Emotional post: T H E L O S T O N E S

Last night I was going through this whole “Men are crazy” rampage, calling up my male friends/acquaintances to shed light on the subject as to why men say and do the dumbest shh...stuff. I was at the end of my tether and was ready to rule out men (black men in particular) all together; no foreal...I was done lol. It wasn’t until a specific conversation I had that steered from me ranting about how much men suck to the downfall of the black race as a whole, a complete 180 right? Yea it went that deep, as deep as: “The black race is f***ed”.  Wow, I actually couldn’t say anything, or object to it because I agreed completely. Specifically looking at our youths, the gang culture, our family unit etc and how messed up some of it is, it really does hit home that our community is deteriorating.  Although the conversation went on into different directions, I even stopped paying  attention at some points and at times forgot what I was saying; the statement “The black race is f***ed” kept replaying over and over again in my head. It had affected me to the point where I couldn’t sleep and somehow I’ve found myself in front of my computer screen typing this with tears welled up in my eyes.

“The black race is f***ed” How did we get to this point? How did things manage to get THIS bad? In particular why are our youths killing each other? These are the questions that we continue to ask ourselves, CONSTANTLY. Well let’s look at the common factors: broken homes, boredom, no faith in the system, No positive guidance - the list can go on. We all know of the common factors and yet as a community this is all we dwell on "why are we killing each other?" "Why is gang culture so prominent within the black community?" Well this is why: we have glamorised and glorified the gang culture and it’s evident in the media. Girls putting bad boy’s on a pedestal giving these boys an incentive to be “bad”, and THE LACK OF POSITIVE GUIDANCE.

There comes a point where as a community we should be held accountable for each other. We can complain, point the finger, and blame the system until our faces turn blue but hear this; the system is not going to fix this problem. The harsh reality is the system was not put in place to help us, you know it and I know it...So what now?

The problem with us as a black race is that we've taken the UNITY out of community. Where are all the positive role models?  We need more positive role models in our community for the next generation to aspire to be. They need guidance, without any form of guidance one is lost and unfortunately the only guidance they have comes in the form of "the streets". Don't leave it up to the elders on road to guide the next generation, deeming them "youngers" putting them under their wing only to steer them in the wrong direction. Instead we should build more positive leaders that can mentor these young ones and steer them into a direction that can better them and make them an example that their peers can look up to.

As a black race please let’s stop dwelling on how we got this way and concentrate on how WE are going to change it. We’re only as f***ed as we allow ourselves to be.

With tears streaming down my face at 3am in the morning, I have come to the conclusion that I can't turn my back on my people and expect the system to have their back...I’m sorry.

"A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit..." -W.E.B. Du Bois