(a father and son, both detained, in guantanamo bay, cuba)
Our father which art in St. Frances hospital
...for hypertension.
Our father which art in jumpsuits and prisons,
...federal detention.
Our father which art in dark bars and alleys,
...lethal injection.
Our father which art in denial and delusion.
This cannot happen again.
(saul williams)
I'm not big on "days" for much of anything. But I enjoy talking with my dad and so I just wanted to share some of that positivity with the world. I think we need it. My dad ain't a big shot. Just a regular man who has aquired an extraordinary amount of wisdom in his [young] (ahem!) age. As a young man, I can only imagine how much more difficult life would be without a dad.
He hasn't laid the path out for me, but he's definitely set some ground rules that I am thankful to have. Humility, balance, humanity, consideration... if you find any evidence of these qualities in me, that's one of the main sources of them.
It may sound very cliche... but for all the things that my mother has been to me and done for me (and no question, I'd say that she's done more for me than my father and I think my father would agree) however, being a man and thus giving me a reference point for how to be a man, she could not do.
I recall talking with my dad and him telling me stories about his childhood friends being decimated by crack cocaine. This one's in prision. This one just got out. This one is dealing. This one is strung out. This one beats his wife. This one just died... He would tell me (with my 4 or 5 friends), "wow it's good to see so many of you..."
I think of my own friends growing up and at this moment it really escapes me to think of ONE who had a dad. How lucky am I? Then I think of my graduating class and I can recall less than 5 of us black boys who went on to graduate from college. My friend whose grandma's house I used to go to in the morning before the bus came and watch cartoons sits in prison for the rest of his life to this day.
I have a lot to be thankful for. We need our fathers.
"This cannot happen again."
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Our father, which art in...
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27 comments:
That is a ridiculously powerful photo.
Damn, this post came at the right time for me. I am thankful that I have a father to be thankful for...
beautiful post bri.
...heaven. Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Destroy the corrupt systems created by man and manifest your soveriegnty.
So be it, Ro
Wow.
I just found out a few minutes ago that one of my boys from high school was murdered last night around 7pm back home not too far from my parents' crib........... Man I'm angry as hell! Frustrated and feeling HELPLESS!!!
Like why are we taking so long to move? Why are we so hesitant to organize? Why do we spend so much time doin shit that's fruitless? Where's the plan? I know it ain't that simple, but damn where's a plan!
I wanna yell at everyone I see. I wanna go smack people straight. I feel like it's happening again and we're letting it happen.
Where are the large sacrificial actions of our generation? I feel like we're content with doing so little! I feel like we're content with our own selfish struggles and emotions and even spiritual journeys! Shit! I feel like not everyone has time to go on spiritual journeys!
And all I hear from the brothers out here is about money and business. I feel like slappin the next black man I hear say get money. I feel like burnin down the Black Enterprise offices. I feel like slappin Oprah AND Ludacris. I feel like slappin Jay-Z AND Cornel West! I feel like slappin Farrakhan AND Obama!
Ro, we tryin. Trust that.
It's the hows and whens that are a little harder to figure out.
God knows I know that my man Baca was probably tryin to manifest his sovereignty... why didn't he accomplish it? That's a question that'll be on my mind for a while.
But we trying.
Anyway, back to work to pay these bills...
:(
aww... brian. i'm so sorry. i'm giving you an internet hug ( ). i agree with everything you just said. and while i love this blog and intellectual electronic banter, my belief as i have gotten older, is that the best way to make change is by example. we can't expect other folks to build community centers, run for election or change their rap lyrics.
its true, most people don't have the luxury of spiritual journeys, and that's why the best form of activism is doing what you do best, and effecting those close to you. my plan has always been first getting the capital and then making change happen, as i'm sure others have thought. the problem is that many get lost along the path and when they make the money, they forget to give back, or they are criticized for not giving back enough.
i think what you are doing, with the liberator, has already changed the world and given many hope, so just keep on, and you'll be in the position to make the decisions that you wish others would make.
OH MY GOD!!! It was BACA?!?!? Oh my goodness this is too much. WTF man!!! I feel you B. It's too much. FUCK!!!!
