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The Year 2008
Letters to America
Institutional Racism From Birth To The Jail Cell
When African-American children first open their eyes, they see people looking down at them, dressed in scrubs with their heads and faces covered. When the covering is removed, there are members of other ethnic groups surrounding them, performing procedures determined to assure newborns have a good chance at living a healthy vivacious life. Few of these people resemble their parents when the mask comes off; their speech is confusing because it was not heard during the gestational period. Some have heavy accents peculiar to members of their own ethnic groups, and they also speak different languages in their day to day work setting. Others speak English with perfect diction and sentence construction, while their parents and family members speak Ebonics intermittently.
This explains why we don't have a chance to realize the 'American Dream' from birth to death, in a country that our ancestors built into the country it is today, and were not compensated for their labor. Slavery has left a nasty taste in our mouths. The following discussion is designed to trace some living situations of members of our ethnic group while we struggle to take our place in the American society. When and if, we receive reparations along with our inheritance, 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner'.
The month of March has caused us to examine the treatment of African-Americans by the mainstream media and other ethnic groups of Americans. Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, retired Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, has been viciously attacked by those who disapprove of his methods of teaching and interpreting Scripture. In my opinion, Rev. Wright is at the forefront when it comes to educating his audiences. He speaks in parables, as Jesus did, to create a common understanding that reaches every member of his congregation, including Senator Barak Obama the current Presidential Candidate seeking the nomination for the highest office of the land.
Unfortunately, because African-American History, from early 1600 to the present time, has been absent from American Literature, other ethnic groups of Americans feel that African-American cultural comments are inappropriate and racially charged. Further, because different ethnic groups of Americans don't understand our culture, lifestyles, and mannerisms, they suggest that we tone down our rhetoric and purge the baggage we are carrying from slavery.
We are not baggage and cannot release ourselves from the ties of slavery because, if there were no enslaved people we, the African-Americans would not have existed. Our DNA would not be here in The United States of America. Click on this link to read and copy the Definition African-American and the African-American Poem and Creed. This topic weighs heavily on my mind; because, African-Americans will never be able to come together as an ethnic group, so long as, we are being taught to deny our African-American Heritage. Click on this link, Questions you asked continued, to read letters I received from and/or wrote to President Clinton when he was in office over eight years ago, referring to questions appearing on the 2000 census forms identifying African-American, Black, and Negro as synonymous terms.
In order to equalize the playing field, we must insist that we know where our money is going when we spend it. We must stop spending with other Americans until they start to spend with us; and include us in the economic model designed to address a sinking American Economy. Further, America must provide Reparations to it's African-American Citizens. This topic weighs heavily on my mind, because, African-Americans will never be able to come together as an ethnic group, so long as, we are being taught to deny our African-American Heritage.
