What’s going on?...
That’s the title of a great song, made famous by the late great Marvin Gaye…and also the question of today’s “food for thought”. Though the song had tremendous “crossover” success, Marvin’s lyrics were clearly aimed at the troubles of the black community.
The opening lines of the song are – “Mother, mother… there’s too many of you crying. Brother, brother, brother…there’s far too many of you dying”…
That song was released in 1971, yet some 40 years later, mothers crying and brothers dying continue today…and for essentially the same reasons.
One has to ask, why hasn’t that changed in the last forty years?
Obviously, having elected the first black President is a big change, and surely none could argue that there are more opportunities for blacks in the country today compared with 40 years ago. This is at least encouraging, because no group rises simultaneously - but rather “one by one”, each buoying the confidence of the next. Also, regardless to the amount of opportunity there will always be a group that chooses to languish in “need” by their unwillingness to perform. Those two relatively small groups – the “presidents and the languishers” represent opposite ends of the spectrum…so what about the majority in the middle?
I remember a true story about a girl, from Chicago I believe, who survived life in the ghetto, graduated from college and secured a promising job with a good firm. As her life began to improve she felt guilty about her “less fortunate friends” back in her old neighborhood. “Who am I to be doing so well, while my friends barely get by? What makes me any better than them?” Eventually, the guilty feelings got the best of her…and she took her own life. That’s a sad ending to what should have been a success story for others to emulate.
Since I said the question was “food for thought”, I’m going to ask for YOUR thoughts on the question…before giving you the “ZOO ANIMAL Perspective”. So what do you say...why are we still fighting the same problems 40 years after that song?
I think that we're suffering from many of the same problems as we did 40 years ago for many reasons such as: 1) We failed to groom future leaders in a deliberate manner from grassroots to nat'l. org.; 2) Our dynamic and profilic benevolent "leaders" were killed before their prime (Malcolm X etc.) 3) We became too individualist and materialistic; 4) Integration and welfare broke down strongly knitted communities (black owned businesses and in tact networks that spanned across social-economic lines; 5)We don't and didn't do a good job of "telling our own stories" about our own families struggles, truimps etc. and 6) Drugs especially crack further sent the most vulunerable members under for a at least 3 generations. WE NOW SUFFER FROM A MORE COMPLEX BEAST = RACISM + CLASSISM are difficult to address!
ReplyDeleteNot difficult to address at all! Can you name me a time when there were only one class of people? Of course not, because we have and always will have more than one. The problem lies in peoples insistance on wasting time and resources trying to "force" a one-class society upon us.
ReplyDeleteThere have and always will be poor people; there have and always will be wealthy people; and there have and always will be those in between the two! Period. If people would select which group they want to be in, and focus their efforts on learning what it takes to get there - and doing it, they would be much happier. Libraries are filled with volumes of stories of people from all backgrounds and situations, who have done preciselly that.
As to racism, it will never totally go away because it is a condition of the heart. And as such, it cannot be legislated away no matter how many "hate speach and hate crime" laws are passed. Instead, individuals must stop being so "sensitive" to every little thing that is said or done and seeing it as racist. Once the racist realizes that the have no power over you ...they will go away, but as long as they know that they can say or do some little thing and it causes you to fly off into a rage...they're gonna keep on talkin!