He chose Orlando as his new home after visiting the city last year for a mentoring summit.
“I said, Wow! There are thousands of men up at 10 o’clock in the morning for the sole purpose of talking about being responsible as mentors and fatherhood,” he said coming to the conclusion Orlando is where he needed to be, “where my passion is. The city chose me.”
Baisden said he was initially asked to speak to the boys at Evans High School for a one-time guest appearance.
“After the class was over, I said we cannot have impact on these kids after one day. I want to really make a difference – don’t want to just toot horn and be quiet,” he continued.
Baisden said he not only talks to the kids but brings others into the classroom from a wish list of people the youth said they wanted to meet, including a homicide detective from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
“We got to start pulling together for these kids. We talk a good game. We are not stepping up enough for the brothers. The people who are least mentoring Black boys are Black men,” he said. “We are losing them. It doesn’t take a lot of money. … We all don’t have a silver spoon in our mouths. There are men who have been abused, have a story to tell.
There are men who have been locked up who have a story to tell. Men who walked away from their kids have a story to tell. The guy who started a small business has a story to tell,” Baisden elaborated.
Baisden said it is time to teach children how to think and not what to think.
“That’s why we are being taken advantage of by other cultures. They come in and make money off of us, be it through religion, that’s a game if it’s not the right kind of pastor,” he said, adding that Black people also are being taken advantage of economically and politically.
Baisden said the turning point in his life began when he started reading books, turning off the TV and stopped playing games with women.
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