First and Foremost,
Peace and Blessings
be upon Baca's soul.
Our lives are intertwined.
We are dependent on one another.
Sadly we've been accustomed to living otherwise.
Community is formed when people of similar vision commit (which is not just a one time vow or pledge but a continual decision to stay the course, demonstrated in our thoughts, words, actions) to a mission.
Brother, you must not forget many are called but few are chosen.
Sacfricial actions can't come from no superficial place! That requires a stepping out of yourself, if that makes sense. Not just stepping into a plan or a remedy, a reaction of even well thought out response (eventhough we need all of these), but into God's strength which is made perfect in your weakness; here and now, trust that.
word. and i am confident in the strengths and capabilities of those chosen few who have, or will, overcome their weaknesses.
think what you are doing, with the liberator, has already changed the world and given many hope, so just keep on, and you'll be in the position to make the decisions that you wish others would make.
and I second that motion.
hold ya head.
First and Foremost,
Peace and Blessings
be upon Baca's soul.
Our lives are intertwined.
We are dependent on one another.
Sadly we've been accustomed to living otherwise.
Community is formed when people of similar vision commit (which is not just a one time vow or pledge but a continual decision to stay the course, demonstrated in our thoughts, words, actions) to a mission.
Brother, you must not forget many are called but few are chosen.
Sacfricial actions can't come from no superficial place! That requires a stepping out of yourself, if that makes sense. Not just stepping into a plan or a remedy, a reaction of even well thought out response (eventhough we need all of these), but into God's strength which is made perfect in your weakness; here and now, trust that.
word. I agree mos def.
I was interrupted this morning by the phone call from my brother derrick who got the phone call fomr an ex at 8am that baca was killed.
the one thing that is consistent in all of our lives is violence and a lack of US and our parents' generation to take responsibility for these things that are happening in our community!
No disrespect to anyone-because i fall into the following category as well-but we are sitting in our offices, workspaces on our internet and blogging about what we should be doing!
B, im hurting right now son, but im inspired. im saying, whats good with all of us who are from MINNEAPOLIS stading up and going back there from where we are now-as I am back home in RI- and starting. maybe its frustration talking but, is it cost? fuck the money...is it fear, fuck these murderers-in and out of police uniforms- what is it?
I feel like were back in the days when we said "all 89.9 ever does is bring these black men on the radio to bitch about what the community should do and we dont do anything"
lets start a group of men-fearless men- who are willing to devote time to walking these streets, to staring down barrels to save the lives of people like
-anthony baca
-brian cole, 18, and North high basketball player killed on Penn ave N last week
-Ms.Timeka Vaughn 28, mother of 4 killed on Penn ave N. last week
-and Levon Carothers 26, on Penn ave N.
we were not responsible for the original manisfestation of our current murderous legacy but we for damn sure aint doing shit to change it!
Corey Fernandez
-said with a heavy heart
I feel you man. Believe me. I just feel like that would be inadequate too!!! But maybe I am wrong. Maybe it would be a catalyst. But at the same time that's part of why I feel that we're not just talking like the cats on the radio, I feel like we're trying to find the path of most effectivness. I don't want to spend my life chasing symptoms! I want to solve this ONCE AND FOR ALL! At the root of it! I still don't know why B was killed. But I feel like the causes of our deaths are related to what King talks about as the tripple evils. And if America runs off of tripple evils, than how can we really expect to escape them ourselves if we are so tied to it!? We're just gonna have more generations who grow up and say "look at what America has done to me!" I can't think of anyother way to avoid that except by distancing ourselves from what America is!
So if we are going to be on some organize tip, we need to be diametrically oppossed to what this place of sorrow and oppression stands for.
So if you're serious I'm down. But we really have to know what we are doing. We have to have a proactive mission... we can't just run around chasing bad guys with guns... otherwise we'll be just like the cops... chasing symptoms and ignoring the disease! That's what I feel this space of dialogue should be increasingly used for... We need to start making concrete moves. We need to take care of eachother first and foremost to enable us all to give our gifts without worry about getting paid for them. We need to be able to teach without having to worry about the state taking away funds. We need to be able to put on a theatre performance or a dance performance without having to worry about the money to make it happen. We need to be able to feed our community without having to worry about how we are going to do it! We need to be able to love our community without having to worry about getting gunned down!
