Divided States of America

”Two months ago I had a nice apartment in Chicago. I had a good job. I had a son and when something happened to the Negroes in the South I said, `That's their business, not mine.' Now I know how wrong I was. The murder of my son has shown me that what happens to any of us, anywhere in the world, had better be the business of us all"- Mamie Bradley's words (Emmitt Tills mother)”. Some of us are now familiar with that quote after the George Zimmerman NOT GUILTY verdict. When I read that, it hit me to my core because like most Black immigrants (Africans, Jamaicans, Haitian) I always considered myself African but not African American and always separated myself from the plights of African Americans but the truth of the matter is we are all judged by the color of our skin.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock you know all about the Trayvon Martin case. While everyone has their opinion on this case one thing that’s not debatable is Trayvon Martin is dead.  Let’s just say for instance the version of the story told by Zimmerman was what actually happened; Trayvon assaulted him and he had to defend himself which resulted in him killing him. If Zimmerman hadn’t followed him to begin with, he wouldn’t have had to defend himself. It’s crazy how a black life means nothing in this country; you can stalk / follow a black person for no reason other than they look suspicious, kill them and still walk away with no consequences. Just thinking about it sends chills down my body because it means my husband, nephew and all my black loved ones are NOT SAFE. Now if the situation were reverse i.e. a black man stalked someone of another race and killed him, I really doubt that the stand your ground law would have worked on their behalf. I know a lot of white people are upset that we use that assumption and they keep insisting that Zimmerman is not white; yes we understand he’s of Hispanic decent in terms of ethnicity but the way things work in this country it’s all about the color of your skin. If you look white you’re treated as such and if you look black well you’re doomed. It saddens me to know that in the year 2013 blacks are nothing but “free slaves”.  I grew up in Lagos, Nigeria where I never had to deal with any issue of race only to move here and have to deal with blacks treated as an inferior race because of the color of our skin.  

It is time we as a nation address the elephant in the room (racism). Blacks especially males are judged unfairly, passed up on jobs, looked at as thugs and people are scared and wary of us for no reason and IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE

TO WHITE AMERICANS

WE ARE ALL EQUAL - it’s time for us to come together if we are to realize the American Dream, we must all own the legacy of slavery and acknowledge that what we experience as a country is a result of this legacy. Whether you want to accept it or not it’s time to come to terms with it.  ALL BLACK PEOPLE ARE NOT THE SAME i.e. THUGS, VIOLENT, UNEDUCATED ETC. JUST AS ALL CAUCASIANS ARE NOT. We all know the media shows us what they want us to believe and with all the crazy reality shows, what’s reported on the news every day and night we can see how people think all black people are jokes with black women having nothing better to do but have babies out of wedlock and black men nothing more than gun toting idiots that’s in and out of jail. Yes we do have a very high rate of black men in jail but it’s also because the justice system is designed for black people to fail (a discussion for another day). We read and see things about white serial killers, Pedophiles, mass murderers etc yet we don’t assume all white people are the same. As human beings we all have our prejudice but it’s time to start learning and understanding each other. You can't just judge a book by its cover; something is wrong in so many ways to say that someone is suspicious just because you don't know them.

TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY

I got a text yesterday that read “In memory of Trayvon Martin on July 23, 2013 we are boycotting America. We will not purchase anything on this day, not gas, food, clothes, etc, nothing. Whatever we need to buy get it on the day before or the day after but NOT July 23, 2013. Please do not ignore this, I'm sending this to everyone in my phone and I hope everyone who receives this forwards it to everyone in their phone. This is not hard it's simple on July 23, 2013 keep your money in your pocket, PLEASE FORWARD. And please wear something BLACK!  R.I.P. Trayvon Martin” Really? It’s amazing how black people are quick to rally and boycott when issues like this arise. How about we start rallying and deal with the devils in our own back yard. You want to boycott something? How about boycotting the record labels that insist on signing these ignorant rappers that do nothing more than promote violence, drugs and degrade women.  How about rallying to make sure the gun violence in our community stops, our kids get a good education and we start getting back two parent households to ensure family stability. While we can’t deny that racism still exists, there are more opportunities now more than ever for blacks but a lot of people still have that slave mentality. It is time to move past the slavery days. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying doing all these will end racism no it won’t but we will do better as a people and be able to command the respect we deserve. Civil rights leaders in the 1950s and '60s took real risks, and it's time for this generation to do our part. As long as we keep repeating the same cycle we will never do better.

