SELF DESTRUCTION: "HOW BLACKS HAVE BECOME THEIR OWN ADVERSARIES"
As devastating as it is children are dying everyday from gun violence all over the country. For many reasons this is happening, many reasons some of us choose to ignore. Bullets, they have no name. The intended targets are saved by innocent souls and it's heartbreaking. What can we do to stop the violence and promote peace? It's easier to point fingers and place blame then it is to take responsibility for the things we condone and the problems we create.
Black people aka African Americans have become their own adversaries, starting with the new generation of gangs. Gangsters today are what you call powerful degenerates corrupting the innocence of society. To live the life of luxury they sell poisonous drugs to relatives and known residents of the neighborhood. They promote violence by terrorizing their own community. Low poverty and heavy drug addictions have led to violent crimes such as armed robbery, assault, breaking and entering and attempted murder. The sad thing about it is when you become an addict it affects all of those around you and it starts with family. They plot and pull scams on their closest relatives. As the condition worsens addicts begin to confiscate their loved ones valuable possessions, selling them for as low as $10 or $20. Drug addicts will do whatever it takes to maintain their habit not caring who they hurt to get it. Unmercifully, some have even went as far as trying to sell their children for $10 to $25.
Where we live, where we come from, our neighborhood, our community, is supposed to be a safe haven, a place of refuge. A place where we can have block parties, a place where we work together to protect the youth and our families, a place where we help with the needy and less fortunate. Where did it all begin? How did this happen? Our ancestors didn't fight for what we have by battling and working against their own. Back then they didn't have homes to live in, beds with mattresses to sleep in, or washing machines to wash their clothes in. They live in handmade shacks and slept on cots and wooden floors. They washed their clothes by hands in buckets and hung them on a clothing line. Back then blacks didn't work in banks, department stores, grocery stores and restaurants, and if they were they couldn't be seen. There were no black police officers, fire fighters, post workers, railroad conductors and bus drivers. During those times black people were called field workers, foremen, sharecroppers, janitors, chauffeurs and maids. Luxury cars and lavish living was the least of their desires. They
just wanted to be free from the shackles, brutality and cruel punishment. the lynching and beatings and the rapes are the things they were trying to be free from. They fought for justice on white and black crimes and equal rights for their people, for us, for our people!
Somewhere, somehow we forgot about the beatings, the rapes, discrimination, deaths due to hate crimes and wrongful convictions of our ancestors. How is it that what our ancestors suffered, sacrificed and fought for took a 360 degree turn? The teachings of morality and loyalty towards family, what happened? Instead of loving each other and helping each other we have shown signs of hate. Men have no respect for women. They use degrading terms and are physically abusive towards them. The women are demoralizing themselves by using their body for attention to get what they want. So many men have neglected in their responsibilities as fathers leaving the mothers to raise the child on her own.
In the city of Chicago people do whatever it takes to provide for their families and their addictions. Life in this city is all about hustling. The unemployment and welfare lines are increasing daily. Young children are supposed to be in school are at McDonald's, grocery stores, laundromats and gas stations begging for change. Sexual abuse, teen pregnancy, teens with STDs and AIDS in African Americans is on the rise. Little boys are sagging their pants not knowing where it initially stems from. They are only doing what they see older teens and grown men do, specifically males in hip hop. It's the same as using the N word. How did something so degrading turn out to be proudly accepted?
At some point we lost focus, at some point we forgot where we came from. Take a look around, every ethnicity stands by and supports their own kind with the exception of African Americans. Everybody has something to call their own except black people. We keep blaming others, but the only ones we can blame is ourselves. Some say the system is set up for us to fail and if that's the case, some of us have proven them right!
Written by: Tamara M. Anderson