struggle

Stepping outside the gun line…..boss

Posted on by billjohnson2014

Who taught you to hate the texture of your hair? Who taught you to hate the color of your skin? To such extent you bleach, to get like the white man. Who taught you to hate the shape of your nose and the shape of your lips? Who taught you to hate yourself from the top of your head to the soles of your feet? Who taught you to hate your own kind? Who taught you to hate the race you belong to so much so that you don’t want to be around each other? No…Before you come asking Mr. Muhammad does he teach hate, you should ask yourself who taught you to hate being what God has made you.

There can be no black- white unity until there is first some black unity. We cannot think of uniting with others, until after we have first united among ourselves. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves.

  • Malcolm X

“This is where we are right now. It’s a racial stalemate we’ve been stuck in for years. Contrary to the claims of some of my critics, black and white, I have never been naïve to believe that we can get beyond our racial divisions in a single election cycle, or with a single candidacy imperfect as my own. But I have asserted a firm conviction- a conviction rooted in my faith in God and my faith in the American people- that working together, we can move beyond some of our old radical wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the oath of a more perfect union”.

President Barack Obama wrote those prophetic words in a speech in 2008. I believe President Obama was acknowledging his place in the struggle for equality for all while also championing the masses to do their part because he was not the savior. I actually don’t think the nation will know the effects of President Obama until many years later because he was looked at as a savior and not a man. We could appreciate and also measure Michael Jordan’s greatness because we had seen Oscar Robertson, George Gervin and Julius Irving.  If we had never seen those men we would do what we as people always do with something different. Were dismissive, indifferent or we inaccurately measure it because again we have no measuring stick. President Obama is a cake made without measuring cups given to a person who lacks taste buds.  

You hope and you pray and then you hope and pray some more but, deep down you know. Looking at the landscape of America I knew that the problems of Ferguson, Missouri the problems of Baltimore, Maryland, the problems of Staten Island, were my problem. Do you know why? I knew that these were my problems because these cities are not special or unique in any way. The judicial system is run just like any other court system in America. The police officers are trained like any other moderately funded to well-funded police force in America. Last but, certainly not least people of color live in these areas and last time I checked racism knows not area or zip code. What did I say when I saw the video of the white officers manhandling teenage blacks in McKinney, Texas not 30 minutes from my door? Unfortunately I said “I knew you were coming to my house…come in and sit racism”.

The climate in America today is so charged racially, sexually and economically but, it’s like everything is interwoven. The haves loathe the have not’s. The minority hates the majority and nobody actually believes the economy is as stable as it seems. Higher Learning is a 1995 film directed by John Singleton that follows three distinctively different freshmen. Malik (Omar Epps) is the black track star who feels entitled while also feeling controlled as a prized bull of sorts as the school pays his tuition. Remy (Michael Rapaport) is a young white male from the Midwest who has a hard time fitting in with any group. Remy finds his way to a group of white supremacist after being picked on by his militant black roommate. Lastly Kristen (Kristy Swanson) is the wide eyed blonde that might as well be from Mayberry with aunt bee. Kristy makes an early bad decision that leads to her being raped which leads her right into the sympathetic arms of a lesbian.

The film succeeds overwhelming in comparing and contrasting university life as a microcosm for the world at large. Where else can you find a Walmart sample platter of everything the world has to offer? The movie also poses a great question and answer of how people respond to the pressures of life and interaction with very different people around you. Do you assimilate? Do you fight the system? Do you quit? It is as much a movie about racism and social injustice as it is a movie about choices and the ramifications of said choices. In the end of the movie much like the world at large it takes a school shooting (incident) at the Peace Festival of all places to put things in perspective.

“President Kennedy never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon…Being an old farm boy myself, chickens coming home to roost never made me sad; they always made me glad.”

  • Malcom X

The events that have transpired in America are far from “A black thing”. The “black thing” concept is an event or action that evokes sympathy and pity from mainstream America. The kind of event that also makes mainstream America fearful as black’s loot and destroy their own community. I will never understand destroying the community you live in but, I digress.  The “black thing “historically lasts a news cycle before the next major headline i.e. “gay rights”. However; in America today every major news market will run something tonight about racism.

At times I feel like social injustice for people of color in America is an endless race. We start and we run many laps but, without a defined end it appears an exercise on inequality. I think ….racism is all over the television but, what now? Then I see the taking down of the confederate flags in Mississippi, Alabama and Fort Sumter and I say that’s great. The flag that is a symbol of the old south and all the wounds that accompany the South’s racially charged path.

I just ask why did Dylan Root and 9 innocent church goers have to spark the change. Have the NAACP not fought for the flags to be taken down for years and years? Is the climate of hatred and lawlessness not already so great in America that we understand that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere? James Boulware a white man opened fire on the Dallas Police Department with no central motive. Is one educated fellow not to make the correlation or see the pattern of senseless violence? When have police ever been attacked let alone in broad day light? It is clear now more than ever that racism in America is everyone’s problem. I hope working towards a solution is everyone’s answer.

