I was listening to Ty Wansley’s Chicago Speaks on V103 this past Sunday and the topic of discussion was violence in the black community. Ty said that there needs to be an #OccupytheHood movement to end the violence in the community. I agree that something needs to be done, but here are my suggestions on the #Occupy Movements needed in black communities. Of course, these things will only happen in an ideal world, but at least I’m making suggestions, not just complaining.
How about #Occupywhipass ? I was born in the 70s and it was perfectly fine for my teachers, neighbors and any other responsible adult to tag my butt when I misbehaved. And most of my friends turned out just fine. Actually, none of my friends are in jail (that’s not to say a few haven’t seen the inside of a cell during their teens), and no one has a record. “RESPONSIBLE” and “MISBEHAVIOR” are the operative words. There is a difference between a whipping and a beating. And being an adult doesn’t equate to responsibility.
#Occupybeingaparent. It is NOT OK for parent to try to be their children’s friends. If you are the sole parent, it’s even more imperative that you are a parent first.
#OccupyPERSONALresponsiblity and #occupyPERSONALaccountability. For young people ages 12 – 18, you know better and you need to be responsible for some of your decisions and actions. I say some because you are still highly influenced and those influences are powerful. If you are over 18, you better wise up, stop making excuses for things that happened in the past. And for parents making excuses for their children, confronting other adults because of something your child has said without confirming the facts will continue to make you look bad and/or visit your child in jail because you won’t hold him or her accountable for decisions and actions.
#Occupylovetheyself – If you don’t love yourself, you can’t really love anyone else which is why it is so easy to take someone else’s life. I don’t know how to correct this one. The only advice I can give is, turn off the TV and stop allowing people to define who you are and start loving yourself.
#Occupygetridofchurches -There are too many churches in many communities that are only open on Sunday. The community has needs every day.
#Occupytakecareofyourself – Stop waiting for other people to do for you what you can do for yourself.
#Occupycommunity – What happened to the community? Do you know who’s living next door to you? We are not islands, people!
#Occupyrespect – This won’t work unless you practice #occupyloveyourself. But young people really do need to respect their elders; this is where #occupycommunity should step in.
Okay, these are my thoughts. What other occupy movements do you think are needed in Black communities?
Image: seekyt
Communities need to establish strong Block Clubs. These clubs provide information on what is happening in your area. Churches need to be open for these clubs to hold meetings. Church leaders need to rally with marches weekly to say no more violence. Why do we always see Father Pfleger on the news?? Where arfte these hundreds of black ministers??
For block clubs to work, the people have to care. On blocks made of mostly seniors, you will find stronger block clubs, but there is only so much they can do. Younger people have to stepping up because when our seasoned citizen are gone, there will be no block clubs.
I agree with you about the church leaders. There are at least 100 churches between 79th & Halsted t0 79th & Ashland and between 95th & Halsted to 95th & Ashland. That doesn’t even touch other parts of the city. However, I do have ask, where are people in the community? If the ministers aren’t showing up, what are other people doing to help prevent violence. It is apparent that not too many people REALLY care about all the violence because if they were, there would be more action.
I always like a little sarcasm with the truth. Good job.
Thanks so much.
I’m from that same generation where all the neighbors were given the ok to “TCB” if they had to. Although I never saw any of them go that route, we did have to be respectful. The adults I remember the most. were the ones that took the time to prepare us to work on our own behalf, the ones who formed the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the local NAACP chapters, the Black scouting programs, the Boys and Girls clubs. These same folks taught us how to hold meetings how to do our own fund raisers and how to affectively interface with the larger community.
It seems to me there are always some of these people in most Black communities we have to set our negative attitudes aside and build on the efforts that these people have already started. When we teach our young the profit of working together, by example and instruction we will see some positive changes in the hood.
From looking at your blog I feel like I’m preaching to the choir, nice job.
Thanks so much for stopping through and sharing. You had a Junior Chamber of Commerce??? I love it!!
Sure did. They had started with the Scouting programs and clubs in the early 1950’s. They started the JayCees early 1960’s by that time we were 15-17 years old. I still remember our first fundraiser, it was a bus trip to Wildwood, NJ. They helped us to make an outline then delegated all the tasks among us and we had to do it all from beginning to end. We had to plan the trip, handle the publicity, the printing, the ticket sales, everything. My main job was to arrange the bus, this might not seem like much but it’s very empowering when you’re 16 year old Black kid from smalltown NJ. We did it. Everyone had a great time and we all learned some invaluable life lessons.
Thanks for sharing that. I’d like learn more so I can incorporate that into my youth programs. That is very impressive!
The first thing you have to do is to contact the JayCees in your own city and take it from there. If you are already active in the community you may already know someone who is involved without being aware of it.
Start at the following URL.
http://www.chicagojaycees.org/index.cfm
Great! Thanks for sharing this source. I never knew it existed. I’m going to look into this.
I live in Argentina (South America) and I couldnt agree more with you!!!
I`ve been reading about occupy movement and I came up with your site. I think it`s just great!! 🙂 and the bottom line is… the things you mention are not happening only in the US but here also, and as far as I know.. everywhere else. SOMETHING must be done; or even better: WE need to do something!! stopping being selfish would be one step…
Eliana, thank you for stopping through! Do you have anything to add? Would love to hear your thoughts.