The health & education issue vol2 yuvjmp

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The Health & Education Issue Dec. 2015 YUV

vol.2For the Young

& Sophisticated

HYDEIABROADBENT Speaks on Living with HIV

5 Ways To Beat Heart Disease & Diabetes

Young Urban Voices Magazine December 2015 Issue pg. 2 Visit youngurbanvoices.com Young Urban Voices Magazine 3


Publisher’s Corner SIMPLY SONSIE You’ve Got Questions

Simply Sonsie...Got Your AnswersQ: Dear Simply Sonsie,

I’ve been dating a new guy, 28 (I’m 32) for the past 6 months. He is a stripper. He was NOT in this indus-try when I met him. He repeatedly assures me of how professional he is in the workplace and promises he is always faithful to me. Recently I surprised him at work and caught him mak-ing out with a customer. Although he had had a few drinks and it didn’t mean anything to him (supposed-ly), I just can’t get past it. Is it right for me to ask him to quit his job for the sake of our new relationship? Or do I just let him go being that it’s so new? I really do like him and see a future with him, other than his current career choice. He swears nothing like this will ever happen again. But being in that industry– I’m no dummy. What should I do??

Thank you,

In lust and confused

A: Dear In Lust and Confused-

If you’ve been dating this guy for 6 months and he’s already changed careers at least once, I immediately wonder how stable he is. Stability is something we women usually seek in men and if he can’t provide that, I wonder what type of a boyfriend he makes. Also, if he wasn’t in this career when you first started dating, what prompted him to go into this type of work? Did he discuss it with you initially or how did it come up? I don’t think the job itself is the major issue in this scenario. There are a couple issues in play. The fact that he needs to re-peatedly reassure you of his behavior and you showing up at his work as a surprise in-dicates to me that there are existing trust issues in the relationship or within one, or both of you, individually. If you feel that the issue/s within your relationship is more oriented toward trust, I would suggest you both seek counseling individually. One, or both of you, might need to focus on healing your-selves before you can be in a

rela-tion-ship. This doesn’t mean something is ‘wrong’ with either one of you, this means that there could be existing issues that are standing in the way of your happiness. No matter how you feel about this person, your happiness supersedes. You deserve to be happy! Make a list of important qualities (top 5) you seek in a partner and see if this person qualifies. Remember that you have not been with this person for an extended time and your heart will heal if you choose to walk away. Also, there are people out there that will qualify in all of the areas you desire to have in a partner. Don’t be afraid of the new and unknown. Sometimes it is worth the struggle to re-ally find what we want in life and be happy! Take a chance on yourself.

Contact Sonsie [email protected]

There are several things that are fairly important in this world; Health & Education. One can’t go without the other. If we fail to have education then we will most certainly become victims to a weak society that continues to crumble. We can no longer place blame on

others for “holding us back” in life. We must be held accountable for our own lives and our own health. With so much going on in this world with police brutality and crime on black America, we must strive to do our part to make sure our young men and women are becoming a part of the statistic of college graduate and NOT imprisoned mates.

African Americans must know that we deserve

more in life. We work hard to keep things together, to take care of a family but often times we forget to nurture ourselves. The need to take care of our personal health gets often over looked by the busy demands of society. That is until something catastrophic occurs like a heartache or diabetes. But usually by the time we de-cide to take care of the issue it is often too late. We must take back our health and our future to live a richer, and more abundant future.


Staff Writers

Publisher/FounderJanae Marie

YUV Editorial & Opinions

Crystal “Jenene” Carter

Contributing Writers Jessica DanielRandall Rydell RussellDestiny Bryant Sonsie Zamora

Videographer/PhotographerNick Hunte

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CONTENTS

The Black Box: Mental Health Stress on Young Minds pg. 16

5 Ways to BEAT Heart Disease & Diabetes pg. 19

Editorial/Opinions: Jenene on ‘Education Reform’. pg. 20

Scholarships for YOUR College Bound Teen pg. 23

Olympic Gold Medalist: Gail Devers Interview pg. 24

Short Story: The Drunk, by YUV Staff Writer, Randy Russell, pg. 34

Pg 8

Cover Story

Hydeia

Broadbent


hydeiabrodbent.com


hydeiabroadbent.com


www.marvelynbrown.com



The blaCk box: MenTal healTh & sTress on Young Minds

bY desTinY brYanT

I’m certain I’m not the only one when I

say that I have a lot going on right now. I, like so many other people, have big plans for this year. Publish a novel, do stand-up, be more independent, and so on. With all these things

