Letter from a college student
The other day, a friend of mine visited me in the lobby of my dorm just
to chat while her laundry was drying. As we were chatting, two young
freshmen came by. One of the boys wanted to 'talk' to my friend (as in
date). She asked him how old they were, and both of the boys replied
18. My friend and I both laughed hysterically because we are both 22
years old. After my friend left, the young men were still hanging
around and one wanted to know how he could gain her interest.
The first thing I told him to do was to pull up his pants! He asked
why, and then said he liked saggin' his pants. I told him to come over
to my computer and spell the word saggin'. Then I told him to write
the word saggin' backwards.
S-A-G-G-I-N = N-I-G-G-A-S
I told him the origin of that look was from centuries ago. It was the
intent of slave owners to demoralize the field workers by forbidding
them to wear a belt as they worked in the fields or at any other
rigorous job. In addition, men in prison wore their pants low when
they were 'spoken for'. The other reason their pants looked like that
was they were not allowed to have belts because prisoners were likely to
try to commit suicide. And, saggin' pants prevents you from running.
We as young Black people have to be the ones to effect change. We are
dying. The media has made a mockery of the Black American. Even our
brothers and sisters from Africa don't take us seriously. Something as
simple as pulling up your pants and standing with your head held high
could make the biggest difference in the world's perception of us. It
is time to do right by ourselves. We need to love and embrace each
other. No one is going to do that for us.
It all comes down to perception. What people perceive is what reality
to them is. We have to change not only the media's perception of us,
but we need to change our perception of ourselves.
Remember all eyes are on you Black Man. All eyes are on you Black
Woman. All eyes are on your Black Child. People point the finger at
us and expect us to engage in negative and illegal activities, to
manifest loud, boisterous behavior, to spend our hard earned money in
their stores, buying goods we don't need, or really want. We have
allowed not only the media, but the government and the world to portray
us as a 'sub-culture.' They have stripped our culture down to the
point where the image of Black people is perpetuated as rappers,
athletes, drug users, and consumers of junk food, expensive tennis
shoes, expensive cars, expensive TVs, cell phones and not investing in
homes for our families.
We are so much more!!!!!!!
To all our Black Men: It's time to stand up. There are billions of
Black Women who want to do nothing more than worship the ground that you
walk on. We are so in love with your potential. We want to have your
back, we want to love, support and cherish every ounce of your being.
But with that you have to show that you are willing to be the head of
our households. You have to prove yourselves worthy of our
submission. We need you to be hard working...Not a hustler. We need
you to seek higher education, to seek spirituality. We need you to
stand! And trust us; we will have your back. We know that it gets
hard. We know you get weary. Trust and believe that there is nothing
that a Black Man and a Black Woman can't handle with GOD on their side.
To all our Black Women: It is also time for you to stand up. It is
time for you to stop using our bodies as our primary form of
communication. It is time to be that virtuous woman that Proverbs
spoke of. You cannot sit by the wayside while our men are dying by the
masses. You are the epitome of Black Love and It starts within you.
You need to speak with conviction to let not only our Black Men know,
but the world, that you are the Mothers of this world. You are so
powerful. You are so beautiful. You need to love and embrace every
blessing God has given us physically, emotionally and spiritually.
For all our Black Children: We need to love them. We need to teach
them. We need to stand up for them. We need to protect them. We
need to show them that there are no 'get rich quick' schemes. We need
to tell them that they WILL die trying if they submit to a life of crime
and deceit. We need to teach our children that no one will love them
the way we can. And being a basketball player, a rapper, or a drug
dealer is not reality. It's not realistic and only a small percentage
of people ever make it as a rapper or professional athlete. We need to
teach our children that we can be more than rappers and athletes. We
can be the owners of these sports teams. We can be the CEO's of OUR
fortune 500 companies. We need to believe in literacy. I am almost
certain if we were to look back to the 1930's and 40's, the literacy
rates for Black American Children are probably still the same.
Please Keep This Going & Have a wonderful day
'This is the year of empowerment.' God will empower us to accomplish
things this year that will be mind blowing
