I was doing some major thinking today and one major thought that crossed my mind was how down we are as black people. We have so many problems that we continue to ignore on a daily basis. Now, I know the same can be said for all races, but I can’t speak for those races because of the color of my skin. The only thing I know is being black and that is what I can account for. Well getting back to the issue, we as black people have many problems within our community and the only way we will ever change them is by changing our thought pattern. But, that same thought pattern is the hardest thing to kill because it has been instilled in our minds due to our history of slavery. For those who don’t know what I am talking about, I have compiled a list of certain thoughts that have broken our society and made us so unbalanced as a society. I decided to talk on 5, but there are many more. If there are any major thoughts that you see I should talk about, submit them when you make your comment. Alright let’s get to it so I can make as many people mad as possible and stir up a conversation.
5. “This Has Always Worked”
How many of you have tried to submit a new idea of how something should be handled and a person hit you with this comment. I’m sure many of you have heard this before, especially the people who call themselves leaders. We, as black people, refuse to try new things. We are convinced that if it worked in the past, it should work in the present. That train of thought is one of main reasons why our rise to the top is such a slow and painful process. We live in a new day in age where new things are required of us. That one dimensional style of thinking can not cut it in this new era. Just think how far we would have been set back if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have conformed to way most people thought back in that day. Back in his time, the majority of the people believed that the only way to affect change was to either wait on change or riot for change. Dr. King had another way of thinking. He believed that change could be affected by taking action in a positive way. Well let’s fast forward to now. Because of his new way of thinking, he has single handily caused more change than any other black man in history. And you want to know why, because he didn’t say “Since it worked in the past, let’s use it know”. No, he said let’s try something new because we want new results and that is what we must do now. We have to stop staying with the same ideas because they are giving us the same results. Those results are leading us into a place of nothing where you give nothing and you receive nothing.
4. “Be Realistic!!”
Now, this thought is one I hate with a passion and I know many of you want to know why. Let’s just say you have a dream of being something great once you grow up. Well, since you have this dream, you want the whole world to know. So, the first people you tell end up being your parent hoping to get some encouragement. But what happens, they hit you with one of these. “Be realistic, you know that’s hard to do.” And what happens know, your dream is dead. That is what black parents have been feeding their kids for years. Here is one of the major perceived differences between black parents and white parents. Black parents teach their kids to be good people, get and education, and get a job. White parents tell their children similar things but it sounds a little different. White parents teach their children to be good people, get their education, and get a GOOD job. Do you see the major difference? A lot of white kids look for GOOD jobs while most of us blacks just look for jobs. I know many of you are confused about the difference between GOOD job and a job. A teacher is a job. A janitor is a job. A truck driver is a job. A construction worker is a job. A waitress is a job. But look at this. A principal is a GOOD job. An owner of a truck driving service is a GOOD job. A CEO of a Fortune 500 company is a GOOD job. Just being the owner of any business is a GOOD job. Black parents, stop killing your kids dream. I’m not saying you should pad their ego, but you should make your child aware of what he or she would have to endure to become that dream.
3. “I Can’t Wait”
Black people, we are the most impatient people known to society. We refuse to wait on anything, much less endure the necessary hardships that come with waiting. We can talk a good game, but we don’t want to do what is required to back it up. I know the Civil Rights Movements hasn’t tired us out that much where we refuse to struggle for the better of our future people. Most of us never took part in the Civil Rights Movement, but we reap the benefits daily. We claim we want change and we beg for it every day. But, do we ever do anything to affect the change. No, and why not? Because we don’t like to wait on the results. We are lazy and that is why less comes to us. I hear it many times. We don’t have this, we don’t have that, they don’t do this, and they don’t do that. Have you ever wondered why they don’t do certain things? It’s because you are all talk and you will accept whatever they give you. We know what it takes to get what we want; we just refuse to do it. And that same thought is the reason why we are at where we are at. It is time to be what we are talking about and not talk about what we want to be. (That’s a great line I just made up by the way. Don’t steal it please and give me credit if you do. LOL!!!)
2. “It’s Not My Fault”
We have to start excepting responsibility for our actions and that starts from the largest person to the smallest person. People wonder why our youth continues to get less interested in life and more interested in fun. It’s not BET fault, entirely. There is an old saying that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well that village has failed to raise the child properly. Whether you like it or not, children are affected by more than just hip hop and television. It’s what they see on a daily basis. People act the way they act because they are accustomed to seeing that type of behavior around them. We can’t expect a rapper, athlete, or actor to raise our kids. That jobs was bestowed on the parents. Your child will listen to you if you tell the child how to be and you are acting the way that you talk about. See, that’s the major problem. How can you tell your child not to smoke or drink and you know you have your habits. Or, how can you tell your child to practice abstinence when you get wild every now and then. Stop playing the blame game on everyone else and take responsibility for your own short comings.
1. “We Are Still Not Free”
Yes, we still think this way. There are people who believe we are still in slavery. How many times do we have to sing We Shall Overcome before we actually overcome? I know there are still racist people out there who continue to hold us back. But, what we fail to realize is that the law is on our side and we don’t have to accept that feeling. If someone says something racist in this day in age, the consensus feeling is that the person who said the comment is wrong. Where as, if you go back about 40 years, the consensus feeling would be reversed. No one is holding us back but US. We don’t have to accept racism. Plus, we have to stop blaming the white man. The white man didn’t put that liquor bottle in your mouth that you were drinking the night before your job interview. The white man didn’t make you sleep with your girlfriend’s sister. The white man didn’t make you steal money from your mother. The white man didn’t make you fight that girl in the club. We have to get out that mindset that the white man doesn’t want us to succeed for fear of his power loss. Some of it may be true, but we don’t have to accept it. We are the only ones who decide whether we are free or not. We are not inferior to any other being unless we think so. Now with that in mind, let’s start making history again and not just living off it. Thanks for reading this. Hopefully, you will take these thoughts and apply them to everyday life.
