The number one Issue facing Black America is Black America

I don’t care how many times I brooch this subject, it still surprises me that so many of us in the black community have yet to wake up and truly smell the coffee.  There are many things that Black America should be proud of and find pride in like the millions of blacks that greatly contributed to the building of this nation but instead of helping to push the positive stories so that our children have more to look forward to than a rap career or on some athletic field, we continue to do nothing about making our rich history a much bigger part of the over-all American History.

We hear many screaming racism as if it is the only reason blacks are not treated equally as they should but when those in a position of power and can change the course of this event fail or refuse to step up and stand up we just give them a free pass.  Many of these same people are still pissed at President Obama because they thought his election and re-election would make all others finally recognize us as smart, intelligent and worthy people but why should they when those featured are subtracting from any good that his election brought.  The only reason that some hate this president is not so much he is black but because he has not added to their definition of what being black means.  He walks around with an air of confidence about himself and that bothers them.  He doesn’t run around taunting his success as much as those before him did and still do and that bothers them.  He quietly puts you in your place when you attempt to upstage him and that bothers them.  Remember that famous picture of Jan Brewer, the then governor of Arizona, waving her finger in his face?  Much was made about that clear sign of disrespect but what was never reported was the quiet conversation he had with her regarding her actions and the fact that it never happened again.  This is not the attitude and reaction those who still hate him wanted to see.  They wanted to see him lose it, rant and rave and go crying to mommy but what they got instead was a sure, confident and forceful Barrack Obama who may have quietly told Ms. Brewer, “I’ll let you have your picture and you can make your claims but if you ever try that again, I will own you”.  How about when Joe Lieberman who had partnered with Republicans and had such negative things to say about Obama only to be escorted to the back wall of the Senate by the same and warned not to see his sign of kindness as a sign of weakness.  All of these and so much more was the signs those who define blacks as lazy, shiftless, no-good, and niave were not the signs they thought they would get and soon many of those who may still dislike him no longer hates him.  That took about eight years to accomplish.  Meaning is if Black America wishes to finally be taken seriously about one of the major contributors of shaping a nation, we need to start now and correct all the opposite actions that keep those who think we are nothing but slaves running around acting like we are nothing but slaves.

Number one reason we are seen as inferior is not because we are but because the ones who gets the most press acts and dresses like it.  We want people to take our community serious but we walk around showing our underwear as if we don’t care.  Well get a clue, you highly educated extra-terrestrials, if you don’t care then why and how do you expect to get others to care.  If you do not mind showing your butt then make no mistake, people are going to treat you like a butt.  And as a friend of mine said of Facebook “we spend “$200 for the shoes, $150 for the belt, $450 for the watch, $80 for the shirt, $180 for the jeans, $50 for the hat but walk to the bus stop”.  Does this sound like someone that anyone, including ourselves would take seriously especially when you factor in the fact that many of those spending that kind of money is barely making ends meet and spends much less than that on the children they helped bring into this world.  Make no mistake, children do not care about color, money or possessions, they are taught by us to think about those things.  Children desire one thing and one thing only to be able to present their mom or dad to other kids and to spend a few minutes a day with them doing nothing except sitting next to them and being able to look up and see them.  You want to give your children something that you did not grow up with Black America, give them that.

Number two reason we are seen as inferior is not because we are but because of how we treat each other.  How can you expect a bully to stop bullying, when they see you clearly bullying?  You were convinced by others in the black community that using the word “nigga” would take the power away from it and it would stop being offensive, well how is that going today?  Tell me, if anyone of another race, especially a white person were to use that word in your presence, would you feel just as offended or less offended?  I venture to say you will feel just as offended as you did before, so how does using the word yourself diminish that?  If you care so little about yourself and your people to use a derogatory term toward them, what makes you think that someone is not going to think that it is okay to use that same derogatory term toward you?  Your largest groups of customers for that crap you sell on the very streets you grew up on are those who belong to your community, so if you show complete disregard for others in pursuit of purely selfish gains, why would you think anyone else of any color would do any better?  You say black lives matter then show that concern and stop taking blacks lives yourself.  You want others to respect black lives; first you must show that same level of respect before you and expect to see it in others.  Why should cops care about any lives as long as those from that very same community seems not to care either?  You want something to be followed, you must first follow that something yourself because if you are not leading the way, you are just following and any fool can follow.

Number three reason we are seen as inferior is not because we are but because of the words that comes out of our mouths and the contradictory way we act.  Many of us keep taking about reparations for slavery and that America needs to apologize and pay us for what some of our ancestors endured during that time but to be factually honest, no one owes you nothing, you owe it to yourself.  You owe it to yourself not to allow this country to fall back into those dark days by getting more involved in your children’s education and voting to keep those with like-minds of an inferior race from getting rewarded for thinking that way.  You owe it to yourself to make sure that the lessons of the past are never repeated during your lifetime and teach your children not to allow it to happen during theirs.  We speak of the atrocities of slavery but we refuse to support or even educate ourselves on the Native American Holocaust.  An act that killed millions of American Indians who were only fighting to protect what they thought was theirs.  An act that still holds the American Indian to a reservation while blacks are a little bit freer to move around.  We talk about the civil rights struggle yet fail to see how Muslims, gays and other groups are being singled out and denied their equal justice.  How can you focus on just those in your group and forget about the larger picture of equality and then expect those who you wish to hold accountable to see the big picture?

When you begin to see yourself as separate then so will all others.  When you begin to see yourself as beyond the law then so will others.  When you begin to see your Christian faith as a faith about none other than yourself then so will others.  You are the reason that people do not see you as anything but what you show them.  If you want someone to treat you like a human being you then need to treat all others like human beings.  Know this, that you are limited by the limitations you place upon yourself meaning that no man, woman, or other human being can prevent you from achieving anything that you wish to achieve because defeat is only possible with your permission and you must allow them to limit you which means you just gave them permission to do so.  If Black America were to begin carrying themselves with dignity, pride and a little bit of humility, the rest of the world will finally sit up and take notice and who knows in eight more years from that date, all that we complain about now may just disappear.