shenandoahOK's Blog

The only reason I know about all these murders in Chicago is because I received an email from Blackplanet at least two times daily with a list of news stories that affect black people. Many of the news stories about rappers and actors don't interest me, because their lives are trivial when compared to the death and destruction happening in our communities every day. Little black boys and little black girls are being slaughtered by other little black boys and little black girls, as if it's normal, as if it's a way of life. And many of these stories have mommas crying, and asking the Lord why he took her baby or let her baby die on the hot city streets. Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas, Austin, Compton, Chicago, all have one thing in common: a pile of dead black boys in their mortuaries ready for burial. How dare you ask the Lord why he took your baby. You gave your baby to the devil when you placed him in front of the television before he could read. You let the devil of destruction into your child's life, when you turned on the Hip Hop music, and he started to chant murderous lyrics. You let the devil teach your sons how to shoot up the neighborhoods by letting them play violent video games. Many of you purchased this junk for your kids, and then you dare asked the Lord, "Why?" You know why. There is nothing on that television for our boys and girls, and believe me, I know. In almost every show on television, blacks are placed in a diminutive role, a token role, a role that diminishes not only the actor playing the character, but all the African Americans who watches that character. We learn how to hate ourselves from watching television, and in many cases, we start to doubt our own worth. Moreover, Hip Hop hasn't done anything for the black community in about twenty years. It spreads a culture of violence, drug usage, and phony dreams of wealth. It's not of our culture, but of what Jews perceive our culture to be. They're making money off of destroying us culturally. Hip Hop is not for black people. In the majority of Hip Hop songs, they speak of obtaining wealth through pimping prostitutes, selling drugs, or by some other insidious means, but it all sounds like slavery to me.

A home without books is more likely a home filled with stupid people who truly don't have a grasp on the cruel and evil world around them. Baffled, I'll never have the ability to grasp how black parents freely send their kids to schools that aren't trying to teach their youngsters. And to allow a child to come home without a book in his or her hand points our precious little ones in one ominous direction: prison. It takes strength, knowledge, sacrifice, and even forbearance to raise strong, intelligent children, and we're lacking in most areas to produce mentally wealthy offspring. I like to think big, but sports can only win a tiny few of us riches, but education and knowledge will break the bonds of our ghetto slavery forever.
I don't see the American education system as a place that made a valuable attempt to educate black people. The best and brightest people in our society know that an educated person won't tolerate bound hands, but whites bound blacks' hands systematically. Everybody in the ghetto has one thing in common: a poor education. Since the human mind learns how to adjust to a horrible situation, it's hard for an individual to break out of the ghetto lifestyle, to see a better world for their offspring. Since the schools in the ghettos haven't made an attempt to educate those kids since integration, the cycle of poverty continues. And then on top of a horrible education, we have drugs, alcohol, corrupt police, and predatory businesses that help with the oppression of black people.
If a child only reads and studies the information that his or her schools requires, he or she will always be the village idiots, but if he or she makes an effort to study beyond what our institutions of un-education provides, these kids will own the world. We always talk about some sports hero who built a park or a gymnasium for kids, but that isn't anything. If the parents in those communities make every effort to ensure their kids are educated, they can build a country.

Naomi Schaefer Riley: Black Studies

Actually, I believe her article to be highly insensitive and racist, even though I don't care too much for the black studies programs myself. I would think it would be easier to prove racism against blacks when studying American history. The ghettos in Baltimore are the same as the ghettos in California, and the ghettos in Chicago look like the ghettos in both California and Baltimore, which have an eerily feel to the ghettos in Oklahoma City and Missouri. The ubiquitous, black ghettos have a cookie-cutter feel to them, a design. Naomi, the author of this article, is married to a Negro, so she should prepare her children, if she has any, for the real world, because they will struggle to overcome adversity from two worlds. White people will never change, and to think they will mean you haven't studied American history. With that said, I have no misgivings to the fact that so many of our people won't change either. We'll still have young, black men robbing, raping, and not taking care of their seeds. We'll have black men drinking evil spirits, all day and night, without regard for life and liberty. We'll have the thugs walking about the town with a pocket full of cash, as if they really have a significant amount of money in their pockets, pretending to be hard. There are simply some people who can't be helped, so I won't waste my time with them. As far as racism, I'm not sure what gave my people the idea that it had diminished. Whites pretty much hate us; however, I wouldn't let that affect my ability to do great things. If I'm a writer, I shouldn't spend my precious time writing about white people hating me. If I'm an artist, I shouldn't have art that consumes a considerable amount of time insinuating the pains of racism. If you don't believe me, then ask Spike Lee. Even my fellow people would rather stand out in the cold than to watch one of his movies. On the other hand, we have Tyler Perry's array of movies about family values and black stereotypes that I call buffoonery, and he's one of the biggest money makers in Hollywood. What I'm basically trying to say is this: racism is here; it's been here; and just because it's here, shouldn't be a reason for your failure in life.

