THE plain TRUTH!

After commenting on a message left on Gayle King's board, which reflected on whether or not Blacks' shout of racism is truly valid, my mind began to wonder. It began to sink into the possibilities of why racism is still a breathing word in this country, and why it continues to hold so much weight in our minds and on our tongues, as it springs into any and every conversation.

True the bulk of the weight stems from yesteryear, when Black Americans were entirely innocent to the hardships pressed upon them by white men. And certainly, chains on the mind are much stronger than chains on any wrist or ankle. Yet and it still, in this day and time, the reason that most racism falls on the laps of the black race, is because of Black people.

I hate to admit it, but I don't see how anyone can deny it; with a black man in the White House. Despite the major advances that individual Black Americans have made in fields of education, entertainment, politics, and corporate trust, the black race, as a entity, is becoming a racist's dream.

You see, unlike yesteryear, there is one color that blinds mankind. It isn't black or white, but green. It's sad to say but if have green overflowing out of your wallet, it will make the most racist of beings embrace you. Of course, they will call you an exception to their friends. Nevertheless, they will tame their tongues and maybe even bow their heads when you come around.

But without the green, which usually marks a level of education or talent, the color of skin shines through before the scent of one's character. My problem is that, once upon a time, the color black actually defined character, which of course wasn't outlined in the earliest print of Webster. What the nation chose to read back then was the falsehood that stated: Blacks are lazy lower class, in capable of using their minds to achieve; forced to rather settle on their hands and the hard soles of their feet to make a living and their place in the world.

What I loved about yesteryear is that Blacks either couldn't or wouldn't read that crap. Instead, they believed in what was told to them by their ancestors and what they saw produced every day. They saw intelligent blacks teach themselves how to read on and between the lines. They saw amazing Blacks use their minds to make inventions that made the world better. Because of this, Blacks of yesteryear knew they were better and so they worked to be better, and demanded as much from their kids.

As of late, however, many within the Black race don't work to be better, nor do they demand it of their children. I blame this on the disconnection between the generation of old and that of the new, within the black community. The fact that Black America, as a whole, has appeared to have lost the understanding of what it means to be black in America, I sense has made them less proud of who they are, and more likely to become what their enemies desire them to be.

So what should it mean to be Black? What did it once mean to be Black?

1) Being Black in America meant trusting that God will make a way, while seeking the path.
2) It meant being strong in self and determined to make tomorrow better than yesterday.
3) It stood for an understanding that education, one of the major treasures that Blacks fought to have access to obtaining, is the key to freedom on this earth. Therefore, it was forbidden to just be valued and casually pursued, but rather need to be hunted down and treasured.
4)Being Black in America meant respecting the footprints behind you; those imprints left behind by Blacks whose lives were lived to push Black forward.
5) Pride of how strong, smart, and favored we must be to climb out of a graveyard and build houses on a plantation created to kill us, without a dime of reparation.
6) It meant strength. It revealed that in the darkest night, one doesn't settle in the trenches but fights or looks for the North Star in search for better. For Being Black in America meant...
7...Being better (just to be considered equal). It meant when Black is refused a stage, one is built by black fans. When Black is refused a bridge, one is made by black hands. This is because being black in America defined no restrictions, no chains on legs, or wrists, or mind. It meant Fredrick Douglass, Marion Anderson, Benjamin Banneker, George Washington Carver, Archibald Alexander, Percy L. Julian, Dr. Charles Richard Drew, Elijah McCoy, Emmett W. Chappelle, Dr. Mae. Jemison, D. Martin Luther King, and thousands more Blacks who worked to redefine America instead of allowing America to define them.

Yet, somewhere along the years, Black Americans (as a whole) have forgotten what it means to be who they are, and so they (myself included) have become something else. Parents have dropped the responsibility of telling their black kids that they were born to be miracles in the making, as their forefathers were. And why? Because that's who they are. Thus, this lack of knowledge has left newer generations of Black without a true sense of self. It has left them branding themselves with gang signs and designer labels, trying to find the pride in something. It's left them thinking excuses actually excuse failures. It's left them looking into the darkness for light, standing on the edge of nothing-afraid to build a bridge. Because, somewhere along way, a lack of knowledge has taught Blacks in America that success is no longer defined by progress, but by dollar signs and pedestals.

It's sadly tragic how true the old saying is: "You don't know where you can go, until you know where you've been." Because Blacks in America have forgotten where they've been, they have no clue that they are going back in time. They are going so far back, in fact, that they are erasing the memories of Marion Anderson, Percy Julian, as they seek to stand on these pedestals that slaves were once forced to dance upon to gather bids for profit.

So here we are. No knowledge. No progress. Here we are in a place where Blacks in America now run to dance on these pedestals. Now they don't fight to read, but dance. Now they don't fight to pray to their God, for they think they are God. Now they don't look to create what they are missing, instead they just complain about it. Growing less of the inventor, less the educator, less God filled, and more the dancer, Black America appears doomed; existing with the mission to entertain rather than thrive. But then again, being Black in America also means being President. I think that along can change things for the better. Yes, it can!