“What If That Was You? Part 2”

WARNING: This is another topic that I would usually not give attention to but it would only be fair to my readers that I share my opinion. If you aren’t going to read with an open mind, you should keep swiping up.

If it’s alright with you, let’s go to church real quick. There is a parable in the New Testament in which Jesus goes up to the Mount of Olives to share his message. As he was sharing the word, he was interrupted by the Pharisees (religious/political leaders) because they caught a woman in the act of adultery. They turned to Jesus and asked him what they should do because due to The 10 Commandments, she should be stoned. He turned to them and said, “He who is without sin, cast the first stone.”

As the statement echoed the room, they began to turn to themselves and thought about their actions that were possibly known/unknown, one by one, the stones dropped. As they reflected on their past transgressions, they realized that none of them had the right to cast a stone because in their own way, they fell short of the mark as well. Jesus then turns to the woman and asks, “What happened? Has anybody condemned you?” She replied, “no”. Jesus said, “neither will I. Go and sin no more”.

There’s many lessons that we can learn from this parable but the one we are going to focus on in particular is the back end of this story. A lot of times, we take it amongst ourselves to play the role of “The Equalizer” but we don’t take into consideration the times when we had misfortunes and mercy was showed upon us. In the light of recent events, this should resonate with us all and be a loud horn for unity.

Yesterday, when I was in the shower, I couldn’t help but to shake my head in disbelief in the direction humanity is going. We have an unlimited range with technology and the only thing the powers at be can think to do with it, is to turn people against each other. We have millions of possible outcomes that using AI could be beneficial but instead, Sophia got a twitter account and started hacking people’s psyche with bogus ideas and completely removing the ability for one to logically think for himself.

I’ve said this millions of times and I’m going to continue to say it, the strongest muscle in our body is the brain. Without the proper mental diet, it is possible for one to lack the necessary components to critically think and as a writer, I’m taking the responsibility of wiping your hard drive clean and interjecting a more beneficial code. I must say that although I am an African-American not only am I disappointed in the justice system but I am also disappointed in US as a people. Let me explain.

I read a stat on Instagram that read, “over the past year 200 rappers have been killed due to gun violence.” XXXtencion was robbed/gunned down at RIVA motorsports in Deerfield Beach, FL. He was stripped of his life at 20 years old by black men. Young Dolph (36) recently was gunned down at a cookie shop in his hometown. His killers? Also black. King Von (26) was shot by a black man. Slim Dunkin (24), Bankroll Fresh (28), Pop Smoke (20), Tupac (25), Biggie (24) and too many others had their lives cut short at a young age for nonsense. All from people that had the same skin color as them.

I’m not from the streets, never have been, won’t ever claim to be but I will never understand the importance and the pride of “catching a body”. I will never be able to wrap my head around the glorification of taking another person’s life. Because regardless of affiliation, thats someones son, brother, dad, sister, aunt, mother. Imagine the hurt you would feel/have felt knowing your kinfolk died because of a shrimp tryna get a little bit of clout. I will never understand why record labels and A&R’s don’t see the current climate of the world and try to persuade their artists to be artists and create original material that doesn’t involve promoting wasting your life for “street credibility”. If we want to see a change in the perception of black people, it’s going to have to start with the music industry.

The entertainment industry has successfully brainwashed our communities into thinking that in order to be “respected” is to be a hot boy. That’s why generation after generation seems to get more and more reckless because the examples being set for them are superseding the lessons that are/aren’t being taught at home.

It’s important to understand that the entertainment industry has one job and one job only and that is to ENTERTAIN. The second you get on and stop entertaining, you are kicked to the curb for the next hot shot and the cycle repeats itself. To glorify killing your brothers and sisters and then turn around and protest police brutality it’s almost negating the purpose of the protest.

The scenario from the Bible and Glorifying murder in music is the same thing. We can’t sit here and complain about the justice system failing if we aren’t going to lead by example by stopping the senseless crimes against your own community and hold everybody around you to the same standard. The justice system is failing don’t get me wrong but in order for it to work in our favor, we need to turn our outside work inwards and figure out how we can contribute to the change.

Contributing to the change means more than donating during Thanksgiving and Christmas. It means more than a school drive donating back packs and such. Although those are great ways to contribute to the community, we have to get back to how it was when we were growing up. Barber shop/Hair salon conversations schooling the young Kings and Queens why it’s important to value education (not this systematic, white man vs the world bullshit). More male leadership in the household to keep our future leaders away from the streets. More positive influences that prove that intellectual content makes money too.

(Side Note: I am working on starting a mentorship program for teens growing up in Single-Parent homes. Also, trying to get into the lane of decriminalizing marijuana on a national/global scale.)

If we all did the necessary work to work on ourselves, we would almost immediately reap the benefits. I mentioned it in one of my podcasts before that when we work on ourselves and make sure we are straight and pursuing our passion to add to society, we will not only grow to higher heights, our roots will expand and be able to touch more lives than just ours. We all were born with unique talents and gifts designed to add more life into the planet but we’re too caught up in the materials, FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), racial injustices, side effects of the Willie Lynch teachings and other societal points that were manufactured to keep us in a box.

The point I’m making is this, as a minority, if we are going to demand the world show us some respect, we must first show respect to one another. We must first break the Willie Lynch mentality by unifying together, raising our kids, protecting our families from all threats both physical and psychological. We must stop killing each other over “respect” and earn respect the right way. Do right by the next man and they will do right by you.

I wrote a post on optimism a few days ago and I stand by it. I am 1000% guaranteed that if we all got on board with being optimistic about our future, we would put our differences aside so we can enjoy the opportunity that we have in front of us. We wake up every morning with the opportunity to make our wrongs right. As I learned from Mel Robbins, “action is the secret”. If you want to make a difference in your community, take action in your life to see where you can give the most. Maybe you want to be a fitness trainer, personal chef, podcast host, musician, fashion designer, teacher or whatever else your mind can fathom, action is the secret.

Take action to be a power for good, a beacon of positivity and a valuable resource by treating everyone you encounter with love and respect. When somebody does you wrong, be the bigger person. The energy you keep around you is an indicator of your trajectory (or demise). Wise man once said, “Be the change you seek”. You want to seek change in your community, it all starts with you. Today, let’s get it right.

• SB