My Cynical Rantings

Lift Every Voice and sing till earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of liberty
Let our rejoicing rise high as the listening skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea

Sing a song, full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song, full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sum of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won

(www.youngblackeducated.com) Over a year ago, I decided to start Young, Black, & Educated in an effort to have my voice heard, and to try and give other black people like myself a place for their voices to be heard and shared. It started off as pretty much my rantings about the Black Community and how we need to stick together and fight for our rights. That was in 2010, now we are in 2012 and while I’m still ranting, the direction of my rantings have changed.

Today, I write to inform you that the Black Community is on her death bed, in Mercy Hospital, on the 3rd floor, in the intensive care unit. Don’t be alarmed though, we’ve known about this tragic story for a while now, 300 years to be exact.

Today however, is not a special day for the Black Community, although I can ensure you that today a black man will get locked up. A black boy will be shot and killed for wearing a hoodie. A black girl will be forced by her enslaved subconscious to get on her knees for a man, and find love the only way she knows how, and today a black girl will get pregnant, and 9 months later become a single mother, with a fatherless child.

We know these stories all too well and yet most of us remain silent. We see these things happening to our brothers and sisters, to our mothers and fathers, to our friends and to strangers, and we choose to ignore it while the Black Community rest silently, inhaling and exhaling its last breath, AND NO ONE SAYS A WORD!

Maybe it’s a sign that we all need to gather around and ask God to send us Martin Luther King back, and if not him at least send Malcolm X so the back community can have its leaders back.

I’ve been visiting the Black Community for 21 years as she quietly and peacefully sleeps through the intense, boisterous, and lavish musical that keeps denying her liberty and justice for all. Every year however, the Black Community makes a move, or a turn, or a sound, nothing to noticeable, just enough to let the people on stage know that she’s still there.

There was a time when names like Al. Sharpton, and Jessie Jackson meant it was time to unite, galvanize, come together, and be one people. Now those same names, in the same racially charged atmosphere garners responses from, sadly, my generation, like “not these two niggas again”, or “ooh lawd what da talm bout now” or “who is dese old niggas”.  

At the sound of these responses, I am left speechless and confused as to where this ignorance and major disconnect comes from, and when exactly did it occur? I am a part of a generation that I can only assume will be deemed, The Lost Generation.

The lifting of voices was never passed down to us, and if it was, we ignored it along with the marching, because as you can see victory hasn’t been won for the Black Community. Tomorrow, I will walk down the street, walk in to Mercy Hospital’s intensive care unit, and demand that America operates on the Black Community. I’m tired, but I’m going to keep fighting until they start working, and until the Black Community wakes up and can fight for its self. I will be there each and every day fighting. NO ONE WILL STOP ME!

Anthony Ferguson, Jr

www.youngblackeducated.com