Black People Need to Fully Engage the System If They Want to See Change

Alex Deering suggests black Americans aren’t doing enough to solve their problems.

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It has taken me a second to wrap my mind around the incident in Ferguson, MO.

I really don’t want to jump on the bandwagon and start bashing police officers, as I personally feel the police force is a needed institution in our society. When you demonize whole institutions and not individuals, you end up with a situation that leads to broad-based distrust of government and disregards those who are genuinely trying to help communities.

Sadly, the African-American community has failed to find leaders who focus on causes, instead of riding the emotional waves that are brought about by the effects. The problem in our communities is not the police, but the situations that cause African-Americans to be more aggressive so they can survive in the dangerous situations.

There is a serious connection with violence and poverty.

“The unemployment rate for African-Americans in the nearby county of St. Louis City was 26% in 2012, according to the Census Department’s latest available stats on employment and race in the area. For white Americans, the unemployment rate was just 6.2%.”  – Time Magazine

“As black families moved into Ferguson, the whites fled. In 1980, the town was 85 percent white and 14 percent black; by 2010, it was 29 percent white and 69 percent black. But blacks did not gain political power as their numbers grew. The mayor and the police chief are white, as are five of the six City Council members. The school board consists of six white members and one Hispanic. As Mr. Gordon explains, many black residents, lacking the wealth to buy property, move from apartment to apartment and have not put down political roots.” – New York Times

What our black “leaders” of today need to be doing is registering every last person to vote.

They also need to be mentoring the young politicians in that community so there can be balanced representation in the city and state government. All this marching and looting only makes the political leaders more inclined to make oppressive legislation. We are already seeing the Governor impose a curfew.

“We warned people about these kinds of things,” said John Gaskin of the Missouri NAACP. “Who hires the police officers? The police chief. Who hires the police chief? The mayor. Who hires the mayor? Who elects the council folks?” – MSNBC

All across this country, African Americans have failed to do their part in this mess.

Don’t complain about what President Barack Obama is not doing, when we have an extremely “right” Congress that was elected in the midterms, while the minorities were cheering about the election of a black President. COME ON PEOPLE!

What did the people of the civil rights movement do? They were closely connected to the political system and they made the people aware of the things that was happening in government. That’s why they were so effective.

March for voting rights. Protest for more funding in the budget for struggling communities! If we do not vote new leaders in and become more politically aware, then we will see no change. Facebook pictures and conversations on social media do not equal change or activism.

Going at our representatives and highlighting government corruption is the only way we are going to see change in our communities. How do we see that? VOTING! And not just voting, but knowing the platform of the candidates we are voting for.

The church used to be a place where the community learned about these things, but … Smh … I am not going to even go there. The point is, we need to be politically aware by any means necessary.

Thanks for reading!

Alex Deering is a politically-engaged millennial living in Philadelphia, currently serving as the Committeeman of the 6th Division, 16th Ward.