Farewell message Black Man With A Gun

This is my farewell message to friends, family and coworkers in the 2 A
movement.  In my twenty plus year of being in this space, I have never seen anyone actually retire.  They usually die, get a mention in the NRA Rifleman, and Ammoland and that's it.  Or they screw up in a media interview and get crucified by trolls and the community members that like that sort of
thing.  I'm trying to go out on my own terms.
The world has changed since I started.  A lot.  Some good stuff has happened.  And some bad.  I used to call myself the Bill Cosby of the Gun Rights Movement.  That isn't a good analogy now.  And there were a couple of other guys that I grew up looking up to that have since gone down in flames.
Like my wife repeatedly say, don't compare yourself to anyone, just be you.
I started with nothing.  I still have most of that left.  
I started in 1986 wanted to be a firearms instructor for my community.  I wanted to become a high paid speaker or radio personality. I wanted to  leverage my creativity and entrepreneurism to become a successful business
person.  I became the Black Man with a Gun (BMWAG)
The local DC Maryland and Virginia community wasn't ready for an under 30  year old African American firearms trainer.  The government allowed me to moonlight and do this side activity but with a strict warning not to disclose my bona fides.  I was watched.  I was monitored.  I had to ask permission before I traveled.  When I appeared before the public they thought, how could I know anything?  How dare I talk about guns when there
was the so called black on black crime, police shootings, and drug wars going on.  I got beat up a lot at ranges, gun shops and churches where I  tried to advertise.  But I became involved in the gun community/ gun rights when I failed to make money as a trainer/instructor in 1987.  Gun rights activism doesn't make money if you are honest. 
Since then I have been involved in the gun debate, as it intersects firearms instruction and civil rights.  I created the Tenth Cavalry Gun Club in 1991 that grew from Washington, DC, Baltimore, NJ and Illinois.  The Law Enforcement Alliance of America, introduced me the show business of politics and I worked with to the NRA, GOA and SAF. The website Black Man with a Gun
debuted in 1999.  I've been involved in US Supreme Court cases we have won for the 2nd Amendment even if my name isn't on it.
I learned more about myself than anything doing this stuff I had a training business, where I provided instruction and certifications in first aid, armed security and tactics.  I failed in business but I pressed onward.
I started before social media and looking back I could have been a boss with that thing but I didn't.
I reached out to all the so called black leaders and announced my intentions
in the gun world.  It was risky because historically, this same leaders are
anti-gun.  But I went there.  I tried to buy a shooting range.  I got
blasted by Rev Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and local pastors. 
I created a podcast in 2007 and I was embraced by the people black people
said I should beware of.  The demographic that loved the BMWAG were the same
folks that are accused of racism, cronyism, and supremacy.  White males were
calling me brother.  They were listening to my shows.  They were inviting me
and my family to events across the country.  I shot historical firearms in
Tennessee.  I ate at the homes of millionaires, in country clubs, and places
in Washington DC I didn't know black people were allowed in.  I learned that
our country likes being divisive.  I learned that racism exist mostly
because people need it as an excuse.  I learned that organizations really
don't want change.  I learned that people like mess, and drama.  I learned
that I was a conservative.
 
What I enjoyed
I loved meeting people like you. I loved shooting exotic and new firearms.
I loved championing the cause of freed