Wake Up

Wake Up

It’s summer 2008 and there should be a band of pride running through the African American Community not like no other. Regardless to where you stand on the issues, or whether you are going to vote one way or the other you should be proud. You should be living accordingly.

You should be inspired to get off the street corners rolling craps. There is a strong Black Man who made it through college.

You should own up to the children and stop calling the mother of your child “baby’s momma.” There is a single parented Black man heading for the White House.

You should take pride in your appearance. Must every outfit end with a do rag? Must I see you underwear? There is a well dressed Black man campaigning across the country.

You should learn to speak the proper vernacular, as people will listen to you. There is an articulate Black Man speaking to the masses of all nationalities, creeds and religions.

You should want to stand up and make him proud. We are a people of perseverance and not what mass media makes us out to be.

We are not all drug addicted. We are not all illiterate. We are not all the product of the streets. Quit thinking that the only answer to success is by dealing and gang banging.

Why do you need to tag a wall too see your name. Invent something. Write something. You will get to see your name everywhere. Infamy only makes people look at your name with disgust.

I see the elaborate methods you use and the talents that you have to garner cheddar. Imagine if you use those creative smart ways to do something great.

Lose your slave mentality. We have been off the plantation and afforded every opportunity that was ever possible for us if we wanted it. We have a Black man running for President.

Must every answer to an infraction be a bullet? Do you really think that garners you respect. It garners you a real nuisance and negates you. If you really knew any better you would understand that the things that make you truly dangerous is knowledge and building your community. Think about this. Where are the most guns? Who uses them the most? Imagine if this kind of gun play was in a middle class community in Middle America someplace? You can’t right? That’s because it would be shut down!!! Years ago when we were hanging from a tree (not too long ago) no one would defend us and we were relegated to just another “n****”. Aren’t you tired of that yet? Some of us have to work five times as hard to make our mark because every time one of you thinks “crime will pay” our lives become harder.

Every day all across the country there is yet another young man dying, for his hood. You want to fight with a gun in your hand so bad? You want colors to defend. Here is an idea. Go just the Marines, the Air force, the Navy or the Army. They will teach you to use a gun. Give you real colors and teach you what it means to die for your hood. Oh wait you are going to say. “I ain’t gonna go die for someone else.” But, you will ride or die right? Here is an idea how about you ride or die for the real bad boys; the armed forces. Make it though basic training then come back and talk to me.

Stand for something. Don’t be a hero when it will get you zero. Be a hero when people want you to step up and man up. That’s what is missing. Where are the men in our community that will man up and take responsibility for raising the young men of our world? Who will teach them to act right and know what it truly means to be a man. That man doesn’t just procreate and run the streets.

Ladies, think this over. You think its okay to date someone who slings. Right? He has got money and can take care of you. Right? Wrong. That’s not what life is. It is not thinking that because he can buy things for you and drives that car that is all. You are not building a real world. You are not building a future. I guarantee you, if you closed down shop, the guys would act right. Why? They think they impress you with their over the top bravado. I

Drugs, alcoholism and a false lull; that we were okay have ripped our nation in half. It has taken away the pride and the fight we once had. We should be standing taller than we ever have. Do you know that when the founder of this country founded it they never would have envisioned that we would be so educated? That we would be running for President.

Then you listen to music artists and see movies and think. “Oh that’s the way it is in the hood.” Did you ever think that maybe it doesn’t have to be that way? Did you know that there are affluent all African American communities that won’t let you cross the street in them? Did you know that? That’s because you have bought shame and discouragement upon us. Change it. Be part of change. Not part of the status quo.

Think it over… Be proud and act Proud. Don’t wallow in the mud. Wake up!