We have got to agree that certain things really have happened in this life. I HAVE to admit that my son is dead even if I cannot bear that thought. I can not just keep thinking that he is somewhere else just because I have not seen him lately. The truth is.... that in this realm of life, I will not see him walk through the door nor will I receive that telephone call.
There are just certain realities that we must accept in order to begin to SOLVE PROBLEMS, gain understanding about how things happen and begin to HEAL totally. I could probably go on a long verbiage tirade but I want to add to the unspoken pivotal truths that we must begin to base new policy creation upon that is inclusive and transformative for community restoration.
And for those individuals that want to continue to practice herding people into certain sections of town because of disrespectful attitudes about people for one reason or another, then just know that we are in an information age like no other and that type of behavior is no longer welcomed. The challenge has been in stipulating that the bad public policy for Richmond was indeed the procuring cause of our present day poverty. I grant you that the bad behavior- which in my opinion is a type of Arrested Development- is a little out there. I submit to you that it is in direct proportion to the years of generational neglect endured from that public policy.
If we are perfectly honest with ourselves and others, then we must admit that in order to understand this extreme poverty within our communities, we must further admit that people have been un-employed for more than just these last 3 to four years.
Let us work with that slice of what real life things happen when job loss occurs as a result of poor choices on many levels. That is too painful for me to share objectively this morning. Stay tuned for that Flava on another day.
I would add "we have got to agree that certain things have happened, even if they haven't happened to ME." As a white male from a comfortable background, I found that I saw an entirely different world around me once I accepted the idea that in general, when people talk about THEIR OWN LIVES, they tell the truth. In other words, the experts on racism are not the people who write books denying it exists, but the people who experience it. Etc.... Thanks for your blog, which I just found, and for your life's work, which I have admired for some time.
ReplyDelete"Poor choices on many levels" has cost me employment on many levels but has not given me a mind of poverty. I have struggled with raising a child well after my raising anything less than my grandchildren and yet I have not had a mind of poverty. My friend, the blaming "whitey" attitude that I have been taught since being here 17 years is ridiculous - maybe because I'm a Yankee. Yes we must get understanding of certain realities one being that ignorance is bliss is not true and that I will be responsible for my poor choies is tantamount.
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