5. “This Has Always Worked”
How many of you have tried to submit a new idea of how something should be handled and a person hit you with this comment. I’m sure many of you have heard this before, especially the people who call themselves leaders. We, as black people, refuse to try new things. We are convinced that if it worked in the past, it should work in the present. That train of thought is one of main reasons why our rise to the top is such a slow and painful process. We live in a new day in age where new things are required of us. That one dimensional style of thinking can not cut it in this new era. Just think how far we would have been set back if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have conformed to way most people thought back in that day. Back in his time, the majority of the people believed that the only way to affect change was to either wait on change or riot for change. Dr. King had another way of thinking. He believed that change could be affected by taking action in a positive way. Well let’s fast forward to now. Because of his new way of thinking, he has single handily caused more change than any other black man in history. And you want to know why, because he didn’t say “Since it worked in the past, let’s use it know”. No, he said let’s try something new because we want new results and that is what we must do now. We have to stop staying with the same ideas because they are giving us the same results. Those results are leading us into a place of nothing where you give nothing and you receive nothing.
4. “Be Realistic!!”
Now, this thought is one I hate with a passion and I know many of you want to know why. Let’s just say you have a dream of being something great once you grow up. Well, since you have this dream, you want the whole world to know. So, the first people you tell end up being your parent hoping to get some encouragement. But what happens, they hit you with one of these. “Be realistic, you know that’s hard to do.” And what happens know, your dream is dead. That is what black parents have been feeding their kids for years. Here is one of the major perceived differences between black parents and white parents. Black parents teach their kids to be good people, get and education, and get a job. White parents tell their children similar things but it sounds a little different. White parents teach their children to be good people, get their education, and get a GOOD job. Do you see the major difference? A lot of white kids look for GOOD jobs while most of us blacks just look for jobs. I know many of you are confused about the difference between GOOD job and a job. A teacher is a job. A janitor is a job. A truck driver is a job. A construction worker is a job. A waitress is a job. But look at this. A principal is a GOOD job. An owner of a truck driving service is a GOOD job. A CEO of a Fortune 500 company is a GOOD job. Just being the owner of any business is a GOOD job. Black parents, stop killing your kids dream. I’m not saying you should pad their ego, but you should make your child aware of what he or she would have to endure to become that dream.
3. “I Can’t Wait”
Black people, we are the most impatient people known to society. We refuse to wait on anything, much less endure the necessary hardships that come with waiting. We can talk a good game, but we don’t want to do what is required to back it up. I know the Civil Rights Movements hasn’t tired us out that much where we refuse to struggle for the better of our future people. Most of us never took part in the Civil Rights Movement, but we reap the benefits daily. We claim we want change and we beg for it every day. But, do we ever do anything to affect the change. No, and why not? Because we don’t like to wait on the results. We are lazy and that is why less comes to us. I hear it many times. We don’t have this, we don’t have that, they don’t do this, and they don’t do that. Have you ever wondered why they don’t do certain things? It’s because you are all talk and you will accept whatever they give you. We know what it takes to get what we want; we just refuse to do it. And that same thought is the reason why we are at where we are at. It is time to be what we are talking about and not talk about what we want to be. (That’s a great line I just made up by the way. Don’t steal it please and give me credit if you do. LOL!!!)
2. “It’s Not My Fault”
We have to start excepting responsibility for our actions and that starts from the largest person to the smallest person. People wonder why our youth continues to get less interested in life and more interested in fun. It’s not BET fault, entirely. There is an old saying that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well that village has failed to raise the child properly. Whether you like it or not, children are affected by more than just hip hop and television. It’s what they see on a daily basis. People act the way they act because they are accustomed to seeing that type of behavior around them. We can’t expect a rapper, athlete, or actor to raise our kids. That jobs was bestowed on the parents. Your child will listen to you if you tell the child how to be and you are acting the way that you talk about. See, that’s the major problem. How can you tell your child not to smoke or drink and you know you have your habits. Or, how can you tell your child to practice abstinence when you get wild every now and then. Stop playing the blame game on everyone else and take responsibility for your own short comings.
1. “We Are Still Not Free”
Yes, we still think this way. There are people who believe we are still in slavery. How many times do we have to sing We Shall Overcome before we actually overcome? I know there are still racist people out there who continue to hold us back. But, what we fail to realize is that the law is on our side and we don’t have to accept that feeling. If someone says something racist in this day in age, the consensus feeling is that the person who said the comment is wrong. Where as, if you go back about 40 years, the consensus feeling would be reversed. No one is holding us back but US. We don’t have to accept racism. Plus, we have to stop blaming the white man. The white man didn’t put that liquor bottle in your mouth that you were drinking the night before your job interview. The white man didn’t make you sleep with your girlfriend’s sister. The white man didn’t make you steal money from your mother. The white man didn’t make you fight that girl in the club. We have to get out that mindset that the white man doesn’t want us to succeed for fear of his power loss. Some of it may be true, but we don’t have to accept it. We are the only ones who decide whether we are free or not. We are not inferior to any other being unless we think so. Now with that in mind, let’s start making history again and not just living off it. Thanks for reading this. Hopefully, you will take these thoughts and apply them to everyday life.