It’s a Marathon not a Sprint (MnaS) –– The Problems Faced are Nothing Out of The Ordinary (nOTO)
A friend of mine wrote:
"Dear Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers and countless others that died on our behalf and left behind wives and children..I apologize. It seems you have died in vain. In spite of outward appearances and the wealth of a few (Jay Z, Oprah, Michael Jordan, and Floyd Mayweather) we may very well be worse off than ever before. The ignorance contained in certain genres of rap and hip hop (not all of it mind you) and crack cocaine have ruined at least three generations of our people."
I understand my friend's message. Moreover, it inspired me to respond.
I believe I understand what he would like to see –– more uplifting lyrics in the mainstream. Marita Golden, award-winning novelist, nonfiction writer, distinguished teacher of writing and co-founder of the Hurston/Wright Foundation stated, “Often, what we write, the music we write and pictures we paint are dialogues with our deepest consciousness.” Base on her observation, “the ignorance contained in certain genres of rap and hip hop,” is an indication of the level of pain, anger, and sickness within society. Be-that-as-it-may, I disagree, and believe the lyrics and ignorance in some music are not a significant issue.
Crack cocaine. There is no denying that crack cocaine has had an extraordinary impact on the last three generations.
“In spite of outward appearances and the wealth of a few (Jay Z, Oprah, Michael Jordan, and Floyd Mayweather) we may very well be worse off than ever before.” Here too, I understand my friend, and his intent, as well as his focus on emphasizing the point. However, I feel this does him and anyone reading it a disservice. I take my friend seriously and respect him a great deal. We, all races with the exception of the natives to America are far from worse off than EVER before. Nevertheless, the working class, poor, and criminalized are disproportionately Black when compared to the overall population [which I believe is the source of my friends frustration]; we need to fix that.
My thoughts on continuing progress:
Establish the proper perspective. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 (150yrs ago); the U.S. Civil War ended in 1865 (148yrs ago); and the last of the “Jim Crow” laws were ended in 1965 (48yrs ago). In short, that is not that long ago. For the majority of people navigating life starting 150 years ago there was extreme uncertainty, and specifically for Black people freed from the slave economy, but faced with extremely limited options the outlook was dismal. Today, Black people are far from such a situation.
Focus on reality, not the dream. The famous preacher gave the now LEGENDARY “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 (50yrs ago) in front and estimated crowd of 250,000 people. The best line of the speech to me: We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. To me that means focus on oneself/ doing your part with dignity and discipline, for in achieving success for self, it contributes to all; and that the struggle is ongoing, there is no end. Think of the “Roots: The Saga of an American Family” model [fiction or non-fiction, plagiarism or truth, it’s a model to emulate]. The family depicted in Roots, consistently struggled to make its way, and prepare the next generation to do better. It wasn’t easy, and will never be easy, but it is what all people aspire to do in general. With regard to the dream, every declared dream statement has been fulfilled to the furtherest extent possible with the exception of this one: I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. That statement is beautiful poetry, but impossible and rightfully a dream.
Understand we are civilized predators in a fight for resources and status. A young woman was shot in the head for wanting to go to school, and advocating that girls receive an education in 2012 Pakistan. Women are being arrested for driving cars in 2013 Saudi Arabia. The Tutsi - Hutu civil war. The 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The death of a monarch by guillotine. The assassinations of U.S. Presidents. The Japanese Korean War. The Sino-Japanese war. The Holocaust. The World Wars. The Arab Slave trade. The list of violence and conflict goes on an on. It is inevitable that conflict will continue, and the struggle to establish oneself, or, a race or ethnic group respectively, will continue.
Reset the expectation. If the thought is one day all people, but specifically all (100%) Black people will seek education and trades, avoid criminal behavior, and obtain vast amounts of wealth (monetary and otherwise), it’s just not going to happen. Again, we are in competition for limited resources. Some will reach a measure of success, some won’t. If the thought is one day racist will cease to exist, it's just not going to happen. One, I find that hard to measure because you can never know what is in someones heart. Further, my view is that will never be the case, pride in ones race will forever be omnipresent [I could further explain but it would drastically increase the length of this piece]. We all must consciously not act on inclinations of superiority. The same can be said for the respective classes: poor, middle, and rich; educated and less-educated.
Engage the system. Policy makers respond to money and votes. The members of the Taxed Enough Already Party and those who associate with it vote. Conservatives vote. They engage and are responded to because they do so. Those with money are responded to because they fund policy makers. Baltimore’s general election results for November 2011 show only 13.28% of registered voters showed up to vote, and there are no “voter suppression laws or tactics” in Baltimore. Baltimore has an estimate population of 621,342 according to the 2012 census with 63.6 percent being Black. Current Mayor Rawlings-Blake won office with 39,548 votes. If one doesn’t have the money to influence policy makers, one must exercise the vote.
Focus on the long haul, it’s a MnaS, there will be set backs (crack cocaine, etc) which is nOTO. The U.S. is young relative to other established countries. The Black race’s evolution within America is even younger. When acknowledging the starting point, the obstacles, and the current opportunities and challenges, the current state of Black Americans is relatively where one should expect it to be. Is there more work to be done, of course. Together, for there is strength in numbers, but most certainly as individuals, we must do our part to ensure progress continues to be made as we go from Rough Draft to Good Copy. I believe doing your part at the minimum is focusing on your success and providing opportunities or the environment for the next generation to surpass that success.
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I Have a Dream (full text)
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro till is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.
One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize the shameful condition.
In a sense, we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.
This note was a promise that all men, yes black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For white only.” We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, even tough we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice and sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its Governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day, this will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
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