I will never say that progress is being made…If you stick a knife in my back 9 inches and pull it out 6 inches there’s no progress….if you pull it all the way out that’s not progress…the progress is healing the wound that the blow made”.

Malcolm X

Amber, the rose that tried to grow from concrete……

Posted on by billjohnson2014

“Getting engaged is like getting…it’s the first hurdle of the roller-coaster and you hear the click.. those loud sounds. This really violent metal chunk o-chunk o-chunking…. (You’re asking yourself) what’s going on here, you know. Boy this thing really goes high (in reference to the roller-coaster) and then you go over the top. The wedding is at the top…you go over the top that’s the wedding and then you’re just screaming”.

“Marriage is like any growth you can’t be ready for it because its growth it’s going to be new. You’re going to have a new life; you’re going to be a new person”. – Jerry Seinfeld

Am I the only one that receives wedding invitations having no idea the two parties were even dating? I ask myself “Kerry where have you been”. To my credit I’m not one for competing or much less keeping an eye on the Jones’s. On a larger scale I am that friend that has no idea what Kylie Jenner wore to the Grammy’s or who Drake is dating. I’m getting off topic. I don’t spend a lot of time on social media but, when I’m on there I am surprised by what I see. What am I seeing? I see a lot of proposals, bridal showers and weddings.

I’m sure there are many reasons to why those things jump out to me. The first I would say centers on age. I’m going strictly off perception but, I would guess individuals 18-28 get married more than any other age group. I would say the second reason surrounds my use of social media. For people like me that limit their social media use we have to realize the world never stops. If you don’t track someone for a year or two you will surely be surprised with the happenings in his/her life. The last surrounds my personal association with weddings. I have been a groomsman in two weddings in the last 18 months and have seen my sister, brother and father married in that span.

To say the least I was very intrigued as to what the numbers showed in relation to couples getting married in my age range. Is the percentage higher now than in years past? Is the number lower? How are those numbers reflected in the divorce rate? Lastly where does my ethnicity factor into the equation?

Have you ever performed research on marriage? The first information that jumps out at you and repeats in various publications is the rise in median marital age. The average age for women is 25.8 and 28.3 for men. The age group that has suffered the greatest decline in marriages is you guessed it 18-28. 20 % of individuals in that age range are married compared to 60% of that same age group 40 years ago according to the 2010 Census. According to the CDC the decline is related to an increase in cohabitation and single parenthood.

The Pew Research Center goes against the grain as it advises that public perception is mixed on the institution of marriage. Meaning as a nation we do not value the institution as in years past so thus the decline. The aforementioned premise was not supported in the various studies I observed but, I actually believe that the study does have some merit. The majority of the studies concluded that minorities who as we have learned marry less than whites still value the institution of marriage. The previous statement is not actually supported when it comes time to say “I do”. As of 2010 55% of black adults had ever been married compared with 64% of Hispanics and 76% of Whites.  According to the Census currently 45% of African American households contain a married couple. Blacks are significantly more likely than any other race to never marry, cohabit and bear children out of wedlock according to the Census. The national illegitimacy rate (children born out of wedlock) is 33% but, for blacks that number is more like 70%. Educational attainment or lack thereof supports the aforementioned premise more than most give credence.

A study called “Women’s Education and Their Likelihood of Marriage” performed by professor Paula England expounded on the previous topic. The study found that 75% of college educated women are married, compared to 70% of those who attend some college and 60% with only high school education. According to (blg.com) college graduates are 20% to 30% less likely to divorce than non-graduates which is a good segue to divorce rates. Men 20 to 24 divorce at a rate of 38.8% percent which is higher than any other age range. Women share the same age ranges but, there clip is 36.6%. The website divorcesaloon.com has the divorce rate for blacks currently at 70%.

Looking over all the facts and figures from the CDC, Census and countless studies I was not satisfied. I settled myself as the disintegration of the black family started long ago and as blacks we perpetuate that cycle in various ways. I did find solace in information received on discoverthenetworks.org that gave me hope. Black two parent families where both parties work full time have a mere 2% poverty rate which leads me to my conclusion. We have to breakdown why blacks want to get married but, don’t and also why we divorce higher than any other race. I’m not sure how to correct the problem but, I know it first starts with ME. I went to college and I’m waiting to get married. I need to choose a partner that helps support our family spiritually and financially as we shape and nurture our child(s) views. I didn’t see any marriages up close as a kid and to think my son could see 4/5 just with his dad, aunts, uncle and grandfather. I think that’s a step in the right direction.

I feel like I’m a planet and the other woman are kind of moving through this solar system with me. And marriage is like you decide to jump off of your planet and cross to another planet. But you can only do it when one planet passes real close and you look and say “hey I think I can jump across”.

– Jerry Seinfeld