To this day, it is sickening and saddening
that some of us are so mentally disturbed with a “plantation mentality,”
where we have to await for a signal from somebody else to determine
what is in our own best interest. This is the reason why there is
trouble in our communities.
To this day, it is sickening and saddening
that some of us are so mentally disturbed with a “plantation mentality,”
where we have to await for a signal from somebody else to determine
what is in our own best interest. This is the reason why there is
trouble in our communities.
Our young people want examples to look to that
will give them strength and counsel and guidance. But our young people
do not find in their elders the guidance, the counsel or the example
that they would like to follow; so they are given to the streets because
we have not given them what they need.
The schools have failed in their stewardship
of the minds of our young people; and the teachers have failed in their
responsibility to the children, because the teachers are not growing;
therefore, they cannot grow their
students.
We are a part of a system that is a plantation educational system, a
plantation political system, and a plantation social system, and
unfortunately, a plantation religious system.
Our young people want examples to look to that
will give them strength and counsel and guidance. But our young people
do not find in their elders the guidance, the counsel or the example
that they would like to follow; so they are given to the streets because
we have not given them what they need.
The schools have failed in their stewardship
of the minds of our young people; and the teachers have failed in their
responsibility to the children, because the teachers are not growing;
therefore, they cannot grow their
students.
We are a part of a system that is a plantation educational system, a
plantation political system, and a plantation social system, and
unfortunately, a plantation religious system.
Look in the ‘mirror of Truth’ for needed personal change
What went wrong? Oh we are not here to cast
blame—but there is enough blame to go around. What we need are solutions
to The Problem.
These young Black males that the Black nurses
see coming into their hospitals shot up and wounded over nothing: There
never was a generation like this one! We have never produced a
generation so cold and brutal as the generation that represents “our
future” and “our children.” Even during the worst times in slavery we
were never as violent and vicious towards one another as we see
happening today in our communities. Is that correct? The court system
and the penal system marvel at the fact that children today are
committing some of the most heinous crimes. Have you ever stopped to
consider why?
Few new units and tight standards for home
loans add to the pressure. The average monthly U.S. rent is at an
all-time high, and a 10% jump in Los Angeles County over the next two
years is forecast.
A nation still struggling to clear up one housing debacle has run smack into another — soaring rents.
The foreclosure mess has pushed millions of former homeowners with
tarnished credit into a competitive apartment market across the U.S. Add
fresh demand from young workers, few new units and tight standards for
home
loans, and the result is rental sticker shock not seen in years.
Rents are surging from New York
to Los Angeles. The average monthly U.S. rent for apartments hit $1,008
in the first quarter, pushing past the all-time high set in the third
quarter of 2008, according to the data firm RealFacts.
USC's
Lusk Center for Real Estate forecasts a 10% jump in Los Angeles County
rents over the next two years. In certain markets, it is now cheaper to
own a home than rent.
Americans are getting used to
the idea of renting the good life,
from cars to couture to homes.
Daniel Gross explores our shift from
a nation of owners to an economy permanently on the move—and how it will lead to the next boom.
In the American mind, renting has long symbolized striving—striving,
that is, well short of achieving. But as we climb our way out of the
Great Recession, it seems something has changed. Americans are getting
over the idea of owning the American dream; increasingly, they're OK
with renting it.
Homeownership is on the decline, and home rentership is
on the rise. But the trend isn't limited to the housing market. Across
the board—for goods ranging from cars to books to clothes—Americans are
increasingly acclimating to the idea of giving up the stability of being
an owner for the flexibility of being a renter. This may sound like a
decline in living standards. But the new realities of our increasingly
mobile economy make it more likely that this transition from an
Ownership Society to what might be called a Rentership Society, far from
being a drag, will unleash a wave of economic efficiency that could
fuel the next boom.
“You’re going to spend a whole lot of time trying to put petals back
on the flower once it’s dead, trying to put leaves back on the tree once
the leaves have fallen,” Terrence Howard said.
The actor told almost 500 graduates at South Carolina
State University on Friday night that the biggest challenge they’ll face
in life is to keep moving forward after they make mistakes.
“God knows you’ll make mistakes,” he said. “But ... don’t
make the mistakes that people have made in the past by not believing in
themselves, by trying to put dead leaves back on a tree.”
There’s a theory that everything in the universe moves in
waves, Howard said. He told students when they’re accomplishing things
and moving up on the wave, everything is wonderful. But then they’ll hit
the crest and start falling.
He told the students they’ll have to reorient themselves when they fall.
“The way you reorient yourself is a little thing I call ABC,” he said.
“Always be comfortable. Always be calm. Always be cool.
Always be comported and collected, and always be comfortable with the
consequences of an action,” he said.
“If you are not comfortable with the consequences of an action, stop right there,” Howard said.
![[SMALLS]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tEU7ug9T7sLEtR-mjWyl4Od0fPToxIMUTkEF4rJlmeYyHTbxnE1xGrQJKvtAFRcNR2q3SaoeWayEbEtVV62ARjj53Xk2th1d3Z7wYw-04bjlVrnNDRB56zBMyUFbYyhV_dQ19fump4N_U4Up1KWdCA-aA=s0-d)
Courtesy of the Charleston Museum
Robert Smalls fought in the Civil War and for equality in the Reconstruction South.
