If you've read any other portion of this blog site, you may have been discouraged
the point was to get you to look at these issues critically and to understand the basis of them, but also to get you to analyze how you feel about the issues, particularly if you found some of the information upsetting and inflammatory.
But there is a lot of emotionally charged and deeply analytical investigation that must take place in order to identify the roots of many of the issues that African Americans face. Many times we let ourselves become discouraged by the information and the content and fail to look at the causes that most significantly underlie many of the historic and systemic problems that we face and the failure to really make an effort to make the distinctions between the economics, the math and the science of how these problems emerge limit our understanding of how to liberate ourselves from the social and spiritual implications of these issues. Instead we look at ourselves, as if something must be faulty, or look to others because we can only seem to understand that their participation, in the thinking, the actions, and their appalling silence must be a part of the problem, without understanding how this kind of thinking is ineffectual or why it won't make the problem go away.
This approach used in the earlier posts was used to emulate how very similar our current methodology to approaching and dealing with these socio cultural issues issues has held us back. Yes we have gained a better understanding of the systemic oppression that has plagued the African American community and others who have been impoverished and systemically exploited, but this approach is one of the primary causes that black liberation has not been able to be achieved for over 100 years. We don't have to be scholars or educators in order to see that a problem exists. But there comes a time when it becomes counter intuitive to pick apart a problem until there is no meat left on the cage and then quietly surrender ourselves to the systemic framework that surrounds us without having taken the appropriate measures to eradicate ourselves from it. No I'm not talking about Malcom X's "by any means necessary approach", or even the active non-violent resistance of the late Dr. Martin Luther King.
While these practices may have served its purpose at the time, there is a growing criticism that although this method does provide a clear understanding of the impact that the history has had, it often lacks clarity as to how to implement creative problem solving toward eradicating the injustices that continue to feed these cycles of internalized oppression and social injustice. The most appropriate step forward means that we are going to have to start looking more closely at:
- how we let these challenges and investigations shape our mind
- where we invest our priorities and our money
- what attitudes we allow to fuel our approach to life
- and how we let our fear of uncertainty and reckless behaviors determine how we see ourselves.
The time has now come for us to begin seeking practical solutions to dealing with injustices and challenges that are faced rather than feeding upon the inner and outer conflict it has historically created. We simply cannot afford to continue to become discouraged by the politics and lack of education or give up. Where information was once limited and restricted to the educated elite, the development of communications and technology, we have much more access to not just literature, but all sorts of forms of multimedia and outlets for mass communication that can help us develop practical solutions to our problems. The challenge now is how to do we begin to recognize the problems that exist in front of us and empower other members of our community to learn how to gain equal access to these kinds of information so that they can create solutions for themselves. And how do we adopt this education into our cultural values, so that we associate healthy and sustainable living and fiscal practices with part of what it means to be the embodiment of black success, empowerment and good health?
“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark. Professionals built the Titanic.”
We cannot allow our circumstances to corrupt our will to move forward and keep us from moving in the right direction. Otherwise we are simply condemning ourselves to become imprisoned by our own state of apathy and negligence. Focusing too much upon the destructive behavior of others, or the frailties that lie within ourselves blinds us to the greatest resources we have in creating a more positive and sustainable future, the wonderful gifts that we hide within ourselves. Admittedly, it may be time to walk away from continuing to contribute to any system that has been designed to keep the poorest in a state of poverty. If we are to learn how to recognize opportunity and establish any real liberation we must learn to adapt our education and lifestyle practices so that we can rise up in a more progressive direction and begin to take more solid steps forward toward healthy autonomy.
I believe that it is absolutely necessary for African Americans to understand and embrace the principles of holistic education and sustainability in order to begin to appreciate the gifts that will allow us to secure our own futures. Until we begin to see the impact of our choices from a more enlightened perspective, we will never fully understand the importance of the roles we play in the way that we invest in our personal growth and the needs of those who look to us for guidance within our community.
One of the greatest quotes I read today said the following:
"Your life is an occasion; rise to it"
We must begin to embrace our roles in life as if the actions that we take can serve a greater purpose and be more meaningful in the lives of another, even if it is only those that come after us and look up to us. Do you want to be remembered as the person who had so much potential who never made it? Or would you rather be the person who others look to with admiration because they have truly achieved something significant in their lives and have learned to be free because of it?
African Americans often define the way we see leadership as a phenomenon requiring great orators or community activists such as those who marked the explosion of the civil rights movement back into the sixties. The African American community always looked to leaders who were larger than life; [like MLK, and Malcom X, the church or other community leaders to give them guidance they needed to add meaning and purpose to their lives. While this has been helpful to many, there are still many African Americans who live out the mundane activities of their daily lives without ever realizing that they also possess this power through their smallest actions who have the power to influence revolutionary change through the gifts that they harness from within themselves. And I don't just mean through tasks like voting.
Many African American leaders could not have been able to accomplish what they could have had it not been for the actions and support their community members. Sit ins, strikes and many other forms of support were necessary in order to give these leaders the power to accomplish the achievements in civil rights that they accomplished. These men were not simply the icons themselves, but represented vast networks of support within the African American community that entrusted these men to speak on their behalf, but half of the magic was in the people who inspired the speeches they wrote and the memories they left. Because had these courageous men and women felt as if they had no one left to guide them. What other African Americans don't realize is that had they not been there to support these leaders, many of the leaders in our community would have probably led very quiet, stifling and fearful lives --or ended up dead or in jail like countless others who had not yet learned to become organized.
“Don't be afraid to expand yourself, to step out of your comfort zone. That's where the joy and the adventure lie.”
~Herbie Hancock
But being a Leader does not always mean that you always have to be the first to fight back, or putting yourself out in the forefront, or get your behind kicked like some martyr in order to be effective and meaningful to the cause of liberation. Leadership typically comes from the most unlikely places; like those who are skilled yet cautious, or those who are unskilled and reluctant, but step up and face challenges because those who were expected to lead could or would not.
What makes a leader is not the talents and skills a person has or the material wealth or achievements. Being a leader is about understanding the possibility of the capacity of an individual to learn beyond the limitations of one's circumstances --and then to act upon this new found knowledge. Most leaders that you talk to will speak of numerous instances when they were afraid or uncertain of something and had to learn to intuit when an opportunity arose to choose something different. It was in this act of taking the small steps to better understand how to improve their situations, following through with the act of understanding their own ability to grasp it and following through with that commitment that allowed these leaders to stand up on their own --and rise to the occasion so that they could finally be free of the challenges that were holding them back.
In order to end poverty and hunger, or the targeted distribution of unhealthy and unsafe foods to those who are impoverished, those who have access to information and educate ourselves about social and economic sustainability will have to begin being developing more actions and behaviors that are solutions oriented, such as bringing in urban horticulture and sustainability practices into our local communities.
But our actions must serve as an invitation to awaken from the trance of everyday life and to be refreshed by the vibrance and invigoration that is available by connecting with the healing power of nature's gifts through urban gardening to our body and minds. By learning to grow our own food we can rebuild our spiritual connection with ourselves, the community and the sacred abundance of the earth [a gift that we seem to have, up until now discarded to the wayside, even though it is designed to serve and meet many of our specific needs].
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