Honestly, I've been thinking it for a minute... why do we not buy houses together and live together? And work together? Shit we're talkin about starting a school! My man's mom started a school in her BASEMENT! We need to plant NEW real concrete seeds of community NOW. Cause I think the community trees of old are dying or are already dead.
Read this quote about Martin Luther King and tell me what you think:
The black freedom movement, King told a crowd at the university of California-Berkeley, had shifted from civil rights to human rights,
involving "a struggle for genuine equality" that "demands a radical
redistribution of economic and political power." It would be hard to find mass political support for this goal, King said, "because many white Americans would like to have a nation which is simultaneously a democracy for White America and a dictatorship over Black Americans" (2).
By this time, King had identified the U.S. government as "the greatest
purveyor of violence" in the world and denounced U.S. support for
U.S.-investment-friendly Third World dictatorship, all part of what he
called "the triple evils that are interrelated": racism, economic
exploitation [capitalism], and militarism (3).
...The imperative was hardly to help "Americans" "feel good about
themselves and their government." It was to encourage them to be true to
themselves, to each other, and to the rest of suffering humanity by facing up to "the triple evils that are interrelated."
Right! The ROOT of these problems is huge. I am now almost convinced that it is too late for "America" with out a total purge of everything that has power in this land. TOTAL, 100%, COMPLETE, THOROUGH purge of all of the ideals-economic, political, social and otherwise- is the only absolute way for us to even "start from scratch" which in itself is scary.
we have a ton of work to do. I am not saying lets get out there and find this gun, that thief, this rapist, or that murderer. but lets raise people's awareness, sensibilities, courage and willingness. Lets go into YOUR neighborhood brian, shelley, and find all those people from north, henry, washburn, edison , etc. that are of like-mindedness, and start planting those "concrete seeds" of self.
lets plant seeds of fearlessness like shelley
seeds of vision like B
seeds of calculated agression and a spirit of being fed up with just saying "thats messed up" and moving on.
lets plan, whether it be long distance or local, there is a way for us to help change the tide.
Shellz let me take the time out to tell you how extremely proud I am to be a part of YOUR family, and to see that you are lovingly accepting a role that is among the hardest to accept, and excelt in. Congrats!
I think maybe I needed that straw to break the camel's back to get out of this blase ass rut i've been in but...it happens at different time for different people.
I really think Kwame Ture's call to "organize! organize! organize!" is crucial. For so long I shunned organizations. There is always something that they have faulty with them it seems. Often they are so ideologically bound it seems cultish. But if we can't find one to join, we need to start one. We need to move to the concrete I think. Like Steph said the other day, we need to start drawing lines in the sand, like the quote from King suggests he was beginning to do when he was assasinated... like Malcolm was doing when he was assasinated.
We have to draw lines and hold eachother accountable when we compromise. We have to becomes fearcely independent. Because we have to wean ourselves aways from this madness. I won't smile anymore when someone I know gets a record deal. We have to be done with the compromise. Stop applauding when we see people looking in the right direction and start raising our expectations higher. We should hold our applause until we are moving in the right direction. And perhaps even then we should hold it until we are actually at the place where we are trying to go -- to avoid getting caught up in hopeful utopic rhetoric, let me be clear, that place does not exist yet but if we define that places' characteristics then it becomes a real place. The problem thus far has been that we define that place based on surface level characteristics... equal schools, a Target store, a Cub Foods... we have to go deeper... yeah we want stores and good food and good schools in our communities, but we also have to define HOW we want those things to get there and how we want those things to be maintained and how we want those things to act in relation to our communities. We have to control the foundation, we have to plan every brick... we have to know where every "brick" in that foundation came from so that we can trust that it's well made and will adequately support the structure we're trying to build.
We DO need a plan...
whoever said this i agree:
"Community is formed when people of similar vision commit (which is not just a one time vow or pledge but a continual decision to stay the course, demonstrated in our thoughts, words, actions) to a mission.
the problem is we ain't had no real mission in a while... our generation has been stuck in abstractness (if that's a word)... it's like we fear expousing a mission statement cause we fear having to live up to that joint!!! we fear having to do something even when we don't feel like doing it!!!
