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"Tough to see, you can romanticize it a bit and discuss some of the positive attributes, but the goal of the black leaders over the past half century has been the expansion of opportunities, improved acceptance into overall society and integration." All hogwash. The leaders of the Black community have been spending their time trying to extort money from businesses and the Federal Government. They have had equality for a long time, but they don't want that, they want special privileges above and beyound the equal rights guaranteed them by the Constitution. Yes, you are right that the young black men want $ and lots of it, the only problem is they don't want to work for it or earn it as they have every right to do. No they want the Federal Government to give it to them and that is why you won't see the decent, hard working, family value oriented neighborhoods as you described, but rather more tenement housing and welfare projects in disaray & shambles. people like your Grandfather & Grandmother were true leaders, not what passes for it today. These new Black leaders have not worked hard, established & run a legitimate business, given back to the community that helped them, or procured anything for you. But they are good at spouting off their mouths, inciting riots, instigating protests, blackmailing and extorting individuals, businesses, cities, states, Federal agencies, etc to get the media attention & bring attention to themselves and pad their pockets, usually with more of your hard earned dollars. They make good flim-flam men but not much for working up a sweat in the fields, stacking pipe on an oil derrick, or actually performing any decent, hard working, Honest job. It's too bad we can't turn back time, isn't it?
I went to visit a friend in Virginia over the weekend and her county was having a black history month celebration. So we spent a lot of time in a section of town that is pretty much black owned. I noticed that most of the owners were in their 50's or older, the Barbershop, the Rib place, a fish joint, a hair salon, a car wash, dry cleaners. We ate in a small soul food restaurant and the service was great, our waitress was the owners wife and she talked to us like she'd known us forever and recommended places we should go while I was visiting. The owner came out, asked us how we liked our food and even gave me a free piece of Pecan pie cause I told him I'd never eaten any. It was busy in there too, but the service was far better than any service I've ever gotten in a restaurant. It was just a great atmosphere.
But it made me wonder what will happen to communities like this in 40 years. Most of the men in my age group fall into 3 categories; those who want to be rappers, those who want to be CEO's and those who will always live at home with their mama.
Young black men these days seemed to be all about $ and they want a lot of it. They don't seem to understand the value in owning your own business. My grandfather actually had his own landscaping business that he started with just one lawn mower. Two of my uncles joined him and it eventually grew and has been in my family since...but I don't see any of my brothers or male cousins taking it over in the future.
The same kind of goes for the women in my family. My grandmother used to run the kitchen at a headstart program and she sold dinners on Sunday's for extra money. All of my aunts are excellent cooks but us grandkids, myself included, can barley boil water and my mom has never expressed an interest in teaching me.
I'm just wondering what these communities will be like when all of the grandparents are gone and have taken all of their talents with them.
Sorry I got so "carried away" I didn't read your post carefully. But now that I HAVE, it sounds to me like just about every other ethnic group's experience in the history of the US, almost word-for-word. THe "old folks" had serious problems in society, and life was tough...but the 'flip side' was that they were forced to rely on each other, and a rich and satisfying social bond developed. Community in many ways was a big extended 'family'...
As society evolves, the "young folks" are now free to branch out into society. They have MANY times more freedom than their predecessors, but have paid a price in the ever-weakening bonds within the once-close community. People don't get together and 'celebrate' as they once did...there are just too many distractions out there in life...People no longer 'rely' on friends and relatives, instead looking to society for the support they need.
Sorry I got so "carried away" I didn't read your post carefully. But now that I HAVE, it sounds to me like just about every other ethnic group's experience in the history of the US, almost word-for-word. THe "old folks" had serious problems in society, and life was tough...but the 'flip side' was that they were forced to rely on each other, and a rich and satisfying social bond developed. Community in many ways was a big extended 'family'...
As society evolves, the "young folks" are now free to branch out into society. They have MANY times more freedom than their predecessors, but have paid a price in the ever-weakening bonds within the once-close community. People don't get together and 'celebrate' as they once did...there are just too many distractions out there in life...People no longer 'rely' on friends and relatives, instead looking to society for the support they need.
