...Public Enemy Number One!

So as I sat in front of the TV relaxing, I let my mind drift into temporary castle building mode; I picked up the remote and stumbled upon the show called the Flavor of Love 2. Not only do I detest the concept of the show, the idea of that many more or less ladies or shemales throwing themselves at some 50+ year old man who wears a gigantic clock as his necklace is far less fathomable than Hugh Heffner and his three inflattable dolls

That aside, the number of girls that come on the show to provide more evidence of the white man's backyard notion of "black people are crazy animals" is just appallingly unforgivable. How do you comprehend someone with an MBA in Education (I am sure she probably meant Master's degree in Education-don't hold them to it), would come out and debase themselves on national TV the way they do? There are the girls that drank so much they couldn't stand and slurred every syllable they afforded to utter; there was the girl that beat an innocent white girl up over a bed in a room with twenty-something beds; there was the typical loud black chick who shat on herself...not on a turtle, on herself!

While I understand that generalisations in cases like these are a very touchy subject, I would like to offer in my defence that a cross section of the African American Community is guilty of this kind of behavior. We carry ourselves in a way that denotes ghettoism to its best and the few of us that seem to carry a good head on their shoulders get shunned for adhering to the white man's standards of proper manners.

When are young men going to understand that there is more to success than becoming a ball player or rapper? When do you make the teenage girls understand that being a video girl is not a career goal but the fastest way to the grave? How do you cultivate the idealogy of not limiting yourself in your children? What do you do to make sure your daughter doesn't end up in a street corner, scuffing the earth for what dirtbags are willing to pass on some infectious miscreant virus for a couple of bottle of 'gnac? How do you make sure that your son doesn't think of passing out little bags of Colombian produce on 14th and K St and calling it an enterprise? How do you ensure your community stays in a positive guise rather than take giant leaps to its doom with each new birth on your street?

Things of the sort happen right in front of our eyes and we chose to look the other way. Why? I ask. Some reading this today would be tempted to classify my thinking in the likes of Bill Cosby and offer menial arguments like you just don't understand. Well, there is no reason good enough for any human being to limit themselves. While it is true that there are external reasons, call them whitemanish forces working to keep the black man in the barn, we must also realise we are not doing anything to target the internal devils we have. The devil that will make Tyrone shoot down a fellow nigga brotha because of a scuffle over who drank his apple juice. The devil that will tell Lil Ray Rae that pawning off his sista, Shenika to unknown miscreants for hourly wage is good and healthy for her three fatherless children. Oh yeah and 10 year old girls saying that they are gay! Lawd...You can complete the list.

I point an accusing finger to athletes and rapstars that young African American men and women idolise. They come from these types of communities and the majority of them leave it for the NBA, NFL, MLB and never look back. Those that make it in entertainment even go on to tease you with their success. They taunt you with songs about thier million-dollar homes, their thirty car garages, sea of private jets, the ice they have that didn't come from refrigerator, etc. I have never been able to grasp the concept of someone pouring the contents of an $800 bottle of champagne on a troupe of scantily clad ladies in a song that tells of you needing a girl to love. Do you really need a car for each day of the month? But this seems to be the consistent themes of music videos nowadays and we accept it. So the next finger I have is for you, yeah you and me! We actually make our children aspire to be like these people.

We chose to remain in these conditions. How else would you explain that a girl that was brought up in baby momma fashion ends up becoming a baby momma herself actually breaking her mother's record? Why I ask?

We need to rise and see what beauty lies in our kind. We need to learn to value each other especially within our community. No matter how busy poeple are, parents should always have time to check if their kids did their homework. Talk about school and see what difference that makes in your kids. ... Please go to Dr. Phil or Oprah for all the advise needed, all I was trying to do is point out a malaise in the community I have come to love and cherish.

"Any transition serious enough to alter your definitaion of self will require not just small adjustments in your way of living and thinkgin but a full-on metamorphosis." Martha Beck.