WARNING: THIS POST IS LONG. IT MENTIONS RACE. IF YOU DONT BELIEVE IN RACE OR DONT LIKE ENGAGING IN DIALOGUE ABOUT RACE, SPARE YOURSELF THE BRAIN CELLS AND PRECIOUS 5-11 MIN. ITLL TAKE TO READ THIS... Its unfortunate, but we must continue to remember, this nation, with all of its parts never had the intention of protecting us. Ever. It was designed to keep the white man in power and everyone else subservient. Thats the history of this country. Not even the white woman was to rule, govern, make decisions. Nobody but the white man. So, while Im angered by verdicts that continue to perpetuate this unfortunate TRUTH, Im not surprised. I should be but Im not. The truth is, though, i still havent recovered from the story of Trayvon Martin. I still havent recovered from the movie Rosewood. I still havent recovered from the photos of lynchings in which psychopathic and sociopathic white families stood smiling next to a terrorized, charred, maimed and hanged body. Im still not over Emmitt Till. But this status isnt about white people. Its not about black people. Its about ppl. Ppl who are outraged on their ipads, laptops and facebook soapboxes and do very LITTLE. Im outraged by the murder rates in Detroit and Chicago. By the displacement of black folks in brooklyn because they dont fit the mold of what the establishment wants brooklyn to look like. Heres my thing. We can get mad all we want. We can boycott florida (like thats going to work). We can march. We can write the very statuses that Im drafting but at the end of the day what are we DOING. We are killing the image of black men in America. WHen we let a video go viral of a young black man who spells FATHER, M-O-T-H-E-R and we applaud him for giving props to his mother who raised him alone (which deserves the utmost respect), YET we forget about how many BLACK MALE FATHERS actually want FATHER TO BE SPELLED FATHER and live their life that way. When we get mad at the way our young black males congregate outside of stores, malls, bus stops, etc but dont vote in the local legislations to make sure programs that keep them off the streets through engagement rather than policing we are killing more Jordan Davis. When our nephews and cousins, and sons have athletic events but wed rather go to CHURCH, brunch, happy hour, natural hair soirees, and get bad dating advice from these dudes who dont have ANYONES best interest in mind... When we hear a young father crying out for help and all we do is empathize with the mother... when we allow each other to be impressed by the 1,000% mark up of bottles in a club, we pop em, only to lack the funds to do anything substantive with that money... When we just tell our young black males to go to college, but dont educate them on GPA, Student loans, transferrable skills, the alternatives of a trade school, a skill, entrepreneurial mindsets, etc. When we wont set foot in a school to find out how we can put to work, if just two nights a month, that psychology degree that we dont even use. I cant tell you how many students i have who are INVISIBLE to their families. How many MIDDLE SCHOOL games ive gone to with parents who have no idea their boy who is struggling in math has the problem solving skills to split a defense, refuse a low percentage shot and take a high percentage shot...alter the parabola of a shot so that the distance and the angle is perfect to make that net go SWISH. If they can do that they can pass my class... but you didnt know they could do that... I had a student in brooklyn whose adhd was so bad that he couldnt sit in a classroom. It was painful for him. IT felt like prison. But when we took him out to do water testing on the GOWANUS CANAL, he absolutely skilled it. He worked. was engaged. Understood the methods and thrived. IT was amazing to watch. You get mad. But what will you do. How many Trayvon Martins will you show love to and show them that they matter. How many Jordan Davis will you support when they are going through a divorce, or child support, or family court? How many Emmitt Tills track meets, football games, chess matches and alvin ailey try-outs will you attend this year? How many black boys will you celebrate while they are alive? Or will u just wait for someone else to kill them to mourn them? Death happens. Black on black crime happens. white on white crime happens. War. ALl of it. But this society has been set up to make us all SOOOO damn busy that we dont fully invest in each other. One of the largest reasons for misbehavior, that turns antisocial, then turns sociopathic, psychopathic is a cry for attention. Across races, nationalities, gender. EVERYONE wants to be LOVED and NOTICED. OUR YOUNG PPL ARENT NOTICED. I have hundreds of kids everyday who just look for me to say hello. They glow when i ask about the book their writing, or the wrestling match they were looking forward to. They marvel when I google techniques on improving your serve then i show up to their volleyball games and cheer them on like im their cousin. My little cousin is a visual artist. He draws the most excellent pictures youll ever see. Hes in 7th grade. How many of you will BUY his work? Im not policing your anger. Im not telling you to not be mad. Im not forgetting that a young brother was gunned down in cold blood because a creepy, white supremist, entitled coward ass man thought he should take matters into his own hands. Im mad as hell about it. But Im also continually bothered by folks in my age demographic who spend no time with the kids in my little brothers age demographic. I grew up watching ppl correct misbehaviors but not supporting innovation and engagment in an activity. Yes I want something to be done about the justice system. But at the end of the day, my young black boys will know, that at least I supported them while they were on this earth. THAT IS WHERE our demonstrations should start. In my humblest of opinions.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Feb 2014 15:28:58 +0000
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