Real Life Real Faith Men of Faith September Issue | Page 16

other urban clothing, I am immediately transformed into a thug…at least that is how I am viewed
by some. I have experienced the sudden sound of locking doors, which I understand because
safety is important. I have also experienced the crossing of the street/sidewalk and the clutching
of purses. Not to mention being followed around stores as if I am going to steal something. All
because of the skin I am in? Or is it that I exude the characteristics of being a bad person? In any
sense, I get prejudged!
I look at movies such as 42, The Help, and The Butler, just to name a few, to get an idea
of the struggles people with the same color skin as mine had to endure. This is just a few of the
movies of the many that have been filmed that show the plight of African-Americans. These
movies allow for the people born post-Civil Rights years to see what people before them had to
go through for us to be able to have what we have, even if we have to go through the extra b.s. to
get it at times. Seeing these stories often anger me in three ways. It angers me to know that
African-Americans had to go through so much heartache, torture, murders, brutality, name
calling, disrespect…blood, sweat, and tears when we were forced here in the first place to be
pieces of property with no intentions of being able to have those rights listed in the Constitution.
What do they call it? Oh yeah…liberty and justice for all. It also angers me to see my people that
were born post-Civil Rights years and didn’t have to endure all that pain act like the animals that
some of America expect them to act like. I mean, the gangs continue to be an issue, drugs and
disease continue to spread in our neighborhoods, black-on-black crime continues to be high, we
break into people’s homes and steal, we drop out of high school, we wear the sagging pants and
scantily clad clothing, etc. Lastly, it angers me that no matter what type of person that I am I
have to work twice as hard, still, than my Caucasian counterparts. I have never been one to use
excuses at getting what I want in life, but I am no fool. I see how the world sees me and how I
am treated as a black man.
We often appear to be uneducated, misguided, and separated as a people. No unity is in
our neighborhoods. We can’t support one another if we are not getting anything out of it. We
continue to show that we are unappreciative of those that died, bled, and cried fighting for us. I
never get it. Looking at these movies and hearing the stories lead me to struggle with
understanding how this is so. How can we not do more as a people to show our pride of the skin
we are in? We have to, better yet, we must do more to represent ourselves as the human beings
that we are. We may not ever get the equality that is rightfully ours, but we also must take more
pride in who we are and do whatever necessary to disprove any stereotypes and negative pictures
painted about our race.
A person’s perception of things is that person’s reality. It’s how people see the world and
as we all know, there are a multitude of perceptions in the world. I know for fact that how I see
the world through these brown eyes of MinEis totally different from many. I suppose that my
state of mind comes from how I was raised. The type of people I have been fortunate enough to
have become acquainted with. Because no matter how the rest of the world sees my superficial
self, no matter how my people represent themselves, I will continue to be the best me I can be. I