It Is Our Turn

It is our turn now….I was taught by all of my English teachers at Booker T. Washington High School that when writing or speaking it is your thesis statement that will capture the imagination and inspire hope among the reading or listening audience. This is my humble attempt to capture those African American that are reading my thoughts and inspire each person confront reality of our situation in today’s America. It is not in our interest to expect the government to become the guiding force in address those issues that affect our communities. It is not in our interest to continue a self-righteous practice of Christianity that waste positive energy condemning others for their sinful nature others, while we are losing our children. Before you stop reading this essay, please consider that I am not saying not to participate in Government, rather I am suggestion that remember what President Roosevelt told A. Phillip Randolph when discussed the plight of African Americans in the early 1940’s…..the president stated: “you must do something that will make me address your issues,” thus we had the first march on Washington. I am saying stop believing in God or that Jesus is our savior. What I am suggesting that we embrace John 5:30: “Jesus stated I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” It is our turn to come together….it is our turn. Our usefulness to others, our success and achievement in life is truly based upon our reconnecting as a race. The question becomes are we passive and satisfied or will become angry and dissatisfied? It is crystal clear to me nothing will change when we tolerate those things that are destroying our lives. It is our turn to judge the data.
Did you realize that from 1882-1968 there were 3446 lynching in America? Did you realize that 9500 African Americans were killed by African Americans in Chicago from 1991-2009. View this data in mathematical turns in 18 years we are killing each other at three times the rate of those horrific lynching’s. We can no longer blame others for our violent nature; it is time to take control of our children. We must do this in spite of the “ism”….in spite of the economy….in spite of the perceived or real “odds” being against us. Our ancestors did it….It is our turn now. It is a contradiction for us to be waiting for “Superman or Superwoman,” when so many of us will quote Paul, “we walk by faith not by sight” and yet at a time when we should be walking far too many of us are crawling. It is your turn to judge the data.
We have spent 738.8 billion dollars in Iraq and 357 billion dollars in Afghanistan. Since 2001 we have spent 1 plus trillion dollars on two wars. I am not suggesting that we should not be engaged in these conflicts, what I suggesting that this data clearly demonstrate to someone with critical eyes that we will never provide the necessary funding for education. Since 2007 our country has spent 590 billion dollars on education. Yet, for most African American students our schools are failing. 82% of those African Americans who are incarcerated do not have a high school diploma. I realize that many will state that money is not the problem and in some cases that may be true. Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone has had tremendous success and nationwide attention has focus on the success rate. What is important the tens of millions of dollars of private money that has poured into the Harlem Children’s Zone. In order to create full family service and state of the art school you must have money. Many of you will offer this over used package statement as the true problem: “teachers are the problem.” Cope we have too many “bad teachers.” Yes, we do have too many bad teachers and we have too many bad parents.
Far too many school leaders and teachers view black children as victims because they do not want to be seen as being racist. This has filtered through to the children themselves and led to inappropriate methods to combat this desperate patronization. What has become clear to me is there is a movement to drive teacher wages even lower, run schools like little corporations, and race to the bottom just as we have in the manufacturing sector. Imagining that the profit motive works best, the privateers propose merit pay for teachers whose students test well. Such a scheme would only lead to adult cheating (which has already started), to well-connected teachers packing their classes with privileged kids, and to an undermining of the very essence of effective schools. The “little corporations” are nothing more than those “money lender” that Jesus rebuked. The profiteer’s school children attend schools like the University of Chicago Lab Schools - where teachers had small classes, good pay, and, yes, a union. Students did not concentrate on rote learning and mindless drill and skill or test prep. They were offered in part an exploratory, questioning curriculum. But apparently the masses need to have sweatshop he profiteers.
Black people it is now our turn to stand. Our ancestors stood in spite of the obstacles that they faced. Our usefulness is directly related to our commitment to others. Jesus stated it best in John 5:30: “I can do nothing on my own.” Therefore, it is time for each of us to demand that our children grow educationally regardless of the “ism” or the “economy” or the “perceived odds that we are facing.” It is our turn now. The government will not solve our problem, the state government will not solve our problem, the county government will not solve our problem and the city government will not solve our problem. Remember this simple but true statement, when people are passive and satisfied nothing will happen. However, when people are angry and dissatisfied massive change will happen. It is our turn now! Do not allow the sleight of hand by the profiteers to continue this madness.