Our words are becoming words, when they should be manifested. They should be made flesh. They should be as powerful as punches. As deadly as weapons.
We fear commitment! It's time for that to change.
I will sacrifice wealth for community. I will sacrifice health for community. I will sacrifice peace and quiet for community.
We got people who've run to the suburbs to get these things because they feel they deserve them. I diagree.
We've been fooled into thinking our souls are found by ourselves, our souls are found within the community.
Yeah we're good at getting together... to laugh it up and have good times. To go to a movie or a concert. To go to the club or chop it up on the corner. To go play basketball. To go to the bar.
Why don't we have weekly study groups though? NO ONE should be exempt.
And we're impatient with one another to the point where it prevents us from talking to eachother! The ACTION is not necessarily the most important thing... the committment in your spirit is what is and the communcation of that committment to someone who will hold you accountable for keeping it.
----------
Minneapolis records 28th homicide of year
A neighborhood leader notes that the area has been coping with troublesome gang activity lately.
Chao Xiong, Star Tribune
A young man died Wednesday night when shots were fired into a car from another vehicle after the cars turned a south Minneapolis corner, police said.
A red Ford Mustang and a suspect vehicle were going east on E. 38th Street and turned south on 22nd Avenue S. about 7 p.m. when shots were fired, Capt. Rich Stanek said. When officers arrived, they found a young man dead in the driver's seat of the Mustang with its engine running.
The victim's name wasn't released Wednesday, and police said they were still working on descriptions of a suspect or suspect vehicle.
Stanek said police don't yet know what led to the homicide, which is the 28th in the city this year. It's unclear if anyone else was in the vehicle with the victim when he was shot.
Block club leader Lisa Axell, who has lived in the Standish neighborhood for a year, said she heard what sounded like a string of firecrackers. She realized when the police cars arrived that it was a crime.
Two boys witnessed the shooting, Axell said.
She said that there is concern in the neighborhood about the Surenos 13 gang and that there are a lot of graffiti along 38th. "[The street] is like a billboard. That's where they do their recruiting," she said.
There was a crime prevention meeting Monday night at Word of Grace Church, across the street from where the Mustang was parked Wednesday.
"I don't feel defeated." Axell said.
City Council Member Gary Schiff said a truck was seen leaving the crime scene Wednesday. "It's disconcerting," he said of the shooting.
Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call 612-692-TIPS.
Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391
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...the communcation of that committment to someone who will hold you accountable for keeping it.
if folks were held accountable for their actions, we'd be in business. held accountable, not by the police or the judicial system, but by someone they cared about - peers, rappers, grandmothers, whatever. we need to get in touch with more traditional, dare i say, more AFRICAN (a broad term i know, but you know what i mean - nonwestern) ways to manage our corrupting and corrupted youth. embarrass folks into behaving right, taking responsibilty for their mistakes and/or having the real balls to accept the hand that you're dealt and move forward.
B hit it on the head. We are afraid to commit cuz it wouldn't necessarily look cool to some of our peers.
I think part of this stems from us not scolding each other. When one of us does wrong, the rest ofthe group has to be there to kick them in the ass and let them know, and being able to be told that you are wrong without flying off the handle or getting irate to the point that you ruin a relationship.
me and my brother derrick spoke for the first time this month because of this death. we were not speaking because of a plate of food, and pride-which my brother admitted to my dad that he had to much of to apologize to me for what he did.
we should not immediately be defensive about our faults and our flaws. we should be able to HONESTLY with each other without having to worry about how that message is delivered. If only i could talk to all of you the way I am brutally honest with my own blood brothers.
I am with organization, but it has to be inclusive of all types, we cannot prevent someone from a cause because he listens to young jeezy, or because I dont know half as much about kwame toure as other bloggers or because that one doesn't know about the middle passage.
whatever the organization is, it must be bound to educating, re-educating, but unifying a segmented whole no matter how shattered it looks... I was looking at the word community. communicating unit is what stands out to me. early communities were just that. That might be far off but there is no reason we cannot see it down the road. I dont think we'll ever see it but our kids can see it if we help them get rid of the issues that have us hamstrung now...
