We as Brothers and Sisters of the African Dispora need to realize we need each other. We need to have each other’s back. And that my Brothers and Sisters is a two way street. There are too many of us who understand that our Brothers and Sisters are suppose to have our backs but we get forgetful when it is time for us to have their backs. (Before you shout “that’s right! while you are thinking of a particular person….check the mirror first dear one). We use each other for our own simple gains instead of uplifting one another.
For example I have an old friend who refuses to take responsibility for himself and set up an abode of his own. So he finds a Black women who he can convince to let him move in with her. This is her place...as in..... the lease (or mortgage) is in her name, the power bill is in her name, the gas bill is in her name, the phone bill, water bill, and cable bill….all in her name. He has no legal obligations to where he is living. He can leave her at anytime holding the baggage. He gives her some money to cover expenses and makes sure he keeps her sexually satisfied…and that my friends is how he has kept the roof over his head for the last four years. Being a parasite. Living with three women over the last four years (and if you are wondering…nope I was not one of them. I’m too strong of a Black Queen for that nonsense. I’ve just known him for 15 years and every now and then he calls and I learn what’s he up too.)
This type of treatment happens every day in Black America. Sisters using Brothers and Brothers using Sisters and we all thinking we’re beautiful on the inside. We need to reevaluate what it means for a Brother to be a man and a Sister to be a lady.
I have found a poem on the net that tells exactly how we should act. It is called “The Black Woman”. I recommend you checking out this poem.
As a Black people we have made a lot of progress among ourselves and we will continue to do so, but we can’t allow ourselves to regress how we treat each other in our romantic relationships. I am proud to know of Black couples who have wonderful healthy relationships and they should be role models for every Black couple starting on that romantic journey. Yet, I would like to see more of them. Because the morals and values of a community reflect the moral and values of our homes.
So if you are one of those Brothers or Sisters who lives off others because you’re not strong enough to live off yourself, you need to check yourself. You need to get some inner strength and stop proving the negative Black images as true. Get your act strong and rooted in your own efforts. And if you are a Brother or Sister who has their act strong and rooted in self, I bow to you and say “thank you” for showing the world a Black man or Black woman who respects themselves and others.
Hambree!
Return to Articles & Poems
Home, Guestbook & Feedback