that I wish to accomplish this year, comes other tasks that have to be

done to make those happen. These tasks have taken up a significant

amount of time. I can no longer sit and watch TV all day if I want to

get these things done. I have to get up and get out. Put things and my-self on the line and through dedi-

cation and hard work hope that it’ll pay off. You want C? Do A and B to make it happen. I often wonder am I using my time effectively, what I

should be doing, and what else will I do if things don’t turn out the way that I would have liked? This con-stant back-and-forth thinking has

brought a lot of stress into my life. Some are blessed with both the ability and the means to deal with stress and keep it at bay. I was not one of those people. In my case, stress is something I have to actively search for and minimize in my life like shopping around for the best price of an item.This became clear to me towards the end of my high school career.

My parents expected a lot out of me and I expect-ed twice as much out

of myself. They wanted me to go to college and get the perfect husband, house, kids, job, etc. The whole American dream sh-bang. For a while, I thought that’s what I wanted too. I took my academic career very seriously to the point where I had begun to define myself through my academic achievements. To get a higher-end grade in a high-er-end class meant that I was higher-end. Anything under an A gave me a panic attack and I felt like crap. Hell, if I got a 95% or lower, it was not fun times. I studied constantly, so much so that I was eating or sleeping up to code with the standards of the typical teenager. Come my sopho-more year, the stress was so bad I couldn’t sleep at night or eat. I felt like I was being smothered between two elephants. I couldn’t breathe or focus on anything beyond my first name. I was only found in two plac-es-school and home. If I wasn’t at school pretending not to be sleep, I was at home sleeping. The days con-sisted of the following: Wake up, go to school, come straight home, sleep, and repeat. I was sleeping about 15-17 hours a day during the week and more if it was the weekend. Despite getting so many hours, I was ex-hausted during the short periods of being awake. I was too tired to eat or do homework so it didn’t get done. My father would wake me up to eat and I’d a couple bites before falling asleep again. I had gone from an alert straight-A student to a D-stu-dent sleeping in class all the time. I remember once junior year this girl

named Jessica was telling the class that she wanted to go to Sac State and in an effort to be more social, something my therapist at the time had recommended, I told her that my dad goes to there and maybe I would too. She then asked me what grade I had in the class we were in, I told her I was failing. She told me that she thought I was stupid. Per-haps she didn’t mean it in an insult-

ing way but I took it personally. She was condemning me, a person, with no consideration of my personality or life’s experiences but because of this one grade in this one class was an “F”, an object. The rest of the class heard her and I couldn’t help but interpret their silence and nods as if they were in agreement.I fell behind in my work and was freaking out. My grades continued to fall along with my self-esteem. I went from being at the top of my class to a D-student fighting like hell just to get out of bed in morning. I timed my mornings so that I would show up just before the warning bell would ring so that I didn’t have to talk to anyone. After a while I was able to sleep but that’s was just about it. . I was sleeping about 15-17 hours a day. When I finally got to school, I was tired all over again before first period ended. If I wasn’t at school pretending to be awake, I was at home sleeping I sat in the back to

ensure that I could get some sleep. I had no business being here trying to learn, I thought, it wasn’t like I was going to live long enough to use the information anyway. So I didn’t even try.

I vowed that my junior year will be one of correction. Catch-ing up and making up for the

momentum lost during the previous school year. I was enrolled in the

International Baccalau-reate (IB) program at my school. It was thought to be more prestigious than the AP program. Get your IB diploma, they said, and you could skip your freshmen year of college. It was one thing to please my parents

and live the good life but to be a sev-enteen year old college sophomore from the get-go that was just beyond awesome! Maybe then I’ll actually learn something new and be able to apply it to my life!

I would be exposed to new information at the college level. I would be surrounded by people who like to learn and grow like me. I just might actually make friends. Like goes with like, right? The grading process would be based on my ability to apply the information I was given rather than factors that my previous classes were graded on that I felt were irrelevant or did not provide an accurate representation of one’s ability to apply such information like attendance and whether or not I brought my book to class.

