Dr.King speaks a lot of unity, not just between African Americans but all ethnicities. Change can only happen if we stand united and support each other. Dr.King’s words are empowering and hopeful. He believed to his core that change could happen. The concept is good, but I see no end to the plight of the African American. How can change come when things seem to be on the decline? We are as divided as ever, the government is in shambles. America is a laughing stock. So what do we do, as black people? Some create movements, that in my opinion is not changing anything. While others look out for only themselves because they have learned through society that you can only look out for yourself. And the other live the only way they know how. We drift through life tolerant of injustice. We have become jaded, and stagnant. Our very mindset is ‘every man for themselves’. We are born fighting against the feeling of knowing there is nothing better out there for us. The best we can expect is a decent job and to not die tragically somehow. The black community is divided, families are broken. Compared to other cultures we are still at the bottom, not even trying to rise as a people. The Arabs and Jews family and community, they support each other. They have learned through their struggle that staying together will build their empire. So why are we still stuck? What is our excuse? Systematic Racism?
We have the power to influence the world, the white people take Ideas from us. They rob us of our power, or do we relinquish it to them?It’s a cycle at work that’s origins go so far back that it has been rooted so deeply that it is the foundation of which we have built ourselves on. Our mindset is not geared towards seeing the bigger picture. Can you blame us though?
As children we are dreamers, we tell ourselves that we will be different than the rest of society. But what if your chances are taken away? You throw your aspirations away and become content to live like everyone else. Areas of living for the urban population have become dilapidated. People are living from check to check. Selling drugs. Repping ‘Gang Gang’. There is a veil over our eyes, to seek a lifestyle the amounts to violence and degradation. This mindset has already infiltrated and infected the next generation. So when will it stop? I do not believe that I will live to see it in my lifetime. So I have become one of the others, you leave the rest behind who are struggling, who are blind, in hopes that I can leave it all behind me and never look back, through whatever means necessary. I will not stand united with my fellow African Americans, I am the effect and the cause. I am the result of someone who has seen and heard so much injustice that I have come to realize that there nothing I can do with it. My mindset of helplessness is the problem. I am the cycle. I will say that wholeheartedly. I believe we are too far gone.But perhaps there is a way to make a change. To take back our power we must become powerful. We must compete on the same level as white people do, in business, in government. We must make our presence known. But tendrils of doubt always grip my mind because of today’s generation, for blacks and white. Our priorities are not aligned with the mindset of success for ourselves.
Feelings of indignation burn when provoked and forced to think about our race through another tragic event. We feel it in our souls. There are people who will always be in power because we are weak and powerless. The tenuous grip we still have on power is being pried apart by those with the means to take it. It’s more than just a concept, it resonates in our souls and lifestyle. I have no wise words to offer.
-Amina Johnson