Journey (and Struggle) to Success
Similar to New York and other major cities, Washington, DC is a melting pot, bubbling with many different people and cultures from all around the world. It is not an unusual occurrence to step on the metro and hear fellow travelers speaking Russian, German, or one of the many Nigerian dialects. It amazes me that many groups of people, communities, families, and individuals have decided to make the journey to America to start new lives, lives they feel are much better than the ones they leave behind. Some face death, starvation, deportation, and many other travesties just to set foot in a country they believe will bring them closer to ”freedom”. Many come with nothing more than a few rand, ruble, pesos, etc and a few necessities. It astonishes me that everyday I spend money in nail salons, dry cleaners, restaurants, beauty supply stores, and many other places I frequent in my every day life, not realizing the struggles these individuals had to endure to reach their current level of success.
As happy and proud as I am for these individuals I am greatly saddened by the fact that many African-Americans, born in the LAND OF THE FREE and the HOME OF THE BRAVE will never be as successful as someone who came from nothing and has surpassed them greatly. Why is it that, with so many resources available, there continues to exist minor levels of great accomplishment and success as a people. Yes there is Barack Obama and there was Martin Luther King and there are still HBCU’s and many other univerisities that continue to develop smart and mature individuals, but unfortunately this is a small group of people in the grand scheme of things. Many of the people who came to this country from impoverished nations speak absolutely no English, have no education, and no money yet, 10 years down the road they have kids in high school and college, the top 10 percent of their classes, graduating summa cum laude, valedictorians, and being accepted into ivy league schools. They have moved from the apartment complex and are now established in upper middle class neighborhoods. So many African-Americans still struggle with the English language, and fail to realized this fact alone limits their potential to make it to the top. What many fail to realize is that the kid you used to pick on in school because they were the only Asian, Mexican, Samoan, or African in your class/school and could barely speak English, will one day be teaching college courses, performing heart surgery, or pounding the gavel in court.
It is just really interesting to me to know that in many ways African-Americans are still at the bottom of the barrel after all these years and many just don’t seem to get it. So many people want better but refuse to get up early on Saturday to volunteer, protest, mentor a child, tutor a student for 2 hours once a month….that’s crazy. The plight reminds me of a bell curve…things seemed to be headed in the right direction about 30 years ago and them WHAM…we are almost back where we started (well, not quite but you get the point). Many causes can only be attributed to our lack of accountability, focus, drive, and ability to come together and forget the “dog eat dog”/”every man for themselves” mentality. If you REALLY think about it, African-Americans (as I see it) are the only ones that DO NOT look out for their own. People joke about Maxicans always being 50 deep, but they look out for each other…people don’t understand how they were looked over for that promotion although they know their performance was better but Jim promotes Bob anyways. But why would any of this be important when many of us will leave each other high and dry if stepping on another one of our backs will get them to the next rung….SAD
~SoSaditty~
