Ghetto Nation (October 1, 2008)

Let me take you back in time and give you a history lesson you may or may not know. The year was 1955. It was a year when the US saw McDonald's begin it's worldwide expansion and Disney open a park in southern California. There were also low-lights such as the murder Emmett Till and arrest of Rosa Parks. The low-lights led to the revealing of the dark side of American culture; the world saw how the power structure made it's own laws without regard to rights.

Jim Crow was the flavor of the day, and it seems that the national government never took action because no one ever complained. Why so when complaining usually landed you in jail or beat or some combination of the two? No one's asking my opinion, but I'll give it anyway. Based what I've researched and what I know for sure, Jim Crow Laws were un-written mainly due to the fact that most minorities couldn't read any way. They were taken as the law of the land.

These facts are known mainly due to the fact that during Black History month it is taught. The sad part is that as time goes on, these events become more like folklore than actual life altering events. I'm not speaking for myself when I say this either. There is a living generation that experienced this change in political climate, but they hardly ever discuss what they lived through. I'm not decribing the entire generation, but there are more that experienced The Movement living in silence than not. This is crippling to the environment today.

I recently had a chance to read the work of Cora Daniels entitled Ghettonation in which she discusses the pains of today's culture which glorifies all things ghetto. Before anyone goes Flava Flav for me talking about the ghetto, let me clarify. What Mrs. Daniels argued is how the value of life has decreased due to the fact that more people, from all classes, are enjoying living by the tomorrow doesn't matter mantra, a mindstate that is the complete opposite of those of The Movement era. Had those men and women who sacrificed their lives thought this way, there would have been no revolution.

The motto of the season is "Change," and I'm with it 100%. My question is why are we all of a sudden back on this level? Where did we make such a great accomplishment that we could afford to put the evolution of our people on the backburner? Thankfully, our Civil Rights mothers and fathers are not all gone and can take this time to show us all the importance of this mini-Movement. Imagine had this all taken place 20 years from now.

With that said, I continue to stand as Lawrence Fishburn screaming, "WAKE UP!" This change is not a one man journey. Going to the polls in vast numbers is not going to change anything if we do not adopt consistent change in our lives. It's not fair to put the burdens of the minority world on one man's back and expect him to work it out. We have to take the fight as our own, too.

Nothing's going to change overnight either. So those that think by mid-November your problems will be over have a striking reality coming. All good things take time. In the meantime, each of us can continue to postion ourselves to become prosperous. We will make the change happen. As the saying goes, "Yes WE can!"

So in the spirit of all that have sought to spark a revolution, take a chance and put your neck on the line to make change happen. Huey P. Newton suggests that the revolutionary should adopt the idea of Revolutionary Suicide for the revolutionary cannot expect to see the fruits of his works. Tomorrow does matter. Not ghetto...