Thank You America - Affirmation of Who You Are

Thank you America!  The 2016 Presidential election results was affirmation of the mentality of millions of the citizens of these United States of America.  Over 47% of those who took the time to vote, supported a person who throughout the campaign spoke in a hateful, racist, bully tone.  Thank you America for reaffirming how you feel about minorities.  Thank you for sharing your views on how only European American immigrants are entitled to receive the best that this land offers.  Some say they voted for “change” and a non politician to lead that change.  But, did you listen carefully to what your non politician was saying about various groups?  Or is it that as long as he didn’t mention your category of human being, you didn’t care what he said?

For me as a black man life moves on.  I calmly went to bed election night before the final results were in.  My view was God is in control, no matter who became President.  When I heard the results the next morning, I nodded my head and told myself, “okay, affirmation has been received.”  Even before the results of the election it was clear to me that neither candidate would improve my life or the life of black people.  No, instead it was up to me to make my life better and to assist in helping other black people improve their lives.  Investing my money in black businesses and our youth is something I have always tried to do.  I will simply increase those efforts and strengthen my resolve to have a positive impact on as many black people as I can.  The only thing I expect from the government is to use my tax money wisely.  I’m not waiting for the government to come to my rescue or to rescue struggling black families or individuals.  Those days are gone and never really existed.  These days if you want something you go and get it or make it happen yourself.

The answer in overcoming generational impacts of slavery lies within each of us as black people.  Within my own generational family there are members who made bad choices.  My success is due to making fewer bad decisions, not because I was smarter.  Maybe we as black people went too far in absorbing the values of European Americans, who let’s face it stole this country from a native population that was already here when European American’s “settled” in this country.  We can’t get away from that basic foundation.  These United States of America are based on a group of invaders feeling they were entitled to land that was already inhabited by a burgeoning population of indigenous people.  The formula for success was to take someone else’s  land then forcefully enslave people from another continent to do the hard labor work that was needed to make the “new” country flourish.  Then hundreds of years later, preach the doctrine of building of a wall to keep immigrants from coming into the country.  It’s a great strategy.  A strategy of lessons learned from what the original settlers did to take over the country.  Self interest.  An attempt to keep what you stole.

So again.  Thank you America for the wake up call.  But, I already had received my wake up call many years ago.  Your decision only serves to motivate me to do what has to be done, by any means necessary.