Choose Life....and That More Abundantly

There is an interesting entry about the Don Imus controversy in the blog ASKTHISBLACKWOMAN.COM. I bring it up because the comments are similar to thoughts I had yesterday while sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store. Many people just don't get it when Black people become outraged over comments like the one Imus made about the Rutgers women's basketball team. He referred to them as 'nappy headed hos.' Someone was bound to bring up the fact that African Americans refer to each other with denigrating misogynistic, racist language. It's everywhere; in our conversation and entertainment. ATBW brings up a pervasive and disturbing truth when she says...

" it's Black people's fault for allowing such utterances to be heard coming from the mouths of Black people, on CDs and radio stations across the WORLD. Black people are participating in our own destruction by characterizing Black people as whores, as ugly, as criminals, as hyper-sexual, as drug dealers, as under-educated, as stupid…all over some dope beats and a catchy hook."

W don't 'just allow' these utterances as the sister says,. Our attitudes and behavior have created them. We can't aske the rest of the planet to look away at the ugliness we have become as a people. I'm not disagreeing with this sister. I mus should be off the air. There are laws against libel (exposing someone to public ridicule) but when you consider our penchant for self hatred, it's a little like trying to figure which came first the chicken or the egg. As a means of control, we were taught by slave masters to hate and mistrust each other. Many of us have become misguided and avoid speaking the truth in fear of being characterized as traitors to our race. But the truth needs to be told if we are ever going to heal our wounded psyches...The negative images of black people are rooted in current culture. and indicate a deep spiritual wound that needs healing. These images are not manufactured out of thin air, They are real and we created them . Our young people have no idea, neither do they seem to care about what is and is not acceptable behavior. Teenage girls come to school dressed like whores and the boys look and act like thugs. Ask any teacher if the majority of them act like criminals and whores and many would say yes. Teen pregnancy is an epidemic as is teen crime. In Boston, the school's police are pleading for bullet proof vests for protection. It's an up hill battle because many people still want to believe schools are some kind of oasis of adolescent innocence. We have become expert finger pointers looking to place blame for the deterioration of our communities, every where except where it belongs, at home with parents.

Consider this....

As I sat in my car yesterday in the parking lot of a neighborhood grocery store, my consciousnesss was assaulted with loud profanity coming from a group of African American females making their way into the store. There were four of them, all young. One was carrying a baby, two were pregnant. The one carrying the baby had a quarter size hole in the dress she was wearing which exposed her buttocks. There was no need for imagination about the anatomy of any of them. They were all wearing short, tight dresses which exposed the outline of their underwear and the pregnant bellies of two of them....one was close to term (wince). Neither of them could have been more than 16 years old.

I couldn't help but wonder, where, when and how did we as a people lose our sense of pride and modesty. James Brown would have a hard time writing his signature song today; Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." He wouldn't be talking about us. My other thought was sympathy for the babies these young women and others like them are bringing into the world. What will they teach them (if anything)? They apparently were taught nothing about self respect and self control. In my line of work, I see teenagers every day who reject education. and the kind of values that our ancestors adhered for survival. The Bible says we have before us death and life. We are to choose between them. In choosing spiritual suicide, we have raised generations of children with no moral compass and like it or not, they are the future. And what kind of future will it be for any of us? The Don Imuses of this world are not our problem. We are....