There was a time, years ago, (before the marching, before the picketing, before the sit-ins, before the preaching, before the riots, before Jim Crow, before the struggle) when black folks may have had an excuse to be horrified by the conditions of the public school system as it relates to African-American history. I'm not so sure we have that excuse anymore. As a race, we have become almost impotent--we deal with issues facing our communities only after they have exploded in our faces.
At some point we are no longer able to blame "the system." The most educated and successful within our race have become so consumed by the pursuit of the American Dream that they have left most of our brothers and sisters behind in an American Nightmare.
We can only blame ourselves—majority of the sideline problems that directly affect our communities are self-inflicted. There is no excuse why public schools do not have thorough, integrated courses and classes exposing the rich culture and history of Africans and African Americans.
It's time--I would even argue that it is past time--for our people to stop sitting underneath the shade tree of laziness, waiting on the system to help us. The idea that some other entity can care about us more than we care about ourselves should have permanently evaporated after hurricane Katrina.
Your voice, your passion, your natural curiosity is a powerful one, Tiyatti. I can only imagine how deep and influential your words will become as you continue on your journey into the history of our people. We need that voice—may it come bashing in the doors of our sleeping minds and shake us awake in the middle of the night soon.
Learn. Read. Write. Speak.
You may not know it yet, but a lot of us are listening.
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
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