What I am writing about today is very serious. This post was not planned but it was destined. This morning while taking my daughter to school a group of students got onto the Metrobus and one of them started to curse loudly. For the past few months I along with my child, other children, other parents and elders have had to endure the blatant disrespect of our young people. These young people have been cursing, talking about sex, smoking weed and cigarettes on the way to bus stop and I just couldn't take it one more minute. I am not the only adult who felt like this but I was the only person that said something. I told everyone on the bus that the ancestors were speaking to me and that I just couldn't take the cursing anymore. Of course, the teen leader didn't want to hear what I said so he said he would curse louder. I asked him if he thought that it was ok that all of the younger children were listening to them and repeating their vulgar language. I also asked him if he thought it was ok to speak that way in the presence of adults and seniors. Luckily, the cursing subsided and the energy changed.
I told everyone that these teens were going to make me do a "Sojourner Truth - Ain't A Woman, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have A Dream speech." I had an umbrella and I used it like a cane to emphasize my points. The look on the faces of some of the people on the bus was shock and awe and some of the teen leaders verbally agreed with my comments. I looked at my daughter and told her that I was concerned about her and all of the children on the bus and she immediately said, "Mommy I didn't anything" and people laughed as I told her that it wasn't about her at the moment, it was about not appreciating the opportunities that she and they were being afforded. I told them that my grandfather had to drop out of school in the 6th grade in order to work to support his family, my family. I told them that he had sacrificed so that they could get an education.
After dropping Ameerah off to her class I went straight to the Parent Coordinator's office and told her about the incident. She went into action mode and arranged for me to address the entire junior high school at 9:15am. I waited an hour to address the pre-teens and teens in the auditorium. I was in no way prepared to talk to these young people but I had to give it that good try. Although I was used to talking to teens with my previous position as the Audience coordinator for BET's Teen Summit I was in no way ready to talk to this new generation. I did hope that one of them would be inspired to be better.
As I addressed the youth the words fought to exit my mouth. I was choked up and noticeably upset. I thought about the unconditional love that I have for my daugher Ameerah although she doesn't always act the way that I would like her to. I told them that I loved them and all of the people that work at their schools love them too and their behavior was mediocre and not acceptable. I told them something that my bff Butter once told me, I told them that they were the writers, producers, directors and starring actors in their own film and I asked them if they liked what they saw on the screen. I told them that it was ironic that this incident had occurred on the bus when 40 years ago Black Americans had to ride at the back of the bus because of segregation and racism. I asked them if they had forgotten and they said yes.
I talked to them for about fifteen minutes. I felt good at the end and I felt more connected to them. I also felt more connected to my daughter although she wasn't even in the auditorium.
There is a disconnect within our culture but I am going to work hard to connect more. To connect with my daughter, husband and family more. To connect with my daughter's school more. To connect with my friends, my community and my ancestors.
For the past few months I have been working on a project and I hope that you will support it. I am starting a campaign called "The BIG Campaign" this campaign is all about acknowledging that Black Is Great! I will be creating buttons with the word BIG on it as a way to communicate this message and hopefully we will begin to believe in our brilliance and magic. All over the world Black people are being told that they are less than. We must work hard to dispel this untruth. The ancestors are speaking to me and I am listening. Thank you for your support.
Happy Black History Month
Malonda Richard-Sia
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 10:28AM 