LOL I had to delete my last post, as I had went off on a complete rant about the first post you wrote.
I think you understood my point perfectly in this post and I agree with you. Most of my cousins are not really my family members but grandchildren of people my grandparents were very close to. I grew up in a self-help neighborhood, so my grandparents helped build every house on their block, just like their neighbors helped them build theirs.
When my grandfather started his landscaping business, one of my "aunts" decided she wanted to clean houses. So they offered them as a bundle package until she had enough clients to branch out on her own. She now has a established company.
I agree with you that now that we have more choices and opportunities, the bonds that we have with each other are almost completely broken. I grew up in Gifford, Florida which is still predominantly black and the local black owned business are kind of the heart of the community. I'm just wondering what home is going to be like in 40 years when all of those businesses are gone and replaced with newer things.
I grew up in Gifford, Florida which is still predominantly black and the local black owned business are kind of the heart of the community. I'm just wondering what home is going to be like in 40 years when all of those businesses are gone and replaced with newer things.
Other nationalities will move in and buy them. Then either black people will stop going to them or they will rob them until they finally shut down. And then you'll have an empty storefront which will become a hangout for thugs and will attract the wrong people and before long the community will become the ghetto.
I went to visit a friend in Virginia over the weekend and her county was having a black history month celebration. So we spent a lot of time in a section of town that is pretty much black owned. I noticed that most of the owners were in their 50's or older, the Barbershop, the Rib place, a fish joint, a hair salon, a car wash, dry cleaners. We ate in a small soul food restaurant and the service was great, our waitress was the owners wife and she talked to us like she'd known us forever and recommended places we should go while I was visiting. The owner came out, asked us how we liked our food and even gave me a free piece of Pecan pie cause I told him I'd never eaten any. It was busy in there too, but the service was far better than any service I've ever gotten in a restaurant. It was just a great atmosphere.
But it made me wonder what will happen to communities like this in 40 years. Most of the men in my age group fall into 3 categories; those who want to be rappers, those who want to be CEO's and those who will always live at home with their mama.
Young black men these days seemed to be all about $ and they want a lot of it. They don't seem to understand the value in owning your own business. My grandfather actually had his own landscaping business that he started with just one lawn mower. Two of my uncles joined him and it eventually grew and has been in my family since...but I don't see any of my brothers or male cousins taking it over in the future.
The same kind of goes for the women in my family. My grandmother used to run the kitchen at a headstart program and she sold dinners on Sunday's for extra money. All of my aunts are excellent cooks but us grandkids, myself included, can barley boil water and my mom has never expressed an interest in teaching me.
I'm just wondering what these communities will be like when all of the grandparents are gone and have taken all of their talents with them.
Great Post! I think everyone misses times like you described. For some reason though people can't have there "own" stuff anymore.
leaner smarter faster adapable and assimulated into something altogether new.
no longer in ghettos. no longer obsessed/fixated in we vs them thinking.
many many cushions and crutches will be gone in the new world. there will be no longer time or place for a culture of disrespect and self hatred.
white people will also go thru a huge metamorphosis. accountability for everybody is going to go thru the roof. repercussion for behavior with become draconian.
Grandfather & Grandmother were true leaders, not what passes for it today. These new Black leaders have not worked hard, established & run a legitimate business, given back to the community that helped them, or procured anything for you. But they are good at spouting off their mouths, inciting riots, instigating protests, blackmailing and extorting individuals, businesses, cities, states, Federal agencies, etc to get the media attention & bring attention to themselves and pad their pockets, usually with more of your hard earned dollars. They make good flim-flam men but not much for working up a sweat in the fields, stacking pipe on an oil derrick, or actually performing any decent, hard working, Honest job. It's too bad we can't turn back time, isn't it?
I agree with you. Grandparents were true leaders. My own grandmother used to sell Pecan and Apple pies for extra money. After a while that was all she did because she would have so many orders and it soon became her sole source of income. I think what happened is that grandparents were there during the worst of segregation and they didn't have a chance at the educational opps that we have - so ALL they had was skill.
