Editor’s Note: Anyone who has ever met Walter Davis is immediately struck by his energy and single minded desire to help people.
He was shaped by the civil rights era in which he grew up and has suffered much personal grief but always managed to find a positive path to follow. A Navy veteran with 25 years service, Walter is also a lifelong student, constantly learning and reinventing himself. Enjoy this fascinating extract of his biography which will be followed by a Q&A that reveals even more about what makes this unique person tick.
Walter is a Web Videographer/Media Consultant/Executive Producer Public Access TV/ Columnist with more than 30 years experience with Internet media. He currently produces six television shows on COX communications reaching San Diego, Imperial and Riverside Counties, California. He owns and operates ten Internet TV channels and one Internet radio channel. He was the first to webcast Public Access TV shows live on three Internet TV channels and Internet Radio simultaneously. His column Left Hook displays progressive values in conservative papers and can be found in The Rancho Bernardo Sun and East County Magazine.
A retired Navy navigator and Harpoon Cruise Missile Engagement Officer, Mr. Davis served in Surface Action Groups in all five of the United States Navy’s active fleets. A combat veteran with tours including Drug and Slave interdiction in South and Central America and The Strait of Malacca; combat action in Bosnia, Libya, Israel, Lebanon, and the North Arabian Sea; eleven deployments in six warships. As a Naval Warfare Operations Specialist, he began working with the World Wide Military Command and Control System in 1976 the predecessor of The Internet.
Ashore, Senior Chief Davis served as a Chemical Dependency specialist, specializing in the treatment of alcohol, cocaine and steroid addiction. He has traveled the world delivering lectures on chemical addiction for the Navy Department as well as civilian agencies including the Drug Policy Alliance and HealthNet. After 25 years of service, he retired in 2001 as a Southern California Anti-Terrorism Coordinator at San Diego’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.
After his pregnant wife and little girl were gunned down in Los Angeles in 1989 and the insurance company did not pay health and death benefits to his family, he started his own insurance brokerage AgentOnWheels.com. He specializes in ensuring families have adequate protection for health and life as well as insuring people with histories of cancer and other major illnesses.
Mr. Davis comes from a family of five siblings and was raised in Jim Crow Era Birmingham, Alabama in a mixed race family. A survivor of the 15 September 1963 church bombing that took the lives of THE FOUR LITTLE GIRLS at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, he has long been a fighter for human and civil rights. His mother would take him to see Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King speak at his church; ultimately leading to the bombing of his Sunday school class by the KKK.
Following the murder of his father in 1968, Mr. Davis has devoted his life to standing for human rights and social justice. He has filmed documentaries in New Orleans following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina covering human rights violations. In May of 2010 he filmed the survivors and descendents of prisoners of the internment camp at Ft. Lincoln, North Dakota – documenting the abuse of German and Japanese American Citizens during World War II. He has also filmed in Alaska and covered stories on systematic parental alienation by the courts and violations of men’s rights. In 1996 he founded the Community Coalition, an organization focused on human rights using media campaigns to inform the public. His television shows focus on positive people in the community. He covers risky stories that main stream media will not touch. He began broadcasting in 2004 with the first purchase of an Internet TV channel and his cable TV programming began in 2007.
Mr. Davis is a 1986 graduate of the University of the State of New York and has degrees in Nautical Industrial Technology and Information Technology with an advanced Information Systems Technology Certification from National University 2007 and the University of Phoenix 2006. He is a certified Chemical Dependency Treatment Specialist and a 1989 graduate of the Navy Drug and Alcohol Counselor Program.
Editior’s Note: Walter has been on the leading edge of Internet Radio and Television for years. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Walter since 2008 and while I knew much about him, I was excited to learn even more about the richness of his life during this interview.
OCS: You are one of the most positive people I know. How do you stay so positive in face of the many tragedies you’ve experienced?
Walter: We all have choices. I realized that I could use the energy of my past to self-justify unethical actions or … to direct the energy into positive things. I chose to direct my energy into positive things. Only love can conquer hate. I realized a long time ago that I have to forgive hurtful actions … even in the face of them being committed. Revenge is not the solution. War is not the solution. Loving each other in the face of our short comings is the challenge we all face … whether we realize it or not. Positive results can only come from positive actions. Critical thinking and ethical behavior are intrinsic to a civilized society.
OCS: Please give us one or two of the most positive experiences you’ve had.
Walter: I provided treatment to a Klan member who started a treatment session telling me how much he hated me. He left six weejs later hugging me. I traveled to Africa and saw the mother land and savored each scene. I became a TV producer and realized the enormous power I had in affecting social change.
