Pseudo-movement

When I first came home from prison I joined up with a group called the African American Leadership Council. I was enthusiastic and I wanted to quickly demonstrate to the group the value I thought I brought to the table. I believed that as an ex-offender I could aid the group in addressing one of the most glaringly unjust issues of our time. To my surprise no one wanted to hear about it, or so it seemed to me. I recall quite vividly how the responses that came to me simply sought my acquiescence and were nothing more than polite dismissals. I was, at first, in denial and sought to elaborate my arguments with more evidence and sound reasoning, all of this to no avail.{{more}} I was left wondering if anyone was seeing what I had been seeing for the past 17 years, a system growing to such proportions with an appetite for African American men that was voracious. I ventured to ask these ‘leaders’ had they had any real contact with the people and the answer given to me was that the people are not willing to cooperate; they are not going to do anything. I could not believe this offhand. I thought sure there was some sort of miscommunication. Consequently, my quest became: to learn what was the true state of the community, without a filter of the elite to dilute my understanding. No simple task, because where do you find the community? Where are they and what do they look like? What do they think about the issues of our times? Off I went to search out these answers to these queries and many more that would arise in the course of my efforts to connect with this unseen mass. I learned that the community was divided, some were stable and had found a niche in our community and a vast number of others were dislocated, inconsistent and very poor. The latter group was most disenfranchised, the former were representative of the few who had been assimilated into the fabric of our society. These assimilators were very judgmental and suspicious of the unproductive rabble. This group survived by any means available to them, not to exclude drugs and thievery of all variety. The other groups weren’t any more moral in an absolute sense; they just seemed to know how to evade detection and prosecution. Their lives weren’t too far removed from the masses, but they didn’t see it that way. In their eyes they were better because they had not been socially labeled a criminal or underclass. Ironically some of these ‘elite’ survived by ‘robbing’ the poor themselves. They lorded over programs or worked for institutions that exploited the vulnerabilities of this rank and file. However, many of their own families, some distant and others close had been successfully apprehended and stigmatized by the system. The same system that in some instances their very relatives worked everyday to maintain. What is wrong with this picture?It would seem to me that if in fact all of these heretofore persons described were a part of the same community then this behavior could be rightfully labeled genocidal or at least counterproductive. How can brothers and sisters support the subservience of their own brothers and sisters to the very systems that exclude and deny them all? Yet this is exactly the observation I have made. There is a great divide that appears to be growing. Until somebody from both sides of the gulf sees the reality of what is happening this affair will continue to erode the social structures that support the entire community. What are those structures? They are both families and churches. The families who are divided shall fall and so too will the churches of those who refuse to take action on the issues that divide this people. We are only a few. Do not let the fewness of our number deter us from action. How often in history has the entire orbit of society been offset by the small steps of the persistent who refused to take no for an answer? There are no shortages of examples. It only appears to us in our time, as I can only presume it appeared to those before us that any effort, in light of the immensity of the problems, would be in vain. This seems to be so because we are so close to the problems. Let us back up or have some distance from the affairs of our times and we would be able to see much more clearly. Our proximity, meaning closeness to the matter only serves to intensify our pain, and it is this pain we wish to run from and avoid. One of our favorite means of avoiding this pain is through the use of denial. We would much rather live in a pretend world than to deal with the facts of life as they are. I include myself in this allegation; often times it is easier to stay away from addressing the hardcore situations that pose difficulties for my survival, and I am a great example of this fear that immobilizes us from time to time. Yet, I fancy myself a leader and as such, I know that something greater is within me than within the world. That something does not allow me the peace that supposedly comes from the running away, in fact my anxiety only grows when I do not face the obstacles in my way. Small though I may be, the Power to overcome is always there and available if I would but reach within to grasp it and channel it toward finding my solutions. I think of it no differently for us on a social level; social problems require social actions, not private solutions. To think that we individually can tackle the plight of the poor or the nightmares that plague war torn nations of the world is preposterous; these dilemmas are a cause for mass action. It is only when we join together and forge a mighty phalanx of people can we become a formidable opponent of the eroding policies, toxic conditions and frightening demagoguery of today’s modern social scientists. Today’s leaders must adopt a spirit of collectivity. Far too many of us are motivated simply by personal gain and self-aggrandisement. We want to be the important one, so when it is time to collaborate with others our personalities are so big that we can’t all fit into the room lest it will implode from the injection of too much hot air. It is in this condition that we find ourselves the victims of the masquerade mentality, because we can’t be effective in this divided state we put on a mask of authority but it is only to hide the guilt of our impotence. Leaders today are frozen by their fraud. I don’t think that many want this to be their lot in life; I am of the opinion that they signed up to be effective, but ill-prepared though they were, and ignorant of the complexity of the issues that plague us and perhaps angry with the seeming apathy of the people, they gave up. I can honestly say I have been there; I have wanted to quit, but I always seem to turn round from my disappointments and draw a positive lesson that becomes the basis of my reinvigorated efforts. Today I am convinced that God has some people He has fashioned to be tillers; their job is to simply prepare the soil for planting. Then there are those who have been called to plant the seed. Others have the task of watering the soil but it is for God alone to bring the increase. God is in the results business not myself, nor any of you. And whenever we place ourselves in that position we set ourselves up for disappointment. Our duty is to get in line with the laws that govern the process, that could mean prayer, or it could mean planning, or strategizing, but never, in my humble opinion does it mean complaining and doing nothing. However, at times it may be the best course of ‘action’ to wait, but that waiting would be on a solution to come to us so that we could take proactive and creative steps to address the problems we face.