9 minute read
Business
Comedian Joe Clair Ventures into the Coffee Business
James Wright WI Staff Writer
Nationally known, Prince George’s-based comedian Joe Clair has set up a coffee business designed to both meet the taste buds of his customers and provide financial assistance to local charities. “The idea of getting into the coffee business started a few years ago when I was working on my morning radio show at WPGC-AM,” Clair said. “We offer coffee mugs as prizes and I drank one cup of coffee while on the air. My wife, Niema, suggested that I look deeper into the coffee because I like it so much and I like coffee cake. We decided to start our own line of coffee and we wanted to be in a space where there weren’t many Blacks.”
A Sept. 30, 2021 article on CNBC’s website on African Americans and the coffee industry revealed that Blacks remain significantly underrepresented as customers and entrepreneurs. CNBC reported in the U.S., Blacks count as the least likely ethnic group to drink coffee regularly, according to 2019 research from the National Coffee Association, a market research and lobbying organization.
Clair said he came up with the name of his company, The Percolator Coffee Co., in an innovative manner.
“I considered a number of names for my product,” he said. “Some said it was obvious, ‘A Cup of Joe’ but I wanted something else. It was then I thought of the song that came out in the 1990s, ‘It’s Time for the Percolator.’ I thought about coffee percolating in the 1980s whether it was in school or church. I also wanted a name that would appeal to urban and rural America.”
Clair said people can get his coffee and other products on his Facebook and Instagram pages. In the future, he’d like to open a brickand-mortar store. To promote his products and the brand, he plans to leverage social media and work trade shows. He said the public sector will become a target, seeking contracts with federal, state and local agencies as well as municipalities. Additionally, he will actively pursue putting his product in Walmart and Target. He noted that he will donate a portion of his proceeds to charities.
“I want to make capitalism work for those who aren’t wealthy,” Clair said. “I am thinking along the lines of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream and Paul Newman’s products where all or most of their profits go to charities. I want to brand my philanthropy.”
Clair sits on the board of directors for Covenant House Greater Washington located in Ward 8.
5 Comedian Joe Clair now owns a coffee firm, The Percolator Company. (Courtesy photo)
CLAIR Page 15
“The time is always right to do what’s right.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s own words remind us of the importance of leadership, hope and service. And at AARP, we believe your experience, skills and passion have the power to inspire others to make a difference.
We encourage everyone to continue his legacy by lending a helping hand in your community. And we can help.
Join us in making a difference, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and every day.
Go to createthegood.AARP.org to find ways you can volunteer in your community.
Please serve your community and others safely by following all CDC COVID-19 guidelines and federal, state and local regulations.
5 The King family: Martin Luther King, III, daughter Yolanda King and Arndrea Waters King. (WI File Photo/Robert R. Roberts)
KING from Page 1
muscle to deliver a vital infrastructure deal and now we are calling on them to do the same to restore the very voting rights protections my father and countless other civil rights leaders bled to secure,” Martin Luther King III said in a statement.
“We will not accept empty promises in pursuit of my father’s dream for a more equal and just America,” King III, the oldest son and oldest living child of King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King.
King III, his wife Arndrea Waters King, and their daughter Yolanda King, said they plan to mobilize activists on MLK weekend – January 14 – 16 – to demand a voting rights bill.
In numerous Republican-led states including Texas, Florida and Georgia, lawmakers have passed or maintain efforts to pass tight voter suppression laws that would disenfranchise many people of color and the elderly.
Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), promised that the U.S. Senate would vote by Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 17) on whether the chamber would adopt new rules to circumvent the draconian filibuster to enable the passage of voting rights and social justice bills.
“We must ask ourselves: if the right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, then how can we in good conscience allow for a situation in which the Republican Party can debate and pass voter suppression laws at the State level with only a simple majority vote but not allow the United States Senate to do the same? We must adapt,” Sen. Schumer demanded. “The Senate must evolve like it has many times before. The Senate was designed to evolve and has evolved many times in our history,” he said. “The fight for the ballot is as old as the Republic. Over the coming weeks, the Senate will once again consider how to perfect this union and confront the historic challenges facing our democracy. We hope our Republican colleagues change course and work with us.”