OCS: Besides continued successes in Internet broadcast, are there other things you would like to accomplish?
Walter: I want to be an intrinsic component in the realization of a resource based economy. I want to be a force in leading people away from primitive superstitions and into a new era of enlightenment, peace, and security. I want to see critical thinking become central to our society’s guiding force. I want to see poverty, war and greed to give way to prosperity, peace and universal compassion. I want to be a leader in the effort to help others realize that our crippling and ignorant dependence on fossil fuels can be assuaged by embracing a symbiotic environmental energy model.
OCS: You are a leader in the Internet broadcast space. Where is it at now and where do you think it is going in the next few years.
Walter: We are at the dawn of a new age where Internet TV is blending into mainstream TV. We are coming into an age where world-wide communications is accessible to everyday people.
OCS: What is the one thing, above all others, you want people to know about you?
Walter: Justice and fairness are at the core of my being.
OCS: You are an enthusiastic supporter of The Zeitgeist Movement. Tell me about that.
Walter: The Zeitgeist Movement encourages critical thinking, the development of a resource based economy and symbiotic environmental stewardship. In today’s political and religious climate, it is nearly impossible for our government to make decisions that really benefit the American people. We fund dictators with “foreign aide” while our schools, roads, healthcare system, education system, fall apart. Politicians are paid off by corporate entities with campaign donations and other unethical contributions so, decisions are made for PROFIT not to the benefit of humanity. The Zeitgeist Movement proposes a different way of looking at and doing things.
OCS: How can the public support you?
Walter: Get involved. Pay attention. Think outside of the box. We need equipment (cameras, computers, software) to support our Public Information Campaign. We need more people to become citizen journalists. We need donations to the Community Coalition and more people to become involved with our productions. We need more volunteers.
Editor's Note: Walter plans to have ten shows on cable TV by the end of the year as part of the Community Coalition line up. Community Issues: A Tapestry of Concerns, Progress in San Diego: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things and Community Artist Connection come on COX weekly.
A new show, Consider the Possibility with Coach Marilyn will begin production on June 2, 2011. A show focusing on Men’s Rights with Co-Producer Eric Von Sydow and another focusing on music with local personality Kaos Tom will begin this summer. With his new technology, Mr. Davis is capable of interviewing people from anywhere in the world via Internet TV and Radio. He has trained more than 300 people to produce their own shows.
Walter is a Web Videographer/Media Consultant/Executive Producer Public Access TV/ Columnist with more than 30 years experience with Internet media. He currently produces six television shows on COX communications reaching San Diego, Imperial and Riverside Counties, California. He owns and operates ten Internet TV channels and one Internet radio channel. He was the first to webcast Public Access TV shows live on three Internet TV channels and Internet Radio simultaneously. His column Left Hook displays progressive values in conservative papers and can be found in The Rancho Bernardo Sun and East County Magazine.
A retired Navy navigator and Harpoon Cruise Missile Engagement Officer, Mr. Davis served in Surface Action Groups in all five of the United States Navy’s active fleets. A combat veteran with tours including Drug and Slave interdiction in South and Central America and The Strait of Malacca; combat action in Bosnia, Libya, Israel, Lebanon, and the North Arabian Sea; eleven deployments in six warships. As a Naval Warfare Operations Specialist, he began working with the World Wide Military Command and Control System in 1976 the predecessor of The Internet.
Ashore, Senior Chief Davis served as a Chemical Dependency specialist, specializing in the treatment of alcohol, cocaine and steroid addiction. He has traveled the world delivering lectures on chemical addiction for the Navy Department as well as civilian agencies including the Drug Policy Alliance and HealthNet. After 25 years of service, he retired in 2001 as a Southern California Anti-Terrorism Coordinator at San Diego’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command.
After his pregnant wife and little girl were gunned down in Los Angeles in 1989 and the insurance company did not pay health and death benefits to his family, he started his own insurance brokerage AgentOnWheels.com. He specializes in ensuring families have adequate protection for health and life as well as insuring people with histories of cancer and other major illnesses.
Mr. Davis comes from a family of five siblings and was raised in Jim Crow Era Birmingham, Alabama in a mixed race family. A survivor of the 15 September 1963 church bombing that took the lives of THE FOUR LITTLE GIRLS at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, he has long been a fighter for human and civil rights. His mother would take him to see Ralph Abernathy and Martin Luther King speak at his church; ultimately leading to the bombing of his Sunday school class by the KKK.
