The Road to Awakening III

Everything starts with our communities. In my research lately of strong activist icons such as the BPP (Black Panther Party), I’ve learned how important the people are. Instead of trying to figure out what would look best to do or grab the most attention, they looked within their communities and saw what was needed. I think that’s another key factor that’s missing in this generation’s activists.

You can throw all the events and rallies that you want but if you aren’t starting at “ground zero”, your community, then you aren’t going to make any real progress. Not only will you get an accurate read on what needs to be done, it will build that relationship with the people. It’s one thing to just jump to the top and speak on what you think needs to be done and it’s another to actually make sure that your community knows you and the values you represent.

Think about it like this.....

What if one day someone that you never met before came to your house and started telling you what needed to be done in your household. I'm pretty sure your first thought would be who in the world is this person trying to tell me what to do in my house? Granted that person may have the best intentions, your natural reaction would be to feel offended.

That's kind of what it's like when people who haven't done any work or interaction with the community comes in and tells the people living there what that community needs. To come out of the gate saying you're here to help your people without taking the time to figure out what would help them is a contradiciton. It's like a doctor that gets a patient and prescribes them medicine without knowing their symptoms. You and I both know how crazy that sounds but essentially that's done everyday.

To fix this we have to tap into our communities and start to build them up. We can do this by even doing something simple like a neighborhood clean up or something like that.

Of course as with any topic I discuss it either comes from self reflection or is followed by it. And to be honest I didn’t really give any thought or effort to that factor. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a very strong lazy trait lol. So I’ve never been the one to sign up for any community service or manual labor. But I can say that I actually see the importance of really just being there for your people. Because of this everyday I try and step out of my comfort zone to help. I may not always do it perfectly but I try.

If you're interested in building our communities and want more information email :

harataki.louisiana@gmail.com

#empowerment