Preacher Moss isn’t like any other performer you have seen, or likely will. He is a stand-up comic, a speaker and most of all, a teacher. As a self developed leader in tackling racial issues on campus, Preach picked up much notoriety and acclaim among campus programmers with his tours, “The End of Racism” and “Allah Made Me Funny.” He has consulted in racial and social matters for numerous groups and is often enlisted by celebrities like George Lopez, Damon Wayans, Darrell Hammond and Dave Chappelle for both professional matters and general positive life advice and friendship. He is a leader in the Muslim Community and always a positive essence wherever he goes.

He really was a teacher for a while, for a number of years before he decided to officially move to the entertainment market. “As a comic and a teacher I have always done social commentary. I have always been infatuated with the human condition, or sometimes, a lack thereof. That has been something that has tempered my comedy and goes back to the beginning.”

The “beginning” was his entry into comedy at age 17. He started working with bands and various other ventures to help pay for living expenses while in college. He knew the typical direction for his peers coming out of college would be joining the “big clubs” i.e. Fortune 500’s and other major corporations. He also knew right away this was not the direction he wished to take. “I was looking for the stage. From age 17 until now, I was consumed with that search that every comic had to find their voice. I had to find that one defining truth that allowed me to go up on stage and consistently be me. I believe I have truly just hit that point.”

Preacher Moss isn’t an average comic hitting the stage with the sole intention of getting a laugh. He digs into social issues in every performance and always sticks to his guns, realizing it may not always be the most popular thing he could do. “I was talking about social issues when I was 17 and I remember people not wanting to put me on open mics because of that.”

For those who might have the wrong image in mind, Preach isn’t a racial renegade and doesn’t jump on stage a la Al Sharpton and berate the audience from a soapbox. As a student at Marquette University, he did his first major rallying in 1984 around Apartheid. “If you say ‘Apartheid’ at a college now, most students are like ‘huh?’ I was involved in that movement, Shanty Town and others like it. I was able to build coalitions with people who were not necessarily African-American or any other specific race, but they were all sincere. When you take an involvement with that type of experience, if it doesn’t change you, you’re dead.”

This helped to shape a young Preacher Moss into the informed and intelligent man he is today. The seeds that were planted as a 17-year-old protester at Marquette have reaped a more in-touch and socially aware individual today. Preach looked at the ironies within our society and found that as a young man expressing himself, the language of laughter was a much more apt course than standing on the street corner just telling people how it is. “I would either repulse you, scare you, or annoy you on a corner (laughs) and I wouldn’t hit nearly as many people.”

Preach’s message has evolved a lot since he was a teenager in college, but the core values of what he believes remains. He tries to bring his message to college campuses not only to deliver entertainment, but enlightenment as well and he’s been doing it over 100 times a year. Now is the best time to get a little bit of insight into Preacher Moss’ message and ideals.

The first thing we need to realize is that most of us are not in power. He says this is a vitally important point that sometimes people miss. “There should be a fundamental understanding that as human beings, most of us are not in political power or determining policies. We are not controlling vast fortunes or resources. We are the majority (laughs).” An ironically funny thing, Preach admits. It seems the opposite of the way it should be and is even more fixed in a global perspective. “We have been lied to. The idea of a dominant majority is a farce. There is no such thing. Throughout history, civilizations, cultures and governments have been dominated by minorities.”

The real compunction now comes in when the unfortunate masses (us), interpret that scenario in our everyday lives. “We have been led to think that we are all either in (a) the dominant majority or (b) in an oppressed minority. Because it has gone on so long, it is the status quo.” Preach believes there to be only one thing that can balance out this dominant minority from ruining the rest of our lives (i.e. fossil fuel consumption, gas prices, racial discrimination, pollution, poverty, crime, any special interest-the list goes on). He says there is one true way in which people can affect positive change that can never be squelched. “We need a creative majority – your poets, speakers, writers, artists, etc. Our cost of business is that we want to see our communities doing better. Independent and creative thought is the only thing that keeps us free and lets us speak out on oppression. With that being stated, you have people totally misconstruing what it is to be human in this society. There is a great quote from an anthropologist named Franz Fernand and I used to think of this in terms of being an African-American, but see if this makes sense to you as anyone not in a controlling and dictating position in life. He said ‘An oppressor talks to you in three languages. Number one as an order, number two as an insult, number three as a threat.’ Have you ever felt that way?”

