Good Reads: August 1, 2008
In regard to the colored people, there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested towards us. What I ask for the negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice. The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us… I have had but one answer from the beginning. Do nothing with us! Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us. Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! … And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also. All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! … your interference is doing him positive injury.
Frederick Douglass
* “What the Black Man Wants” — speech in Boston, Massachusetts
Dumb things I’ve heard: #1
Because of Barack Obama, my child now: believes he can do anything/believes he can become the president/has higher self-esteem.
Wait a minute: You mean to tell me that before Barry came on the scene, you didn’t teach your child that they could be whatever they wanted to be, accomplish whatever they wanted to accomplish, and that they were worth something?
I don’t need a long drawn out post for this one. It’s simple: ALL OF THIS STARTS AT HOME. Not with celebrities or politicians. My momma ALWAYS inspired me to do my best. She always told me that whatever I wanted to accomplish, I COULD. She made sure I knew I was a person of infinite worth. Not better than anyone else, but certainly NOT WORSE. And she certainly didn’t encourage me to wait until someone else did something before I felt like I could do it too.
So if your child hasn’t learned that lesson yet, I’ma need you to look in the mirror. Not at the blasted TV.
