"So, What Are YOU Gonna DO About It?" By Mike Ramey

"So, What Are YOU Gonna DO About It?" By Mike Ramey Many of us, IF we 'fess up' know who is doing what in our various hoods around the country. We know who is dealing the dope. We know who is cheating on whom and WITH whom. We know which 'prayer partners' have wound up to be 'bed partners'. And we get 'shocked' when those who offend against God, and his Word are either locked up, dead and/or their families are embarassed. What Are YOU Gonna DO About It? We know Black educators and administrators who run urban school districts with SHAMEFUL graduation rates. Detroit, Michigan AND Indianapolis, Indiana--according to one recent study--have graduation rates BELOW %50 percent. Yet these same Black educators and administrators come before 'us' and say that it's NOT their fault...BUT they need MORE money to 'fix' the problems that they have ALLOWED to be created on THEIR watch. What Are YOU Gonna DO About It? Every gang member, rap star, sports star, movie star and 'butt shaking' hip/hop vixen HAS at least ONE parent, family member or extended family member who are more than happy to take the checks...but won't say word one to correct their family member until they wind up on page one or on the six o'clock news. We get more upset about the poverty in the motherland and give the brother or sister across the street 'the backhand' if they DARE to tell us about our own 'wayward, saggin, baggin, nappy headed kids' who were out last night, gun in hand, and shot the manager of a local grocery, liqour or video store. What Are YOU Gonna DO About It? We accept politicians with the morals of alley cats (but, because they are black, we are supposed to wink and vote); sports starts who flip gang signs and have hissy fits; movie stars who make films that degrade us and still win 'image awards' from groups who are supposed to work WITH the Betterment of the Black community, instead of its destruction. We send our money OUT of our community, and are shocked that the majority culture won't send some of it back? What Are YOU Gonna DO About It? The older that I get, the more that I realize that I can't 'burn' too much emotional energy about too many things. All I can do is what MY parents taught me, and what Christ says in His word about my responsibilities. But, the bottom line of this commentary is simple. Unless YOU are willing to police yourself, don't expect me to 'feel sorry' for one of your family members who winds up dead in a police shootout. Unless you are willing to make sure that your kids have THEIR education needs met AHEAD of your own, and YOU take the responsibility in keeping Black educators and administrators in line about the spending of your money on educating YOUR children, don't send me emails about the latest 'campaign' that you need my signiture for to 'push' some brother or sister's workshop about African History. Lastly, don't expect to 'rally' my sympathy for someone who doesn't take the time to prepare to enter the job market; for someone who doesn't want to know how to better themselves; for someone who feels that it is their 'right' to degrade our race by the way they dress, talk, and cuss ON the job (IF they get there on time) or in the store, or in the gas station. We all KNOW the issues, problems, and hauntings we face on a daily basis. However, our ancestors didn't 'whine', they WORKED! Through the recession, depression, stagflation, and all of the other 'ions' they had to face. When we had nothing but God, we were kings and queens; now that many of us have been BLESSED by God, we don't need Him, question his existence, and anxiously hold hands with 'gypsies, tramps and thieves' and wonder WHY our common sense has died! My brothers and sisters, WE ain't the enemy; WE are the solution. How many times do we have to 'dialogue' about race? The Hispanics, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Indians, and the Irish didn't 'dialogue' about race; they DID something in their OWN communities and MADE folk come to THEM about doing business WITH them! Black folk, both conservative and liberal think that by 'having a Tavis Smiley or CNN' sponsor a 'dialogue', that will change race relations? GET A CLUE! Many people do NOT like Black people, but LIKE Black people's money! WE are the only ONES who are 'feeling guilty' over the use of 'Black slang' to refer to ourselves the SAME way that other communities refer to THEMSELVES among THEMSELVES. Have racial issues changed? Even--in the event--Obama gets elected, count the DAYS before someone IN the press who is NOT Black calls him a Nigger! They will say that it is a 'slip'. Brothers and sisters, folk have been 'slippin' in this country since 1619! Let's take care of our OWN homes first, and do some CLEANING out...before we start pouting about the current scene. God tells us that we have to start in our own backyard, before we head out on the road. We can't afford to be 'lazy' about home anymore; unless we love listening to our own voices coming back in the wind of materialism and the storm clouds of 'doing it our way'. As one preacher said years ago: "What is tolerated by one generation will be practiced openly by the next!" Where are we NOW? :The Ramey Commentaries by Mike Ramey https://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/theblacklist/2008-07/msg00085.html

The View From Here

"So, What Are YOU Gonna DO About It?" By Mike Ramey

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