Who Is Responsible for Our Future?

[Kimberly Albritton]

Every day I shake my head at the songs played on the radio, the way our children dress, the way they speak, and the way they behave in public. It saddens me to see how little pride and dignity some of our children possess.


Most of us, myself included, see the problem, shake our heads, and keep right on walking as if scared to say something for fear they will retaliate or simply dismiss what we have to say.

Well, I’ve reached my breaking point!

It is our responsibility to show our children the way. Not just the ones who share your dna but the little boy up the street who is using more curse words in one sentence than you have used in your entire life, or the little girl at the mall who’s skirt is so short that nothing is left to the imagination, or the group of kids gathering around in a circle for a fight.

I can never remember where this quote came from but it says, “We have to be the change we want to see”. We see something different everyday that disturbs us whether it be the stories in the news, the television shows our children watch, the videos on Bet, the role models our children choose to follow, the slang we speak; etc. (Check out my brothers at www.staychiseled.com and get the males perspective on some of these issues.)

We can no longer bit our tongues and shake our heads at our children. It really does take a village to raise a child, so it’s time for us to start being the village rather than the spectators who simply watch it implode.

Our children need to realize that the way they carry themselves in public does not just represent who they are but it reflects on our race as a whole. Although the burden may not be fair, it’s real. Society will continue to judge us according to what they see and hear. It is up to us to make sure that what they hear is intelligence and what they see is our pride.

We constantly complain about how all they show of us on the news is the negative…….well we have to write our own stories and create our own images. We have to erase the negative and replace it with a positive so that the media will have no option but to report us as we truly are…..Proud, Responsible, Upstanding, Educated, Respectable, African American brothers and sisters.

I’m making a commitment to take time out from now on to speak life into our children. I am making the commitment to stop the next little girl I see using her body rather than her brain. I am making the commitment to stop the next little boy that’s lost his way. What will you commit to? Who do you think is responsible for our future?

Wake up Everybody!!!!


Posted by Brighter Future at 10:57 PM Email This BlogThis! Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Google Buzz

[LaDarryl Johnson]

I'm committed to not only being a positive role model for my children, but other children, as well as my peers. Thank you! That was a wonderful post. I'v been feeling that way for too long.

[Kevin A. Cole]

Outstanding Post, I can totally relate to the condition of our youth. I am committed, I do correct errors in judgement, and behavior, However it's going to take ALL of us to ensure "WE" have a Future.

[Ellouise Patton]

Your passion is evident in your post. I argree with you.
I believe it was Ghandi who penned the phrase "Be the change you want to see in the world"
Your post reminds me a time not so long ago when the entire community took responsibility for the children. I remember, as a child, throwing rocks at the windows of an abandoned house in the neighborhood where I grew up. By the time I got home , I had been admonished twice and was forewarned "Imma call your mama and tell her what you did!" By the time I arrived home, she knew what I did, where I did it and who I did it with. The culture of our communities have changed. It wasn't necessary to spew African proverbs as though they were slogans, ie: "It takes a village to raise a child".
While progress is good, some things should never change.
Again, bravo to your post!!

[SweeTea]

I just felt a fresh breeze of change blowing in...

[LeoGarrett.com]

OMG, Kimberly I speak on this everyday. I have a Nephew that goes to SW Dekalb in Decatur and when I go pick him up from tutoring at the school, it looks like a zoo-house! My Nephews know not to wear that nonsense around me b/c I will slap that head for them! I teach them to be a young man and maintain their level of self-respect even when I'm not around them. I also teach Poetry for volunteer hrs at my twins elementary school and I get on every kid whose not behaving or dressed appropriately even though they wear uniforms. The music is so degrading nowadays and it's a major form of brainwashing for the youth! You now have the teenagers not even wanting to support their own clothing such as phatfarm & rocawear b/c they've been brainwashed into thinking these white boy clothes like hollister, abercrombie & fitch is cool. I asked them when has these white boy clothing lines donated 1 penny to your community? They all look crazy but they know not to ask me for any of that nonsense! If they want money from me, I make them work! Cut the grass or go out and do book promo work with me but they earn any money I give. These young men are so spoiled & soft b/c their parents give them everything they ask for without them lifting a finger which is why they'll still be at home when their 30 years old.

[Kimberly Albritton]

Thanks everyone for you attention to this post and the issues that plague our communities! I am planning on trying to start a movement in the direction of saving our families because we are in dire need of a new direction. Tired of hearing excuse after excuse for why our childern are they way they are such as single parent homes;etc. Everybody has to take responsibility for our future, EVERYBODY!!!!
I commend those of you who have made efforts to mentor and teach our children of the world the way. I hope that you will all join me when I put together this event.
If you would like to read more of my thoughts and perspective please feel free to visit my blog www.brighterfuture1.blogspot.com.

Lets agree to make small efforts towards great changes that will restore the hope for our future!

[DeShun Stephens]

I completely agree that the example we set for the next generation is completely up to the adults that surround them. It is easy to observe and cast judgement on the children especially when they are not of our own bloodline. I believe that not only should we teach children the right way, but become living examples of what we preach to them.
Not every parent is on one accord with both thier teachings as lifestyles. Children not only observe what thier peers are doing, but what they see the adults doing everyday. This type of action causes rebellion as well as a mind to depend on the consistency of outside influence to dictate to them what type of behavior and attitude that they must have.
I believe that through the teachings and consistent actions of my parents, I learned how to decifer between what was wrong and what is right. Of course there were times when I wanted to try new things, but because of my own lifestyle, I began to realize why I was brought up in the way that my parents saw fit.
Use the wisdom and knowledge of what is right and why we know it to be right, instead of "do as I say and not as I do". Listen to what the children have to say about society and the world we live in as well as the questions they may pose. We don't have to know all of the answers, but wisdom comes when we can point them in the right direction to find it. This will make a world of a difference when it comes down to teaching the next generation.

[Sherry West]

You’re so right, if we don't stand up for something we will fall for anything. I have four sons, I don't like pants hanging of their waist, I don't want them cursing, there are so many things I can say and express to my children time after time, however there are still influences such as media and records that they get off the internet and where ever else that is negative that may have been glamorized through the media.
Sad thing is they don’t know fact from fiction and they all need direction and I feel like it is everyone’s duty to direct the young.
There were times when I was younger when I wanted to dress a little sexier however my mother and father relatives and friends said a lady don’t act this way or a lady does not act that way it gave me direction. Now children that are in our inner cities put too much care on their looks and the material things in this world, I told my sons it’s ok to look good however if you don’t have a mind to keep that body fit how are you going to survive in this world it is about the survival of the fittest, what do you have to offer?
What can you do for yourself when I die? I gave it to them raw. If you live your going to die that is a given. what you do while you’re here is what counts. Do you want it to count or do you want it to be countless do you want to have a purpose or not.

I know their young but when they start talking like they have sense give them reality life is too short not to.

[Walter Simtec Simmons]

I heard a wise man say “You teach a man and you teach an individual, you teach a woman and you teach a community” That is the influence a woman have a man.  I like your spirit sister.  Real change starts with those who are willing to go beyond our dna and teach those who don’t thing they need to listen.  Many barriers will need to be removed before real constructive dialog can begin.