Photo Credit: @IamSteveHarveyTV/Instagram
Recently, Steve Harvey was tried in the court of public opinion because he made a mistake, as most people do on a regular basis. His mistake dealt with announcing Miss Colombia as the next Miss Universe as opposed to Miss Philippines, who was the actual Miss Universe winner. However, since Harvey is a public figure who is often held to the fire on being “perfect,” he was ridiculed in the media via malicious and hurtful memes that were used to mock, belittle and make fun of him. The debacle has since died down and even though Steve and the Miss Universe Pageant has since held a press conference, addressed the situation, and asked Steve to return for 2016, it didn’t stop other people from creating and spreading hurtful viral memes.
People are so quick to jump on the bandwagon without giving any serious thought to the lasting effects they may have on the person being made fun of. As opposed to jumping on the boat with “Black Twitter” or whomever else may have something negative to say, let’s learn to uplift our brother who does so much good in our community and spread the good news about what he does do. In Africa, there’s a tribe that, when a mistake is made, the tribe brings the person to the center of the village, where the entire tribe surrounds him, and reminds him of all the good things they’ve done – for two days! This unification is designed to uplift him and to reconnect him with his true, and “good” nature. We here in America can take a cue from this village tradition, starting with Steve Harvey, and remind Steve, as well as ourselves, of all of the good things he’s done for our community. Let’s recount some of them below:
Let’s talk about the mentoring programs and camps that he offers through the Steve and Marjorie Harvey Foundation, where he CONSISTENTLY mentors young men between the ages of 13-18 in single mother homes. Per his website, “Steve Harvey and a variety of male mentors provided guidance in introspective sessions and outdoor activities to navigate adolescent issues, share the principles of manhood, dream building, life skills, educational tools and more to empower their futures.” Let’s talk about what he did in 2015 alone where he mentored 100 young men in Chicago and 100 young men in Dallas (his national camp) where he taught them the principles of manhood. In addition to Chicago and Dallas, this program is replicated in Atlanta, New Orleans, New York and Los Angeles. Speaking of Los Angeles, their upcoming camp is scheduled for the third week in January 2016. He reaches a minimum of 100 young men in every market. He teaches them a roadmap for becoming extraordinary (by the way, Marjorie has a camp for girls too: Girls Who Run the World Mentoring Camp). Oh, and yes, Steve also has ANOTHER mentoring program for both young men and women through the Disney Dreamers Academy, where he does virtually the same thing: inspires, motivates and prepares students to dream big.
Results. Yeah, let’s talk about those! Let’s make truthful, inspirational and thought-provoking memes about what he has done and how much he continues to do in our community. Let’s make and help those type of memes go viral. Please. But let’s go one step further by talking about some of his other accomplishments below.
Steve helps a multitude of people on a variety of different platforms that include radio, TV, movies, books, mentoring programs, educational and enrichment programs, comedy shows, award ceremonies, and Miss Universe competitions to name more that a few. He has TV shows (not “show” as in one show, but “SHOWS” as in several shows!). An all time favorite is Family Feud, which reaches millions of viewers on a nightly basis. He also has his daily day-time talk show as well, and that reaches millions of viewers too. What about some of his variety shows such as The Steve Harvey Show where he played Steve Hightower from 1996 to 2002 or the award shows that he hosts/has hosted? Those have included Showtime at the Apollo, Soul Train Music Awards, BET Music Awards, NAACP Image Awards, the MISS UNIVERSE Pageant! Oh, and lest us not forget the Hoodie Awards, or as it has been recently rebranded as the Ford Neighborhood Awards, which is coming up on its 13th year.
Now, lets move on to his books. No matter how much people try to put him down for his book, Think Like a Man, Act Like a Lady by claiming he’s not an expert and that he doesn’t speak for all men (which by the way, has 41 million google results when searched. Maybe not all of them pertain to Steve’s book, but the first several thousand pages do. {sips tea}) The fact still remains that when the book was originally published in early 2009 it quickly moved to the #1 NY Times best selling list. Another fact is that his book was not only made into one movie, but two movies. Fact still remains that not only did he help millions of women with his advice from the book, his messages reverberated throughout both movies and helped men too – and we all know that we supported those movies – both of them – maybe because Kevin Hart was in them – I digress. And, not to mention Think Like a Man, Act Like a Lady is not his only book. He’s authored several books for almost every audience: Act Like A Success, Think Like A Success: Discovering Your Gifts and the way to Life’s Riches; Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep and Understand a Man; and there’s even a children’s book: Steve Harvey Presents: The Adventures of Roopster Roux available on Amazon.com.
That’s incredible. That’s powerful. That’s love. So, kudos to you Mr. Steve Harvey, who is man enough to own up to his own mistakes and make them right – without someone giving him instructions to do so. Kudos to you Mr. Steve Harvey who is man enough to selflessly put others before himself and give back to his own brothers and sisters (who very well may be a part of the “problem people” who are poking fun at his (one) “major” mistake). Kudos to you Mr. Steve Harvey for building up our communities starting with our richest resources: our children and our people – by uplifting them, and showing them a way out; by sending thousands of young African American men and women into this world with hope of a brighter future; by making this world a better place, one person at a time. Kudos to you Mr. Steve Harvey for a job well done! We honor you, we respect you. We salute you.
Now, let’s make this go viral. Sound off in the comments section below. We want to hear from you. What do you have to say?