“But if they do not, the Senate will debate and consider changes to Senate rules on or before January 17, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, to protect the foundation of our democracy: free and fair elections,” Schumer said.
Meanwhile, King III insisted that President Biden and members of Congress use the same energy and force they mustered in 2021 to pass the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
“You delivered for bridges, now deliver for voting rights,” King III asserted.
Reportedly, the King family plans to join local groups in a rally in Phoenix on January 15, the date of King’s birthday.
“[We wish] to restore and expand voting rights to honor Dr. King’s legacy,” the family wrote in a statement.
Further, the family and others plan to march across the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in the District. They also plan to hold a rally and march across a bridge in Phoenix, reportedly to draw a comparison to the 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma for voting rights for African Americans.
“The Senate must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and ensure the Jim Crow filibuster doesn’t stand in the way,” the King family stated. WI He said Covenant House will be a major benefactor of The Percolator Co.
Even though he has become a well-known comedian and media personality through his years working for WPGC-AM, BET’s Rap City, Def Comedy Jam and ComicView, he said the entertainment circuit itself often doesn’t make an entertainer financially prosperous.
“Jay-Z, Russell Simmons and Puffy used their entertainment platforms to transition into other businesses,” Clair said. “That’s what I am doing. I cannot rely on the comedian circuit. I must have other streams of revenue to make it.”
“I am also a realtor and have helped some people go from renting to owning their homes. And that is what it is about. I help people through my real estate business and I will do the same with The Percolator Company,” he said. WI @JamesWrightJr10
I Still Make Resolutions
Aimee D. Griffin, Esq.
It’s the New Year and many in my circle say that they don’t make resolutions any more. Well, not me! I am still inspired and compelled to look at the year past and reflect upon the things that I did and didn’t do. I review the goals I still have that are not achieved and the blessings that happened in spite of my slacking off.
This past year as a continuation of the preceding year was not one that I would have planned. For many the pandemic created an environment that had an overhanging weight of fear. Some of our greatest freedoms were taken away. The freedom of breathing openly was taken away by the pandemic. The freedom of spending time with the people we love without fear of hurting them or getting hurt was taken away. The freedom of attending public events was taken away.
There has been so much loss of life this past two years that there has not been time to grieve and adjust from one without the reeling of another. Grief has been an active part of our lives for the past two years. There are not many families who have not experienced loss.
Yet, it is a New Year. We are blessed in so many ways. This New Year brings me the commitment to start a fresh with goals, dreams and new energy. This New Year has required me to reflect on the tactics used previously and evaluate the success or short coming. One of my father’s quotes is “Difficulty is no excuse for surrender!”
I believe the reason that many folks give up on resolutions is that we don’t maintain the fervor that we had at the beginning of the year to achieve our goals. We used to joke at the gym at “resolution’ers” time. But lack of success doesn’t create the justification for not trying.
Let’s continue to resolve to be great. Let’s continue to resolve to achieve new goals and dreams. I am an estate planning attorney that works with individuals and families who are committed to legacy building. Strategic Estate Planning sets up goals and dreams to pass on to heirs an inheritance with clarity and direction.
I count it a privilege to look forward to the new year with new goals. Like most people I continue to have spiritual, financial and physical fitness goals. While I will admit that I have some goals for many years, I realize there is no harm in working for improvement year after year.
The New Year is an opportunity to be thoughtful and reflective on how to have a greater impact in my life and by my life. Let’s not give up on that. Let’s continue to resolve to be greater this year than we were last year. Let’s resolve to create a legacy that endures beyond our life time. If I was still working out publicly I would embrace the “Resolution’ers” with joy and encouragement. Exercising for a quarter of the year is still better than not working out at all. Let’s resolve to encourage one another to build for greatness! A Griffin Firm motto is “we build strong communities, one family at a time”. We can do this together!
Aimee D. Griffin, Esq., The Griffin Firm, PLLC http://yourestateplanningattorney.com (855) 574-8481 5335 Wisconsin Ave NW Suite 440 Washington DC 20015 4041 Powder Mill Drive Suite 215 Beltsville MD 20705 100 International Drive 23rd Floor Baltimore MD 21202 4601 N. Fairfax Dr., Suite 1200 Arlington, VA 22203
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