I don’t want to be here. They don’t want me here. I’m not getting any-thing out of this. So why am I here? Good question. Then I had an idea. I was placed into the level I was at

because of my test scores. My scores reflected the level I should be in and then I followed the system up. What

Mental Health Issues & Emotional Stress


if I tested through all the levels? Can I then. . .leave? What if my scores

were so high that they had to hand my high diploma or move me to

another school so that I could “reach my full potential”? Either way it pro-

vided a way out and I’d be free the center of all my anxiety and numb-ness, my high school. I got in touch

with my counselor immediately. The thought of being free some this place consumed me. I was sure that if I got away from here, this would

be better for me. I could have a fresh, new start and everything would be rainbows and sunshine afterwards.

I just had to get away from here. I was hoping to come up with an

elegant plan for my departure if you

will. I sat down in that chair with my posture

strong, ready to conquer the world if need be.

So when she told me it wouldn’t be possible to graduate earlier from when I was supposed

to I was surprised. She then proceeded to talk to me about managing my current workload so that I could graduate on time. It didn’t sit well with me.

I was sure there was a way. After all, she works for the high school, isn’t her job to keep students

in school and “on the right track”? I searched far and wide for a solu-tion. I then found the

California High School Proficiency Certificate program website, took the test, got my certifi-

cate and moved on.

Why I Bring This UpI finished out my junior year and my dad

unenrolled me from the school, much to my teacher’s and Blondie’s dismay. They all thought that I’d be better off sticking it out here. That’s the cycle that was before me. I’m sure their good people and didn’t mean any harm perhaps I am in the wrong within their mindset. Finishing high school and going off to college for a good life has worked for so many maybe they did only want what was best for me. But they didn’t see how unhappy I was there.

They didn’t see my battles I faced on an everyday basis just to perform normal tasks. They couldn’t see because I wouldn’t let them. As my symptoms got worse, the more I put on a front that everything was okay and that it was all sunshine and rain-bows. I thought I could take care of these symptoms by myself. It didn’t cross my mind that it was okay to ask for help until later on. But later is always better than never.

Mental health is essential for any person to function at their best. Take that

away from them and you hurt that person’s ability to grow and progress in life. I get the impression that men-tal health is not in the front of the minds of people my age like physical health is. But that doesn’t change the fact that being mentally healthy is just as important as the other cate-gories. The mind is the tool by which we see the world and learn from it. When the mind is not healthy, ev-erything from your outlook to your decisions is at risk as well. I may tell jokes for a living but one thing that I am serious about is helping people. If you feel like you’re alone in the world with no one to turn to, know that it is okay to ask for help. We may live in a cruel world but that doesn’t mean we or our circumstances have to be. From parents to peers to trained profes-sionals there’s always an ear lobe willing to listen if you’re willing to look for it.

5 Ways To Beat Heart Disease &

Diabetes We all know Heart Disease and Diabetes is one of the leading cause in deaths of minorities due to lack of healthy practices or maybe just plain on genetics. But all is not lost there are ways to prevent bad health dis-eases in it’s tracks.

1Smoking has a high risk 2 Exercise you would factor for developing heart disease. think this would be a given right? But NO!According to the Mayo Clinic, chemicals seriously getting an extra 30 minutes of in tobacco can damage your heart and exercise can get the blood flowing and blood vessels. The carbon monoxide in keeps you healthy plus it’s fun of course!cigarette smoke replaces some of the oxygen in your blood. But by giving up smoking your risk for heart disease drops.

3Healthy Eating, plays an important role in heart disease and diabetes. By cutting out greasy and fatty foods as well as red meats increases your chances at a longer life significantly. You can try picking up fruits and vegetables into your diet.

4Healthy Weight, Now we are 5Getting Rest, not saying you have to be a size 0 to be healthy but while our bodies need about seven to maintaining a reasonable weight and size is not only safe nine hours of rest each night. As an adultfor you but your loved ones as well. Excess weight can lead it is often next to impossible to find the to conditions that increase your chances of heart disease time to sleep right? But studies show high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes. that those not getting enough sleep are prone to heart health related illnesses.

Health & Nutrition


From Massah to Messiah:

The problem with Education Reform

I recently read an interesting article on education reform in the Washington Post, titled,

“The education-reform movement is too white to do any good.” It was a very interesting article, and, quite frankly, the title does a good job of explaining, both, the contents of the article and the position of the author. But for those who aren’t too familiar with the education reform movement or why anyone would be critical of it, allow me to explain.

