..::Laflare::..

On Friday we watch Channel 11 special about where African Americans stood today in the world after the death of MLK. So now i want to look at where we are in 2009. First things first, the dream has been realized with the election of our first black president. His victory was a step forward but the struggle that we as a people have, have not yet diminished. One of the valid points made in the documentary was the fact that the media can be used as a tool to easily invoke panic and fear into the mind of the citizens. The Montgomery Boycott devastated the economy of Alabama by taking away the buying power that African Americans had. There has been pools that show that we as African Americans make the least amount of money in the minority but we spend the most. If you look at most television ads they are targeted towards the urban community. Who ever controls the media, controls the minds of the citizens. The Channel 11 special touched base on this subject. The program was a round table discussion with four panelist Ben Ruffin, Maceo K. Sloan, Melaine Wilson and Warren Harrington, JR. The discussion allowed them access to the problems we are still facing, not only African Americans, but issues regarding the unemployed nationwide and reasons why school drop out rates are still incredibly high. The problem seems to be with the death of so many black leaders in the late 60's and early 70's we as a people lost a sense of direction. Out of that pain and frustration came the the birth of hip-hop. Hip-hop has become the voice of the new generations to express their anger, but even that had become tainted over the past couple of years. As the media and the government play more of a financial role in the media we are being fed images that affect our everyday life. Advertising drugs, sex, violence and an uncontrollable desire for money. I believe these statement have crushed the moral of our community. But there is hope, we need to address these issues and make a change to build up our own economy.