"An apple a day keeps the doctor way" is an old adage that was coined to promote a healthier life style since apples are low in sodium and calories, and high in fiber and vitamin C. The phrase was first coined by "Pembrokeshire in Wales" in the 1860's as confirmed by Caroline Taggart, the author of "An Apple a Day; Old Fashioned Proverbs and Why They Still Work". The original phrase was "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread".
Just when many Americans are beginning to suffer from PTSD, that's caused by the ongoing battles around race in this country, to the rescue comes Apple Computer with its announcement that it will be giving $ 40 million dollars to The Thurgood Marshall College Fund. It gives many of us something to feel good about.
Sidebar: For the uneducated and those who don't care, Thurgood Marshall was the lead attorney in the "Brown vs. Board of Education" case that made segregation in America's school's illegal. He was also the first African American Supreme Court Justice and educated at Howard University, a Historically Black University.
For those of you who are new Mad Man Observers, his sidebars are used as educational tools because our schools are becoming less interested in teaching and ignoring history while preparing its students only to pass a test.
The Thurgood Marshall College Fund is dedicated to the educational development of African American children who only attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities. This endowment by Apple is designated to educate and prepare African Americans to compete in the tech industries which so far, with the exception of a few, has been unattainable.
Denise Young Smith, who is head of Apple's HR department stated that "we wanted to create opportunities for minority candidates to get their first job at Apple. There is tremendous upside to that and we are dogged about the fact that we can't innovate without being diverse and inclusive." Ms. Smith went on to say "that diversity extends race and gender and Apple wants its employee base to also reflect different lifestyles and sexual orientations". (Last fall, Apple CEO Tim Cook publically acknowledged that he was gay)
Ms. Smith earned her bachelor's degree in communications and journalism in 1978 from Grambling State University, another well known Historically Black College and University. (Who needs the University of Oklahoma?) By the way, since Mad Man is an ex jock, he urges you to check out the football history of Grambling State University.
Johnny Taylor, President and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund states, "that historically other organizations have provided scholarship dollars or focused on whatever area matters most to them, what differentiates this partnership with Apple is that it hits everything that we do and is the most comprehensive program ever offered to an HBCU organization.
Mad Man knows that everybody wants to forget about Jesse Jackson but he has been dogging silicon valley corporations for years and although Apple and everyone else claims that there was no pressure to make this very generous contribution to HBCU's and in reality it probably wasn't, but while America's so called Black leaders were marching and preaching with little or no results in New York, Ferguson, and LA, Jesse was meeting in Cupertino California where Apple is headquartered.
As much grief as we all give American Corporations, every now and then one will surprise us and this grant by Apple is quite surprising, especially during the racial unrest that America is experiencing right now. It is great that most of Americans are staying on point to make this country a better place and to generate more positive energy, we all should eat more apples.
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