"There is nothing more dangerous than willful ignorance and
conscientious stupidity." (King) I decided to use this quote from Dr. King to
express my disappointment over the vitriol that people with ulterior motives,
unaddressed issues or ignorance continue to spew on our media outlets. It
disappoints me to witness black supremacy or white supremacy in any form. As we
consider Dr. King's dream, I can say that there is a double mindedness in our community
and within our society!
The first mind consists of the self-confessed intellectual
community who always seem to have a negative comment about what the President
has “failed to do within our community”, without making any suggestions of how
we as a nation or a community can correct this problem nor do they utilize the
President’s “open door policy”. Instead they formulate talk shows to tear the
President down, their platform is based upon the question, “what’s wrong in the
black community?” Churches build their ministries on this question, networks
make stars based upon this question, yet the socioeconomic conditions within
the black community remains the same. These same people who espouse this state
of mind, lack the intestinal fortitude to give an honest “critique” of the
President and recognize the impediments that Mr. Obama continues to battle namely
a Congress who has had the luxury of blocking all progressive legislation that
would move America forward. They are perhaps too single-minded to realize that
intellect without the practical application of
wisdom breeds an atmosphere of ignorance. After all, one can never
intellectualize the “spirit of hatred”. Look around you; the same issues that
were marched about 50 years ago have gotten worse and not better. Look at our
jails 1st in overcrowding, look at our global economy ranked very
low, look at our education system ranked almost last in a global economy, look
at women’s rights- last in the world, look at our college students-student loan
rates raised on them, look at our children-being starved to death by cuts to
food stamps, look at our elderly-who have to decide between buying food or medication, look at our military-whose families are being foreclosed on while
fighting for this country and voting rights being suppressed in America in an
effort to silence dissent! This can all be changed by legislation from the
CONGRESS. However, they are on vacation while America suffers. Talk about that
for a little while.
The 2nd mind consists of a genre of people who want
everything to be given to them on a silver platter! Personal comfort is their
mantra. They don’t vote because it is inconvenient, they don’t form coalitions
because they trust no one, they would rather buy a pair of Air Jordans instead
of a computer for their child; they don’t attend PTA meetings, they will
support their child being a rap star but not a doctor, they will support their
child being the next Lebron but not the next Johnnie Cochran, yet they become angered
with the President when he tells us to “put on their marching shoes and to quit
complaining”.
I believe that there is a jealous spirit that is in our
community due to our broken dreams and constant disappointment in our
community. We are still sitting by the pool of Bethesda waiting on someone to
save us! This waiting has transformed our frustration into anger and the anger
has formulated into a root of bitterness in their hearts and it hinders them
from obtaining any opportunity for advancement when it becomes available. And
when that opportunity is missed, it becomes the President’s or “The Man’s”
fault! We must recognize that we all have a responsibility in our society to
leave it off better than how we found it. It is not about You Only! It is up to
us to prepare, to educate, to love, and to fight for a better America. This is
a Great Day but the question is, “Where do we go from here”?
Peace and Blessings!
