The Gantt Report
by Lucius Gantt
Almost every time I speak with young African-Americans my eyes get full of tears. I get watery eyes because I feel sorry for our youth.
Black youth and young adults have got it twisted. They believe things are the way they are because this is how it is supposed to be. In a lot of cases, whatever the descendants of slave masters say, young African-Americans believe and agree with.
Young Blacks know about slavery but they don’t believe slavery has an impact on how we treat each other and how we treat others today. Young Blacks have heard about Martin, Malcom, Mandela and others but they don’t believe in standing up, speaking out and protesting injustice and exploitation like those men did.
In other times, people who fought for equal rights and justice were considered heroes. Women like Rosa Parks, Fannie Lou Hammer and Angela Davis who protested unfair treatment and oppressive politicians were idolized. We used to listen to our freedom fighters. We used to follow our true Black leaders. We used to march, boycott, sit in and burn up.
It is not bad enough for young Blacks to be apathetic when it comes to modern day social, economic and political struggles. Today, young people will criticize their elders and their parents if the parents fight the system and powers that be to make life better for their families and communities.
Black youth think all Black people in jail should be in jail. Young Black people think that all people getting government assistance are lazy and should get a job. Many Black youth believe that their ancestors, their parents and others who stood up for them didn’t do a damn thing to help Black youth get as far as they have gotten!
The youth say, "I work, I pay my bills. That is what you do to get ahead!" I say Black youth would still be working in the cotton fields if it were not for people who picketed, boycotted and shed blood for you!
What can be done to motivate Young African-Americans to take up the cause? Perhaps Black youth will never rise to the occasion unless the modern day slave masters tell them too.
It hurts when an evil person can divide Black youth from their fanilies and their rebellious heritage. I can’t say the white man, because Black youth loves white people and hates themselves.
But it brings tears to my eyes when klansmen and nazis say a Black man is bad if he is a freedom fighter or a radical or a revolutionary and Black youth believe the klansman.
However, I won’t stop speaking out and telling the truth no matter if Black youth like it or not because the truth will set us all free!
Where would we be if Jesus didn’t stand up? Where would we be if Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner had kept quiet and went along with the slave master? Instead of doing what we’ve always done to progress in America, many Black youth want to do the opposite. They don’t want to be free. They just want to get from the field into the house. They want to be millennium house Negroes. No, the youth of today will be ecstatic if they just make it to the porch!
Don’t hate the players, hate the wicked game! Be proud that a few Black men and women still have a backbone. Be thankful that God has sent us a modern day Moses or a Harriet Tubman.
If you don’t want to fight for equal rights and justice, quit criticizing those of us that do. (Contact Lucius at theganttreport@comcast.net)
The Gantt Report
by Lucius Gantt
We are our own worst enemies. We spend more time trying to roadblock eachother than we do trying ot support and encourage eachother.
If you can believe so-called Negro leaders, the masses of Black people would do a lot better if they’d just shut up and do what the Negro leaders tell them to do.
Every time one of us stands up, speaks out, questions authority, requests equal treatment or demands justice, we are “messing with their wood floors”.
Instead of emulating other ethnic groups that are proud of their history, proud of their culture and proud of their ancestry, those designated as leaders in our community ignore the suffering and sacrifices that had to be made to get them where they are.
If you are Black and hired or appointed to a high level position, more often than not, you will be expected to deal with Black issues, Black businesses, Black organizations and whatever Black person that walks through the door.
Why would a white, for instance, hire a Black person to act white when he can hire one of his own kind?
Being appreciated by Blacks, being honored by Blacks being supported by Blacks and being accessible to Blacks can only help a Black person in a lofty position.
But Negro leaders cannot stop worrying about their “wood floors”.
Remember in the "Roots" TV series when the master was trying to force Kunte Kinte to accept the name of Toby? No matter how many times he was whipped, when Kunte was asked his name, he said Kunte Kinte.
Pretty soon House Negro Fiddler walked over to the whipping post and told Kunte, “I understand what you’re doing. You’re a good man but Massa say I got to break you. If I don’t do it, Massa will get another nigger to break you. So, the next time Massa asks you what your name is, you say Toby!
“You messin’ wit my wood floor!”
Right now in 2007, people we expect to reach out a hand and help us are more concerned with pleasing the modern day slave masters in order to get more for them, the modern day Fiddlers!
If you didn't know, only the House Negroes slept on the floor. Other slaves slept on the ground.
OK, what am I talking about?