For generations, Black communities have faced injustice, discrimination, and barriers that were created to hold us back. Those realities are part of our history and continue to affect us today. But there is another question we must be willing to ask ourselves. Are some of our own choices making our struggle even harder?
This is not about blame. It is about responsibility. A community cannot grow stronger and heal, if it refuses to examine itself honestly. Self-Care.
Why have we become so divided? Why do we often refuse to support one another when our families, businesses, schools, and neighborhoods need us the most? Why do we compete over nickels and pennies instead of working together to build dollars, opportunities, and lasting wealth? Why do so many of us seek attention that is destructive instead of respect that is earned? Why do we see another Black person’s success as a failure in ourselves?
There is no denying the dastardly dehumanizing impact of American Chattel Slavery on African American people. The time for healing is over-due. There is a medicinal herb, called Self-heal, we must heal Ourselves.
We have been ignored and pushed aside for so long that many of us have stopped seeing the value in one another. That’s my observation. Too often, we fail to listen to each other. Too often, we criticize more than we encourage. While others may overlook our worth, we sometimes do the same to ourselves.
The results can be seen everywhere. Our economic strength suffers when we do not support our own businesses. Our political influence weakens when we do not organize around common goals. Our schools struggle when education is not treated as a shared responsibility. Our neighborhoods decline when we stop caring for the places we live. Our spiritual and moral foundations weaken when selfishness replaces service and unity.
If we are honest, we must ask another difficult question. Have we become complicit in Our present condition of existence? If the answer is even partly yes, then the answer is not hopeless, it is action.
We must choose cooperation over competition. We must invest in one another instead of tearing each other down. We must encourage our children to dream, support our entrepreneurs, and in turn reinvest, respect our elders, strengthen our families, and solve problems together. We must learn that another person’s success is not our failure. It is proof that success is possible.
No one is coming to care more about our future than we should. The responsibility to build a stronger community belongs to us. The next generation is watching our choices. Let them see people who refuse to surrender to division, who reject destructive habits, and who believe that unity is more powerful than conflict.
The future of Melrose City will not be decided only by what happens to us. It will also be shaped by what we choose to do as a community, beginning today. Be good to you.