Black women had to know how to cook and sew and clean and do hair. Black men were used to cutting lawns, picking fruit, painting houses, cutting hair, fixing cars. And then when the times changed many of them took these skills that they had and parlayed them into business.
However this generation coming up now has never really had to work for anything. They had every available opportunity sitting on a plate in front of them, the only choice they have to make is whether or not to eat.
What I find most disturbing is how many young men look down on the barber who owns his own business, lives in a modest home and drives a modest car but they'll respect the drug dealers. For some reason being a "thug" or a "goon" is all the rage now.
LOL I had to delete my last post, as I had went off on a complete rant about the first post you wrote.
I think you understood my point perfectly in this post and I agree with you. Most of my cousins are not really my family members but grandchildren of people my grandparents were very close to. I grew up in a self-help neighborhood, so my grandparents helped build every house on their block, just like their neighbors helped them build theirs.
When my grandfather started his landscaping business, one of my "aunts" decided she wanted to clean houses. So they offered them as a bundle package until she had enough clients to branch out on her own. She now has a established company.
I agree with you that now that we have more choices and opportunities, the bonds that we have with each other are almost completely broken. I grew up in Gifford, Florida which is still predominantly black and the local black owned business are kind of the heart of the community. I'm just wondering what home is going to be like in 40 years when all of those businesses are gone and replaced with newer things.
It's inevitable, and happens in every group that makes up America. People used to have BIG parties, big weddings, big get-togethers, that would go on for several days, and involved huge numbers of relatives. It was a time to meet 'new' babies and the 'new' spouses in the family. The whole extended family attended. This was because people were closer then, but ALSO because there wasn't nearly as much ELSE to do as there is now....
Try and throw something like that NOW...(good luck)... nobody has the time, nor the interest. People are on their second or third marriages, so "families" can get complicated. Everyone works, so many people don't make it. Many 'young couples" now don't have kids, so there are fewer "cousins' to meet. And just when you're ready to serve dinner, half of the guests are out in the yard on their cell phones, and the rest are watching the game on TV....
Life goes on, but that old 'closeness' you're talking about is on its way out, I think. Interesting thread, though....
The worst thing for the black population was when they pushed out the "fair skin" old guard and usherd in the civil right elites. The typically uneducated civil right elites have been nothing but trouble in my opinion and have basically trumped the good things they did in the 60's with all the crap they do now in an effort to maintain power and control.
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This particular point in your post has much relevance, way beyond any particular "black" issue, and it's just a fact of ALL such movements. As the "old guys" begin to 'die out' (or 'fade away') the brave battles they fought begin to be replaced by increasingly irrelevant issues.
For example, look at the overwhelming struggle faced by A. Philip Randolph (leader of the Pullman Porters union, and one of MLK's early mentors)...Dr. King himself...and Jesse Jackson in his early career. The battles these guys fought were real battles, against overwhelming unfairness, and very real, very serious obstacles. They risked beatings and abuse from a hostile society in their lonely battles...
Much of their early struggles are over now. Much progress has been made, widespread rights have been gained, and now, SOME of the 'struggles' aren't very relevant. The battles fought by Martin Luther King, in MY opinion, can't be compared to the current battles being fought by, for example, Rev. Al Sharpton. Dr. King made history. Al Sharpton makes news.
ANY 'rights' movement has the same evolution...from very necessary, very clear-cut struggles, to increasing irrelevance. It happened to Ralph Nader--who started out as a brave crusader, won many concessions, and now just looks kind of silly. The ACLU is similar. Once a brave champion of the abused, with lots of hard-won victories, the ACLU now picks "silly" little squabbles to spend its time on. It's run out of the 'good stuff'...
When my grandfather started his landscaping business, one of my "aunts" decided she wanted to clean houses. So they offered them as a bundle package until she had enough clients to branch out on her own. She now has a established company.
Smart people indeed! Congrats to them. Nothing better than starting from scratch and building yourself up. Very rewarding.
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