please watch this video before reading - I was touched.
We need to be careful what we say to our children. Just recently while shopping in the store I overheard a black mother tell her active child, “Sit your crazy black ass down, Nigga. You are so damn bad. Get on my nerves. Dang!”
Before anyone says, ‘She may have had a bad day.’ I must respond with, before thinking to be nice or politically correct, “I don’t give a damn about her day. That is her child!”
DL Hughley’s mother, in this case, may not have ‘meant’ what she said – but the affects of her statement to him evidently affected him to this day. He did mention it later to his teacher which proves that our minds latch onto hurtful words. Does not matter the intent.
Racism has continued to damage the psyche of the American people. Both, black and white Americans. After watching DL cry I shifted my thought process in an effort to not change my opinions and beliefs – but to address my people’s role in damaging the self concepts of so many black boys and girls.
When I watch that white man sitting beside DL Hughely I think: ‘He did not allow his country’s racist present and past to hinder him from mentoring a black gang banger. There are many like him.
When I think about the destruction that we (black people) inflict on each other I think: ‘We continue to be our BIGGEST obstacle…too. It's so hard to get passed our own sometimes.
We need to remember that we are the first role models our children see. Not Kobe, Not Tiger, Lil Wayne or even Barack. Nothing is more important than how we treat them daily in the home.
Blessings -
Ditto
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