“Being born here does not make you an American. I am not an American, you are not an American. You are one of the 22 million black people who are the “victims” of America. You and I, we’ve never see nay democracy. We didn’t see any… democracy on the-the cotton fields of Georgia, wasn’t no democracy down there. We didn’t see any democracy. We didn’t see any democracy on the streets of Harlem or on the streets of Brooklyn or on the streets of Detroit or Chicago. Ain’t no democracy down there. No, we’ve never seen democracy! All we’ve seen is hypocrisy! We don’t see any American Dream. We’ve experienced only the American Nightmare!” – Malcolm X

This season of Dexter brought us Jordan Chase a man who dubbed this term, “Take It Now!” It means so much to me, because as a Black man in America let me reiterate that nothing is given to us, we must take our opportunities, seizing them at every opportunity.  This country did not intend on making a place for us at the table, so there’s a lack of infrastructure in many facets of our community.  We’ve got to right the wrongs of hundreds of years of bad logic.  Today’s points are:

See Also:  8 Things Black Women Hate Being Called

7.       Horrible Family Statistics – [Insert factual information about divorce rates, unwed mothers, single mothers, men who leave them, and men who have children with different women.  These are the men who actually displace their own family when the government will do it for free.]

8.       Equating keeping it real to the ghetto – This used to surprise me in college, but if you came from a good home with two parents who could actually afford to send you to college without financial aid, you were looked down upon.  I had a friend who used to have to sneak to the bursar’s office to drop off her daddy’s check.  Meanwhile, keeping it real was HEOP and SSSP.  In my mind, I was baffled that if your parents somehow made it up out the hood and provided well for you, that made you less of a real Black person.

9.       Acting like sh*t is cool with white people – Most touched on this a little on his post, but peep this; when white folk say or do something that’s not cool, you need to let them know.  A lot of Black people were just trying to be cool with their white coworkers and let them get away with telling Dave Chappelle jokes that wasn’t funny at all when they said it.  You don’t have to get violent or physical, but don’t let ignorance and racism rock.  Simply explain to them, “B*tch, I don’t care if you are trying to tell me a Dave Chappelle joke, don’t ever let me hear you using the n-word around me again, like that shit is cool.  You got N.R.A., well I got , N.W.A, and I’ll kick your a*s.” (On the low, I think that white people have to use the longest preface ever whenever they need to use the n-word.  In high school, my 10th grade History teacher spent a whole class on the word, before using it in a lesson the next day.)

See Also:  Buzzfeed Says This Is "What Men Are Really Saying When Catcalling Women"

10.   Stop trying to pass or satisfy – I had a conversation with a guy that I am mentoring and he told me that he had learned to accept failure.  I told him, that’s unacceptable.  What I would rather him learn is that he should always strive for perfection, and do the impossible.  He had it the wrong way.  I didn’t want him to become complacent with saying, “Don’t be afraid to fail.” One of the keys to successful people is their inability to believe in the concept of failure.  Moreover, I’ve noticed that Black people have a tendency to talk about passing or satisfying.  Demanding excellence has gone by the waste side and when you demand it, you’re told, “It’s not that serious.” People are settled to say, “Everything turned out ok, so what’s the big deal?” Young teen mothers are talking to their young pregnant children and hearing, “Mommy you had me at 15 and you turned out okay.” Why is it that there aren’t more Black students who graduate Magna Cum Laude?  I’d argue because most Black people go to college to get their education and a degree, nobody said sh*t about Magna Cum Laude.  In their opinion it sounds like a makeup company.

So what are we talking about here, and where are we going?  In the past three posts, I’ve touched on some issues of enlightenment for everyone to think about.  Again, I’m not trying to bash Black folk, I think a lots of things about Black America is inspirational.  Even our faults make us strong.  What I hope to do is to inspire conversation, here and in other venues.  I’m interested to know your thoughts on this post and the previous posts.