My Personal Manifesto. Part Deux.
It took me forever to get out of the mindset of “a safe job.” Let me explain.
My mother never finished school, but she went to work to help pay for the tuition of the next oldest, a male, who went to college. This was in the 30s and 40s, so we’re talking about a lifetime ago. She was also able to get work for the federal government during WWII, and worked until the end of the war when she was laid off.
Like many black people during that time, she had a hard time initially finding a job; but eventually she did, with Sears & Roebuck (remember that?) where she worked until she retired in the early 80s. As an aside, she’s outlived everyone who was at her retirement party. And that gives you a general idea of her mindset of getting a safe job that will carry you through retirement.
At no time did she say anything about starting a business. I never heard the word “entrepreneur” when I was growing up. So for a huge portion of my life, my whole focus – be it my education, work life, raising kids, etc. – was all about making sure that I had a safe job, my husband(s) had a safe job, and that my kids were raised to focus on getting a safe job. And if you get a job with the government. Well. That was icing. Just look at the benefits.
I have turned 180º since then, and realize that the only true way to freedom is by being in charge of your own destiny. I say this even though I’ve had a “safe” government job for many years, at which I work very hard. Contrary to popular opinion, those of who are behind-the-scenes, rank-and-file government employees labor hard to ensure that our taxpaying citizens get their money’s worth. I’m a trainer, and I work very hard to make sure that those who are my students understand everything that I’m trying to convey. That makes them better and more efficient at their jobs, and the taxpayers win. And like I often tell people, a considerable amount of our money goes back into taxes. Income tax, sales tax, property tax, fuel tax, and whatever other taxes we have to pay just like everyone else. When I hear or see of a government employee being a slacker, it irritates me. Another stereotype to fight.
With that being said, it seems that we as a people can’t quite grasp the whole idea of entrepreneurship. Being an entrepreneur during the worse days of segregation was a given. If you couldn’t go into a restaurant to eat, you opened your own restaurant. If it was illegal for you to hire a white person to do a particular job, then you did it yourself or opened a business doing it. That was the case all across the board, whether it was being a barber, a doctor, a beautician, a dentist, a laborer, a gardener, or whatever. You opened a business to serve a need and to make money.
And then along came the Democrats with their liberal policies and bleeding-heart white guilt. That white guilt – in the form of welfare programs, policies, and mandates – have destroyed the once-strong black family in the United States. Our illegitimate childbirth rate is shameful. How many young black men have had fathers? How many would even know how to do anything about being a father other than the conception part? How many generations have grown up on welfare rolls, never having had a good job, much less considered a legitimate business?
And can someone please explain to me how come it’s considered “white” to be smart in school or that the use of proper English is considered selling out? Our people are woefully ignorant and self-destructive.
Let me tell you a true story which highlights this point.
An acquaintance of mine was a school teacher. He is a white guy, laid back, but finally left teaching because it became too stupid to try to make a difference.
One day in the month of February he played music by Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, and Duke Ellington. And was excoriated by his student for playing that “stupid white music.” And they were barely shamed when they found out that these people were pioneers in black music and were highly respected by whites, a rarity at the time. If it wasn’t rap with a lot of cursing, extolling the drug and gang cultures, or putting down women, apparently it wasn’t black music.
I said all of that to say this:
It’s time to start pulling away from the government for our sustenance. It’s time to start looking into our community (whichever community – we don’t all live in black communities) for ideas on becoming the employers, educators, craftsmen, and professionals of the future. Once we stop sucking at the public teat and running after every “action group” (i.e., Acorn) that comes along, learning how to speak proper English, and learning the history of this country (another future rant), we’ll still be stuck with the same victim mentality that the likes of Sharpton and Jackson want us to wallow in for eternity. If we keep that mentality, of course, then they get to remain “leaders.”
Slavery ended 160 years ago. It’s time for our mental slavery to end as well.
Coming soon: Part three. The illegals are killing the black community, and why Sharpton’s too stupid to realize that.