It’s no secret that our educational system is broken. With the average American reading at a seventh grade level and many of our science, engi-neering, and technology jobs being shipped overseas, with American candidates unable to compete in the global market, it’s clear that there’s a problem, a BIG problem. This problem, however, didn’t just appear out of thin air; we’ve been dealing with it for a while. In the late 1950s, the U.S. was embarrassed on the international stage when Russia beat the U.S. by being the first country to launch a satellite in space. Ordinari-ly, this might not have been such a big deal, but the U.S. and Russia were at each other’s throats in a si-lent conflict known as the Cold War. So, essentially, the U.S. was bested by its greatest enemy at the time, which was not a good look.

Consequently, changes were put into effect and out came the reforms in education with science, math, engineering, and technology being at the top of the list.

Today, the same thing is happening. People aren’t buying American products. American students are less marketable in the global economy and seem less prepared when compared to their international counterparts. We’ve all heard the stories about how American students get summers off and attend school for less hours than students in Asia, Africa, and other parts of the world. We get it; we’re behind. There is, however, another part of the story that’s not being as heavily advertised in the media.

Although the entire American educational system is broken and behind in

the world market, educational reform is largely confined to inner city schools, where most of the students are Black and Brown. Outside of huge changes in curriculum, such as the movement towards Common Core, most of these educational reforms and re-formists, such as Teach for America and other like programs, have been largely pushed on inner schools,

students, and communities. Because of this, the perception in America is that our inner city schools need reform, while such is not the case. Even Hollywood plays a role in fos-tering this perception with movies such as Dangerous Minds and Free-dom Writers. We’ll address that later.

Some may read this and think, “What’s the big deal? If these inner city schools need help, then they should be happy about these reform programs, right?” Wrong. The problem isn’t so much about what is being proposed but more about how it is being implemented. It seems like most of the people making the decisions for what’s best for these communities seem to be people outside of them. As such, the educational reform movement conjures up images of American and European imperialism. Think of the British coming to America and attempting to convert the Native Americans to their rules, their culture, and their norms. Imagine Europeans carving up sections of Africa, the Caribbean, and South America and converting the natives and taking over with no respect for the pre-existing culture(s).

If you can imagine these scenari-os then you have a good idea for how educational reform looks in

the American inner cities. Schools are closed without input from the community, and when new charters schools are opened, the faculty and administration is filled with people who have no cultural connection or respect for the communities in which they serve. Instead, these educational reformers seem to take on the same attitudes as western missionaries, even at times referring to the schools and communities as the mission field. The attitude, here, is that they are, indeed, messianic figures commissioned to save these Black and Brown communities from their own self-imposed destruc-tion. This is the same image that is portrayed in the aforementioned movies, where we have poor and dejected inner city students who are unable to perform with no one who cares about them. Suddenly, the educational reformer, who happens to be White and from outside of the community, appears to save the day and raise student test scores and overall achievement. These attitudes are ignorant, at best, and extremely racist, at worst. And because of the attitudes and corresponding

actions of educational reformists, inner city communities of color have lost respect and trust for the entire educational reform movement. The result is that the intent of the movement is lost in its implementation, which is sad because our schools do need help.Part of the problem is a belief that these communities lack the skills and knowledge to solve their own issues in education, when such may not be the case. Our inner cities don’t lack the knowledge; they lack the resources and the access. So if organizations are truly interested in educational reform, perhaps they should support the community’s version of it and allow them greater access to resources and funding that would help them without imposing imperialistic stipulations. The Wash-ington Post article made a statement that I believe perfectly captures the point of this article. In the article, Dr. Perry states, “We need less ‘reform’ and more social justice.” My sentiments, exactly.

YUV Editorial Columnist:

Jenene Carter

Finding Your Purpose

It has always been my belief that the things that one consistently fights against are the very things that the person is called to change or, at least, to challenge. For me, one of the things that has bothered me, throughout my life is ignorance. Anytime I was faced with ignorance, it would affect me so much that, at times, I would be physically bothered. Because of this, I became an educator

and used my platform as a teacher and my skills as a writer to try to dispel ignorance wherever I encountered it. This is my calling. It will, undoubtedly, be my legacy. It is the gift that God gave me to change and influence my corner of the world.

With this same thought, I would like to pose the following question to you: What is it that God has given you to

change or challenge within the world? He made each of us unique and with a purpose designed to effect change. My prayer is that you will find your pur-pose, run towards it, and achieve all that God has for you.

