Real Life Real Faith Men of Faith September Issue | Page 15

women are only good at having babies and being on welfare. Negative stereotypes simply mean
that people have designed a book cover for a race of people with no intention of reading the
pages within that book. The media is just as guilty with its portrayal of the African-American
people. All you see is the negative pictures painted by society splattered all over every media
platform there is. Everywhere you look around, you see images of poor parenting/deadbeat
daddy representations, mug shots, murder/crime scenes (mainly black on black), drug
dealers/users, sagging pants on the boys/men, scantily clad dressed girls/women, welfare
recipients, nappy headed/no teeth representations, uneducated/bad English speaking
representations, and/or animalistic portrayals. This is the picture painted by America for the rest
of the world to see giving the world the impression that this is all African-Americans. They
already say that we all look alike, but to also say that we all act alike is preposterous! That is just
as bad as an African-American saying that all white people are racists. We know that racists still
exist and to say that they don’t would mean that one is naïve, but to put all white people in that
category is crazy to me. Besides, every race of people has individuals that fit the negative
descriptions that get forced upon African-Americans. We are looked at as the bottom of the
totem pole.
Then there are the African-American people…my people. You absolutely cannot point
one finger at anyone without four fingers pointing back at you. As a race we are the worst in
engaging self-pity, blaming others for our actions, refraining from accepting the consequences of
our actions, and coming up with excuse after excuse for our predicaments as a people. As they
say, “Excuses are tools of the incompetent, which builds monuments of nothingness.” So from
the outside looking in, our excuses as a people make us look very incompetent as a whole and
according to this quote…simply put, being that we are often looked at as inc ompetent, it is also
believed that we cannot, will not build anything worth anything.
The question now becomes, “What does all this have to do with me?” My answer…a lot!
No matter how smart I am, how many degrees I have, how many skills/talents I have…no matter
how wonderful my character is, how big my heart is, how much of a help that I am to any race I
may be…I am still looked at as a black man first. I get judged by my cover without the reader
even opening up my book and reading the pages of me.
What exactly is on the pages of ME? Education-wise I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree
from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Masters of Business Administration and
a Masters of Public Administration from Strayer University. I have taken and passed the North
Carolina State Exam for Health and Life Insurance. Career-wise, I have worked in the human
services field in some capacity since 1999. I have assisted with the establishment of a Non-profit
Organization. I am in the process of having my fourth full-length novel published. Finally, the
one accomplishment that I feel is just as important as many of my before mentioned
accomplishments is the fact that I don’t have a criminal record. That’s right! I have never been
arrested. I have never sold drugs, I have never shot at anyone, and I have never committed a
breaking and entering or a larceny. I have never committed a felony nor a
misdemeanor…NEVER!I am a gentle giant but when I add a fitted cap, some Jordan’s, and some