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.