The nation claims that the youth are their number one priority. The leaders speak of how the youth are country's number one resource. They claim they want to protect, nurture and develop tomorrow's future. These ideals become idle weak words promoted by people with agendas. They turn the concept of entitlement and empowerment of our young generation into simple afterthoughts. Once in a while there is a half hearted attempt to throw the dog a bone. Feeble attempts are made to patronize and pacify the people by dangling a carrot of promise of progress on a stick. The body of our youth is afflicted with hidden terminal ills and is methodically perishing.
The focus of material resources is placed into a war machine. Billions of dollars spent on weapons designed to destroy masses of defenseless and hopeless civilian populations. A world full of women and children plagued by poverty, malnutrition, and disease. Already under depression and oppression this segment of the world's population is now constantly under the threat of annihilation.
These women and children are caught up in the genocidal conflicts that leave them exposed to the machete of their neighbors who hide behind the mask of political intolerance. Some are challenged by cluster bombs flying over head due to the search for weapons of mass destruction hidden from view or knowledge in the sand. Some are exposed at the market place to desperate people filled with despair who are cloaked in plastic explosives bent on taking out as many lives as possible in the guise of a righteous cause that is totally enveloped in evil and hate. Yet some are even left for days on roof tops in the city of New Orleans which is within the most prosperous country in the world for days without food, water, or protection by a government that is slow to respond to cry of the least in their own society.
Young people in many areas of our globe are gunning each other down with weapons made by corporations that are raking in billions of dollars. Some of these corporations hide behind banners in the U.S. of the rights of it's citizens to bear arms. My government invests billions of dollars on building a prison system that warehouses our youth like cattle before the slaughter. They are building prisons right in our own communities instead of schools and technical institutions that will prepare our young to create and compete effectively in the world arena. Our government has invested building billions of dollars into a prison system designed to bind and control a specific group within our society. This system specifically affects our families, communities and people. Prisons are built to warehouse our boys and young men. The African American male population in prison is proportionally high when compared to the percentage of African American population in the United States. That population is increasing at an ever alarming rate every year and a sub-culture of incarcerated oppressed and illiterate men is being created right in our midst.
Our youth are our future and also our present strength, force and primary resource. They are the tip of our spear in the struggle for complete peace and freedom for all humanity. Nevertheless the prison population is getting younger and the average reading level is that of a the third grade. Right here in our own cities and communities the education system is deteriorating and is falling behind. Illiteracy amongst our youth is looming while illiteracy among the young in so called third world countries is rampant and entrenched. Funds and resources are not prioritised, appropriated or invested into building an educational system and process that would enlighten, empower and uplift a people beginning with the youngest generation. "The Pedagogy Of The Oppressed" by Paulo Freire illuminates the power of change due to self education through critical analysis and attainment.
The church of our ancestors here in the United States addressed our needs in a more aggressive manner. Our ancestors had no choice but to forge a way for the following generations. They built and maintained universities so not only as to enlighten but to educate and develop minds for our survival, success, and future. The church not only tended to our spiritual needs but also embraced, maintained, and protected our social structure. I believe that we have lost courage, vision, purpose in the area of self determination and development as a people. We must reach back into the mind set of our ancestors and make our youngest generation our priority. We must also stay on the road to self determination so as to become the people that God has designed us to be. This society would have us under oppressive and degenerative rule if we do not free our-self. We are an important part of the family of man in this vast myriad collection of humanity. Each one teach one and let the village nurture, raise, protect, and love it's children.