The Jewish people, all around the world, have a rite of passage (Bar or Bat Mitzvah) where girls make the transition into responsible women, and boys make the transition into strong, self-respecting trustworthy men. It's an important Judaic traditional that each member of their community takes seriously. Wherever Jewish people travel, they can talk about the pressures of preparing and performing their rite of passage.
In the black community, we have so many things that divide us that it's hard to come together on a rite of passage that helps our children make the transition into adults. We're Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, Catholic, and the list goes on and on. All of these different flavors of Christianity seems to divide us in the way we worship and govern our daily lives. And even though this is true, we need to find a way to give our young men and women a strong value system that helps them make the transition into adulthood. Regardless of our religious affiliation, we should be working in a manner, which betters our lives, that gives us some meaning, that allows us to work for the betterment of our people until the day we die.
We need a council within our communities that comprises of six women and six men who test our young boys and girls to ensure they have a basic understanding of the language, math, and can read and understand at their grade level. In addition, the trial should cover basic mathematical skills. Each participant in the test should have to write at least three reports that consist of five hundred pages. One report on a character from the Bible, one report on a historical figure, and the last report on what the child plans to accomplish in life. In addition, the test should have a physical fitness expect to it that requires the participant to be able to run a mile, do twenty push-ups, and at least thirty sit-ups. If the child has a disease or some kind of physical ailment that keeps them from performing the physical fitness portion of the test, they can submit a 1,200 page report on the benefits of diet and physical activity.
Moreover, each one of these councils should hold different types of events, including a Spelling Bee for the young children. The events that the local councils should hold are track and field, soccer, and softball. Different chapters of the council should compete against each other in friendly games that promote peace within our communities. These centers should have a wellness center that allows for an inexpensive family membership that promotes a drug free environment, Group Fitness classes, dietary classes, STD prevention classes, and a place where people can share recipes.
Every year, on the last weekend in May, the council's selected members conduct the Rite of Passage for the group of kids who are ready to make the transition into men and women. This is a serious event, and everybody should take it as such, because our boys will become men and our girls will become women. These kids are our future and should be treated as such. If any of them fail the event, it means they must study harder, and retake the test after the last Saturday in September.
By the time our kids enter grade school, they should be aware that between the ages of 13 and 16, they will be required to take the Rite of Passage test, and failure is unacceptable. This means our children must study harder in school, and parents much ensure their kids study when they come home from school.

The reason we're continuing to suffer in America is because we allow other people to set the bar for what's wrong or right in our lives, and the people who wrong us today are the same ones that wronged us yesterday, and if we don't stand against them, they'll wrong us for all eternity. What I find the most tedious is this: people that preach patriotism in a manner to oppress people like me. Because I've learned to hate injustices, because I've learned to stand against injustices, because I know myself to be a true patriot who abhors injustices, I cannot support a law that allows people to practice injustices against people like me, and call it freedom. Therefore, any law that allows a grown man, regardless of race or stature, to shoot an unarmed teenager cannot stand in a modern, somewhat sophisticated society.

Black people are upset over the Martin matter, because the police failed to make an immediate arrest in the case, and the majority of us know if the tables were reverse, the police would have jailed Martin without question. With that said, we must not hit, shove, or threaten white people who disagree with us in Martin's name, or for any reason. We're stronger and better than that. It's tragic that a teenager with the entire world in front of him had to die in this calamitous incident, but we've been brutalized for many years in this country. It's time that we all make the colossal effort to talk to our teenage men about violence, about having a core value system, about moving their lives in a positive direction. It's a hard, almost an impossible task to save our black boys from journeying down a path of destruction, because the allure of corruption is pleasing to the eyes; it waters the mouth; it excites the mind; nevertheless, in the end, it will shackle the minds of our young men for generations to come to the state prisons.

