[This piece was written by a "guest"-a friend and relative who refuses to blog on his own. He has written a lot of good stuff, but I chose this because it is short and sweet and gets to the heart of the issue. That, and I love the last line!]
It has come to my attention (an amazing grasp of the obvious!) that several of us do not believe that the world is not designed for stupidity. If it was, then most of us would be blissfully wealthy and powerful. The next few paragraphs will expand on this concept of stupidity and our role as supreme ignoramuses with the ability to ignore signs that would indicate that, as a race of people, our demise is imminent.
The black population makes up approximately 13% of the United States. Fully 55% of the prison population is comprised of us. Why? The 55% population of us is aged between 18-29 years. Why? When that part of the 55% gets out of prison on parole or at the end of a sentence, they tend to be re-incarcerated within two years. Why? I discovered during my time in the military that there is a lot of time you have on hand to do absolutely nothing. Malcolm X and I read-he in prison and I in the military. I think that this same type of free time exists in prison, but we tend to waste the time and come out no better educated than when we went in. Why?
Depending on who is counting, we number between 33 and 50 million people. Financially, that translates into more than 1.8 billion dollars spent each year. We arguably may be the only people in America that spend that much money and do not manufacture any significant products bought! Why? We have been variously accused of being dull witted/stupid/lazy/selfish. We have also been accused of being inventors, poets, engineers, and scientists. Which is correct? Based on our spending practices, I would venture that the former characterizations are more accurate! Why? Is it because we expect for someone else to take care of our needs for us? Do we feel that there is another group of people that will look after our best interest? If this is the case, then we will die out as a unique race quicker than most expect.
On May 4, 1996, Emmitt Smith was graduated from Florida State University. He received, I believe, a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Relations. His accomplishment is noteworthy because he is one of the few professional athletes that has continued his education after he had become a "superstar". What is even more noteworthy is that the national media picked up on his accomplishment and congratulated him for it. Why should his accomplishment be so newsworthy? His accomplishment should be commonplace. The problem with this situation is that we have gone for the short gains fashioned by media hype and not considered the long term outcome for our progeny. Why? Since we do not control the media, and since we are not educated enough to write the stories that are considered news, we are at the mercy of those that can write and will write the "news" that will control our thought processes. Education as a commonplace practice would possibly eliminate some of this control. However, we embrace the glitz and glitter over anything of real substance because we do not have to collectively work for it-we let others shape our ideas of how things should be. Why?
We have been led to believe that only major institutions can fully and adequately educate our youth. We have also been told that in order to survive and prosper at these major institutions we must have received a firm educational background in the basics. In fact, that was what Thurgood Marshall and his cadre of attorneys argued before the Supreme Court. They won! Why? They won for two reasons. The first had to do with that 1.8 billion dollars we spoke of earlier. The people in power would/could not let this potentially excellent source of wealth escape their grasp! The second reason was the fact that if we had continued to educate ourselves, then we would have been able to pass along to our children a rich legacy and united front before our oppressor. Our facilities were lacking but eventually we would have awakened to this fact and improved them ourselves. We would have come to understand just how to do for ourselves until we had a power base. The oppressor recognized that fact before we did. They diffused this possibility by allowing us to be taken into the general populace and go to the "better schools" (of course only a few of us truly got to those better schools-the rest of us remained in the condition we had been in all along. We did not know this because those that should have recognized the situation for what it really was had already been paid and were reaping the benefits of the good life)! We accepted this "gift" as a good thing for all blacks, without thinking of all the possible alternatives that could eventuate. Why? Well, we trusted the very people that had enslaved us; we trusted the very people that the oppressor had complete control over-the ubiquitous house nig%er! We have continued to this day to get the fatback, greens, and all other leftovers unwanted and unneeded by the powers that be.
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