Living on the Black Plantation

During slavery, and from the 1800's through the 1980's, the concept of family was tight knit, strongly woven, and the envy of most cultures. The African American family unit survived in spite of unimaginable cruelty and adversity. In the last thirty years, that the African American family became dysfunctional and lost its direction

What has happened to the Black community in America? How did we go from singing We Shall Overcome to singing Superman That Ho? When did our priorities change from fighting for the right to vote to not voting at all because, “One vote doesn’t matter?” How did a people who came from such strong and courageous roots become commercialized and oblivious to their current state of being? In 2008 the Black community is still enslaved and we do not even recognize it. The children of our community are increasingly having babies, killing one another, and dropping out of school. In Chicago alone by April 7, 2008 twenty-three CPS students had been murdered and that number continues to rise. However, it seems as though only a hand full of people are actually concerned with our race’s future.

Our Community as a whole is becoming more divided, disrespectful, inconsiderate, and unconcerned with each passing year. Our children are becoming more uneducated, angry, and unmotivated, but we feel that it is more important to discuss the fact that Nas came out with a CD entitled Nigger than exchange ideas as to the fact that our young men are dropping out of school and ending up in prison before they are even twenty-one. We can argue all day about how disrespectful it is for “good” Black men to date outside their race, but we cannot initiate new innovative programs to keep our youth off the street and out of gangs. We can complain hours on end about how “The White man” is keeping us down, but on Election Day we cannot find enough strength within us to go to the polls and vote