Real Situation

What do you do when you have done all that you can?  You just stand.  We as black people in America have been standing for a long time.  Our legs are strong, but everyone grows weary.  I don’t want to talk about Black on Black crime, White on Black crime, Cop on Black Crime, Black on Cop Crime.  I’m tired of it.  Nothing seems to be working.  I remember being told that if you want something that you have never had then you have to do something that you have never done.  We have marched already.  We have cried already.  We have stood still already. We have even killed already.  None of those things got Black people in America anything different.  We have also loved already and forgiven already.  What is left to do?  Some of us have forgotten already.  Some of us have let it go already.  Some of us have never seen the problem, so have never stood for, fought for or tried for anything different because this is just the way that it is.  We have accepted already.  What haven’t we done?

We have a Black president already.  We have complied already.  We have resisted already.  We have asked for what we want already.  We have demanded respect already.  We have waited already.  What haven’t we done?

We, Black people have not known our worth already.  We have not removed our financial support from the mainstream.  Nobody said it would be easy.  We need to do it and keep doing it until it matters.  We have already owned our own successful businesses and we have had our own successful banks.  The minute we were told we couldn’t do it anymore we didn’t.

We need our celebrities to stand up and help as much as they can with this issue.  Build a store in a community that doesn’t have one.  Hell, build two. For too long things have not been fair.  Our children are marked from birth most times.  Pre and post-natal care in underserved communities can be non-existent.  Schools don’t have the resources that they need in urban areas to properly teach.  In addition, teachers are forced to teach to standardized test not ensuring that other basic skills are even met.  Computer access is little to none in these same communities. Meanwhile, on the other side of the tracks there is an abundance. Segregation has never ended.  Children have to attend schools where they live.  Is it lost on the American people that neighborhoods are segregated by economic status and therefore segregation has never ended.  Rarely do people travel outside of their communities, so sitting at a lunch counter is a minimal issue reserved for those who can afford to go across town.  Rarely can minorities afford to live across town because of that magical number known as a credit score.  It takes a mathematician to try and explain how this number is calculated and how it is moved up or down, but yet it defines what we can and cannot have.  Two college students, one white and one black and neither have credit.  The white student applies for a credit card and gets a $5,000 limit with no job.  The black student gets $1000 and a higher interest rate.

Money is the key.  It is in fact what makes the world go around.   It seems as though I am further suggesting that segregation is the key, but in fact it works just the opposite.  We buy things like Jordan gym shoes and expensive purses to be viewed as equals.  What if we had our own brands made with our own labor in our own communities.  If we circulate our money amongst ourselves, it will be missed in other places.  Maybe then our worth will be significant enough to make a difference.

The Writer

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