Where's our Joshua - originally posted September 25, 2007

I am the descendant of both Native Americans and enslaved Africans. The history of my ancestors struggles is legendary. But I got to thinking about the fact that we are nearing 50 years since the Civil Rights movement began. How closer are we to the "Promised Land" that Martin Luther King talked about? What contributions has this generation of young black people made to realizing Dr King's dream?

I say that we Gen Xrs have dropped the ball. Each generation before us contributed to the advancement of Black people. Black people as a whole have access to a more money than our parents did, we have more people of color in government then our parents did, and we have barely done anything with the power that comes with it. We are the selfish generation. We have used our money to take care of ourselves. We are living the American dream, but what are we giving back? Do we not care that our schools are sub par? Do we not care that our kids , if they aren't educated, will not be able to compete for the jobs that we now enjoy?

When I was a kid in the mid 70s and 80s, education was cramed down our throats. The images of Dr. King and those protesters in the south gettin ate up by dogs for the right to vote, and the images of those black kids being ushered in the school by soliders after Brown v Board was passed were fresh in our parents mind. Many of them lived in the age of segregation and integration. What have we suffered through? It appears that we need to suffer before we are motivated to force change. We don't have any motivation to go against the grain. Maybe the motivation is there, the Jena 6 story showed that we are willing to get behind a cause, but we are too splintered. We need a leader.

Where is our Joshua? When Moses died, Joshua took up the torch and lead his people to that promised land that Moses spoke of. Have we been wandering in the wilderness since Dr. King died? Has our Joshua been murdered? Was Tupac our Joshua? Is our Joshua in prison, wrongly accused? Is our Joshua on the front lines in Iraq?

Is Barack Obama our Joshua?

Well I don't know, but I can tell you what this Gen Xr is going to do; this is how I'm contributing to the pursuit of Dr. King's dream. I am going to make sure that I raise two intelligent, college educated young men, make a positive impact on every person that they come in contact with. That judge people "by the context of their character and not the color of their skin."

Tupac said that he, "Would spark the brain that will change the world", he was right. He sparked my brain fifteen years ago when he said "Brenda's got a baby, but Brenda's barely got a brain". And I am pouring all of the knowledge that I have gained in my 31 years into my boys; my legacy and they will change the world in ways that I never could. That will be my legacy.

UrbanJournalist