If They are Lost, Find Them!
Greetings sistas and brothas. We can all agree that our children are our fu-ture, but we have failed them. We are in a struggle for their minds. I challenge us to do more for them, on whatever level we maybe.
We have to compete with the stupid box and the subliminal suggestions that are delivered over the airwaves. White men and women are the epitome of how a young woman and man should relate to one another, look, think, and dress. Sex is used in commercials to sell everything. Our children's psyches are constantly under attack: the news media tells us that our children are so dangerous, they are a "lost generation" and in the wake of the incident with the six-year-old child, the government calls them "super-predators" and is taking our precious cargo, our children, right before our eyes. If this six-year old committed this act, what would cause this type of behavior? This is no more than another slick campaign like the war on drugs and the war on crime. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! We must turn off the idiot-box. Our babies are simply acting out the violence they see on TV, radio, and in their own neighborhoods.
We adults must reclaim our children. There is so much we can do: volunteer some time in the schools, open up our homes for activities for the children on our block and in our neighborhood, encourage our churches to open their doors for meetings and activities for the children!
Have you ever stopped and held a conversation with any of the young people you see in your immediate community or on your block? My challenge, brothas & sistas, is to begin to reach out to the young people in your immediate neighborhood. I will share with you what S.T.A.C does in the community in which I live.
I have always respected the young people in my community, I always speak to them, whether they speak or not (that's those Southern roots). I began to watch the children and saw they had no constructive activities. So I presented to S.T.A.C. a plan to begin to have activities in my backyard and invite the young people over. S.T.A.C.'s members agreed to the deal and we bought dot painting material and a button-making machine; we drew up flyers and passed them out in the community. We meet every first and third Saturday of each month from 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. We have children from ages 6-l4. While we have the children in our care, we instill culture, respect, and discipline. We have camp-outs in my backyard and S.T.A.C. has taken nineteen children to an off-site campground FREE of charge.
We have gatherings around the campfire, where the children make smores, bob for apples, play horseshoes and learn the pledge to the Red, Black, and Green. Brothas and Sistas, this is not complicated. All you have to do is use what's in your hand, Afrikan Woman and Man. S.T.A.C. members give of our time and resources unconditionally and the children we reach do not belong to us biologically or relate to us or are a friend of a friend of a friend's child, you know what I mean? We are a small organization, maybe six to ten committed and dedicated members that are consistent in what we are doing. This is a slow process, however; there is not a quick fix to our conditions and we all must begin to chip away at the cancer of racism. S.T.A.C. does not have a budget and is not funded by anyone except its members and is not looking to take the oppressors' soft money. We can do it ourselves, brothas & sistas, if we would simply redirect the 400 billion dollars a year Afrikans spend in this country. I'm not saying you have to do the same activities as S.T.A.C. However, reach out to the young people where you are and make a difference in their lives.
Marcus Garvey said: "What you do today that is worthwhile, inspires others to act at some future time." So let's begin to be what our children need us to be. If they are LOST, then we must FIND them.
For more information you may write Sista Shiriki at P.O.Box 5161, Kansas City, MO 64132 or call at (816) 333-9814.
UNITED WE WILL WIN, UHURU
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