I lost a student I really loved today. As I sit here, finally able to compose myself enough to write my thinking, and to rebuke the anger I have for the cowards who murdered her, I can't help but think about the larger issue at hand: how her death casts a glaring bright light on this generation of cowardly men the black community is raising. Although all the facts haven't emerged, I do know she was senselessly killed and the killers are still on the run. More than likely in Memphis, still able to live their meaningless lives, eat turkey, live merrily..... and I know the adage that says what goes around comes around (which I call an adage and not a cliche simply because I know this is true), that still does not heal our hearts or ease our minds, because as cold-blooded as her murder was, these monsters still live among us. It is quite sickening to say the least.
The real question at hand that I am grappling with is this: What kind of man are we raising? How in the world is it manly to get into an argument and then retaliate the argument by shooting up a car on the expressway? How could you, on Christmas mind you, form your mind to make the decision to execute people in that fashion? How can you have no conscience or second thoughts about possibly ending someone's life?
As we all wait for the dust to settle, we (as an urban community) must question the future of our people and the cities we live in. When innocent bystanders are killed due to unmerciful ignorance, we have to question where the heck we went wrong? I listen to the radio, and you hear more and more songs that glorify not having commitments, but instead "just calling her boo". We are telling young men it is ok to run a muck and make babies, and not care for them, and in essence be womanizers. We are allowing boys to shoot rather than think or walk away from, or hell even use your damn fist rather than ending a promising life. We are letting cowards roam among us when we don't tell who we see committing these heinous acts. We are raising a generation of weak men.
I think about the young men at my school. They wear skinny jeans that sag, yet get "attitudes" with us when we ask them to pull them up. Let's not even begin to talk about the sagging in the first place which is clearly jail culture anyway. They video tape fights. The hit their girlfriends. They release videos of inappropriate activities with these girls. They curse the women teachers. If they get in a fight, it is never one-on-one; it is always 30 against 1, which spirals to 30 against 30. They brag on the robberies or deaths that occurred over the weekend as one discusses the weather.
This generation of men is so weak mentally. And there is no deference to human life whatsoever.
This is a huge problem. It is an issue that their fathers are not around (boy there is a huge difference in the ones that do have dads at home). It is an issue that they have no feelings- none for the women who teach them, raise them or love them. How have we raised these boys who are so cold to emotions? The oxymoron is that in the ghettos, emotive men are weak, when in fact, killing a person over an argument is the thing that is weak. What happened to our culture of men? More importantly, is this situation too far gone where there is nothing we can do except wonder which innocent bystander is next?
I have lived through so much young death, I have become immune to it. I have had many friends killed. And over and over again, we get ourselves together and say nothing. But this one stings for me the most. She was going somewhere, and there is no doubt about that. She was a talent mentally and physically and extremely mature. She had her ticket out of this life to break those oppressive chains that hold our community back in poverty. And in a blinking of an eye, that whole life is vanquished. And here we sit, red eyed not sure what to do and missing her like crazy.
All I wonder is when will the revolution on our own parenting skills and our own men be televised? Echoing Sojourner Truth, if it took Eve to cast us all into eternal sin, clearly women will have to be the ones to right the wrongs of our sons. It will take us to lay down responsibly when conceiving these children; it will take raising them with a man around; it will take us to teach right from wrong; it will take us teaching them when it is appropriate to stand up for themselves with dignity and not cowardice; it will take us exposing them to the fact that life is a gift and you never have that right to take anybody's life. It will take us all.
Her death casts this ugly shadow in the urban community on how our boys are slowly extinguishing our race. And the white bigots and Willie Lynch Jrs are just laughing at us as it happens. The rate we are going, our race won't be a problem much longer.
---to DP with all my love and respect.
Well Well well... I can honestly concur with you 90%. The reason being, is that in my humble and honest opiniion I BELIEVE and KNOW that it takes a Village to raise a CHILD. In the same respect, things have changed to the point where/where the village doesn't "want" to raise that child, because it's "none of they business"... So now the issue that is raised is that, the CHILD becomes supseptive to their environment outside of the home. Furthermore, there comes a question of censorship of what's behaviors are being learned, and "practiced". I say all of this to say, it's going to have to take "US" as a community to raise "OUR" kids, and keep them on the straight and narrow path, that's needed to survive this perfect "IMperfact" world we live in. My heart/prayers go out to all who's lives were affected by this senseless act of cowardly actions...
ReplyDelete*My name is Mike Andre Izenady, and I approve this message/comment...*
I agree Mike. And the "it's not my problem" is the problem. That is the reason why there can be 30 witnesses to a shooting and nobody says nothing. Instead of scolding kids, we watch them break into our neighbors houses. What we have become is truly sad.
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