Keeping It Right

Keeping It Right is for thought provoking conversationist. It's for those who love to talk about today's issues, yesterday's history and tomorrow's future.

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Location: Texas, United States

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

RF23 - Next To Nobody

Next To Nobody
RF23/J. Lewis
www.keepingitright.blogspot.com


Well yesterday was a day that we as Black Americans and all of America take the time to reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the sacrifice of his life to the enpowerment of blacks in the 60's. Lets get this straight, the man, along with others lost his life so we as blacks would not have to endure the same travesties of justice he did and his parents did. He died to gain the same basic civil liberties that whites enjoyed. And he along with others didn't beg and plead for it, they simply demanded to be heard and seen. You see the opportunity to show someone who thinks you are inferior to them and beneath them, that you are the most talented that doesn't involve putting a ball in a hoop, running for touchdowns or tap dancing, but the most intelligent, the most innovative and like your white counter-parts, the most loyal to your country by fighting for it's beliefs. It's exactly what MLK and other black activists were doing. And unlike those in the past, they weren't just jocking for camera time or listing "black activist" as an occupation. They were real community men and women who wanted a change of social thinking, not because it was politically correct, but it was to show the hypocrisy of a country that said, "All Men Are Created Equal." For these brave community soldiers, who lost their lives for the struggle to remove "All Men Are Created Equal....But" It was the "but" part that needed to be removed.

You know when it comes to reflecting on the legacy of Dr. King, I can't help but think about Medgar Evers or Malcom X and other men who wanted a chance, man! And it's a shame that we have squandered all of those sacrifices. Yesterday, while some of us were probably reflecting on Dr. King. A few of us still fired weapons at someone who looked like us, A few of us still have our pants on the back of our thigh and A few of us are still locked up for selling poison to people who look like us.

I'm not writing this to be negative or continue to berade our people. WE HAVE COME A LONG ASS WAY IN COMPARISON TO CHAINS, LYNCHING, SEGREGATION AND GANGS. A long way folks and for that, I'm able to see to take advantage of all the opportunities that come my way, even after making mistakes in my life. Can't remember or can recall a discriminatory moment, haven't experienced it and I owe that to men like Dr. King. Am I discounting that racism doesn't exist, hell no. There are always a few a-holes who refuse to accept things the way they are. But I realize the sword cuts two ways and we are just as prejudice.

So on a day, when I got up and prayed thanked the lord for allowing me yet another day to experience the cool air and repeat the same go to bed and get up routine. I thought about Martin, Medger, Booker, Frederick, WEB and Malcom. And as I shook my head to a AOL Black Voices Poll that said next to nobody, that Jesse Jackson and Condeleza Rice were number three and four respectively as the most influential black leader. I shook my head....

And agreed with thirty percent of my peoples.


That.

Today there are no influential black leaders.



None.