With the recent events surrounding September 11^th 2001, the selections that the publications made were centered on those events, however I decided to stray from the norm.

We came up with the notion of nominating a Brother we considered to be “Person of the Year”, however after much thought we realized the search would not be an easy one. Granted we have the obvious choices, but we look for someone that has really made strides for Black folks, someone that has, pardon the cliché…gone above and beyond the Call of Duty.

With that said, the Brother that we feel has made the most contribution to his community, and his people is … Tom Joyner.

Most of you know Mr. Joyner as the Fly Jock, the Disc Jockey who made a name for himself by flying between two cities to make The Tom Joyner Morning Show extremely popular around the Nation in Urban markets.

Mr. Joyner, along with his cast of cronies can be heard on urban radio stations across the country, and locally on Hot 105fm. Now before you contest the decision understand first why Mr. Joyner was chosen above and beyond Brothers that would have ordinarily came to mind first.

Joyner, along with Tavis Smiley has vied with the likes of Katz Media, the company that syndicates Tom Joyner’s Morning Show, CompUsa, and Viacom, the parent company that owns BET.

But what we recognize Mr. Joyner most for is what he’s done with the Tom Joyner Foundation, and that is to raise money for scholarships at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Joyner teams up with major corporations, such as J.C. Penney, Coca Cola, Nokia, and Cingular Wireless to provide scholarship money for students that may not have a chance to make it otherwise.

So how can we not respect and admire a Brother that gives so much of his time and energy, in wanting to see young Black students have a chance to make it in this world?

Joyner has also made sure that Black folks got out and registered to vote, we can make all the noise that we want to when the other guy gets elected, but if we do not vote, then there is no reason for there to be any complaints as to who got robbed.

Of course there are other Brothers that have given back to their respective communities, and this is by no means a knock on those efforts but Joyner has taken it to another level…he’s gone Nationwide, and people have responded.

Time after time, this column has questioned why Brothers, especially those of who have “arrived” have not given back to the community from whence they sprang, some of those same Brothers that we have challenged can learn a lesson from Mr. Joyner.

Join us in saluting Tom Joyner and his foundation.

Until then as always I remain...My Brother’s Keeper.