rejected him was featuring him in their advertisement as super Oscar with three radio commercials. The meat department manager apologized, and said “I just hated you, I hated you, now here you are eating BBQ out of my plate”. Oscar must give credit to Lee Marx, the 30 something-year-old son of the store owner, who continued to teach and educate him even after his father specifically told him “don’t teach that nigger anything else”. It is experiences like this, that give us hope that a few good people can overcome and withstand the tyranny of hate. Oscar has contemplated writing a book on failure management. His life has been a constant struggle. Just as he had won over those who rejected him in his produce manager job, at age 21, he rescued a pregnant woman from a domestic assault and was shot in the head and shoulder. He was paralyzed from the neck down. He spent about seven years to a partial recovery. His humbling experience from total paralysis, and total dependence, help to further shape is worldview. After becoming paralyzed Oscar’s only income was security disability. He was married, doing well, and had hoped for a better future. He was attending Michigan State University working on a Law degree when Pres. Ronald Reagan changed the definition of Social Security disability. Instantly, thousands of people with disabilities lost their funding. Not knowing what to do, many of them committed suicide. Due to Ronald Reagan policies, Oscar lost his household support with devastating results for him and his family. While he went through a divorce, homeless, and had to drop out of school losing his hope of becoming a lawyer. The hardest part for him is that his children never recovered. Some of them went to federal penitentiary. This was most disheartening because while the family was together they were super achievers and great children. The effects of Ronald Reagan policies on his life and the life of his children, forever solidified his support for citizenry activism and participation in the political process. Oscar states we must not allow these types of atrocities to continue unabated. This explains his commitment and involvement in R.O.A.D. Reviving Our American Democracy. Contributions to R.O.A.D. include: R.O.A.D. Vice President, original organizing board member, husband to Tracy Dobson, President and Original Co Chair, incorporated R.O.A.D., developed R.O.A.D. website, funding, and being a hemorrhoid to our beloved original Co Chair Dave Fredrick whose commitment and tenacity has been the spine of R.O.A.D. His hope is that others with like-minded sentiment will join us in this all-important struggle to make the world a better place.
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