Cousin Jeff

You know what really grinds my gears? Bad music videos.

The time to change society is now, and change starts locally. Being a laid-back black American youth stops with Jeff Johnson.

“Everything is community-based,” Johnson said. “You can’t have a national movement without local movements first.”

Johnson is the host and producer of BET’s The Cousin Jeff Chronicles.

He will speak at a lyceum at N.C. Central University on October 31 at McLendon-McDougald Gymnasium.

Topics to be discussed at the event include violence, drugs, gangs and the poor condition of public schools.

“Even though it’s not your fault that some of these things exist, it’s still your responsibility to make the changes,” Johnson said.

Cousin Jeff, as he is known, has three children and is owner of Truth is Power.

He has appeared on BET’s Rap City, 106 & Park and Access Granted. A former youth pastor for the AME Church in Baltimore, Johnson wants to utilize the gospel to empower young African-Americans.

“My ministry is what I do,” said Johnson.

Megan Milton, a criminal justice junior, said she occasionally watches The Cousin Jeff Chronicles.

“It’s very informative,” she said. “People need to know what’s going on.”

Johnson knows that the discussions he holds make an impact, but his concern is how the audience uses that impact. Johnson says he uses his words to help make a change.

Author and professor Dr. Michael Eric Dyson said, “Jeff is imaginative in his commitment and devotion to extending into the hip-hop generation the marvelous and matchless genius of our forefathers.”

“It’s always young people that are guided by the older people,” said Johnson.

Johnson feels that the youth will lead the next social movement, mainly of young blacks who don’t have a title or position, but who are so frustrated that they will not wait on someone else to act.

“His [Johnson’s] coming to NCCU will be good because a lot of people are going to have something to say at this discussion,” said Toney Moss, a computer science freshman.

In addition to hosting his own show, as an international correspondent for BET, Johnson helps inform African-Americans on the African diaspora. He meets African representatives for information about dispersed African people and cultures.

Johnson also speaks at colleges and universities as a social activist, and is working on a book.

Johnson is a busy man, but there is a reason for it all.