I have a reality

By GEZUS ZAIRE

(In memory of MLK and a message 2 all the fakerz)

Yes I know Barack Obama is about to take the oath to become president but that does not make up for the problems that plague every Black community in this country. From Linden, to the Southside of Columbus, to Washington D.C., Detroit, Youngstown, Cleveland, Watts, Brooklyn, Queens, and Gary, Indiana anywhere you go in this country if there is a Black community it is likely to be filled with despair. Our problems arent new. Martin Luther King Jr. died fighting a war against poverty. This great man did more than make a speech, and have a dream. He actually left his comfortable home in the south and moved to a ghetto in Chicago to confront the mayor, organize street gangs and fight for poor people. Every year when I see MLK celebrations they feel so insulting. I notice a lot of economically mobile people pouring out money to have breakfasts, banquets and various other gatherings but most of those same people refuse to live or invest in the Black neighborhood. Many say that Obamas election is the realization of Kings dream but Black Americas reality is a dark and bleak place in the back of Americas mind. Too many Black men are facing the same fate that King and his contemporary Malcolm X suffered from homicide. Marvin Gaye once sang, Who really cares? Who is willing to try to save a world that is destined to die? In Columbus like in every other big city in Ohio Black men are the leader as homicide victims and what is being done? Most of us act as if nothing is going on until it hits our families while law officials often attribute it to gang violence. In return law enforcement can often request for more money to expand gang task forces which often do nothing but create more jobs for cops. Nothing is

ever done to address the conditions that created the gangs in the first place. If you read the history of any Black street gang in America it usually begins with a group of youth who feel that they have a lack of access to resources that can help them be successful young men and women. King, who was arguably the most compassionate leader in this country, understood this and warned the U.S. when he said, There is nothing more dangerous than to build a society, with a large segment of people in that society, who feel that they have no stake in it; who feel that they have nothing to lose. People have a stake in their society, protect that society, but when they don't have it, they unconsciously want to destroy it. Last year Columbus had 108 homicides victims and 67 involved Black men. In 2007 it had 79 homicides and 49 of those included Black men. In 2006 there were 104 homicides and 52 of the victims were Black men. Every year Black men are between 50 to 62 percent of the homicide victims while every other groups number remains in the teens or lower yet there is no called state of emergency for the Black man. Youve got people in this city that will meet because a building is being torn down but wont use city hall or host a forum to try to solve this problem of Black men being killed in the streets of Columbus. Blaming gang violence is nothing more than a scapegoat to further criminalize Black youth while not dealing with a serious issue that afflicts all Black people. Black self hatred is ruthless and worldwide. It allows us to continue to call ourselves "niggas", bitches and hoes. It makes it okay for us to steal from and sell narcotics to each other, accept this raggedy education that doesnt prepare us to be anything but servants, leave our children fatherless and kill each other with little to no regard. Its in Nigeria, the Congo, Jamaica, Haiti and yes right here in the good old U.S. and has outlived and killed more Black people than any Black street gang that has been created.

Ive made an effort through this newspaper by calling leaders in this city to convene and deliberate upon solutions to the problems of Black people in this city and not a single one has contacted the offices of the Call & Post on the subject. It was refreshing to see Sen. Ray Miller and Sam Gresham meet with the community to talk about the ills but I havent seen others come out in the forefront and take the necessary stand that needs to be made. Meanwhile on Martin Luther King Day, which is Monday, Jan. 19, many of the citys most affluent Black folks will be smiling for the cameras and holding hands with White people singing We shall overcome while the Black community is in ruins and will continue to be on Tuesday, Jan. 20. If you really want to fulfill Kings dream then follow his footsteps. His fight wasnt just about integration. It also was about investing in the Black neighborhood so that it could be self sufficient. As head of the SCLC King helped to create Operation Breadbasket which created jobs for Black people and addressed the needs of Black owned businesses. The problem that we face is that the ghetto is a domestic colony thats constantly drained without being replenished, King said to White business owners. And you are always telling us to lift ourselves by our own bootstraps, and yet we are being robbed every day. Put something back in the ghetto We also demand that you put money in the Negro and loan association and that you take ads [and] advertise, in the Call & Post, the Negro newspaper. Kings dream may have captured peoples imagination but his concern about reality is something that most of his so-called followers have tried to run from.