Speak Out!

As I am reading this and looking at my own life, being one of those has spiraled to near poverty despite any advantage I may have had, I think of some of the mistakes I have made in my journey thus far. In my particular case it was very much being paralyzed by my father's demands of perfection.

On a much larger scale, it is also in part to the intra-cultural divisions among us. Rebeca is right in many ways. We as a people MUST take back the imagery of our culture and fully embrace the idea that it is not just only "one way" to live as an Black person in America. We have almost completely lost a whole generation of Black MEN just to the lack of control of our culture. We've been "pimped out". We had a TV station that could have changed the perception about who we are and the diversity of our existence instead it slowly promoted, with snowball like effect, the negative underbelly of "the ghetto". It is a bit ironic that Chris Rock can say in his movie "Head of State" that you can stop crime today if you put the laws on a Nelly video. Now the thought is "if ya ain't a thug, you ain't s@%&!" We must first reach them on their level of language and understanding and pull them slowly up out of their blindness. A blind man does not know it's dark!

We MUST ESTABLISH FINANCIAL EDUCATION AS A STANDARD PRACTICE IN OUR COMMUNITY! PERIOD! Without it we will never build wealth in our community. Money is a tool. It is ammo for the gun to which we fire at what we wish to hunt down. And it seems that most of us have hunted down big game status symbols instead of problems that endanger our survival on a personal, family, neighborhood, cultural level. Are you hunting a new level for the next generation or are you hunting the newest Benz or Caddy? Are you leaving your kids a will or a won't?

We must make life outside of sports and entertainment more glamorous. We must instill a new respect and honor for achievement for professions and entrepreneurship. We need to instill more honor for Mr. Mayweather who owns the rib shack a little more than Mr. Mayweather who breaks ribs for a living. You may have or have not agreed with Powell or Rice, but why have we not celebrated the fact that the first two Black Secretaries of State have come back to back? Or that Rice was the first Black or Woman to be the National Security Advisor of any cabinet? (And no, I am not a republican or democrat. I am fiercely independent and feel that when we become more independent then maybe someone will care beyond election day) Who should we hold with more esteem: the spoiled guy that can make a jumper, the artist whose jewelery is worth more that the combined income than one floor of the the projects they came from (especially creating inspiration to go out and destroy lives for it), or the third most powerful person on the planet (which, without most of us understanding is making it possible to make a Black man the most powerful man on the planet)? Are the image of "blackness" that skewed?

School MUST become cool. It has been a long standing undertone that education = whiteness. WE MUST DESTROY THIS ONCE AND FOR ALL. We invented education for goodness sakes! The oldest university ever to have existed was in Timbuktu! I don't know if we replace it with teachings about the "Black Tax", or a new cultural revolution that puts Families and our life here in America first (unlike before when it became about readopting small parts of our very diversified African roots) to inspire drive within our culture. I am not that smart (although I do believe our Black Intelligentsia have gotten too smart for themselves and us) and virtually no one is "pure black" (see Rebecca's post above).

We need to get real with this. We need to get "grimey" with this. Bill Cosby's commentary was a slap in the face to some people. But Daddy's gotta spank ya sometimes when ya get out of line! High horses need to be dismounted and ears must come to the ground to hear the whispers of those who have given up on power all together. The Church needs to re inject morality, not "praisology" back into our culture. The leaders need to lead people to self empowerment stop leading them in slogan poetry. The intelligentsia need to see from the ground up and not ivy tower down. The politicians need to ride the elephant and lead the donkey instead of being trampled by the circus animal and having their face stuck up the ass.

As a Minister in training by the calling of Jesus Christ, He has made it aware that time is short. Let us not be found sleeping on the watch.

Excuse me for being long winded; I am a "young" Preacher after all.

I will beat this drum a lot I think---sorry.

Part of the problem is that the media and those african americans frequently interviewed in the media have DEFINED "blackness" as a lack of education, a lack of success, an impoverished background, a hip hop mentality and ebonics. With the exception of some of the TV shows and movies---there is no serious consideration to what it is to be black in america OUTSIDE of the ghetto.

In a sense, our children are THINKING that they are left with the choice of being successful OR being black! We are allowing our race to for the most part be defined by the "least of these" as it were. We are doing the racist white man's work for him!

This seems likely to be related to the fact that it is the more colorful differences between our communities and the white communities that are of interest to the media viewing public. But the news media should not be allowed or encouraged to continue to discuss all of our populations as though there were NO rural blacks with Walton lifestyles or NO suburban blacks. The issues and demographics of these populations are allowed to become invisible to our children.

As long as the children equate being middle class with being white----what do you think the resultant economics will look like? Upper middle class suburban black children when looking for a racial identification often look at the rap artists or the tragic lifestyle (and thus most visible) athletes and artists.

I think that if those african americans with the ability to impact the media image of african americans ceased to participate in the white man's "he had an interesting upbringing" game, it might help. Make them start separating issues of poverty from issues of race. When they quote their crime stats---ask them to break them down to urban vs suburban vs rural. Ask them how drug use among suburban upper middle class black children plays out against their white counterparts! Stop letting them tell our kids that if you are successful you MUST continue to prove you are "black enough" to run for president!

Tell them that there are black families that have several generations of educated successful people. Educate the media.

Whites refuse to be defined forever by their hillbilly, trailer park living ancestors. They don't feel insulted at the notion of being defined by their 1% uppercrust. We should stop being ashamed to be defined by the successful in our communities!

On sites with white posters I find myself having to over and over and over again point out that blacks have ALWAYS enjoyed some measures of success in the USA. That there were Black lawyers and doctors in the USA DURING slavery! That there were black ambassadors that preceded Andrew Young. (One of whom was my great great grandfather John Thompson.) That there were black colleges and boarding schools and banks and businesses and that those institutions were patronized by blacks who could afford them. That there were black hotels and vacation homes and national organizations (long preceding the NAACP).

In short, if this history and these communities stay invisible---what do you think the choices that our children KNOW they have will be?

NOT ONE african american pundit on any show I saw responded to any mass media source by saying that OBAMA was black enough for the black community because we don't define ourselves using the same yardstick that whites do. We are used to interracial people---always have been----thus it does not count in our world. We are used to lawyers and other educated men and women ---always have been--- thus that was their concern. We are used to articulate speakers ---always have been --- thus they were impressed, not us. I kept waiting for someone to remark that EVERY candidate should be concerned about if they were "black enough" or not if they wanted the african american vote!

It didn't happen. The responses of those african americans who made the airwaves validated the question for white america---and for the children who have to answer the question for themselves about themselves.

They are called Mexicans. We black people don't stand for each other like other races. This is going to be our downfall.