ABOUT DA' CITY
Kansas City elected its first knee-grow mayor, who was re-elected for a
second term, and I believe this is the last of the knee-grow mayors for
Kansas City. The FBI has been in Kansas City for over a year, and has requested
and received two more agents to help unfold the corruption in city government
(under the leadership of the first knee-grow mayor). The corruption started
unfolding with the Hispanic City Council member being convicted of bribery.
Then it swallowed the State Speaker of the House and other corrupt white
officials. As you know, they have to throw in a few white faces so as to
not appear to be straight-up racist.
My Fifth-District City Council woman was convicted of bribery and sentenced
to 18 months. There are other knee-grow officials and small business owners
who benefit from the council woman and the county legislator chairman (a
preacher-man to boot) for steering contracts to their business. Some of
the stealing was done under the auspices of programs called Boyz to Men,
a workshop for minority business women, and other programs that were earmarked
to benefit the Afrikan community. The FBI is by no means finished exposing
these knee-grows. So what does all of this mean? As affirmative action ends
and more and more 21st century slave laws are passed, I will ask, "BLACK
PEOPLE WHAT Y'ALL GON' DO?"
Kansas City will not be unique to the attack and removal of Afrikan politicians
from office and small minority business owners. In dismantling so-called
affirmative action, white amerika is saying there is no more racism. "The
playing field is level, and we have paid y'all for the wrong we've done."
With these actions, white amerika no longer has to have black people in
their jobs (if so, only one), no black politicians (all- white districts
are legal), no more set-asides for minority businesses or scholarships,
no more welfare, food stamps or public housing. If anyone in your family
is a felon or on paper for drugs, you no longer qualify for public housing.
Let me say this, by no means am I in support of these knee-grows because
we have tried to work with them on providing a community house for my neighborhood
to no avail. The white people that were giving them money knew what they
were doing. They always wait for the right time to pull their act out of
da' hold.
We must begin to hold sistas and brothas accountable for what they do and
do not do! How do we hold them accountable? The people must be involved
in the political process (not that we believe in this decadent system!).
However, if you don't know the rules of the game, how are you going to play?
The people must put their representatives in positions, not in private interest
groups. The people must be united in order for anything to come forth. My
sistas and brothas, if all it takes is this white man's MONEY to cause us
to sell-out everything, what does that say about us? The corruption will
continue to unfold, and knee-grows will be exposed and ruined for life.
However, their counterparts can bounce back with no problem, which they
are supposed to do because this is their system. When you control the rules
of any game, you can make them, break them, and rewrite them. We are sitting
and watching ourselves slip back in time. I will ask the question again,
"BLACK PEOPLE WHAT Y'ALL GON' DO?"
About DA' SCHOOLS
As volunteers in the public school system (stupid factories), we see more
and more that we must reach our children at the earliest ages possible.
Teaching begins in the womb. However, if the motha is not conscious, how
will she teach from the womb?
This particular day, Brotha Sauti and I were wondering, "What da' hell
are we doing here?" The self-hatred our children display and the lack
of desire to know themselves is frightening, to say the least! They don't
want to hear anything about Afrika and what is presently happening around
them. They are not interested in being engaged in anything. They come to
class with no books or pens. They sleep in class. The teacher asks them
to sit up and even goes around to each of the children and pats them on
their backs and asks them to get up. They are holding their own conversations
while we're talking, while Brotha Sauti was telling them about home training
and that it's evident in their behavior that they have no home training
and no respect for anybody. One sista shouted, "No, I don't respect
my mama," and anotha sista told her, "That's not cute and you
need to keep that to yourself." Right about then you could have knocked
me out that chair with a feather.
The class has a collection of Dr. Ashra Kwesi video tapes, so we were going
to attempt to play the tape. The class was holding their own conversation.
One brotha asked, "What does that have to do with putting money in
my pocket?" Brotha Sauti was attempting to explain the importance of
information, and the brotha called Brotha Sauti a "boy" and told
him to shut-up -- he wasn't trying to hear that. Brotha Sauti checked the
brotha, as you know!
As I sit here and observe this madness, I am asking myself, "How does
the teacher teach those who want to learn?" There are a couple of students
in each class that want to know (all sistas). How do teachers neutralize
those that cause the disruption because you CANNOT engage them at all? I
understand why many activists are not on the ground trying to reach our
lost children. This is very difficult, I must say.
However, the mental condition of our children is our fault (THE ADULTS).
My son once said, "Mama, you know, children are like a blank sheet
of paper that's never been written on." Shock da' shit out of me!!
And he was/is correct. This is why, regardless of how they make us feel
sometimes, we must continue to reach out and engage them. As Brotha Sauti
and I discussed our feelings about what happened in class, we both felt
the vibes from those who wanted to know. Brotha Sauti said those who wanted
to know were saying, "Please don't give up on us!" The question
was put to the class. "What would y'all do if you were trying to help
someone, and they didn't want your help?" They responded "Leave
them alone!" We can't leave them alone because they really do want
to trust and respect adults, but we have let our children down terribly,
and we must be honest about that.
So let's begin to put those incubators in place and begin to nurture, teach,
love, and respect our children. First, we must get our acts together because
you cannot teach what you do not know, nor can you lead where you yourself
will not go. The incubator concept is about rebuilding our villages in an
Afrikan concept on our own Afrikan terms. The work is long and hard, but
it must be done. If not, we will surely perish.
Spring 1998-- N.C.Xpress
-- Archives -- Electrons
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