Much Love,

Jenene


Making Community College Free For Everyone

By Jessica Daniel

Imagine going to college and not having to pay for high

tuition costs. For many college students, that is a dream come

true.According to recent reports,

President Obama has announced his plan to make community college free for everyone in the U.S, for everyone who is willing to work for it. Obama’s proposal would benefit millions of people nationwide who attend community college for at least two years and who have a minimum 2.5 GPA. This proposal would give many college students the opportunity to save thousands of dollars in tuition costs.

If President Obama’s proposal is passed by Congress, attending community college would be much easier and possible for students nationwide to receive the education they need.

Sacramento City College student, Chris Daniel thinks the idea of making the cost of tuition free for everyone is a great idea.

“It makes sense because they say that everybody needs an education and in order to make that a reality, it is important to take steps to make it accessible to as many people as possible. The greater price you place ON education, the less people that will BE educated. It’s only common sense.”

The importance of education not only needs to be instilled in our young people, but it also needs to be reachable and affordable to them. For that to happen, Obama’s pro-posal would need to be taken into consideration by Congress to allow college education to be open for all.

Come Write For Us!!! Young Urban Voices seeks writers to post stories on a variety of topics. This is ideal for journalism studentslooking to build their resume or seeking an unpaid internship.Also, we would need individuals familiar with social media outlets such as, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, You Tube, etc. to help build a strong fan base. Please visit, youngurbanvoices.com. and jmpublishings.comfor more information.

Qualifications At least 1-2 years writing for either acollege news paper, blog, or any print or online publication. Web designers, for creating websites &web pages. A passion for writing and a commitment to stick with a grounds floor magazine as it reaches success.

SCHOLARSHIPS FOR YOUR COLLEGE BOUND TEEN

Are you struggling to find a better way to pay for college for your soon to be freshman? Well look no more, below we have scholarships that are available for the 2016 academic year!

Generation Google African American Scholarships

Application Deadline: February to May, Award Amount: up to $1,000.This Generation Google scholarship for blacks is for students majoring in computer engineering, computer science, or software engineering. Graduate or undergraduate de-gree. For more information and to apply online please visit www.google.com.

Gates Millennium Scholarship

Application Deadline: January of each year. Award amount: FULL Scholarship -tuition, fees and living expenses after other sources of aid Must have a GPA of 3.3 or higher, and enroll first time as a student at a College or university. Must meet Pell Grant el-igibility, and demonstrate leadership skills. Requires student application, educator’s eval-uation and community service/leadership recommendation. (Gates Millennium Scholarship)

National Achievement Scholarships for Blacks

Application Deadline: Fall Each year (PSAT test) for high school juniors to attend college after high school.

Award Amount: $2500

These scholarships are part of the National Merit Scholarships Programs. The

process starts with the PSAT test in the fall of the junior year of high school. Semi-final-ists are notified the following spring, finalists, who are eligible for $2500 one-time scholarships for black students are notified in February. More information is available at www.nationalmerit.org/nasp

Jack and Jill African American Scholarships

Application Deadline: March each yearAward Amount-$1500-2500

Info:These scholarships for African American women and men are offered to high school seniors planning to attend a 4 year college full-time, in any state. Must have a 3.0 GPA or better. Funds may be used for tuition or board. Dependents of mem-ber of Jack and Jill are not

eligible. For more info please visit, www.jackandjillfoundation.org.

Various List of Scholarships for African Americans

Application Deadline: VariesAward Amount: Varies

These scholarships for Blacks, are adminis-tered by the Sallie Mae Fund. They have a scholarship search engine with over 300 scholarships that can be searched by GPA, academic and career interest, etc. Please visit www.thesalliemaefund.org.

web resources from: www.college-financial-aid-advice.com.


Gail Devers

Olympic Gold Medalist & Author Makes Moves On & Off The Field


ward to when mine was crum-bling in front of my face, but I will say going through what I went through with Graves Disease made me a stronger person. I take medications every day for the rest of my life in order to live. When I thought that this is it, you know, that I’ve done all I can, somehow I found the strength to keep going. My book is called My Life in Story: Stronger, and it’s called Stronger for a reason be-cause everything that has happened in my life, if we think about our life’s journey, everything that happens can be a lesson, good or bad, and I draw strength by it. And it made me into the person I am today where I feel that if it is something that I have to do, I don’t care how tough it is, somehow I’m going to find that extra toughness to get through it.

Young Urban Voices: What gave you the strength to con-tinue to compete in the Olympics?

