Love with a Fire Read, Part 3

Saving All My Love by Whitney Houston

...but no other man is gonna do / so I'm saving all my love for you...

The problems with this nation I have are:

1. Education: poor communities = poor schools. Schools are unable to acquire the resources necessary to provide a foundation of knowledge for students on which they are to build on for the rest of their lives.

Education is not simply about learning what is in the books before you but also about learning to love to learn, to understand there is no qualification quite like an education, to cross academic boundaries by, for example, finding the relevance of biology in everyday personal interaction, to want others to learn and improve and sophisticate themselves, and more.

If the children leave elementary school unable to read, remembering only an academic struggle, how do we expect them to participate in the higher learning that has become basic learning (as a BA is slowly becoming as useless as a hgh school diploma if one is not already in a trade of professional progam)?

2. Media: Black people look crazy on television, in movies, magazines, the paper, etc., if we are even featured in an episode or issue of the aforemention media material. Our culture is neglected in the media and when it is present, we are likely to look buffoonish or Stepin Fetchi-esque. This is of import because the media are a powerful social tool. It teaches us about the people with whom we have no contact, about ourselves, about how to interact with one another, and more than we are probably not conscious of to name.

To leave out and distort any group of people is dangerous for their socializing. It also dangerous for the group, especially the children. Television babysat my generation when we were young (don't lie...even the most involved parents loved the break that the idiot box provided once the children were captivated). We were born with our imaginations but TV taught us how to stretch it and gave us more items to include it. It is important for children to see themselves reflected positively in the world they live in. And that world no longer just consists of those who are identified as caregivers, other family members, and friends. The media is now apart of the family too.

3. Justice System: The law books include unfair, incongruent, and plainly racist articles in every state and at the federal level. The most conspicuous and popular example would be the drug sentencing laws. "White" drugs (drugs most commonly used in the White community, such as cocaine) warrant less severe penalities than do "Black" drugs (i.e., crack cocaine).

Yes, our cultural consensus says it is bad to use, buy, or sell drugs so those caught should be punished. But there must be a theme of fairness and congruency about the punishments regardless of the offenders race or gender.

The justice system has also been known to be harsher in treatment to Black people regardless of their infraction (if there is one to begin with because sometimes being Black can seem to be a crime). Officers can be more aggressive and likely to use their weapons. Judges can assign more time in incarceration than White defendants may garner for the same or a similar crime.

And there are more but this is not my dissertation. I'll let you know when that comes out.

But because of the aforementioned cultural uglies and the ones I did not mention, I am disenchanted with this America. My Black people are culpable for a whole lot as well, but I feel as though I hear about their culpability enough to not include it here. So while we get our act together, I hope American institutions do to. Until then, I am saving all my Love for Black people, here and abroad...Freetown stand up.