pay it forward and course-haired ladies of the night

Wassup people, I know, I know it's been a minute and I've just been informed that there are those who follow the posts so I feel humbled that someone out there is keeping tabs. Thanks to all who look forward to new posts. Personal life is good, graduation is postponed until September, had a minor setback with my research, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? (At least that's what I keep chanting) Unfortunately, it's kept me from voicing my opinion on the many events in the last 2 months.

First and foremost, got to send out my deepest condolences to the families of the victims of VA Tech. It was an awful tragedy that will not be forgotten. I've had discussions with many people on this event and have come to many conclusions. 1) Nothing of this magnitude ever happens out of the blue, there were many signs that people in positions of authority all down the line chose to ignore right up until the point of the day it happened. 2) We have to take these instances of bullying early on seriously because the products of this type of treatment is growing up to take innocent lives because these people are tired of being treated as if they don't matter at all. That's why they take their own lives and as many others as they can. They want to be heard on some level and choose, unfortunately, to cause tragedies to accomplish this. I read that the family had to go into hiding because of death threats. If people want to look for blame, they should start with everyone who came into this kid's life and chose to ignore him or worse, chose to mock him and ridicule him. It starts with us; it is our responsibility to realize that anyone can get to that point if no one at any point in some one's life gives enough to listen to someone and think of them as a person of worth and value. Until that happens, we'll live in fear of the next tragedy.

Now, the Imus thing......hmmmm. First of all, I'm glad that he was taken off the air, but I'm tired of the double standard we continue to uphold. I'm tired of the uproar over white people saying something offensive while we continue to degrade ourselves and our women. We call a woman a bitch and a ho, then justify it by saying that there are women who conduct themselves as such. Has it occurred to any of these people that 1) all women don't conduct themselves as such and 2) for those who do, do they realize that there is a reason that this stems from? The fact that our communities are in shambles, our family values as a race are on life support, and the concept of the traditional family is unheard of in the black community, especially in our generation. So what do artists choose to do? Make songs about how useless these women are and they are good for nothing but a quick screw. I've always said, it will be interesting when a lot of folks will stand before God and explain themselves. Somehow, Snoop Dogg's reasoning of "we're not talking about college educated women when we say ho's" I don't think will slide by the Big Man Upstairs, call me crazy. We need to realize that healing and growth comes from not telling stories of the hood, but doing something about the conditions of it. That excuse for using n****, bitch, and ho just don't wash and it starts with preventing our six year old kids from knowing all the songs on the radio but they can barely read. It starts with black men teaching their sons and their younger family members to honor and protect our women, not degrade them and for our older women to teach our young ladies how to carry themselves as a lady formed in the image of God, not as a bitch who is telling other bitches to "stop hating" and "to get on their level". Value comes from knowing in your heart that you've been created by God, not from others telling how hot you are or what your bank account says because when you're gone, people won't remember you for those things, if they even do remember you. Do something lasting to make sure they do. Till next time....peace and blessings.....