Striking an arbitrary man in the face over controversial issues serves no purpose. The justice system serves two decks of cards that aren't equaled in any way; and from the time we entered the school system as little kids, we've seen how skewed justice is for black America. It's time that we stood up against the injustices in the American judicial system, and stand firm against the wrongs in the system, especially against laws that bestow harsher punishments for drugs used by blacks. We'll never receive fairness in a country who has laws specifically addressing our failings. Meth is a dangerous drug used mainly by whites; however, the courts don't give them twenty years to life when caught with it. It would destroy their communities, families, and legacies to have over half of their people walking around with a prison mentality.

Prison only hardens the heart, but it doesn't prepare a man to raise a family, to give birth to the next generation of creative thinkers. So, don't be afraid of what confinement will do to you, but be weary of what you will do to your seed. You have a grandson whom you'll never hold or meet or look upon, but he'll suffer the consequences of your actions. He'll learn all the bad things you've learned in the man's institutions. It's easier for your offspring to know and understand the meaning of freedom when you're liberated. And if you're going to give up your freedom, make sure it's for something plausible, for doing the right thing, for standing for a wise principle, but not for attacking somebody because of the color of their skin.

Washington Capitals' player, Joel Ward, scored the game-winning goal that led them to a victory over the Boston Bruins in Game Seven of the series. I'm not really a true fan of hockey; however, I know a lot of people that love the game. In fact, I didn't even know any black players played in the NHL or watched the sport. When Mr. Ward, a black player in the NFL, scored the winning point, it kicked off a slew of low-brow, racist tweets on Twitter. I'm not shocked by the amount of hateful comments the hockey fans threw at Mr. Ward, because racism and hatred are running rampant in the states. Too many people, especially blacks, were under the assumption that racism isn't a problem in the United States; however, this is just another example of the many displays of racism in the last year. It's important to hold institutions and people accountable for their acts of hatred against us, because this nonsense can lead to other behaviors like beatings, and even murder. Teachers, police officers, and other people in authority must be held responsible when they refer to us as animals or gorillas or demean us in any way. A cop which thinks of blacks as animals cannot have an open mind when administering an arrest. He'll be bias in his actions. Teachers who believe blacks are gorillas cannot teach black children. Their abilities to teach our kids are compromised by their hatred, and may lead to animosity in our precious kids.

I'd never want a rapper speaking on my behalf, especially since I'm against the lifestyle that rap promotes. A lifestyle of disrespecting women, selling drugs, and violence isn't something that I would want to represent my family or my people. Some of the highest rated rap songs tell our kids to get high, stay drunk, and to have unprotected sex. It promotes these things as something good as something great, even though HIV infections are at an all-time high among our women. Rappers spread the notion that if you're not making the big cash, wearing the large chains, and driving the fancy cars that you haven't made the American dream. In the videos, they throw cash at the screen, as if they have the world at their fingertips, and this puts an unrealistic, negative vibe in our children's minds. I banish all rap music from my life, for I don't think my people can thrive with it. The sambos of the entertainment industry have held us back for too long, and it's time we turn them off.

The average ACT score for young, black kids is a 17, a dismal number when compared to the Asian students who average a 24. Any excuse other than the lack of preparation on the part of the black kids only makes the gap of ignorance widen. Excuses aren't making our numbers any better today than they were ten years ago. The highest possible ACT score is a 36, and the country as a whole average around 20.8. The ACT comprises of English, basic Mathematics, Reading, and Science. All the ACT score does is give an assessment of how a student will do in certain related college majors and careers. If a person scored low in any stated subject, they may need to study harder in those fields of course work.
Slang will not give any student, of any race, creed, or color, an upper hand on an examination that test proper English skills. Therefore, if a child speaks in a tongue that's different than the test, the chances of success are greatly reduced. Again, slang, the gibberish that you use to communicate with family and friends, will not improve your communication skills on a test that's evaluating your English, which includes, usage, mechanics, and so on.
For a child to become proficient in the usage of the English language, the parents or parent must take a monumental effort to do so too. My Momma made me read to her daily in order to ensure that I could read. I sat at the dinner table with my school books and paper, and read to my Momma the reading assignments my teacher gave me. She didn't allow my brothers or me to use slang or the dreaded n-word. She and my father had a monumental job to raise boys into respectable, hard-working young men with the skills to live in a complex society. It's time to get to work.