That's why it's so interrelated.
We start with the need for accoutability.
The logical path is:
1) Why dont we have it?
2) We fear holding eachother accountable because we think it's violating someone's personal sovereignty, we are too consumed with out own struggles and we have no hope in the potential of others to be redeemed from negative actions and we have no hope in ourselves to think we can make a difference.
3) Where does this belief come from? I'd argue it's especially found in Hip Hop with our generaion's oversized egos...
3a.) Where did it come from? Hip-Hop's buying into and integration into the mainsteam American rhetoric that money is more valuable than freedom and self-determination.
4) How do you stop it? Two fold...
4a.) Minimize your expose to that rhetoric. (have our kids watch less Booty on TV, have them watch less TV period! Take them fishing, take them running, make them play an instrument... encourage alternatives OR AT LEAST DEMAND BALANCE... for every 2 hours of TV you have to do a HALF HOUR EVEN! of something constructive.)
4b.) Minimize the rhetoric itself (less people promoting materialistic and sexist images, more people doing to oppossite, less people signing record deals, more people staying and going independent, less magazines with naked women on the covers, less destructive art in general... us checking eachother for every piece of destructive art we support in any way... and if it cannot be completely given up immiediately... encouraging balance of both input and output of art)
5) Why can't we stop it? (see number two above)
It all starts with that fear and hopelessness we have developed.
Like Oprah, instead of engaging one another we avoid one another. Or we judge on another.
THUS as Saul Willaims says, when we are ready... "VULNERABILITY IS POWER"!!! please understand that statement black people!!!
It is powerful because we are willing to make ourselves vulnerable of getting screamed at by someone's mother in order to take an opportunity to tell a child what he's doing is wrong.
It is powerful because we are willing to engage in dialogue even if there is a large chance that we will come out looking bad or that we will be proven wrong.
It is powerful because we are willing to be wrong.
It's powerful cause we're willing to risk our own saftey and comfort on the slight chance that something even better might come from it.
I think 4 is what the Bill Cosbys of the world are worried about when in fact it is question number 2 that deserves out attention most.
Ru, I feel you!
I am with organization, but it has to be inclusive of all types, we cannot prevent someone from a cause because he listens to young jeezy, or because I dont know half as much about kwame toure as other bloggers or because that one doesn't know about the middle passage.
whatever the organization is, it must be bound to educating, re-educating, but unifying a segmented whole no matter how shattered it looks... I was looking at the word community. communicating unit is what stands out to me. early communities were just that. That might be far off but there is no reason we cannot see it down the road. I dont think we'll ever see it but our kids can see it if we help them get rid of the issues that have us hamstrung now...
I feel you 2c!
I think that's why Martin + Malcolm were so successful... their "organizations"... what caught the people's imagination was two of the most powerful stories ever in African history since the holocaust (slavery)... The story of Jesus Christ and the story of the prophet Muhammed through Fard Muhammed and the Nation of Islam. Whether you agree or disagree, feel comfortable with either or you do not... they were where the people were... The Black Church is non-existent relatively today. The Nation of Islam too has become rather irrelevant. But what type of organization can capture the imaginations of people like that?
My friends dad always says.. "if you wanna get black people united, you have to do it through religion" and sometimes I shutter, but I really can't argue with his logic. It's proven logic.
When we think about "manifestos" (or committments) that have broad appeal among our people, they are the manifestos of Jesus Christ and the prophet Muhammed.
Worth considering.
