I said this before - in 2006 - yet, in light of recent questions that have come from readers I post it again. Enjoy!
When starting a business or starting a movement, it is a revolution. And, a revolution is simply a change. It has been a long time coming, and I do still know a change is go'n come - Oh yes it will! But, where does that change begin?Why would change begin "out there?" Why would the "powers that be" change the way things are done when we haven't changed ourselves? It was the change within ourselves that ignited the changes in society, leading to the end of Jim Crow. It will be the change within ourselves that will ignite the changes in society that will end the myriad disparities we face.
But, we don't want to change. I mean - if we change, the fight will be over. And then, what will we do? What will we have to look forward to once that "one day" when we shall overcome appears? So, for the sake of the struggle - we struggle. Frederick Douglass said, "without struggle there is no progress." Very true, but Mr. Douglass I must ask: "without progress what's the point of the struggle?" Can anyone answer that for me? Of course you can't! There is not point to struggle without progress. So you see that what we're doing is pointless!!!Reparations requires a dramatic shift. Our ways of thought must change if we're to ever attain true Reparations. And, that's where we must start. So long ago Mr. Charles Woodson said we were mis-educated and needed to be re-educated. But alas, we've still gotten it all wrong. We have neglected re-education, preferring simply to gripe about the mis-education - doing nothing to fix the problem.
How do we fix this mess? Garvey would say that we need institutions. Our institutions - our organizations. But, our organizations are failing us. We speak of how their institutions are failing us - the schools are undereducating our children. But, how much better are our institutions performing? What have they done to change the way that people think about life and their roles in life?
These organizations have talked a good game - throwing bricks at the establishment. But, we need those bricks for our own development. We must quit wasting these valuable bricks, and use them to build our institutions - to build our communities. Our organizations must begin the work of re-education: shifting the ways of thought which prevail in our society.
Einstein would define insanity as doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting different results. So, my scientific reasoning must say that we are insane! Reparations calls us to end the madness, and chart a new course.
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