It Takes A Village

I can say that there should not be one Black person over the age of 35 that hasn’t heard the phrase “it takes a village”. I grew up with that mentality. My grandmother embedded it in our brains. Most of my family have forgotten what that phrase truly means or they never over stood it in the first place. This is the main obstacle in the indigenous Americans communities.
With parents having to work 80 hour work weeks just to survive and pay their bills it doesn’t leave opportunity for parents to be involved in the child’s life. Yes, driving them to school or practice or going to a game or performance every now then isn’t the same as the quality time I spent with my mother. Even though we weren’t rich she made sure we took trips together, went to concerts together, as well as keeping us in touch with family near and far. I look at my daughter and her cousins who hardly speak or even know one another! Just a few months ago a child got killed at a concert with his family. That’s just insane.

Children are being raised by children which is also part of the problem. With shows like MTV’s Teen Mom what else should our girls aspire to be but baby mommas! I mean it is trending on Instagram. You know what else is trending in social media… plastic surgery! These children are altering their bodies before they even have a chance to grow up and develop. I mean, do what you want with your kids but don’t destroy their minds and bodies. Children have way to many choices now a days.

We as a people have to get back to “it takes a community to raise a child “. Please stop teaching your kids that they don’t have to listen to anyone but you (the parents) because that is setting them up to have problems with authority, which is a behavior disorder that put children on medicine for. If I acted up in the streets and a neighbor or someone saw me, I would disciplined by them and then my Mom when she was made aware. You can’t send your kids to school but teach them to disrespect the teacher!

My last point is about the parks and recreation centers that are state funded. I went there during the summers for summer camp and it was free and close to free. Now a days there are no free summer camps or programs for kids. Some offer scholarships but most don’t. So if you have to pay $250 a week for summer camp and you have three kids… What the holy fuck! That’s ridiculous. Even if you can afford to pay that you shouldn’t have too! We have to get back to the natural way of living. Reasonable housing, higher wages, no working after 7 p.m. unless your are in certain fields like food service, spending more time with our children and spouses. This is what we as Americans should be striving for. Let’s stop the hate, we all bleed the same color blood and if you needed a kidney I don’t mind giving you one of mine no matter your race, but would you do the same for me? The thing that all religions have in common is compassion. Where is the compassion?