Getting At My Race

It truly angers me at the current overall state of the African American community in this day and age. Yes, there are moments that we can look at and rejoice and be proud of as a community. As an African American I take pride in those moments too. Moments where you see African American students graduating college; both men and women, African American CEO's or Executives, or even having an African American President. As a young African American male, it gives me great hope when I see moments like this because it says that there are some like me trying and doing their part and thing to make it. 


BUT... overall I am truly angered at the current state of the African American Community. In a series of pieces I want to address several different places where we are having a drawback. But I don't just want to speak on the issue or bash my fellow African Americans. In each piece I wish to offer solutions and welcome feedback, so we can keep the conversation going and relevant. So I ask that you please join me.


First I want to start with the past, because if you know where you come from you will know where your going.  


Back in the day, many African Americans, and I'm not just talking about Dr. King, Malcolm X, or Rosa Parks; I'm talking about ordinary or average citizens like myself, like you; fought for rights that were denied to them based on the color of their skin. The fought to be heard, they fought to participate, they fought to vote. They saw their lives and the lives of the generations to following as meaningful, they believed in a cause.


A cause I think that has all been forgotten and I hope not to think this, because if I and it has been forgotten. I also feel we also have to conclude that the fight once wage and the blood, sweat, tears, and lives lost were all given in vain. This is said because now the fight is no longer fought by the majority, barely even a minority, but by a small few.


We are spitting on the legacy left by past generations, by not speaking, participating, or voting. We must continue to let our voices be heard, if we speak together there will be no choice but to listen. Participate, meaning get out into the community, spread the word on the issues, and stay informed. VOTE, not just when there's an African American candidate, but whenever there is an election. Whether it be county, city, state, or national. Call you Congress person, call your mayor or governor's office. Tell them your problem and stay on it until the best solution is made available. African Americans back in the day could have only dream of the day where progressive actions such as those were carried out uninhibited. 


As a young African American male, that realizes there is much more that even I can do to continue to achieve the dreams set by our ancestors, I just wish to encourage one more, and another, then another. There are times in my heart I'm angry with myself, for not giving more or striving harder to set the bar higher. Sometimes in moments like these a small part of me wishes that I was there back in the day, so that I too could have fought in the trenches of segregation and Jim Crow. Standing arm in arm with others who cry for greater freedoms and the rights we naturally deserve. 


Looking towards the future, there is a legacy we most preserve. That will only come through staying informed, getting involved, speaking up, and taking action. I will end with this quote by Frederick Douglass - "Where there is no struggle, there is no progress?"


Comments

your right!!!! the state of the African American community is a sad one...we take for granted the opportunities that we have now (education, voting) in which the generations before us had to struggle for so WE wouldn't be dehumanized and treated as second class citizens as they were...but a lot of people just don't seem to care :(

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