Gail Devers: My goals. Like I said, I’m very goal-oriented. If there is something I want to do, I write it down, and it becomes like my personal daily law that I look at and have placed it in several places in my house as a constant reminder to me of what it is that I need to accom-plish, and I actually sign it as if I’m signing a contract because for me it’s like your word is bond. And if I sign it to say that I’m actually committed to this, then I’m committed, regard-less of how long it’s going to take. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to

happen, but it means that I’m all in, and I will give 110%. So that became my inspiration to get back out there and finally seeing my dreams real-ized. They got sidelined for a little while with the Graves Disease, but they [my dreams] didn’t die.

Young Urban Voices: Tell me about your new book.

Gail Devers: Well, I’m excited about it. It’s my first one. For this one, it’s about my life, but I didn’t want it to be, what I call, a boring autobiography. I do a lot of speak-ing engagements, and when I go to speaking engagements, regardless of the audience, I always open it up for questions and answers. A lot of people come up with very interest-ing questions, and it is kind of like interview style. For me, if someone

asks, “Have you always been fast?” Then it makes me reflect back on my childhood, the story I was told, and the scenes I remember about my childhood. So the book is written in a back and forth kind of way where somebody asks me a question and it kicks back to 1996 at the Olym-pic games or even 1966 when I was born, and I tell a story about that

and then it comes back to the present. So it’s in the past and the present, but it gives you my life in story form. And overall, it’s about being stronger.

Young Urban Voices: What do you hope for people who read your book to gain from?

Gail Devers: Inside about me, what I’m truly about, the morals and the values I have, and the way I try to live my life. Hopefully, I never say I want somebody to be like me. If somebody says they

want to be like me, I would say that means you want to be the best you that you can be. I talk about just, my take on life. I tell you about my story, but I also tell you about my take on life, just everything in general about being the best person that you can be. You have one body, one blue-print, nobody else is like you, so it’s what you make of yourself and what you make of your life. The choices that you make in your life, people always talk about being role models,

Overcoming Obstacles with Olympic Gold Medalist Gail Devers A Young Urban Voices Interview By

Jessica Daniel

GThree time Olympic gold

medalist, Gail Devers talks with Young Urban Voices about her start in the Olympics, her battle with Graves Disease and how she was able to over-come her illness to accomplish her number one goal, to be the best in the world. Devers also talks about her new book, “My Life in Story: Stronger.”

Young Urban Voices: You are a three time Olympic gold med-alist who has overcome many obstacles to get to where you are today. First off, how did you get started running in the Olympics?

Gail Devers: I started run-ning track and field, in general, when I was fifteen, in my sophomore year of high school. It kind of progressed from there and each year I would try a differ-ent event. I started doing distance and then I went from distance to the sprints. I was able to get a scholarship to college. I went to UCLA and from there I met my coach Bob Kersee. He saw potential in me, and we worked extremely hard.

I’ve always been a very goal-oriented person where I set goals for myself on things that I want to accomplish. I set a goal for myself that I wanted to be the best in the world. It was not easy but it was something that was definitely rewarding.

Young Urban Voices: Who was your biggest inspira-tion?

Gail Devers: I would say, growing up, in seventh grade every year we would go to the library and we had to pick out a book. I picked a Wilma Rudolph book one time, actually it fell and I picked it up, just reading her story and learning about the things she went through with her Polio and everything. She became a real inspiration to me later on in my career when I had to go through my Graves Disease.

Young Urban Voices: What was the biggest challenge you had to face?

Gail Devers: My biggest challenge would be the Graves

Disease. You know, being an athlete thinking you know your body and now all of a sudden something going on with your body, and you don’t know what it is. For me, it became the biggest challenge because it took them three years to diagnose me where I was under 87 or 86 pounds, my hair was falling out, and what people were calling my trademark nails were breaking, and usually my nails don’t break unless I do something crazy. Just going through all of that and facing one day to the next, my eyes bulging out and going to the doctors not finding any answers was traumatic actu-ally. During that, and being told waking up one day and having blisters on my feet and then being told that I came very close to having my feet amputated. As an athlete, as a runner it’s like your worst nightmare came true.

Young Urban Voices: How old were you when you were diag-nosed with Graves Disease?

Gail Devers: I want to say 20, 19 or 20. It was that time when you’re supposed to have your whole world to look for-


I think everybody is a role model, everybody, I don’t care who you are, there’s always somebody watching you. You may not know who it is, but there is somebody watching, so you have to make choices in your life to decide what type of role model you want to be, and I always want to be positive, and I have kids. I also work with tons of kids every day, so the example we’re setting, what we’re showing them, what we’re telling them, hopefully they match up.

