“Making out or make it out of something.”
Growing up in the inner city, you have these goals of what most would say, “Making it out the hood.” But have you ever stopped to think to make the hood out of something good? And why do so many of us as African Americans attain wealth and then flee these poor environments. Well, for starters, it has to do with how anyone else in America growing up with humble beginnings views this country. You want to have that American dream: the colonial style house, two car garage, the boy and girl, the cat and dog, with the husband and wife. This image has been the face of our nation for so long, that is the foundation for what is considered the good life. Another reason Black people seek to make it out the ghettos of America is because of the disproportionate numbers of violent crime that exist in the community.
What’s crazy about the numbers of crime is that the criminal element only constitutes a small percent of the community; maybe less than 10% of the total population. So even in low income housing projects, you might have a population of 2,500 to well over 5,000 in some housing developments. And the criminal element is between 5% – 7%, maybe in some places 10%. So you’re talking 125 -175 people in the low populated housing, and 250 – 350 in the high populated projects that are the worst of the worst. So something so small becomes major when living in these environments; and on top of it all poverty. It’s a perfect recipe for disaster in a community. Yet, is there anything that is of salvageable value that is in the community so that it can be uplifted from poverty. Because right now, you have a lot of people living so much off the tax payers dime.
And the answer is yes, there is something of value that is salvageable; the children. Yes, that’s right, the kids. Investing in the future generations is a great way to change the landscape of any poor community. Because once you invest in the minds of the young, they will have it hard-wired in their minds the intellectual capital to build and reshape a community. We say in the community that we need jobs, but if you invest in the young, that will get built. There is this place in Harlem called the Harriet Tubman Learning Center that caters to the community as a school. Schools like this or the Harlem Children’s Zone Promise Academy built in the neighborhood base around aiding poverty stricken families with workshops for parents learning facilities for children. These places are based around cultivating learning in a young generation which will re-contextualize the way they see society.
And when your mind opens up to changes and all the possibilities you can’t go back to what you used to know. In the end, you always hear what can the government do to fix issues in the community, and that really is nothing much. Yes, there are still kids who go to public schools that are underfunded and overpopulated that could use help. But a lot of the major problems has to be something that starts internal. The community has to figure out a way to deal because Black people are $2 – $3 trillion of America’s economy. The fact that our communities are in the shape they’re in yet we have some of the top spending power in the world is beyond me. #FUTUREGENERATIONS
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