When the answer to what ails us lies within

When can 30 percent of the GOP and Russia take control of an entire nation and its people and rewrite a nation’s history?  It happens when 100 percent of Democrats, 100 percent of Independents and the entire rest of the globe sit idly by an allow it.  Many now say taking down statues could be the answer to our nation’s ills and some say waving of the Confederate Flag is offensive because of what that flag stands for.  Others say that the statues are a piece of our history and that the Confederate Flag is a symbol of our democracy where those who disagree with the current course are free to stand and resist both may have a valid point but all are missing the deeper and real issue.  It is not the statues that possess an issue, it is those who idolize and worship those statues.   It is not the Confederate Flag that is offensive and carries with it the dark history of a nation; it is those who stand beneath it and behind that way of life.  It is not nor never will be an inanimate object that controls our faith or directs our destiny, it is us. 

Some continue to blame the march toward “political correctness” as the beginning to all this and listening to your explanation, you do have a point but what if I told you that if you remove the words political correctness and replace it with the word courtesy, it might make your explanation a slight miscalculation.  For example, if you totally despise a particular religion, culture or class of people, have the courtesy not to belittle, bemoan or bad-mouth them in front of someone who does not share your disdain. We make laws and rules not for the majority but for the whole of those who we support or those who support us.  That’s why such a small percentage of people were able to capture and control the larger populace and space.  No inanimate object, organization or particular group speaks for everyone else, General Mattis and Kelly has proven that because one of the topics taught in Marine Corp Basic Training was courtesy yet they stand with a man who not only sold this country to Russia but has begun to implement changes within the very fabric of this nation to turn it into a place many before us fought against and died for.  Even the Marines have many who may share the title but still think, act and believe differently.  Nothing human shall ever be perfect and nothing man-made will ever reach the status of God, so why do we continue to place this type of pressure upon these people and things.  Could it be that we do so because we know that we as individuals will never reach that level but we have a very strong desire to latch upon something or someone who does?

Ask yourself these questions, if the Mendez Brothers did not look white, would their story be all over print, made films of in Hollywood or became a made for TV special?  Our history books are filled with the faces of white men but few white women, a smaller amount of black men or women and an even smaller amount of any other race that did just as much, if not more to help erect this country into the image we once enjoyed bragging about.  Why is that?  Should not we be more open and honest about our history?  Has the real history of this nation been hidden for so long that we have simply ignored it until someone finally rips the bandage off?  If Black America really did care about changing its race future, would all of its members not be doing more to help all of black America’s children reach their God-given potential?  Would not Black America demand and insure that every black child had the resources to be who they wish to be and that black parents focused more on raising doctors, surgeons and rocket scientists than we do on raising non-dreamers, rappers, and athletes?  Would not Black America secure that all black children have that same connection to both parents as every child needs especially in their early developmental stages?

We want a better nation, we want others to consider our feelings and we want others to appreciate our desires but how is that possible when we, ourselves, don’t show that same consideration or appreciation for others?  We refuse to look first at ourselves to correct the trajectory of this nation and choose to focus on placing the blame at the feet of others or inanimate objects.  Lest we forget, these inanimate objects were created by man and these laurels that we place upon the heads of our idols were placed there by man so if we created these things, if we performed these things then it is us and us alone that can correct these things.