For my people, "Fredo, you were like a brother to me"

When Martin Luther King had his vision of great equality for black people, and said that he saw in his vision that "we, as a people, will get to the promised land", was it possible that he was confused by all the bling-bling he must have seen on his children's necks and ears and wrists and teeth and he thought that black people had actually achieved wealth in the new world? Can we continue to blame slavery or the oppressive white man? I say that it is time to stop looking from without and start focusing on within. Every opportunity has been provided for black people to earn their place in society since the volatile 60's. Black people can now vote, yet they choose not to exercise that right during every election, including the ones with Bill Clinton. Black people have now starting to make vast sums of money. From professional athletes to entertainers to musicians, black people have started to move into Orange County and the Hampton's. Even more importantly, they are sending their children to school so that they are getting quality education and making business contacts. That should be good news, but is it? How many black people continue to support their communities when they have made their money? Too many successful African-Americans (and I use that term loosely) feel some sort of obligation to "keep it real". Instead of bringing up other like-minded people with potential, they continue to hang around with freeloaders and other various forms of leeches that do nothing but get them into trouble because they feel this need to maintain their "street credibility". When the first free black people were sharing their neighbourhoods with the Italians and Jewish communities, do you think that they heard the same sort of words coming out of their neighbour's mouths when they started to make money and move into the better areas of the city? Italians worked hard to earn their place in society, as do the friends and family that they help out. Do you get the same sense from most of the black people you see make it today? Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson to name only a few are people that have allowed themselves to be used by those around them and have no one else to blame but themselves. Curtis Jackson and the mess surrounding him is a great example. I do not condemn the man for moving out of the ghetto and trying to promote both himself and his G-Unit. I condemn the parents who have purchased his video game for their kids on Christmas and let them listen to "The Massacre" on their MP3 players during dinner. You have studio thugs who talk a big game about violence and death who either never did it, or now no longer need to, but who feel the need to make vast sums of wealth off of that lifestyle. The difference between 10 cent and 2 Pac is that anyone who truly listened to him speak as a person, knew he was trying to make a difference. He may not have known what that was at times, but he was trying to evolve as a person. If he needed to talk about the violence that was happening in the black community as a way to reach out to new listeners, then that was what he had to do. One of the more controversial topics in the last few years has been racial profiling. Black people get very upset that the police are targeting our children as suspects before they are even accused of a crime. I have personally witnessed a conversation between several law enforcement individuals where they were discussing the differences in attitudes between 2 street gangs: Bikers vs. Blacks. Bikers and all organized crime really, consider going to jail a rite of passage, just something that is par for the course. Black people (and that was not the term they were using), do not care about their own lives, so even if they are just getting pulled over for speeding, they are afraid that they might be getting arrested for whatever weed they currently have in their possession. Especially for a culture that has such a fascination with the Mafia, why can't they seem to get it together long enough to stop randomly killing each other and those around them. Recent events in Toronto are now starting to bring the racial profiling issue up north in Canada. A shoot out that happened in a city mall spilled out into the street where a 15 white year old girl was shot in the head and died instantly. Now, my fellow black people will say the typical, "sure, it's okay when they are killing each other, but as seen as a white person dies all hell breaks loose". Real intelligent that answer is. I say, "Why does it take a white person to die for anyone to start caring and do something". After Columbine, black people were upset because kids have been killing each other in urban area schools for years prior to the Denver incident, yet has anyone taken any action to change what is happening. It's time for a change. I want to see blacks who have become successful not go back to the ghetto, but go to their community centers and schools and help other black kids step up. I want to see black gangs start listening to the 2 Pacs and Tookie Williams who passed on a message about gang rules. Killing innocent people is bad for business. If you love the Mafioso life so much, start having meetings together and conduct your business as professionals. If people step out of line, handle it yourselves.