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Saturday Solutions: Where do we go from here: from a dream to reality - part II

 

 

Since the last time we spoke on this issue a lot has changed in America and for its first African-American President-Elect, Barack Obama. The economic system went from shaky to worst with a struggling, and seemingly confused Congress, trying to grant cash infusions to almost every consumer market company available. The President-Elect of "change" has assembled a transitional team that has been hard at work appointing a centrist cabinet of intellects that all seem to stem from the Clinton era. Black America has taken pride in their long overdue representation of leadership in the White House. However the question still begs to be ask; where do we go from here as a black community?

 

I know since I first wrote about the Obama drama as it relates to the black community and our furtherance with him at the helm, there has been a lot of others copying or shall I say piggy-backing off my dialogue of a King's Dream. However as many of these folks chose to only examine the surfaced superficial everyday ordinary definitions of what Barack's election will mean for us, let me take you even deeper and finish our discussion on just what it will take for ALL blacks to have the Dr.'s dream become their reality!

 

In an economic situation that is hurting everyone, all races, colors and creeds, we can begin a dialogue on one of the most popular yet argumentative and polarizing topics known to blacks, Reparations. Though President-Elect Obama, his followers and advisers nor the Democratic Party ever brought up the subject during the campaign, I believe it was in the back of the minds of most liberal minded African-Americans. Why just liberals you ask? Well most conservative blacks don't believe in this socialized welfare giveaway. People such as syndicated talk-show host and Fox news contributor Juan Williams have taken the position of reparations being a flashy distraction from the real work needed to be done by the nation of black Americans. He, and others such as myself, see it as a "politically weakening strategy with a deadly cost attached for people who can't see what is going on - poor, young black people - who are being sacrificed for a one-time payout!"

 

I believe that this is a despicable exploitation of our great (and long deceased) ancestors, whose image of strength and courage is completely contrary to this weak and devise way of the thinking. The pictures of Sojourner Truth, Harriett Tubman and Frederick Douglass, in my mind, are far greater than that of some cow-toeing and submissive welfare seekers. These individuals, including those of the civil rights era, portrayed an image of perseverance,fortitude and undoubted dedication, ultimately leading them to a self-reliance and assurance of undeniable victory.

 

From President Lincoln's proposed fund to help slaves get started as "free" people, to General Sherman's promise of forty-acres and a mule, even the most well intended promises from this country have yet to come to fruition. So what would make you think that having a black President would make any difference?You still have a majority Caucasian Congress and nation who are not willing to even begin to discuss, or even apologize, for slavery and our suffrage!

However why should we sit around and wait for some sort of payment or non-sincere apology, trying to find a utopia when our people need help right now! I doubt though, that a Kenyan raised, Ivy-league graduate who became Harvard's first black head of its law review and America's first black President, would even waste his, or our time, seeking a meaningless pay-out of an unimaginable and incalculable sum of money.

 

While we have middle-class American blacks looking for a better day and some looking for payouts, there is a whole other generation of our race being chained and enslaved in today's society. Yes, I am referring to our young brothers and sisters and the Prison Industrial Complex! The largest crime and punishment industry in the world resides here in America and the overwhelming majority of customers to this institution, black folk. Since about the time of the Brown v. Board decision, when 65 percent of state and federal prisoner were white and blacks made up only 35 percent, our struggle for freedom, justice and equality became a stark reality.

 

The Birth of Nation, yeah that propaganda-filled film on how racism is a necessary defense against predatory and uncontrolled blacks, who have no "social control", was released and led to mass convictions. Was it based solely on this film, absolutely not, however its contents did persuade borderline racists to pick a side, and it surely wasn't ours. Also the brain washing of this and Willie Lynch-style campaigns have led to the insane behavior and mindset of some blacks today.

 

Look at my young folk, which I'm a part of this "Generation X", who walk around with their pants hanging off their rear-end (p.i.c. psyche from earlier days with no belts), calling homeboys "nigger/nigga" and home girls "b*tches"! These attitudes and social actions are counted on by white America, to enable a community of self-destruction without lifting a finger. Yet our bourgeois blacks side with them turning their backs on the very essence of tomorrow's future!

 

A "convict lease" system of incarceration that originally sent slaves to jail in massive numbers now has our loved ones turning their backs on each other not caring about others freedom. Anytime you have baby-mamas and girlfriends who get upset with their spouse and call the "law" and make up some baseless and imaginative lies to get "him" locked up because you think he is creeping, is about as far fetched and outrageous a way to put our own behind bars as I can think of. There is nothing more painful to see then our own brothers and sisters turning their backs on one another while at the same time blaming the "white man" for their problems. Think again!

 

We all know the ever changing statistics of blacks in the penal institutions opposed to those in the institutions of higher learning, so I won't bog you down with a bunch of numbers. However what I will give you is the reality! Originating from the City the born the term "stop snitching" and home to the senseless Dawson family tragedy, I see first hand what an increased police presence (occupation) can do to the psyche of black community. We, as law-abiding blacks want to live without fear of crime protected by our men and women in blue yet actually find ourselves fearing them the worst! We must find a way for this battered community to come out of the conditions we are currently in. And no eloquent speech or essay by some President-Elect will do! How can Mr. Obama possibly fight a learned behavior mindset with some governmental program or strategy?

 

"The real wealth inherited by blacks was being empowered to create positive social change. The success of our people - smart, disciplined blacks - was a model of new possibilities and triumph has changed the self-image of black people. Gone is the shuffling, defeated spirit and in its place came black people walking tall, with a new found wealth, inspiring a younger generation of Americans, to act with courage and dignity in the face of suffering." -Martin Luther King Jr. had a Dream that started with a sense of pride and hope and continues today with the election of President-Elect Barack Obama. The vision of the prize then and continues today to be, liberation/freedom. Yet in the words of Medgar Evers "Freedom ain't Free" and never will be.

 

On January 20, 2009, Barack Hussein Obama, will take the oath of office, becoming the first African-American and the 44th United States President. His swearing in will be the first symbolic event of his representation as the leader of the free world, not just the black community. On this day, ironically a day after the nation celebrates the 80th birthday of Dr. King, we as a country, as well as a community, must stand up, be proud and then begin the work! Stop asking and waiting for others to do for you that which you can do for yourself and blaming everything on "the man". We must now hold our heads up high and say "baby, we are here and we want our Freedom NOW!"