Just my 2 cents

I just wanted people to know that my other blog is up and running. It's http://rants-raves-andmy2cents.blogspot.com

This blog will focus be just like the title states. I hope you enjoy it just as much as this one. I'll still blog on both and sometimes the post may be the same.

Nothing much has changed for Black people

I know many people have been in an uproar about Professor Henry Gates recent arrest in his home in Cambridge, MA. For those people who are unaware of who he is, you can google him to find additional information about him. Mr. Gates is an educated Black man who was reminded the other day by the Cambridge police that he is nothing more than a nigger (yes, I said it). Before you all get your panties in a bunch, the way he was treated shows Black America that is what the white officers thought of him.

Many Black men experience that same treatment Prof. Gates received on a daily basis and it often goes unnoticed. Most of these men are not educated, but some are. It doesn't matter in most places because any Black male is an easy target for police.

I am not sure if Black people living in America will ever get treated fairly. There are many people who often like to claim that race relations have improved but I beg to differ. If you have never been in a store and the clerk overlooked you to service another patron when it was obvious that you were next, then things haven't improved. When you are a Black female working in corporate and you are a no nonsense individual, you are labled a bitch. If this same woman is white, she is aggressive. I am not sure why this occurs, but it does. More often than not, a Back woman has to prove herself to everyone before she is given a promotion. Then if she is promoted, she has to worry about others trying to sabotage her career. Does that sound like race relations have improved? When you have educated Black people being turned down for jobs based on their names sounding too ethnic, surely things have changed. When banks enter minority communities and prey on the residents because many of them are uneducated and as a result are taken advantage of, that surely has to be a clear indication that things have changed.

I could list many more, but the reality is this: race relations are pretty much the same. I don't think it will change until more people will wake up and smell the cocoa beans. Michael Jackson challenged us all to look at the man in the mirror. Let us all take heed to his words.

Changes

There are and have been a number of changes in Chicago. One of the major changes has been the tearing down of the Chicago Housing Authority Projects. Most if not all of them have been demolished and new homes have been built to replace them. The new homes include townhouses, condos and single-family dwellings. So what is or has happened to the residents that once occupied these projects? A good number of them has been pushed into various neighborhoods throughout the city and suburbs. As a result, many neighborhoods are experiencing crime that may have been minimal in the past.

When the housing projects were in existence, all of the crime was in a concentrated area. Now they are gone, it has made a lot of neighborhoods seem as if crime is on the rise. What can be done to eliminate the crime that is taking place throughout the city?

It is often very difficult to show people that crime is not the answer. Even if these individuals go to jail, many of them return upon release because they have a difficult time matriculating into society. A lot of critics would argue that the schools and teachers need to do a better job of teaching these kids about the options available to them. Students are only with teachers 6 or 7 hours a day. The majority of their day is spent with family and friends. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the people the students spend the majority of their time with has the most influence over them.

The President has challenged all parents to obtain higher education for at least a year or two. I believe if more parents would do this, more kids would see the possibilities available to them. The oneness is not on the school system and teachers alone. Parents play a big part of this equation. If the parents would take an active role in their child's life, they would know what their precious baby is doing and maybe some of this crime wouldn't occur.