In my opinion, the fear of black men in America is due to the fact of stereotypes that date all the way back to the 1800s and slavery. The word brute for example- a savagely violent person or animal. Now when you think about it, where did the word originate from? The word came to past in the reconstruction era after slaves were freed. This was one of the worst times in history. The twist is, not everyone was angry. Most were just thankful to finally be able to have a choice. A choice to work, educate, to run for office or better yet, a choice to vote!
Everything starts in the home: morals, beliefs, behavior, conduct, work ethics and – most important – racism.
You see the way we were programmed as children affects us when we become adults either consciously or subconsciously.
So the fear isn’t really fear. It is a sign of defective programing. Fear is a choice, people choose to be fearful.
But danger is real.
We have a choice to live up to stereotypes or to break them. No one can make you become a problem.
You can choose to give in and submit to society and become just what society says you are. Or choose to rise about, each one, teach one.
Choose to educate your brother or sister of any race. I also learned a long time ago, you don’t have to be the same skin color in order to be my brother or sister.
Let’s learn to judge each other based on your character, on our integrity, our morals and beliefs and most of all our hearts.
Don’t get me wrong there are some cold-hearted people in this world.
But we don’t have to choose to be one of them.
We must learn to turn the other cheek. So that our children and our children’s children don’t have to endure the pain and the struggles that we all have had to face as a human race.
Let’s make the choice to educate and elevate one another. Don’t give in or listen to the propaganda.
I don’t consider myself to be a problem in America. I consider myself to be a solution. Any by the way, I am a proud African American man.