What makes a strong community?

I think in order for you to have a strong community you have to have a strong infrastructure. This means you have to have good hospitals, police stations and you have to make sure you elect people in office that are going to really work to bring change to their community and not only just say what people want to hear until they get elected. The next thing that makes a good community is having great schools that help cultivate and builds a child’s creativity. That’s means that we need to change the structure and culture of schools within our community. School shouldn’t be boring and used as a tool that teaches the masses of society how to work hard for somebody else. Our school systems are sucking away our children creativity and preparing them to work in a system that controls their life. Now let’s be clear, there are good schools out there that teach kids to be their best selves and push them to be the new leaders and inventors of society. But in order to get in these schools you have to either live in an area that has a high property tax, or you family has to have the money to pay for your education. Another thing that would help better the public school systems is more parent involvement. A lot of changes and decisions are made in the public school system without the involvement of the parents of the children that attends these schools. Some of the reasons of why this is able to happen is because of broken family structures, poverty, and lack of unity within our community.

 I think it would also benefit society to invest more in teachers. I think that if teachers and doctors were our highest paid careers we could abolish poverty in 20 years. I also think to build a strong and better community we need to do a better job at keeping our community clean. During the Civil rights era segregation was very important in American society so while people of color was fighting for rights other ethnicities of people prepared for integration by moving to communities where people of color couldn’t afford to move into. Also during this time, New York City built a variety of apartment buildings that would eventually force thousands of people of color to live on top of each other. Ironically there were more crimes, drug activity, and murder in the areas of these apartment buildings. Ironically people that moved to the suburbs didn’t have to deal with these issue. History will also show that houses that were built during this time were better and more spacious in a white area versus a black area. When you look at a lot of the buildings that were built 100 years ago in New York City, they are starting to fall apart. I suggest that we tear down those buildings and build high rises for that same population that inhabited the buildings before they were torn down. Now back to building a strong community. In order for a community to be great people within that community have to make sure they work together to make a positive community. This means community organizing is needed. People have to take time out every month and go to their block association meetings. See what’s going on where you live at, be a part of the change. We need to get back to treating each other like family and working together to make things better. Imagine what we can do within Unity. We can fix the school system, we can clean up the community, we can create programs that help cultivate the youth. We can end the gun problem and give our youth something more productive to do then killing one another. We can show our young women and men that we love them unconditionally and that we are going to do everything in our power to create a community and world that we are proud to live in. Hate will continue to destroy the world and Love will save it. We don’t need to be saved by anybody, we need to save ourselves. This is how I feel about people of color, I believe that people of color have been through more oppression, hate, physical and mental slavery than any other ethnicity on this planet. Not too long ago people like me were being hung on trees, not too long ago people like me couldn’t walk down the street at night without being safe. Not too long ago people like me had to drink from separate water fountains and couldn’t vote. Not too long ago they killed off all of our leaders and created a society where people of color live in pain, stress and anxiety. I say all this to say that millions of people of color gave their life so that people that look like me and you would have the opportunities, freedoms and equal rights that we have today. Yes things could be way better but they also could be way worst. If you don’t believe me just go back 60 to 70 years and you will have a better understanding of what I’m talking about. People of color have been through so much pain and trials and tribulations to get basic human rights. So being that it wouldn’t be possible for us to have the liberties we have today if other people of color didn’t sacrifice their freedom and lives I feel obliged that every single person of color should play a part in making this world and our community better for the generation to come. We don’t have the right to sit back and say that we don’t have time to work toward change, or building our community so that the youth can have a safe and beautiful environment to live in. We don’t have a choice in the matter and if you’re a person of color that is not assisting to bettering your community you are a part of the problem. Imagine if all the people during the civil rights movement said that they didn’t have time to work together and fight for the rights and freedoms we currently have today, we wouldn’t have the opportunities that we have. I believe the reason why people of color still suffer is because of lack of unity and love for one another. I also believe the day people of color all wake up as a whole demographic this entire world will evolve and get better not just for people of color but for everyone.

In the process of rebuilding our community we have to do a better job at identifying the problems within our community and then coming up with solutions. One of the problems that I think we have our community is we have a variety of different businesses that make a living off of people within our community. For example think about how many stores are within your community. You have liquor stores, deli’s, laundry mats, food restaurants and beauty supplies stores. Now it’s nothing wrong with businesses benefiting from different community as long as the community is able to benefit from those business’s. As busniness owner you can’t expect to make a living off a group of people for generations and think the only thing you can give back to the community is the service you provide. I believe a business that does that to their community eventually ends up taking away from the community in a negative way. Because more is going out of the community then is going in. I think that any business that exist within your community should have to give back to that community every year. Giving back could mean employing a large amount of people that live within that community. Creating a scholarship fund and giving back to the schools and the programs that services the youth, homeless and the mentally disabled in that particular community. Giving back can also mean sponsoring or creating workshops that focus on cultural competence and financial literacy. Another idea can be different businesses within the community pay a group of young teenagers to help clean up the community. Studies has shown when the area you live in is clean people are more likely to take care of that particular space and be proud of the area they live in. I don’t expect that the city can keep the community clean by themselves but if we all worked together it would be possible.

I don’t have all the answers because every community is different and has its own set of problems. I do know that Unity, Love and Respect is needed in all communities around the world. If we worked together no matter what your gender or skin color is we could get more done as a race. A lot of the problems that we deal with come from lack of unity and respect. Human beings are supposed to stick together because we all are family. An injustice to one of us should be an injustice to all of us. As the human race continues to stay divided you see all the problems that continue to happen. We continue to kill one another, we use war as a way to come up with a solution. We Kill animals and each other for material gain. We have become a race of people that feels comfortable and content with other people suffering as long as it’s not someone we personally know. We have become a race of people that spend more time on our computers and phones then we do with spending time with our family and loved ones. We have been taught by society to stay disconnected but within that disconnect we are being controlled and conquered. Racism, classism, sexism, poverty and hate are all devices used to disconnect human beings. It's time we come together and stop waiting to be saved if die to go to heaven. We can create Heaven on earth, and you shouldn't have to die to live in peace.