The Black Community has declared WAR on itself?!?

The Black Community has declared WAR on itself?!? Choosing to go to UW-Milwaukee and study Africology, History, and most recently International Studies, has really allowed me to look at the larger perspective of why things exist the way they do, especially in the Black Community, everywhere it exists in the world. I’ve always been interested in things I’d seen growing up, both from a community aspect and what media tells me. The issue of Psychological Effects of Racism has been at the height of my interest. What are we socialized to believe? How much does our past play a factor in our present situations? I started writing this simply out of frustration, better yet anger and disgust tonight! I just heard about an 11-year old girl fighting for her life tonight. Got home, said a prayer, closed my eyes to go to sleep, and I was instantly woken up by several gun shots! You mean to tell me, this little girl is in a hospital somewhere fighting for her life wasn’t enough to stop the shooting, even for a night! I couldn’t go to sleep. All kinds of questions started running through my mind. Why do things exist the way they do for some people and not others? How is it that I can leave my “hood” and drive up a few blocks and feel as if I’m in a suburb? Why do Black Men leave their homes at disproportionate rates? Why is the Black Family regarded as dysfunctional in a lot of literature I’ve read? Why are Black male youth turning towards the same vices that imprison or take the lives of their uncles, cousins, friends, neighbors, etc? How does an 11 year old girl get caught between cross fire of two arguing Black males and end up with a bullet lodged in her head? How does a woman and man lose their life to gun violence sitting in their vehicle at a red light? If this isn’t war, then what is it? How is it that I go to school with individuals who’ve never expressed some of the fears that I have? Going home late at night without calling my parents to let me in the house is unheard of. Going two weeks without hearing a gun shot, two, three, maybe four is nearly impossible. Praying, better yet, pleading with the Lord that my family members are sheltered from gun violence is inevitable and my daily reality. It never fails to amaze me how careless young white females are when it comes to jogging in their neighborhoods at night? It’s really an eye opener to drive down Lisbon and watch the demographics drastically change from 76th down to 27th, or any other place for the matter. It’s astounding to me that student’s within MPS express not having adequate learning materials however schools like Wauwatosa East have heated pools with speakers for listening to music, embedded in them. The most alarming thing to me is often times, on my way to work or school; the number of Adult African American men who can be found on any corner in the inner city from sun up to sun down; unbothered! It’s frightening. My mother and I just had a situation occur yesterday where we were heading home but both in our own vehicles and we notice a 1 year old baby girl, walking down the sidewalk by herself. Cars drove straight past the child as if it was normal, but Thank God for the Mother I have; my mom pulled over and got the attention of the Adult African American Men who stood on the porch drinking at 3pm, not even realizing the child had wandered. Only after hearing my mother’s words did one man run off the porch, snatched the child up, and spanked her numerous times as if she’d done something wrong! Excuse my language but I believe the only ass that needed beating was that of four grown men drinking at 3 in the afternoon and inattentive to the child they should have been watching. Too often I see this though and it really hurts my heart. WE have to do better! Black women walking down the street: head scarfs, colorful-madded weaves all down their butts, stopping for honking cars or men YELLING at them. Since when is a car horn a sign of flattery? Men, up at dawn, not even allowing a lick of water to hit their face before getting outside to hustle. Men and women on Instagram flexing about the latest thing they bought their son or daughter. Women walking out the door with no bras on or in pajamas. Better yet, grown men sipping medicine out of baby bottles! What is really going on? I’m writing these words, not to knock my people but to bring light to a situation that has spiraled completely out of control! We are Kings and Queens but we are accepting titles of: Thots, Baby Daddies, Baby Mammas, Bitch, Shawty, Hoe, etc… Saddest part about it, is that we’re wearing these titles proudly. “Bitch Whuuu?!” “I’m a Bad Bitch!” “My Baby Daddy got me!” “She ain’t my girl but that’s Baby Mama!” Really? We have lost the air of respect African American women and men used to have about themselves. More emphasis is being put on True Religion birthday outfits than education. There is a problem when you dress your baby and you get pissed that they got their True Religion shirt or pants dirty, that’s what children do! Kids dying over sneakers. Grown men and women killing over labels! These designers don’t rep you but you rep them to the death! “Too many young fold have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like justice, truth, and love.”