It's so much going on. It's overwhelming to think about. Not only are there personal battles that we have to fight, but the pressures of society and just being black adds to that. My heart aches for the children I teach. They have no idea what awaits them. As a believer I have a hope, and my hope is in Christ. I know that His word is true when he says, "Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God's wrath,
for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord." (Romans 12:19) I believe God will have his way with every single individual who has innocent blood on their hands. Not only do our people fear the people who are supposed to protect them, but we fear each other. Mothers are worried about their sons getting jumped or gunned down. Not by police but by their fellow brothers. Our children are afraid to walk to school and get on the school bus because of their fellow brothers and sisters. Our women! Our women are being gang raped by their brothers! What is going on with my community! We are supposed to protect one another, not hurt each other! Do you not see the HATE we face?!
I couldn't bare to watch the Sandra Bland story; my heart ached as soon as I realized we lost another sister. I'm so angry! I watched a video of another sister basically expressing her anger and I felt every word. Like yaaasss preach girl! Are you not angry? I see more black folks talking bout Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill, and this Drake beef! Who the freak cares! What the hell have they done for YOUR community?! You see them marching? Have they come to see about you or your neighborhood? Are they encouraging young women and men of color to be proud of themselves? To be gentlemen and young ladies? I'm not saying they haven't done "charity" work, or gone back to their "hood" to help all the less fortunate "colored" kids. But really? Yall are entertaining their idiocy and your people are getting MURDERED, RAPED, AND BAMBOOZLED every freakin day. We are too easily distracted. I know more girls interested in keeping up with the latest bags and shoes FOR WHAT! You think the police gon care you got on Jimmy Choos? You're still worthless to them!
We support everybody else but each other. Which is why we don't have our own. Which is why they can rule over us. Which is why they'll always have the upper hand. Do you know your history? Do you know where you came from? Do you know what you are capable of? Do you know what you can be?
Somewhere along the way we forgot.
I tutor high school boys and they don't give a crap about their history. "Why do I need to know that? Oh but imma be Gucci'd out from prom" Priorities! And we teach them this! They talk about fighting each other, what girl they smashin next; they have no respect for young ladies. And our young ladies think it's cute. They have no sense of self-worth, so they are easily screwed over. All the while, some of these young men end up dead or in jail. It's a sickening cycle. Once again. I ask what are we doing?
I decided to start an enrichment at my elementary school that teaches our kids about their history. I greet all my kids with hugs, smiles, fist pumps, goodmornings, wat up doe's, love, hugs, high fives... however they want to be greeted. They know they matter because I tell them that. They know they are important and that their skin color is beautiful no matter what shade they are. They know that their hair texture is perfect, and nobody can tell them different. This may seem small, but it starts when they are young. They are also aware of what's going on. I encourage them that can't nobody tell you what you can and cannot do, you make that decision. You know who you are. So when they face adversity, they are smart about it. I pray everyday that the world will be better when they grow up. They have so much hope and I want them to have that. Why am I venting? Because I'm fed up with the system. I'm fed up with us. We have have work to do to make sure that our future does not have to re-live this hellish existence.
Now I commend all of the wonderful black women and men who are conscious, aware, and are doing something for their communities. The ones who support one another, who mentor, who take the time not to be selfish and give back. I see you. I have a hope that it will get better. Keep fighting, keep working, keep protesting, keep being aware, keep hope alive!
Last but not least, I love all my friends that are not of color. But PLEASE for the love of God, DO NOT downplay what's going on. Don't speak on things you do not have to live everyday, or things that you do not understand. This goes to all the unconscious black folks too, the ones that complain about us playing the race card all the time, SHUTUP! Would you wake the heck up, THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU EITHER! You wanna be a house negro like Samuel L. Jackson in DJango... thinking it's gon save you! It's not. They still don't like you. They never will. The sooner you realize the above truth, step outside of your bubble, and really take ownership of your people, the sooner we will ALL be better off.
I may have been all over the place in this blog, but I had to vent. I pray for all of you daily. I love the scripture that says, "Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good." (Romans 12:21). It's okay to be angry, clearly I am. But I wanna channel it into actually changing our communities. Let's conquer this evil, with good. I love yall, Be Conscious and Be Blessed.
-The Virgin Chronicles <3
P.S. Come to the prayer rally at Campus Martius Weds July 29, 2015 at 7:00 pm :-)
