It is amazing how I could have written this piece 30 years ago for a 6^th grade project and, although not as detailed, would contain the same basic information.  That is extremely unfortunate and says a lot about Black folks and our lack of progress.  So many people look at Obama and see that we have come a long way.  And I totally agree.  What a great day it was when he was inaugurated.  It brought on so many emotions that I certainly did not expect.  I have never cried when the announcement of who had won the election occurred but this time I couldn’t hold back the tears.  Not only was he President, but a sistah was now the First Lady.  I would not have even imagined that as a child and now, my children will grow up knowing that it truly is possible.  However, Obama shows how much we have grown as a nation in our ability to look past color and see the value and benefit in the person and their inner strengths and abilities.  What it does not reflect is Black folks growth as a race and as an economic force in this country.  Believe me, I know that still exists and is sometimes the determining factor in part of our fate.  Racism is deeply rooted in our history and unfortunately continues to manifest itself today.  The worst way that it rears its ugly head is by pointing at one person who has come up from the ashes and achieved success and using them to justify bashing everyone else who wasn’t able to make it.  I can go on about racism for hours and pages but that is not what this is about.  We as a people use racism as an excuse as well.  We play into the stereotypes and use the fact that others are racist to justify our inability or disinterest in being successful.  We talk about how White folks treat us and then live our lives being the very person we are accusing them of disliking. 

I give credit when credit is due.  Society in general has shown numerous signs that it is able to look past race and take people for who they are.  At least this has happened in the entertainment and sports industries.  There was a day when a performer with numerous tattoos, locs, pants sagging to the floor, several drug busts, a mouth full of gold teeth and rapping about loving the ghetto would have not even made it to a studio without police being called and SWAT teams coming out with water hoses and dogs.  However, the music industry has grown leaps and bounds and can no longer be separated by the color of the artist.  Black folks are no longer limited to topping the R&B charts and there have been plenty of white folks on the Hip Hop charts. 

The point I am making is that we do see that opportunity is there.  So we should take advantage of every opportunity that we have so when something does go awry, it is very clear that it is due to racism, sexism, stereotyping, or some other form of grouping folks together and forming an unwarranted opinion of them.  Believe me, there are enough people in our society today who are racist and biased that it will still show up when we aim to achieve.  And that is what we should still be doing, AIMING TO ACHIEVE. 

What in the world prompts this piece of work?  Well let me tell you what put this on my mind.  I live in what is termed a “transitional neighborhood.”  It is currently a blend of recent residents who are mostly middle to upper class young white collar professionals and long term residents who are mostly lower to middle class blue collar or jobless black folks.  Basically it is Good Times meets Family Ties.  And I love it! It allows me to utilize and appreciate the fact that I can relate in many ways to a lot of people.  It also shows that it takes more than race or economic level for me to get along with you. 

Some folks over here are just trifling.  It angers me to have people in our neighborhood who welcome the opportunity to meet and hang out with new neighbors.  I was at the corner store a few days ago.  (side note: for those of you who are ghetto challenged, every hood has a corner store. And it always sells pickles, hot sausages, pickled pigs feet, and peach sodas) There was a young white lady who had just pulled up to the store.  She looked to be in her early 20’s and considering the time and her dress, I can easily assume she had just gotten off from her job in the corporate arena.  There were 4 young black males at the front of the store who looked like they were in their late teens or early 20’s.  As she left her car and went to pay for her gas, they immediately surrounded her and started making remarks to her saying she was “sexy” and “could they get her number.”  She clearly did not want to be bothered.  Who can blame her?  Loitering in front of the corner store looking as if you don’t have a job is not the most attractive way to present yourself.  When she continued to walk past them, they were clearly upset that they had been ignored.  So then came the name calling.  Now the sexy white girl was a “cracker” and “they didn’t like fu ((*#& white girls anyway.”  She was so upset that one of the managers had to walk her back to her car.  At that point they called the store manager a terrorist and laughed as they walked away. I was infuriated.  Let’s look at this picture.  Here we have a girl who is trying to buy gas as she is getting off of WORK. Then we have a store manager who is clearly at WORK. Then we have you who are quick to call others names as if that is okay because you didn’t get the response that you wanted.  How crazy is that? 

I personally believe that name calling and racist remarks stem from one’s ridiculous need to feel superior to other people.  It is often triggered by situations that make one feel inferior or jealous.  And most importantly, time spent on racism could be time spent improving your own situation. 

Now back to Black folks and how we are our own worst enemy.  Our young Black youth are clearly lost.  This did not happen by accident.  Their situation comes from a generation of people who chose to simulate the lifestyles of others or repeat mistakes made by their parents.  Either way, we have fallen victim to ourselves. 

The Black family has not progressed.  And the cycle of life should be about each generation being better than the previous one.  Nature has got it right.  Over time, animals and people have either developed or shed internal and external body parts in order to adapt to change.  If our bodies can do this, our minds should do so as well.  If your grandparents made it through high school, then your parents should make it to college.  If your parents made it to college, then aim for your master’s degree.  College is not for everyone so this same theory can be used for success in business.  We have got to progress and improve our situation each generation to become a better and stronger people.  Yet we are still fighting the battles of single parent families, black on black crime, and other things that we have brought upon ourselves.  We then use history to justify ridiculous behavior.  While in college (I have a minor in African American Studies), we were given information that traced the roots of Black men not standing by Black Women back to slavery.  The reason that was given was because the Black man had no control over his family.  The White slave master could come at anytime and sell his children, rape his wife, beat him, and anything else to show that he was in charge.  The entire family was property.  So from this, Black men were able to detach themselves from their family to minimize that loss.  Now I definitely see this as a reasonable explanation for Black men who had previously been slaves.  But this makes no sense to me when discussing Black men of today.  Are we really that far behind that we are still using slavery to justify our behavior? Slavery can justify many things.  It definitely impacted our starting point.  It impacted our economic level, our legal system, and its extended impact of racism still exists today.  But to let slavery explain your own behavior is inexcusable. 

I still see some of the loudest mouths who are busy blaming White folks for their problems acting as if they were slaves.  Why wait for a judge to tell you to support your child? Why wait for mandatory drug testing for you stop smoking weed? Why get to work on time but when you have something to do for yourself, you are late?  Over and over again looking for an authority figure to regulate basic behavior. 

We live our lives in a way that requires intervention from authority figures yet we don’t instill respect in our children.  I know literally at least 10 times a year I have to ask a young Black person to please stop cursing so loud as I am outside with my small children.  Did I curse as a young adult? Of course I did.  However, I never once walked comfortably down my street cursing away in front of children, neighbors, grandmothers and whoever.  And when it happens, it seems as if I am the only person who is offended and speaks out. 

Believe me, I know this does not apply to everyone.  A lot of progress has occurred.  But we have to look at ourselves as a whole, not point to the minority who have “come up” and use this as the gauge.  We have such a long way to go.  And maybe it starts with not harassing a White person at the corner store!