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BTW for those who knew him (and those who don't)... Josh got some photos of Bac up on his myspace page: www.myspace.com/themmcease
I apologize if the personal discussion/reference is making anyone feel excluded. Just gotta be forward and honest and today is a very "local" day for my mind and heart. I would think folks could relate anyway so I'm not really too sorry :)
If anyone reading this wants to post some kind of tribute or knows someone who might want to, feel free to go ahead or let me know how I can help
I'm really feelin this dialogue yall. Let's remember that Malcolm and Martin were young students of the culture like us and look how they changed the world. We are in our prime and yes it's time to hold each other accountable, to be humble enough to accept it.I am sad at times that I can't just go to Corey's house and kick it and chop it up, I do miss catching lunch wit B and discussing what's happening in the world, but that's why I am grateful for this space. I sort of feel split because I feel like we are all where were at for a reason, but I'm down throwin my money up for some property, and eatin ramen noodles for a month and really putting together a real initiative putting my money where my mouth is. We cannot be afraid to take risks. One thing I learned among many at Freedom School training is how to depend on my fellow bredren(sp?) At one point during a teambuildin' activity each one of us had to lean outside of a tiny circle(hula-hoop) and stretch for a koosh ball which represented a child. we couldn't touch the grass or we wpuld have to start over. We messed up a few times then we finally figured it out. In order for this to work one person would have to lean and stretch for the ball while the other team members held on to them. You basically had to 'free fall' and trust your team wouldn't drop you and it worked!
all this is to say is we gotta trust each other and depend on each other. If Corey ever needs anything, I'ma be right there, If Brian ever needs anything, I'ma be right there, not necessarily because of my relation to these people, but because that is the essence of who we are,(you know it's that human thing, when you see somebody in pain it hurts you too) it takes a village to raise a village, Damn straight.
I knew Baca. Not like maybe Jess knew Baca, but I feel for him all the same. He was a cool person when I knew him, but regardless he was too damn young to die!! especially on some senseless shit! Brian Cole was too damn young especially on some senseless shit!
I'm tired yall. But I love yall, even the ones I have yet to meet. That's just my spirit.So fall back on me if you need me, I'll be there, and let's keep this dilogue up. word.
....my bad yall I gets a little passionate wit mines =)
btw I recognize The Liberator being a step in that initiative...I know with all these brilliant minds there's soooooooo much more to come. Chea!
don't apologize b, the sad truth is, i'm sure everyone CAN relate. i don't know nun a y'all regardless, and it's nice to see community in action. big up minneapolis!!! (uh... if that's where you guys know each other..)
anyway, anonymous said it well:
First and Foremost,
Peace and Blessings
be upon Baca's soul.
Our lives are intertwined.
We are dependent on one another.
my heart goes out to y'all
First, I would like to send my condolences to all of you and the young brother who was murdered.
I dig the conversation and I feel like these types of dialouges are very important steps. They cannot be overlooked or diminshed. I see the Liberator as being a very important type of space and there are many more that have yet to be uncovered.
According to the Ancient Kamities (or Egyptians, the Africans responsible for the marvels of present-day Egypt) Deep Thought is really the equivalence of creation. To think deeply is essentially to create...the two cannot exist independent of one another. These deep thoughts are also equivalent to "beautiful speech"; that is,righteous words and actions.
In other words, to think is to create which is also to "speak" beautifully (making our words and actions righteous). I believe that we are all on task and have to be patient, we have to accept that the divine nature of the universe which allows the sun to rise like clock work (literally) is also the same divine energy that controls our ability to breathe. These powers are intertwined and so powerful that sometimes they reveal themselves to us and really shatter us (because we don't always see them coming). They sometimes make us feel powerless because we have no control over them. They are and have been.
I feel that the Creator really challenges us and pushes us all towards excellence. On a personal tip and on a collective. Sometimes our bredren are too drunk, too high, too scared, too ignorant to see it...and some are not. And some will see it early (Martin) and some later (Malcolm) and some don't seem like the see it or get to realize (Tupac) but nonetheless, the world revolves like clockwork.
What are we to do...the infamous question. I think we will know when we need to know (individually and collectively). And I think that we are really already learning (which is why folks are reaching out so intently through the blog or through conversations or even the music). We're all crying out, we're all trying to purge the madness of this place, the illnesses inherited through the dehumanization of our ancestors (a very real, scientific concept discussed by Dr. Fu Kiau). its hard, its painful, it can literally drive one mad if one isn't careful.
We just got to kepp thinking and dreaming and BEing all at the same time (yes, a tall order to fill). But it can happen...