-Cornel West Why should mainstream respect us or portray us in any light other than baby mamas, thugs, criminals, or belligerent? We want justice for the Trayvon Martin cases around the world and the slaying of African American youth by Whites; but we do it every day to one another; speak on it for a day or three then go on about our lives. It’s by no mistake that things exist the way they do. It’s no accident that “Ghettos” are overwhelmingly inhabited by Black people everywhere they exist in the world. There is no mistake that the US has the highest incarceration rate. It’s no accident that our achievements rarely get coverage in the media but all of our crimes get media coverage. Stop being ignorant and try to understand why our current conditions exist the way they do. Then, stop being stereotypes and be a part of the solution rather than aiding the issue. My best friend and I were driving down 27th Street and a car accident ensued right in front of us. Grown men and women, Black men and women, come running out their homes, "Awwww Shiiiiittt", pulling camera phones out and laughing! We need to hold human lives to a higher regard. We have to understand that we are responsible for the livelihood of our neighbors. Sadly, in one car, there was a young girl and her baby. No one bothered to check and see if the child was okay before trying to record the accident for social media. Men, respect your Black woman and look out for you black children! Women, respect your Black man and take more pride in yourselves and your children. Take this for example, during slavery Black men were flogged, beaten, stripped, burnt, had their penis’s cut off; all in the front of their families. Think about this, Black women were raped, stripped naked, beaten, etc.; all in the front of their families. Children got this same treatment. The Black Family structure therefore was weakened and broken apart; separated! Today: You have large numbers of single mother households in the Black community. Men who suffer from alcoholism/drugs and feel they have no role in the family. Today: You have children leaving their families to hustle in the streets, claiming it to be their home. Today: You have black men who joke about the objectification of women and their bodies. Today: You have women who dominate households, resisting their husbands, and even objectifying their bodies as though it’s a necessary means for getting what they want. Alcoholism, Depression, Diabetes, Aids/HIV, etc… All diseases that are heavily distributed amongst Black Communities! Churches neighboring liquor stores. Billboards advertising smoking, alcohol brands, and “Money Fast” (debt) are higher in our neighborhoods than that of whites. I once read, “If you don’t want Black people to know something, put it in a book!” Ironically enough, some MPS schools don’t even require classrooms to have books! I could go on and on about what history tells us about the present but I dare you to seek the knowledge and educate yourselves. We need to be better guides for our youth in order to refute and exceed beyond the vicious cycles our past has laid out for us! Really think about the question of, who’s the perpetrator? Who’s really killing who? With a lack of knowledge, we might as well, load the guns! With a lack of community action and organizing; we’re damn near pulling the trigger. I hate to say it but way too often, the Black community is responsible for the deaths of its own members. It’s shameful. It’s scary! It’s so sad to me that this past weekend, a host of my peers graduated from Universities or Technical Colleges and their first mindset is to get as far away from Milwaukee as possible! I almost can't blame them. Who wants to come home and be the next statistic after working so hard to accomplish so much! I asked, “So, what’s next?” The responses I got were overwhelmingly, “There is nothing in Milwaukee except Niggas being ruthless!” I can completely understand their thinking however, this is the sad reality of what it has come to. We need our College Graduates if we are to survive this war that we’ve declared on ourselves. I hope this letter, declaration, poem, whatever you’d like to call it; reaches someone. I just wrote these words because I couldn’t sleep with this all on my mind. I still don’t quite feel liberated because of having written my feelings on these issues but I wanted to share. The love I have acquired for people is really unyielding. My only wish is that one day, my people, would really, truly love themselves as much as I do! Saddest part of it all, this probably won't get read. I just pray that we do better as a people and a community. God Bless. Breonna Stone