I spend a
lot of time around children, but am happy not having any. From the
“I brought you here, I’ll take you out” school, a capital offense
would contradict my Christian praxis. Who was it that said,
“Contradictions can only be minimized”?
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stuck.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Right before he died, I interviewed the great Lester Bowie. He stated, “Today, music companies decide what black people listen to. We used to set the trends, and they followed.” Harriet Tubman said, “I would have freed more people, if they had known they were slaves.” If you don’t stand for something, you’ll go for anything.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>I recently followed a YouTube link on Facebook with a thumbnail (that’s a tiny photo, OG) of rappers Drake and Lil Wayne. I clicked on it, innocently enough, and got as far as Weezy rapping about “popping the cherry.” Real talk: This young man is hardly the stuff of fantasy. Does he think any woman desires such overture? Are young black women enslaved to pathetic assertions of manhood?
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Our children’s degradation is beyond belief. Your choice: fetal alcohol syndrome, crack baby, or worse, in the house. It’s not their fault they are mindless. “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>I count myself among Amiri Baraka’s “Blues People.” Preceding generations rocked the club and the church. The sacred and the profane are ritualized in every civilization. Carnival precedes Lent. Humans are innately dual.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>The task is keeping things balanced. In our community, balance is long gone. It’s not that boundaries are blurred; they have disappeared. Some species eat their young. I know this much: We better get to ours before they get to us. Evident in virtual and non-virtual reality, this is a generation that will slaughter us.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Most people fail at some aspect of parenting, the world’s most difficult job. To quote a friend: “Don’t want to breed with it? Don’t lay down with it.” To quote myself, some people shouldn’t breed. I am dead serious. Do not saddle the world with mutant spawn because you were not totally down.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>If you are trying, forgive yourself; move on. (Jesus did say that.) Your children need you desperately to help navigate very rough waters. Some pointed suggestions: Use the word “NO” without blinking; do not overcompensate out of guilt; reward only good behavior; limit television; encourage reading, buy or borrow good books, not that Jerry Springer-type of urban literature. MAKE CERTAIN YOUR CHILDREN KNOW THEIR HISTORY – your family’s included. There are plenty of people they owe.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Grownups, let’s crack down on black children’s self-destructive nihilism, without disavowing or contributing to it. However, let’s not spend the bulk of our time self-flagellating. There is way too much to do.
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“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Ruth-Miriam Garnett’s most recent book is “font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Concerning Violence, New & Selected Poems
“mso-bidi-font-style: normal;”>(Onegin). For tour information, contact LataleWestley@aol.com.