We have to continue to call on one another...we have to follow examples, follow the trails, read the painstakingly thorough blueprints and guides left for us...we shouldn' have to wonder, question. Its all there for us. We must do. I feel what you all have said and if anything, I encourage folks not to get frustrated because we are ONLY human and we can only do what the Creator has designed for us to do WHEN we must do it.
Wow sis. I feel you on that. Patience is definitely apart of the process.(At the same time I was at the tippin' point with Katrina.)And with all the passings this weekend, (I know of 3, just in my neighborhood) I think people are just bummed and ready for change. I know I am.
I feel you tho sis. mos def.
First off, I want to say I'm sorry to hear about you guys losing a friend. It hurts when I hear about young people, esp. young Black people being cut down in their prime. It happens too often and it does seem endless.
It's so easy to become overwhelmed and frustrated by everything that's wrong with the world. You want to do so much and it seems you end up doing so little. However, I think the best thing you can do is start small. What's going on in our immediate areas that we know we can change? Of course change takes a lot of patience. I really believe just doing simple things like tutoring, creating rec centers for neighborhood kids, volunteering and things like that can snowball into something greater, and more expansive. I also believe that a lot of people are doing that now; it's just that the fools who are exclusively about making money are the ones getting all of the attention.
I have to stay optimistic that my generation and the proceeding ones will be that catalyst for change we all want. Otherwise I just get depressed.
I think we're onto something. I believe that one of the places where "black movements" towards anything get hamstrung is when we lose sight of the progressive goals, and the permanent goals.
By that I mean, we lost sight of the goals that advance us along the path to that permanent goal. Its hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel if the "leaders" are blocking all the light we need to move through the tunnel.
We have to aim for PROGRESSION rather than PERFECTION in whatever we decide on doing. But, we also have to provide that space where we can feel comfy in our own skin around people that look at us not with that "hater vision" but with the look of love and the look of "I UNDERSTAND" without even speaking.
This space, literally, this blog, is something that can be the foundation for some kind of movement in thought, and action. The foundation is all of the people who post here and who have interest in this place but might not be able to put it into words.
We all bring a certain skill and passion for something to the table, let's build on that whether it be donating a certain amount each month and then having a committee that organizes some kind of event or or building something, or starting a program that it a healthy, and VIABLE(not in our eyes but in the eyes of the participants) alternative to what is going on.
I think that it is important for these young kids coming up to be exposed to people like B, like shelley, like the rest of you I have not had the pleasure of meeting just YET!
Sight(seeing young success stories from the same shit they come from) often does much more for a person's spirit than speech.
I feel you Danielle. I think those are the basic things. But I also think, thinking basics can stagnate a larger movement.
Like equal schools is basic. Can we not have raggity text books? Can we have water fountains that work please? Can our kids read please? Can we not starve please? Can we not freeze in the winter cold please? Can our friends not be gunned down over ego stemming from an unhealthy subculture? Can they not be gunned down over drugs that for some reason keep coming into the neighborhood? Can our friends (like my friend Chris from highschool) not get strung out from drugs that it is documented that they were systematically pushed into our hands?
These are all basics. And they should all be changed. But wouldn't you agree that they are symptoms of larger more central issues?
I think that's why Corey's words "progressive" and "permanent" hit home... I don't want to just know who killed Baca. I want to know the cause behind it and attack that in all of us and in all of our communities. I don't want to just take the homeless people I meet out to dinner when they ask for change... I want to know the cause of so many of them being homeless and attack that.
I've pieced together some of the "programs" or "manifestos" that have inspired the masses in our short history here in America. I think we have to get on this level... and then go even further. Discuss the merits of each manifesto... disect them. Agree or disagree with them. Go further, go deeper to the root. We're sick ya'll and we don't need tylenol, we need surgery.
http://cybermessageboard.fatcow.com/mplsli/viewtopic.php?p=765#765
I never really know what to say to a person who has just lost someone close to them. There's nothing adequate enough to say really, but I will venture out and say that I'm sorry and I can only hope you know that before his passing you were blessed with his presence and he with yours. People come and go in our lives for a reason. Take the seeds that young Baca left behind-Cultivate-tend to them with your knowledge, your experience, your life-from there we can only grow. Death is hard but it does breed Life.
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