Willie “Prophet” Stigers was honored at the National Action Network Annual Conference

On Saturday (April 13), Willie “Prophet” Stiggers, co-founder/president/CEO of the Black Music Action Coalition (BMAC), was honored at the National Action Network's 21st Annual Youth and College Day by Reverend Al Sharpton for his dedication to the program for youth, as well as his lifelong activism in the music industry and the Black community.

The Prophet first joined the National Action Network (NAN) two years after its inception in 1993 and spearheaded the youth movement for the organization. He began working closely with Sharpton, building chapters across the country and becoming a youth activist in the New York metro area. The Prophet launched BMAC in 2020, formulating the plan of the advocacy organization according to NAN.

The Prophet explained his connection with NAN during his acceptance speech, saying, “As I spent more time in the music industry over the next decade and focused on BMAC, I fell into the shadows on the business side. Throughout my journey, I still stood by the same principles, but focused more on building my family and making sure my children weren't statistics. That I wasn't a statistic.”

The Prophet added, “The activist giant in me woke up in 2020. Society was not going to use the deaths of George Floyd, Breona Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery to share generic posts and act like this knee has not fallen. country. the throat of black artists and citizens for decades. My goal was to hold the industry accountable. A lot of people at the time didn't know this other passionate, activist side of me and were shocked. My design was modeled after a student of NAN and a student of Reverend Sharpton. I'm learning how to speak my truth in an unapologetic way. The spirit of not letting these issues sit there and sit idle, but to get in the ring and fight.”

Under Prophet's leadership, BMAC is committed to holding the music industry accountable while creating new conduits of access and opportunity, both artistically and financially, for the Black artist community.