Writing this from bed...forgive me as I collect my thoughts...this is a rambling...

There is so much foolishness...madness in this world.  The advent and mass accessibility of social media seems like a double-edged sword.  On one hand, the issues and occurrences that historically have been glazed over and ignored by the masses are now being brought to the forefront of everyone's attention.  Most recently, Sandra Bland's tribe banded together and refused to believe allegations that she committed suicide in aTexas jail cell after being arrested during a routine traffic stop.  In less than 2 weeks, they have garnered nearly 100,000 signatures petitioning the U.S. attorney General to get involved in the investigation for Bland's death.  Cases like Bland's have been all too common in our communities, especially in the south and disenfranchised neighborhoods in the North.  Police brutality, stop-and-frisk, the school to prison pipeline...we know what it is.  For many African Americans, it's a lived reality of a constant state of belligerence, fear, and helplessness as enemies of the state simply because of the color of our skin.

On the other hand, social media bombards us with realities that are painful to discuss as we have become so numb to them for so long.  We've gone from, "That's just the way it is" to "Why the hell is it this way and what can I do about it?"  Posts, pictures, theories, blogs, videos, clips etc. awaken the "Black rage" James Baldwin so eloquently describes.  This rage gets played out at the reading of every blog...at the scrolling past of every picture...at the replay of every incendiary police body camera video....what in the world?  This ish is traumatic to say the least.  I leave my timeline exhausted from being so angry.  Part of me knows that this righteous indignation re-awakened is the impetus to a greater movement to bring about justice, even if at the moment, it's justice for one black woman or man who has succumbed the violence posed to black bodies constantly.

I guess my question is...what will it really take for black people to be healed?  What does that really look like for our communities?  Does it mean access to "quality" education (meaning comparable to what the rich white kids get in the suburbs)?  Does it mean access to better housing opportunities? Once we leave the physical ghetto, can we leave the ghetto mentality behind?  No, sir, you can't sit on my car or my steps. No, you can't plug your phone in my outdoor charger.  No, sir, you can't smoke weed on the corner at 2 in the morning on a Tuesday and be loud cuz...well...we folks around here have jobs and we get up early so we'd freaking like to sleep.  Take Pookie an'nem out of North Philly and transplant them in Middletown.  Hell to the no.  I left North Philly to get away from them because they have already succumbed to the poverty mentality and well...ain't nobody got time to be reprogramming no adults.  So do we believe the children are our future?  How does we as a society, en masse, break the cycle of poverty and end the culture of poverty.  And yes, I know critics would shame me for asserting the bourgeoisie, pompous and classist opinion that the culture of poverty is inferior but who do you know actually WANTS to live piled on top of one another in a small space struggling because of lack of resources with little prospect of getting out? No really?  I'll wait.  Being poor is not fun.  It's not glamorous.  That ish is hard.  It's only because of the resilience and brilliance of black people that we can look at our struggles and laugh at our pain.  The struggle simply became resourcefulness.  Resourcefulness became reality and somewhere along the line, some of us forgot that it wasn't ok to be on the bottom.  Trust...if black people were complacent with being poor, there would be no hip hop culture which glorifies glitz, glam, and the perceived "finer things in life".

I could go on and on...just like everyone else is going on and on...