Black on Black Crime

Sitting in class one day at Albert Thomas Middle School in Houston Texas, this had to be in the early 80’s due to me graduating in 1983. We had a substitute teacher he had a Ebony Magazine and on the cover was Black on Black Crime. He showed it to the class and stated the crisis were in as a race of people. I felt the sorrow in his voice.

Coming from the ghetto, as my teacher stated that South Park was becoming a ghetto and if we don’t get involved now it would be a horrible place to live. Living down the street from South Park Village playing outside as a little girl we would always see the ambulance pass down South Park Blvd which is now Martin Luther King. As children we would say “going to the Village” with no clue of the crisis us as the black race were and still face till this day.

One day sitting at home listening to the radio I heard Deric Mohammed talking about going to an apartment complex with the “No More Blood Shed Movement” to end the violence and to raise awareness.

I was so eager to get out in the community since it’s been a while so I decided to go. I was so excited to get out to raise awareness for love, unity and peace, I took a two hour ride on the bus. However there was a little disappointment due to me wanting to knock on doors and them marching. We shut down a Texaco gas station for 10 minutes that refuse to cooperate with us, and we were told to leave by police. The ten minutes shutdown was useless.

Who’s to blame for this? Can we point the finger at any one? At one time I felt Hip Hop was to blame, however this crisis been long before Hip Hop came along. Don’t get me wrong sometimes I feel some Hip Hop now takes more than what it gives, however it’s only what’s happening in the lives of many.

If we truly want a cure for this crisis it’s going to take dedication and hard work. Education is one of the things we have to do. Working in the community us as poor blacks have become so comfortable with handouts. Of course we take care of our own, however where do we draw the line. There’s a line that have to drawn for the next generation. I might get some criticism for this article however the uneducated mother has to make sure her children are educated. Everybody can’t be a sports professional however he can be a doctor, lawyer or just a worker. Children are fragle sponges and they absorb to their environment, very few make it out of the ghetto without experiencing jail, juvenile detention, or even death or death of a loved one.

Don’t get me wrong we’ve come a long way with a longer way to go. I would also encourage mom’s to begin eating dinner with their children and discussing what’s going on in their lives and to put high demands on making good grades, instilling morals and values in they lives and get in thiers as well.

Dr. King once said “ How shall we turn the ghetto into a vast school? How shall we make every street corner a forum, not a lounging place for trivial gossip and petty gambling, where life is wasted and human experience withers to trivial sensations? How shall we make every house worker and every laborer a demonstratior, a voter, a canvasser and a student.

Let’s teach them to become first class citizens, we can’t have our young men shooting up the block, we have to show them they value in this world. We can’t have our young women walking in the store talking loud and being rude and idle.

Dr. King also says, some that have the power don’t have compassion, some that have might have no morality, some posses strength without sight. Blacks are still being exploited and oppressed. It’s going to take us to become the solution to this issue.

We have to take the time and sit down and speak with people, a March can’t do that. We can’t talk about the white man when we’re killing each other. In reality we should and could careless about rebellious white America. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about entire white America, I’m talking about the rebellious white America who oppress the mordern way.

However we are very much aware of the world being against us if we’re not an American puppet. Texaco had the biggest law suit for descrimination in 1996, Chuck Rosenthal withdrew his position from disctrict attorney position due to some racial emails and so much more. We have to stand through all obstacles and teach our young people as well. We know racism exist however we have to analyze ourselves.

Let’s get out there, serve our community, educate, be there for that single mom, be there for that young man, be there for that teenage daughter. When we have these events get phone numbers to follow up, we must take care of our own. We still tearing each other down and we need to stop. It saddens me when I’m working with people and the mindset we have towards our own people. We are truly crabs in a bucket, we hate constructive criticism, being a woman if I don’t gossip I get hated, however talking about your own sister don’t spark the flame for me.

My own people look down on me because they think I’m not good enough, I have a scar on my face that I got at 6 yrs old from a car wreck, the ones on the mountain some are the worst and if we don’t change with the ignorance we all gone be in the bread line. I work for a place where we give assistance on utility bills. The workers are just as ignorant as the clients due to them talking down on their own people instead of being a beacon to show them. Black people we’re in a crisis. If we don’t learn to love one another we will stay last.

Yes we had a black president, yes we have some black representatives that is giving what we don’t need and that’s a hand out, it’s crucial for us to go back with the hymn “we shall overcome” There’s a new world out there, it’s really not about black and white no more, however we are truly still faced with oppression. The kneeling of Kaepernick should have been taught to our young people as to why he kneeled during the national anthem, and being taught how to talk to the police. We need a court support system, be in court with these mothers.

Coming from a poverty stricken apartment complex I know for fact our mothers there need to be educated. One day I was going to a visual for Trayvon Martin, my neighbor asked me where I was going. I told her the visual for Trayvon Martin, her reply, who’s that. She has a son the same age that wasn’t nothing for me to gossip about which I found myself doing it and I had to stop myself and see we really need help.

Some of our people lack empathy, we can say rip as if it’s become a part of the crisis means nothing. Life isn’t valued at all. You die you die, life goes on. We have to show the parents to value so they can teach the children, a relationship in the ghetto some are a revolving door. Pastors have to get out and the people that shows up for these marches, I feel is as much as the person who is leading it. We need a covenant, we don’t need a March.

Pamela Renee