RACISM IS STILL ALIVE: We have to reach COMMON ground!

I don’t agree with Common on this one. It doesn’t make much sense to me. Simply because why should “Blacks” be the ones to extend a hand of “Love”?

I could list a million reasons why it should definitely be the other way around. If my memory serves me correctly, Black people have NEVER hung whites. BUT I know how EASILY people FORGET! So, I’ll just suggest reasons why I think BOTH sides NEED to extend a hand of Love!

1.) BOTH have misconceptions of each other. White people believe that ALL black people are criminal minded and violent. Black people believe that ALL white people are prejudice and privileged. When in actuality, there are people on both sides with these traits.

2.) BOTH have dysfunctions. Whites and Blacks both have deep, dark family secrets. Whites and Blacks both have mental health issues. Whites and Blacks both have flaws.

3.) BOTH have been brainwashed by the media. Whites are “portrayed” to be “the vision of perfection”. While, Blacks are “characterized” to be “the vision of oppression”. It’s not hard to see that most black roles are written to enforce stereotypes.

4.) BOTH sides have members that just refuse to get with the times. There are still some Whites that are racist and see ALL black people as a threat to them. There are still some Blacks that have “slave” mentalities. And see white people as slave drivers/owners.

5.) BOTH sides need to get with the program! It is now 2015 and somehow there are still people who are stuck in 1915. Although, I will say that we’ve made progress towards becoming a better country. But we still are miles away.

I’ve never understood racism personally. It seems like such a small-minded concept to me. That you would limit one race of people to make your race seem superior. It’s really backwards to me.

I’ve seen that when we all come together for the same common goal, we get more done. Faster. We realize how much we truly have in common. Most of us realize, that our government has so much to do with the state in which this country is in. But we as citizens have the power to change that. There is strength in numbers.

IMAGINE THIS: We as citizens took it upon ourselves to make things right. We chose to treat each other the way we want to be treated. We stopped judging people by their appearance/status but by their actions/mentality. We stop allowing the media to form our opinions and start thinking for ourselves. We continue to make efforts to understand one another, rather than making assumptions.

When it comes down to it…We ALL have flaws. We ALL have problems. We ALL are humans. NO ONE PERSON IS ABOVE OR BELOW THE NEXT PERSON. We should ALL stand TOGETHER, side by side. Arm in arm.

It’s been said many time in many ways and in many countries…

UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL!

THE AMERICAN DREAM…Yet to be seen.

I’ve always dreamed of moving to New York, I think it’s every writer’s dream city. It’s the picture you envision when you think of the “American Dream”. It’s the “Big City” experience everyone wants to experience.

They say if you can make there, you can make it anywhere. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to take what little money I had to buy a ticket and just go to see what happens. Even willing to be homeless and work my way to the top for the complete experience, if you will.

Of course, I have yet to even simply visit but I have a feeling I’ll be getting there within the next few years. But coming from where I’m from, it’s not as simple as it may seem.

See, the “American Dream” is much harder to achieve and see with clarity from my perspective. It would be very much like The Great Gatsby. I’ve already began to reinvent myself.

It’s been a lifelong challenge to shred my circumstances and bad habits. I still have some changes to make and some habits to break but I’m well on my way. And I can’t wait until I have become the fully grown Butterfly I was born to be.

THE HUNGER GAMES: Just a movie or a forewarning?

I’m not sure how many of you have actually watched the movies or just seen the previews but I assure they are really amazing movies. I promise I’m not just saying that because Jennifer Lawrence and I are from the same city. Although, she’s the reason why the movie is as amazing as it is.

Briefly, the first movie is about an older sister Katniss Everdeen who volunteers to take her little sister’s place in what their nation calls “The Hunger Games“. A televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete. Katniss and her district partner Peeta change the game by deciding to die together, rather than kill the other as the game is suppose to be won.

In the second movie Catching Fire, they are made to portray themselves as a couple when they have to participate in the “Quarter Quell” (an event that occurs every 25th year of the Games and allows the Capitol to introduce a twist). Which the Capitol decides to bring all the previous victors to the arena to compete against each other. The victors come together and fuel the district’s uprisings by destroying the forcefield. In the chaos Peeta and Katniss are separated, Katniss with the rebels from the bombed District 13 and Peeta captured by the capital. Ending with Katniss finding out that her district has now been bombed as well.

In the last movie Mockingjay Part 1, Katniss is enlisted as the Mockingjay (which is her trademark and the symbol of the uprising). She is voice of the people and the leader of the revolution. She sees and hears the story about how the Capitol destroyed her District. As well as, witness how far the Capitol is willing to go in order to disband the rebels. She realizes that the Capitol has brainwashed Peeta through torture and has turned him against her.

I bet now you’re wondering “what’s the forewarning?” Well, there are Capitol enlisted parole officers that are called “Peacekeepers”.  They are police-like officers that enforce the Capitol’s will onto the citizens. They kill those that are a threat to the Capitol and engaged in the uprising. They are the ones that bomb the districts that are going against the grain.

To the “Peacekeepers” are much like the “National Guards” that are called in when citizen being to riot. Gun toting officers that somehow forget that they are citizens when they aren’t armed and are out of uniform. Now, it’s no secret that our Capital is, in many ways, just as corrupt as this fictional Capitol. Agreed, they don’t force us into “Hunger Games” in which we have to kill each other in the confinement of an arena. But they definitely pin us against each within our neighborhoods.

How you ask? While let’s start with racism/segregation between races instead of districts. Then there’s the discrimination within the classes. The rich are well above middle class and middle class is only a notch above the lower class. The poor are pretty much non existent, much like District 13.

Just like the rebels of the Hunger Games uprising, we as citizens are the majority. Yet, we are still stuck where the presidents and corrupt politicians have left us to fend for ourselves or depend on their assistance or accept their injustice and oppression. I wonder, almost everyday, when will people wake up to all the signs around us. And everytime, I get the feeling that once people start paying attention and take their blinders off, it will be to late. But it doesn’t haven’t to be that way.

No, I’m not trying to be Katniss. I’m well aware that the story is fiction but I also know I’m not the only one who reads between the lines. I also know that I’m not the only one who sees that things are only getting more out of hand. Am I suggesting an uprising? Not yet, but I am suggesting that you take your blinders off and realize how much control the government has over your life.