Anything got you thinking yet? While Preach speaks out daily on the ills of a dominant minority, he also believes that a dominant majority won’t work either. There is a concept of a dominated majority. For this group, everything becomes a system of invention. “Whatever it is that group makes, the dominant minority in power will tell you. Whether it is economy, politics or religion, it will always switch as the environment and agenda changes. The agendas of this dominant minority always seem to shape the intentions of the dominated majority. I’ll give you a perfect example.”

“Rewind back to just before 9/11. There was a conference being held in South Africa, called The World Council against Racism. A lot of people don’t remember this, but what the council had been doing was calling out people all over the world for putting out oppressive agendas.” Of course, the United States was at the top of the list, just above Israel, the U.K. and some of the African Nations. “It was going to be a pretty big thing; essentially we would be getting our dirt laundry aired out internationally.”

At the same time here in The States, there was a referendum to address racial profiling, when it was considered largely an African-American issue. “When 9/11 hit, none of those things mattered anymore. When racial profiling surfaced again, it was to advocate for the racial profiling of Middle Eastern and Arab Muslims. This is the same thing that ten years ago people were trying to abolish with African-Americans. The agenda changed, so did the common mentality. For the masses the agenda will always change for two reasons. First, to keep us off-focus and second, to keep us off-message. Here again you see that if we are not at that level of power, we should all be at that level of understanding.”

90% of our county’s resources and wealth are controlled by 10% of the population. This is an atrocity that none of us can change with the snap of our fingers, but Preach says the utmost importance (and a first step) should be placed on not being ignorant to the facts. “When I come to college campuses I really hone in on this not only in the language of laughter but also of truth. People have to wake up mentalities that have been dead for years. We could put a poll in your magazine today and ask 100 black people whom the first African-American was to play Major League Baseball. I bet 99.9% of them say Jackie Robinson, as would even many fans of baseball. They are cut off from their history. Interest in agendas has blinded them to the fact that in the 1800’s they had fully integrated professional baseball team, but very few people know that.”

In this day and age, with so many voices calling out different things and information abounding, what can people do on a grass roots level? Preach says it is not so much the huge amount of information we are barraged with daily that has an ill affect, but the quality of that information. “You mentioned earlier that 10% of the people control 90% of the wealth. Well, I think one of our major problems is that those same people, for a long time, controlled 100% of the information. That is a dangerous thing. Information and creative expression are the keys to dissolving that.” These are the fundamentals of Preach’s tour, “The End of Racism.” It is set up not as a means for Preach to forward himself, but as a way to deliver information. In his own words, he is auxiliary to the show and the information itself given therein. He is even introduced separately at every show from the tour itself. His purpose surpassed his ego long ago. That is a rare thing in entertainment these days.

He has also had success with his Muslim comedy tour, “Allah Made Me Funny”. This happened about two years after 9/11 and Preach decided he needed to be able to deliver reliable and unbiased information on Muslims, much the same as “The End of Racism” did for its subject matter.

No matter what Preach is coming in to discuss, he says it is okay not to have a particular agenda. “I don’t come to college campuses to be right or wrong, I just come to be sincere. That encompasses a lot of things. It is okay not to have an agenda. I can come in and say, ‘Look, I have this information to share, if it benefits you, good. I don’t have to pound it in. I won’t insult you by assuming you don’t have an intellect and your own way of thinking. Comedy is a great way to bring out the irony of situations but also to give a meaningful contribution to the truth. What it is and what it could be.”

For a great comedy show and a learning experience in the process, consider bringing in Preach. Your students will appreciate laughing and learning at the same time. He says his purpose and message surpassed his ego a long time ago, so you can be sure he has nothing but your audience’s best interest at heart.

BOOK IT! For more information on bringing Preacher Moss to your campus, contact Bass/Schuler Entertainment at (773) 481-2600.