The choice was (is) always ours.
The obfuscation of the masses has always been influenced by the media.
Schools, churches and institutions cannot educate enough to compensate for this.
Parents are too busy trying to keep up with the Joneses to notice that their children are missing the basic needs of guidance, discipline and responsibility - not the need for more useless stuff.
Ask any parent who is home all day to list the characters of the Young and the Restless.
Now ask them to name their children's classes and schedule ... and their teachers.
Hmmm... ten or twelve fictitious characters but no answers on school?
What's wrong with this?
It seems that for many, their priorities are not in order.
But where can a single parent (70% of African-American households, according to most sources) look for answers?
Church?
Nope.
These poverty pimps are more interested in the size of their church rather than the effectiveness of their message.
How many times have you seem a pastor in a Benz while most parishioners were riding (or getting a ride) in a whoopty?
How many pristine churches have you seen in a broken down neighborhood?
If the message was to love thy neighbor, shouldn't the church start with it's neighbors?
It seems that many preachers have forsaken their call to serve man and instead fallen into the trap of being serviced by women.
When was the last time you saw a preacher getting dirty.
Don't get me wrong - there are some good people leading good churches.
But for many - it's just a good hustle.
Our Institutions?
Nope.
The Urban League, NAACP and others groups care more about being invited to the Inauguration than they do about serving the people they were established to serve.
Is your local branch of these groups in the 'hood or in some pristine office next to the establishments they were set up to reform?
This makes as much sense as former Wall Street execs overseeing the reformation of Wall Street.
When these groups became "credible", they lost their drive for reforming the same group of which they were now a part.
These dinosaurs need to become extinct.
Too bad too many followed the lead of W.E.B. Du Bois instead of Marcus Garvey or Booker T.Washington.
(I'm not a racist. In truth... I'll work with a just white before an unjust Black.)
If the philosophies of one of the latter had won out - maybe we would be operating from a position of power instead of one of dependence.
The "Talented Tenth"?
That's just more segregation during the height of Segregation.
Even if we assume that the bottom tenth will always be the bottom tenth.
What about the "Average Eighty"?
IMO - These groups are like John McCain - fighting old battles with old weapons.
Our Hope?
Maybe....
Our vision? Okay.
But what direction?
Obama will not solve our problems (although his election seems to have helped many to speak about racial issues in a more candid way).
The riots in Watts and Detroit produced the same results as the riots in Tulsa and Rosewood.
Different only in their motivations.
We shouldn't eviscerate a house in which we also live and that we helped build.
Schools won't teach.
Well that's not entirely correct.
Maybe I should say that schools won't teach what needs to be learned.
They'll teach to pass a test, but then what?
If children don't learn in the home - they won't practice at school.
If they fail to adapt to school - they'll fail to adapt on a job.
If they fail to produce a necessary good or service - they'll end up on the corner or in prison.
It all starts at home.
What we teach (or fail to teach) the next generation will have a more lasting impact than any external force.
So the answer to the question "What Next" seems to be up to us.
The choice was always ours.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
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4 comments:
You brought the heat tonight!!!! You called alot of folks out. It's just a pill folks, just a pill.
Great post!!!
"The choice was always ours." True that! True that!
@ Ojo - Some days I deal with more people in my (owned) 'hood than I should and their ignorance amazes me.
When given what they say they need to make a change, usually, they make excuses.
Some days I just gotta' rant on this spot.
@Siditty(Knocked-up Since 2008) - Thanks
@SjP - Yeah, maybe Obama will be the catalyste to inspire others.
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