I've been thinking about this often, how that when I needed one there were no role models. There was a void of men who had ideals and vision. There was a desert landscape, a wasteland! The "housing projects" the country over are a perfect symbol for what I mean when I say government is not the answer.
The community ought to be the place where we should be able to go to in order to seek help. This is where our community leaders indeed failed us. The Pastors and Preachers of our community churches failed us too! I know that in this rant some will more than likely be offended but at times truth indeed hurts and I want to speak truth here. All the monies donated to churches the country over and when an individual falls on hard times they are turned away and forced to rely on a government program that does not promote a sense of self esteem.
This is where I think we fell back into a form of slavery. All rounded up in two or three city blocks of steel and concrete and given free bread to stay there never progressing. Where were the voices of those like we heard in the 50's and 60's? They were sorely missed. I don't believe that there was some grand conspiracy to enslave a population but that the politicians were attempting to deal with poverty. Unfortunately the program was flawed. Instead of approaching a couple together and siting them down to plan a way that they could rise out of their dire situation, they invited a mother in and told her the only way she could get help was to evict her man. According to the program if a man was in the home then no real help could be granted because in theory he could work and should be able to support the family. Not realizing that at times things happen and people just need to get by for a little while. Now we who grew up in the 80's looked around and saw no fathers. Which pushed us to the streets to sell dope to help our mothers pay rent. My only recollection of a full time father at that time was my childhood best friend "Ratt's" dad. He commanded our respect and was great to be round. I learned lessons from him and saw the father-son dynamic is his home.
The tragedy continued because that we were forced to the streets. We saw the job prospects which were bleak. The only people who would escape would do so mainly through bouncing or throwing a ball. The rest of us who lacked talent used it to sell drugs which led so many of us to jail i.e. another form of slavery. I think of all that MLK and Malcolm and Rosa fought for we had just thrown it away. Christian Rap Artist "Lecrae" says it best in his song "Sacrifice", "Some of these rapper's reputations should be in dispute
Cause real recognize real and you do not compute
Good as layin your life down, sacrifice for a worthy cause
Not for a buncha green paper stacks, overpriced clothes and shiny cars, no.
This is sacrifice, it's givin' your all.
Even when they don't understand you, you still answer your calling
And when the world is falling and they back is turned,
You reach your hand out and pull them out that fiery furnace.
I learned that from the old heads, you know the ones that never turned back
Martin Luther King got shot for it, that's priceless you can't earn that.
Then tell me what do you think he died for? A peace prize? A holiday?
So I can rap a whole bunch of weak lines about how I'm a make my choppers spray (Huh!?)"
Which brings me to the power vacuum left when no one really rose up for us. We were left with gangsters and thugs who then took their message to the whole country via Hip-Hop. There was a complete coup on what started as house party music and a way to express the conditions we found ourselves in. I was caught up in the "ride or die" mentality.
Now we do have self proclaimed leaders like the Reverend Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but they don't represent me. I have a problem with the way that the only time I ever hear from them is when they are looking to sensor someone's racist rants. It's like they want us to believe that because we got a black man in the Whitehouse we are to believe that there is no racism and when we see that there is we got to stamp out by shaming. But I say we ought to look inside, we have bigger problems. Why don't I see Al or Jesses using their celebrity to walk the streets of Compton and shame those OG's and BG's who are killing each other? Where's the outrage? I can't see MLK and Malcolm not addressing these issues daily. The Black Panthers are in my mind misunderstood, but we needed a strong willed Bobby Seale or Huey Newton. Organize us to respect ourselves and fight for a worthy cause.
I am calling you all to arms. I'm not talking about militancy we don't need weapons, we need big ideas and courage because when all the bullets are spent our ideas will live on. The future will call us blessed! I am calling all religions, we have more in common than you think. I am a Christian and my God has commanded that I allow all to worship as they wish. I am calling Muslims, to you Jesus is a Prophet, to me He is too. You call Abraham your father as do I. Jews I too worship Jehovah. Like Hindu's we build Temples to worship. Confucianism asks us to do no harm and to love one another, sounds like something Jesus once said too. What I am saying is that we all have common ground. The most important is the we are brothers and sisters.
What I am proposing is to seek to bring about Zion. I have learned more about what happened to Enoch. The Bible is a little vague on him, but I've learned that this man actually achieved something that all the Prophets have tried, to have a society that completely eradicated evil. The text states that the Lord called them Zion because they "were of one heart and there was no poor among." These people were spared the flood. The Lord took them unto Himself, the whole society! The very land in which they inhabited too.
I don't know where to start other than with myself, and family and hopefully a few of you might catch the vision and might join me first in conversation and to set a plan in motion then going about making it happen. As I said it would take courage mainly because the thing I'm discussing has gotten peopled killed. MLK, Malcolm, Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus, Robert and John Kennedy, Gandhi, and of course Jesus. The world struggles with change but it has to be done.
I invite you to pray unto your god and ask what you can do to bring about hope and change. I Invite you to join me in setting in motion change. I'm am going to do this! We can do this! I need help, let us set forth a new vision for our children. They deserve it. If you don't feel you can do you know someone who can? Invite them, share this.
I rest my case... For now
