“Tribes At War” by Nas & Damien Marley

Man what happened to us
? Geographically they moved us. 
From Africa. 
We was once happiness-pursuers. 
Now we back stabbing, combative and abusive
. The African and Arab go at it they most Muslim. 
Used to be moving in unison. 
Disputes would end. 
Bounty hunters and grape street get cool again
. Sub-standard housing
. Got the young running rampant. 

I write this because “every man deserves to earn and every child deserves to learn” just how the song says!❤️🙌🏾🙌🏾

I have a lot of smart people around me. It blesses me to know that I am not the smartest (no one is ever the smartest person actually, for none of us possess “perfect knowledge”), but by absorbing what these lovely people have to say, the situation changes. Now instead of being limited by my own intelligence, I’m enriched by the gift of someone else’s knowledge I didn’t have before. Instead of “I” and “me”, we have “we” and “us” taking their place.😄

Cruising through the Tinder profiles from time to time, it occurs immediately-to one of sense at least-that there is a collective decline in class, grace, and manners in society; manners being fueled by one thing. A thing which is the very essence of manners, and which is also neccessary to truly one express the universal laws around respect; that thing which does this is called “grace”.

Yet all around us, the laws are broken and violated. The response? A hushed silence as the hijackers take control of the plane and no one stops the enemy before the plane crashes needlessly.

However, if we take a stand, we can stop it. But we can’t ignore the signals. Weather. Climate. Facts that point to the neccessity of ending the gluttony and excess that enables the oppression of the less fortunate in a poorer country. We are already pretty much paying for clean water, and some have an agenda to make us all pay for clean air (if one were to infer from their stance on climate change that is!).

It can be seen by the way certain areas-poor areas-are polluted, forcing people to move, or else, endure the pain and disease brought on by the poisonous output the company produces, who abuse the land in favor of reducing their production costs, engage in their business, regardless of the costs to the community.* Since they don’t want their own trash in their own trash can (the general rule for us), they have it moved away from their place of business, and it is instead all laid to rest on someone else’s land.* Poorer land.

If we don’t respect each other, and our own land, there won’t be any land left. There are already plenty of resources on the earth to take care of everyone, so why does poverty and suffering in some areas continue regardless of there being the most amazing advances in technology in the world around them as they cry out in need?

It’s because, in many instances, there is a business agenda to keep particular peoples oppressed. I don’t need to explain colonialism, and its after effects, which still exist today, but what is particularly concerning is the presence of a mentality and way of thinking that subsists in the minds and hearts of the opressors.

This mindset is that of one thinking he/she is somehow worth more than an other, when in fact, we are all equals.

One most be on guard for it, because it’s the mentality the world shared before Jack Johnson shattered the science of the inferiority of the black race so powerfully with his victory on June 4th, 1910 to become the heavyweight champion of the world. At that moment, one who was considered 3/4ths of a person, showed not only that he was 4/4th’s all along, but he added a little extra to this limited and foolish measurement. The world was shocked that this could actually even be possible; it was the first of many pyschological barriers to be broken down by the warriors of right.

But when I open the magazines, and I see the corporations-who ironically enough, preach diversity in their institutions which lack it-perpetuating this system of oppression, I think they maybe actually crave and desire neighborhoods and schools segregated by race and income: modern day apartheid.

How can they-knowing full well the pyschological implications-continue to advertise and promote their businesses in a way that perpetuates separation and puts down its own readers-in some cases, contributing to the eating disorders, self-hate, and suicide of the public? Without a conscience, they continue their grip on the pysche of the people enforcing ideals around what is considered beautiful, what size and weight one should be, the ideal complexion, and on and on they go.

So I have to thank my aunt for making me aware of the history that many (the public school system for instance) have tried to erase by banning the mention of this silent war, or by choosing to teach lies in its place instead. Once I was one of those impressionable minds sitting in the classroom being programmed, not knowing at the time that much of the data being dumped into me was a toxic trojan horse that would run rampant when let loose.

Thank God though for the truth! This trojan horse is not perfect, and it has a fatal weakness. It will run when faced with the presence of truth, and I am thankful to my aunt for sharing with me books that do just that.

I hope you all will take a walk with me down this path together, and instead of “Tribes At War”, we replace it with love and peace. It all starts with the people around us, so know that if you are around me, be prepared to be lifted up!❤️✌🏾️ #poetry #writing #writer #blogger