~Peace

Perhaps this short, two-letter answer is not appropriate, but based on some of my experiences during this past year, it is quite clear to me that WE, as Black people, do not really want to work together as a collective body to induce positive change. How do I know? If we look at the most influential areas of the lives of most Black folks, we can clearly identify some key problems/issues that inhibit our abilities to develop realistic action plans to improve our circumstances. Here are just a few of them in my opinion.

1. As you stated in your post, Black leaders (social, religious, and political) do an excellent job of planning meetings to “discuss” the issues impacting our communities, yet these leaders fail to produce any results because these meetings are simply “feel good” socials. I am/was a member of the board of directors for an up and coming non-profit organization in the city. After meeting for more than 6 months (1/month), the organization still did not have an action plan in place, nor had they been incorporated as a 501(c)3 organization. I expressed my concerns about the organization’s lack of action and planning, and I was basically told that I did not need to come back to any more meetings. After trippin’ about this by myself for several months, I realized that I was in the midst of some people who simply wanted to say that they were developing a non-profit organization and that’s it. They had (and I believe still do not have) no intention of doing anything, but I can assure you that they do not hesitate to inform outside people that they are starting a non-profit organzation. That’s a problem.

2. The church has forgotten its role in the community. While I cannot speak for all denominations, I know that my denomination (AME) was birthed out of social injustice. The founders of the church refused to continue to be mistreated and developed their own religious movement in an effort to uplift Blacks. Now, the church’s main purpose does not seem to deal with uplifting the community. Some churches are only open on Sunday morning and wouldn’t dare do any outreach to the community. There are pastors whose attitude is, “All I should have to do is preach on Sunday and teach Bible Study”. What? Pastors are very influential in the Black community. Forgive me if I’m wrong, but I believe that pastors should be leading the way in our communities by doing some of the following things, encouraging members to go and vote, inviting candidates for political office in to discuss their platforms during the week, meeting with community association leaders to see what the church can do to uplift the community, spearheading community clean-up days, inviting professionals in the community to lead forums at the church on topics outside of the pastor’s areas of expertise (accountants, realtors, doctors, businessmen, etc.), etc. Basically, the Black church needs to recognize that in many respects it can be the backbone of the Black community. In many cases, the members need some motivation from their pastor…that’s not to say that the pastor has to do everything, but until the minds of the members are transformed from “I” to “WE”, the pastors will have to work harder to initate community outreach and involvement. I could continue to ramble about this point, but I won’t. I’ll simply say that the church is becoming a glorified clique, it’s a social club, it is losing its strength as a social force in the community. This is just my opinion based on my experiences and this point does not necessarily describe every church, but I’m sure it describes quite a few.

3. The village no longer raises the child or cares about the members of its community. Everyone is out for themselves. It seems that in Black America we are more concerned about being liked by folks than helping them be better, more productive members of society. As a group, we would rather lie to someone than to tell him/her the honest things that they need to hear.

In order for Blacks to remain viable in Baltimore and other places, we have to renew our spirit of unity. As it stands right now, we are divided by social and economic classes within our race and it is destroying us. When we find individual success, we are not motivated to help others find success as well. No one should have to encourage us to give back to others. I understand the frustration one can feel when you’re constantly giving of yourself to others in an effort to motivate people to become productive members of society, but I personally consider it my responsibility to talk with young Blacks about going to college and choosing careers, among other topics. I consider it my duty to help people see that there is something within them that is good and worthwhile.

Additionally, in order to remain a viable member of the community in Baltimore and other places, we as Blacks need to take pride in ourselves and communities. The appearance of our house and block/neighborhood should be important to us. We shouldn’t need outside people to encourage us to keep our communities beautiful. We shouldn’t throw trash on the ground…we should keep our stoop freshly painted…basically what I’m trying to say is that we should be able to let people see that we care about our communities and will not be pushed out as if we are not vital members of the city.

It would be beneficial if people could lay down their titles (Councilperson, Rev. Dr., Social Organization President, etc.), stop dwelling on the neighborhood they live in, and start being real about the issues facing Blacks people. We are a dying race and we are dying because we have chosen to die.