 I read an article a while ago called “They Are Still Our Slaves’ – A White Man’s Perspective on Black People” and it stuck like glue. The gist of it is this “Their (black people) IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. “The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book”.

Recommendations for the Black Community.

“The Image Of The Black Community Is Horrendous In The World. The Image of Black Men In Particular Is That of A Bestial Maniacal and Savage Group of Persons” - Minister Louis Farrakhan

Lack of Education: One of the biggest problems in the black community is the lack of education. Not every kid will end up attending college but nothing stops us from self educating which can simply be done by reading a book and putting that knowledge into practice. There are lots of successful people like Steve Jobs, Chris Rock, Halley Berry, Lebron James, and Kevin Garnett who either didn’t attend or dropped out of college. They prove that if you have enough drive and focus you can make your dreams come true. Self education can help in building skills, confidence, independence and serious personal entrepreneurship which is what is needed in this era of rapid economic change: KNOWLEDGE really IS POWER.

Children out of wedlock: This is a never ending cycle in the Black community; you have babies having babies with no support from the man. Single mothers are one of the strongest and hardest working women out there and do everything to support their families but at the end of the day children still need their fathers especially boys. Contrary to the belief of most people, a woman CANNOT be a mother and a father to a boy nor can she raise a boy to become a man. Boys need that relationship with their father / male figure to gain a sense of themselves and to understand their masculinity and male identity. Without that relationship with their father / male figure they often grow up lost and confused about their identity as a man and tend  to turn to the media, gangs, drug dealers  etc regarding what type of man they should be.

Below is a chart that shows the unwed births rate by race- It speaks for itself.

 

Colorism: ALL black is BEAUTIFUL. At no time should one complexion be looked at as better than the other.  What was first given to us by slave masters in separating the house slaves from the field ones, has now taken place in how we objectify each other. The same thing we accuse the” white man” of doing to blacks is the same thing being done interracially.

 

Sagging pants and loud music: As trivial as these may seem it’s a huge issue. How this even became a fad is beyond me. No one wants to see your underwear and rear end hang out and why people think it’s okay to sag their pants or blast their (most of the time offensive) music in their cars is obnoxious, distasteful and does nothing but help people profile you. We need to portray ourselves in a positive way if we want people to give us the respect we deserve.

Financial planning and stability: it’s okay to live on a budget and not keep up with the joneses. You see someone driving the most expensive car with no money to even fill it up with gas or carry the most expensive bag with nothing more than $5.00 in it.  Our priorities are so messed up its ridiculous. People would rather drive the most expensive cars, buy new Jordans/ sneakers than invest or save for a rainy day.

Black on black crime:  Too many Blacks die to senseless violence and it seems no one cares to acknowledge the violence in our own backyard. It’s almost as if it’s okay so far it was done by one of our own but we are quick to rally when a black person is killed by a cop or someone of a different race. While that may not be our intention, what we are doing is sending a signal that this sort of violence is okay.  If we as a race don't show that we care about these killings why would other races or the justice system care?

While we know that the system is racist to black people, we also need to educate ourselves so we do not fall into those “traps” Below are stats showing the percentage of incarceration by race.

 

In order to move forward as a country we need to come together more as a whole; not individual people, not individual races or religions so that we may restore this great nation known as the United States of America.

"You gotta make a change, It's time for us as a people to start making some changes, let’s change the way we eat, let’s change the way we live, and let’s change the way we treat each other. You see the old way wasn't working so it’s on us, to do what we gotta do to survive" –Tupac Shakur.