As messed up as it is, the truth is something else.
I have a million and one things that I need to do & need to write, but this one is fresh on my mind so I will start here.
I just finished having a conversation with my grandmother about so many topics wrapped into one. From how Blacks in the South were treated back then, her memory of being called a "nigger" as a little girl, from factories in South Carolina now being replaced with work in jails and how education is the biggest threat to Black people "making it" nowadays.
When you sit back and really think about it, it rings a lot of truth. More prisons than schools are being built, Blacks & Latinos already dominate the prison population, the retention rates of Blacks in high school and college are lower than their white counterparts, and none of these topics are being taken serious by the masses. I wonder if its because it doesn't seem like a imminent threat like a white hooded figure with a burning torch riding a horse up to your house.
The system has changed and from the words of my grandmother "Black people are always behind in learning the rules of the game." From what we name our kids to the discipline we teach our kids to respect authority figures. I really understand where she is coming from and as I sat back and dove a little deeper, there is so much more that attacks us and we pay absolutely no attention to it. Rap lyrics that send the message to young men that women are supposed to hand you their virginity and convince young women if you don't give it up he won't like you. Subliminal messages that have grown women aspiring to superficial ideals of beauty that defines our very nature as women as having to have it together all the time from our hair, make up, nails, body, and clothes. Telling young men if you can hustle, education ain't really all that important.
It is definitely a wake up call to myself to remember that there is a bigger picture out there and it is not just about me. The crabs in a barrel mentality has to end some where because we continuous bring each other down and never once realize once we start helping each other the struggle may become easier.
Just one conversation from my grandmother and I feel a thrust to achieve a level of excellence, but also the burden of having to represent my race. Something that I do not believe any other culture has perpetually dealt with in America.
I'm still laughing, but with a little pain in my chest... that my application is probably sitting in somebody's pile to the side because of my name.
Your thoughts?
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