Following the murder of his father in 1968, Mr. Davis has devoted his life to standing for human rights and social justice. He has filmed documentaries in New Orleans following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina covering human rights violations. In May of 2010 he filmed the survivors and descendents of prisoners of the internment camp at Ft. Lincoln, North Dakota – documenting the abuse of German and Japanese American Citizens during World War II. He has also filmed in Alaska and covered stories on systematic parental alienation by the courts and violations of men’s rights. In 1996 he founded the Community Coalition, an organization focused on human rights using media campaigns to inform the public. His television shows focus on positive people in the community. He covers risky stories that main stream media will not touch. He began broadcasting in 2004 with the first purchase of an Internet TV channel and his cable TV programming began in 2007.
Mr. Davis is a 1986 graduate of the University of the State of New York and has degrees in Nautical Industrial Technology and Information Technology with an advanced Information Systems Technology Certification from National University 2007 and the University of Phoenix 2006. He is a certified Chemical Dependency Treatment Specialist and a 1989 graduate of the Navy Drug and Alcohol Counselor Program.
Editior’s Note: Walter has been on the leading edge of Internet Radio and Television for years. I’ve had the privilege of knowing Walter since 2008 and while I knew much about him, I was excited to learn even more about the richness of his life during this interview.
OCS: You are one of the most positive people I know. How do you stay so positive in face of the many tragedies you’ve experienced?
Walter: We all have choices. I realized that I could use the energy of my past to self-justify unethical actions or … to direct the energy into positive things. I chose to direct my energy into positive things. Only love can conquer hate. I realized a long time ago that I have to forgive hurtful actions … even in the face of them being committed. Revenge is not the solution. War is not the solution. Loving each other in the face of our short comings is the challenge we all face … whether we realize it or not. Positive results can only come from positive actions. Critical thinking and ethical behavior are intrinsic to a civilized society.
OCS: Please give us one or two of the most positive experiences you’ve had.
Walter: I provided treatment to a Klan member who started a treatment session telling me how much he hated me. He left six weejs later hugging me. I traveled to Africa and saw the mother land and savored each scene. I became a TV producer and realized the enormous power I had in affecting social change.
OCS: Besides continued successes in Internet broadcast, are there other things you would like to accomplish?
Walter: I want to be an intrinsic component in the realization of a resource based economy. I want to be a force in leading people away from primitive superstitions and into a new era of enlightenment, peace, and security. I want to see critical thinking become central to our society’s guiding force. I want to see poverty, war and greed to give way to prosperity, peace and universal compassion. I want to be a leader in the effort to help others realize that our crippling and ignorant dependence on fossil fuels can be assuaged by embracing a symbiotic environmental energy model.
OCS: You are a leader in the Internet broadcast space. Where is it at now and where do you think it is going in the next few years.
Walter: We are at the dawn of a new age where Internet TV is blending into mainstream TV. We are coming into an age where world-wide communications is accessible to everyday people.
OCS: What is the one thing, above all others, you want people to know about you?
Walter: Justice and fairness are at the core of my being.
OCS: You are an enthusiastic supporter of The Zeitgeist Movement. Tell me about that.
Walter: The Zeitgeist Movement encourages critical thinking, the development of a resource based economy and symbiotic environmental stewardship. In today’s political and religious climate, it is nearly impossible for our government to make decisions that really benefit the American people. We fund dictators with “foreign aide” while our schools, roads, healthcare system, education system, fall apart. Politicians are paid off by corporate entities with campaign donations and other unethical contributions so, decisions are made for PROFIT not to the benefit of humanity. The Zeitgeist Movement proposes a different way of looking at and doing things.
OCS: How can the public support you?
Walter: Get involved. Pay attention. Think outside of the box. We need equipment (cameras, computers, software) to support our Public Information Campaign. We need more people to become citizen journalists. We need donations to the Community Coalition and more people to become involved with our productions. We need more volunteers.
Editor's Note: Walter plans to have ten shows on cable TV by the end of the year as part of the Community Coalition line up. Community Issues: A Tapestry of Concerns, Progress in San Diego: Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things and Community Artist Connection come on COX weekly.
A new show, Consider the Possibility with Coach Marilyn will begin production on June 2, 2011. A show focusing on Men’s Rights with Co-Producer Eric Von Sydow and another focusing on music with local personality Kaos Tom will begin this summer. With his new technology, Mr. Davis is capable of interviewing people from anywhere in the world via Internet TV and Radio. He has trained more than 300 people to produce their own shows.
You can find out more about Walter’s projects by going to his main site: http://www.walterdavisenterprises.com/
