Open Letter By M.A. Goode (edited by T. Hawkins)

Dear Black Family:

I was thinking about our family today and a lot of things came to mind about where we are at this moment.  I have been in contact with my brothers and sisters every day, cordially speaking about; politics, life, finances, and society. My outlooks on our conversations are a little shaky at times, and I’m not sure what brings about the disconnection between us.  I would like to believe these topics are extremely complex and strenuous on the psyche, but the latter continuously proves me wrong.

I maintain high hopes for our grand-parents, mothers, father, aunts, uncles, and our lovely cousins.  We our becoming older by the day and it seems we are content with our positions and lifestyles.  Our mindset on change should not have stopped with helping to elect our third-cousin Barack Obama. I believe the idea for progress should not just come from the elders or the radical ideology of the youth, but a group effort will dictate the direction of our family in the future. I am not here to judge you nor to cast down a shadow on your daily decisions, but to firmly inspire thoughts of motivation.  Although there are quite a few relatives whose positions are essential to the growth of our family tree however, our tree is suffering from a considerable amount of dying branches.

We see each other and find ourselves in situations where we are judging each other unjustly and not loving each other unconditionally.  It tears my hearts up to see that one out of three of my brothers are serving time in some capacity in the prison system.  We should be conditioning our mind to be stronger than the metal, aluminum, and cement that trap us in twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.  It saddens me to see my young brothers with excessive ink on their neck, hands, and arms with no thought about anything else but to be viral. The men of the family find it extremely hard to stand up and take on the responsibilities of the title of a MAN.  Our sisters, aunts, mothers, and grandmothers are being swallowed by society daily. We do not view our women as productive in our family, but we display them as a want not a need.  Nevertheless, some of the Black Women in our family need to portray higher standards in society and not sell themselves for monetary items. They should represent our family in a much needed capacity as a wife, fiancé, daughter, mother, and so forth. 

The ideology that the demise of the black family can be blamed partially on integration may be true; however we fall down as victims to our own excuses.  The past is very relevant in determining our future, but maintaining any idea of a future should hold a higher importance.  Have we become so absorbed within the now that we have become naive to the counter production of our family? Have we hated our societal positioning so long that it has spilled into our consciousness for the love of ourselves? How does this begin to change?

Sincerly,


M.A. Goode