One of the things i love most about facebook are the videos my friends post…for the most part they offer a few cheap laughs to make the day a little easier…less stressed…then there are the ones that make you think…the ones that touch your heart and make life seem cold, hard, unfair, scary and dismal…especially if you are Black…such was the case today…when the first video i saw was that of the senseless murder of 16 year old Derrion Albert at the hands of 5 young Black males…ranging from 16-19 years of age…witnesses say that the young honor student saw a friend of his under attack by several gang members and in an effort to help instead of stand on the sidelines shouting obscenities and cheering the nonsense on…he stepped up….stood up…and got beat down…never to stand up again…he did what everyone else should have done…and paid the ultimate price…being the ONLY casualty in a senseless, ongoing war that will never end until we ALL begin to take a stand…he was in his own, small scale way a modern day martyr for what is right…for his community…for his people…he is what we need to be…we need to channel the strength, pride, courage and love of self from our ancestors and begin to take back our communities…we need to be the modern day martyrs our ancestors were during the abolishment of slavery and the civil rights movements…we need to realize that the government is NOT going to save us…if we want change we have to take it…our ancestors gave their blood, sweat and tears, literally for us to have the chances we have today…and what are we doing with it…throwing it away…they fought TOGETHER…with a communalistic mentality…if one of our children was in any way harmed at the hands of another… ALL of our children were…that is why they were so powerful because they functioned as a whole…a collective…they were a village raising our grandparents, our parents…in hopes that we would raise the future leaders of the country and take advantage of everything they never had… I look at my friends children and i don’t just see them as ‘their’ children…but as my little niece or nephew…as a child that I am responsible for looking after and caring for when he goes out into this harsh world…it is just as much my responsibility to encourage, nurture, guide and love that child as it is their parents…so today when i saw the video and read the article regarding Derrion Albert…the pain i felt was as if he were my own flesh and blood…we need to wake up and stand up against the nonsense…violence is NOT the answer…nor is jail…yes…these young men need to be detained…but while being detained they need psychological help…they need for us to realize that their actions are crys for attention…a need for something better…they need for us to step in and take over where their parents failed them…their parents need for us to get in their ass and guide them on how to be a proactive, supportive, nurturing parents and not just their ‘friend’, if they are that…those of us who are ‘making it’ need to come off out of our shell…extend a hand and pull the rest of us of are not ‘making it’ up…the days of saying ‘they don’t want any help’ are over…they want help they just don’t know how to go about asking for it…pride is a dangerous thing that leads them to early graves…we need to escape from our individualistic, pass the blame, self hatred, im better than you because i have xyz state of mind and realize we are all the same at the end of the day and without the help of our brothers and sisters we ALL fail.
*****i am trying to mobilize a day of solidarity in honor of all of
the young men and women killed by senseless acts of violence as well
as ongoing mentorship programs for these young men and women…if anyone
is interested and/or has any ideas as to how to make this vision a
successful reality in a step towards bettering our communities…please
feel free to contact me.*****
lastly…hug all of your loved ones…tell them you love them…encourage them…support them…cherish every second of everyday…and from here on out…smile…nod…maybe even say hello when you see a fellow Black person on the street…you never know what the next person is going through…it
just may brighten their perspective on life…smiling is contagious…i believe compassion and love is too…
R.I.P. Mr. Derrion Albert and all of our other modern day martyrs…
“the most potent weapon in the hand of the OPPRESSOR is the MIND of
the OPPRESSED…” -Steven Biko
~live.laugh.love.
pinkphoenix526 