A MESSAGE TO MY YOUNG BLACK SISTERS AND BROTHERS

Hello, beautiful young black sisters. YOU ROCK! And I love you and always try to lift you up! So in that spirit, I have a few suggestions, no a few pleas. Here goes:

First, young sisters hit your books. Education is power. Our slave ancestors risked their lives for education. The plantation owners severely beat them for learning to read. They knew they could never again enslave an educated people.  They knew the power of reading and education!

Second, don't have sex until you're married. That may sound funny but think about it. You are precious and should require a covenant and legal commitment from a man before you give yourself to him sexually.

Also, you may get pregnant and learn how difficult it is raising a child alone. Marriage protects you from this hardship. Also, premarital sex increases your risk of contracting STDs especially HIV/AIDS. As a matter of fact young sisters, new HIV infections are increasing among you more than all other groups.

Now to my strong young black brothers, I love you too. In fact, I was you and know your potential and struggles. So, I have a few suggestions for you also.

First, stop calling each other the N-word. Not only are you embracing the degrading insult in this awful word, you're also embracing the insidious hate in it as well! This word produces self-hatred and therefore makes it easier to be self-destructive and violent toward other young black men.

Second, most of you young brothers probably grew up without fathers. Almost 75% of black children do. Therefore, you shouldn’t have sex until you're married. Let your friends laugh! So what! Your life will be much better than theirs when you don't have the police running after you for child support. Even worse, why bring a child into this world if you are not ready to shoulder the responsibilities and duties of being a father? That would be shameful and extremely unfair to the child, its mother and the rest of society. Don't make the same mistake your absentee father made with you.

Please don’t misunderstand me, if you have impregnated a girl; I’m not suggesting you encourage her to have an abortion. That’s murder. Instead, I’m suggesting that you refrain from sex until you are married and ready to raise your child.

Third, as I told the young sisters, hit your books. Take education seriously. There's nothing more fearful to our enemies than educated black men. See how they fought President Obama. They want you to have guns, drugs and felonies, not books. They know you are dangerous to our race with guns, drugs and felonies, but you're dangerous to their race when you are educated because you are empowered and become their competition.  This twisted logic explains why they dump thousands of guns and drugs into our neighborhoods.

Guns, drugs and felonies play into their strategy for another reason. They enable our enemies to enslave and imprison us in mass numbers and deny us valuable rights such as jobs, housing, voting and so forth. According to the stats, 1/3 of young black men today will become felons, probationers or parolees. Education greatly decreases the chances of this outcome.

Fourth, stop killing each other. Your life is precious, so is your brother’s life! God made you both in His image. Moreover, your family and community need you strong and healthy not dead or in prison. You play into the devil's trap when you sell drugs and kill each other. He's destroying a minimum of two lives from one senseless act.

Last but not least, young sisters, please, please don't wear hair bonnets out into the public. Those are for bedtime, I thought. And young brothers please stop wearing your pants, so your butt cheeks show. We don't want to see that. No really, I'm not playing, we don't want to see that.

I just had a few things on my mind this morning. I've been where many of you are now. Thank God Jesus taught me that this self-destructive behaviour is a remnant of the slave culture. He showed me how it allows our enemies to continue our oppression although the physical chains have been removed. He taught me that this behaviour sells all black people short. He showed me how the devil and other races were laughing at us behind our backs. Jesus loves us and wants us to do better as the beautiful race of people He created.

Again, I love you dearly and want us to display the true power God gave us as a people. I’m very aware of the effects of white supremacy and know it’s at the core of many of our problems.  I’m not blaming the victims.  Nevertheless, we must not unwittingly further the goals of white supremacy by engaging in the above described and discouraged behaviour.  We must be wiser and stronger.  Undoubtedly, we’ve experienced much progress having twice elected the first black president.  Much work is still yet to be done to ensure the progress many suburban blacks enjoy also reach those blacks left behind in our nation’s ghettoes and poor urban areas.