The devalue of the African American life.
First let me say I apologize if you find this blog offensive,
my way of thinking is a little different than most.
I understand that from the beginning we were never respected
or treated with respect, along the way we had an army of people from all ethnicity
who helped fight for the rights we have today. It’s sad and clear that the
human life no longer seems anything of value to most individuals, I really can’t
even comprehend the mindset of most today and I no longer try to. I've learned
life is really about simply learning to live together with people whose views
and thinking our very different from our own.
I wish that my community would get back to the building up
of our people. Are you apart of the programs that help young unwed mothers? Are you encouraging and showing inner city youth that there is more to the world and on the tips of their fingers if they strive for greatness?
Seems like somewhere down the line some of us made it up and out
of neighborhoods, while you can never forget from you came from we just never
went back to revisit or do the work that is needed to help our people. We can
fight for acceptance or work on helping create individuals who you won’t mind
being around. I've heard the comment many times “I can only do my people in
small dozes” or “I don’t go around certain groups of people”.
It’s clear the negative image outweighs the positive image
of African Americans. At times as I
scroll down my Facebook I see the countless videos of the fighting and other
really sad behavior. I’m aware of
websites that also promote destructive behavior for entertainment purpose, I’m
aware of those who have sold out on reality TV for a pay check. These are the
images that our communities are taking in; people who have really huge voids
who can’t determine between entertainment and reality, they are the ones being
filled with these negative images. These images for the common person are seen
as fun and light and unaware of the underline harm that is not caught by the
average eye.
I am a person who believes in the power of mentor-ship, while
I've been able to experience some really great things and traveled a lot of
places and meet some amazing people it was your typical “everyday” women who
had a great influence over me when the world had a hold on me. I've spoken
countless times about having really difficult years, years that were plagued
with hurt and pain and sometimes made me unpleasant to be around. I contribute my turn around to individuals within
my community, those involved in rites of passage programs, individual dedicated
to instilling values within the youth to create productive members of society. Too
many of us are OK with bashing and arguing with the opposition instead of attacking
and working on the negative images that hunt us. These same videos and other images we are seeing means others
outside of our communities are seeing, while we know no one person represents
everyone for someone else constantly seeing only negative images would reflect
a negative view on everyone. This issue is so deep and complex there can be
many ways to address this issue but the point of my post was to simply say
someone cannot find value in what they do not respect. At times I feel we
failed our ancestors who suffered and endured for us to live today, those that
became before us were about the people; today we must ask what are we about?
You made a great point Hydeia! Respect is earned. If someone does not respect themself, then it opens the doors for more disrespect from their counter parts.
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