People say, “Do as I say not as I do” no, do as I do be-cause that is what a leader does. A leader shows by exam-ple that this is the way to be, this is the way you conduct yourself, your life. Think about the choices you have to make in life, the consequences of your choices, of your decisions before you make them. I talk about, when I go to talk with kids, on what it means to be successful. Ev-erybody wants to be successful, but what does that really mean? I think we in society get so…I’m very thankful for my gold medals, my accomplishments that I’ve been able to do, but my falling over the hurdles in 1992, to me, is just as successful as winning the gold medal. Why? Because I gave it my all. It’s not always about winning, it’s not always about owning a company, or making the most money. It’s about being the best that you can be. If you end up on a starting line, everybody is not going to come across the finish line at the same time, everybody is not going to be first place, but everybody can be winners by their effort. That’s the message that I want to instill in definitely our future, which is our youth, but also some of the adults need to understand that, too, because our attitudes reflect on those who are looking at us.

Young Urban Voices: What advice would you give people who may be struggling with illnesses?

Gail Devers: Keep your head up. Stay strong. In life, everybody has to face an obstacle. Obstacles could be challenges as far as financial challenges, illnesses,

sickness in your own family whether it may be you or a loved one, or it could be bullying at school, just a number of things from A to Z. Things not working out the way we want them to, we just have to keep our heads up and stay prayerful. We have to work. We can’t sit back and wait for things to happen. I could even use my Graves Disease, it took three years, but I wasn’t sitting around going woe is me. I was going from doctor to doctor trying to find an answer. We al-

most have to be our own advocate and say hey, I’m going to keep pushing. I remember hearing when I was young, push. Pray until something happens. Well, I’m going to pray, I’m going to pull, I’m going to push. Be active, not reactive but proactive. You have to have that faith even if you may not see it, but you know it’s going to happen.

Young Urban Voices: What would you say to young people who aspire to make a difference and to follow their God-given purpose?

Gail Devers: I think when we follow what God has for us, He continues to bless us in other ways. My example, I guess, would be for myself where I always tell people I had wanted to be a teacher. If I had done it my way, I would have been in a classroom with 25 kids, and I would have been happy, but it would have been my way. But doing it God’s way, I have the world as my classroom. I travel the world where I constantly have a mic in my face, and it’s up to me in what I’m going to say, how I’m going to say it, and how I can help other people, how I can be a voice with my Graves Disease, with this illness, to be a voice to help someone. -YUV-

I think everybody is a role model. I don’t care who you are, there’s always somebody watching you. You may not know who it is, but there is somebody watching, you have to make choices in your life to decide what type of role model you want to be.


Founder, Sharon Chandler

Yes 2 Kollege Program Provides Health Education

To African American YouthsEducator , and business woman, Sharon Chandler opens up about the importance of education and future goals as well as the role of education plays in health. Chandler talks to Young Urban Voices, to discuss her programs.

Young Urban Voices: How did you start the Yes 2 Kollege program?

Sharon Chandler: I started the nonprofit in 2002, created to help African American parents to prepare their children for college. That’s

YUV: Why would you say education is so important especially within the

Sharon: In order to get any career you need to have a background in education and

take advantage of the opportunities that are given in

: How did you

Sharon: I

YUV: What advice

Sharon: I know college isn’t for everyone. But I think an education should still be the goal wheth-er that be with a certificate or with on the job training. You may go to junior college or Doctorate to get a career. There aren’t any jobs any-more. You need to have a career. Every career requires some level of education. If you can’t read and write then you’ll be lost.

YUV: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Sharon: We have a mentor-ing program we’re working with, doctors& health professionals to encourage African American kids to attend medical school with the UC Davis school of medicine. They’ve been very helpful with assisting our junior and high school students and connecting them with first, second and third year medical students. As well as chiropractors, therapists, and physicians that will help them learn more about a career in the healthcare field. This will possibly increase the numbers of African Americans attending medical school. They’re really aren’t a lot of black doctors. We’re just trying to work with parents and children and put together some-thing were the youth can volunteer so much of their time in the community with job training and shadowing doctors. Also, students have interviewed each of the

doctors to learn their story and tour the medical facilities. The program is,“Minority Health Profession Mentoring Program.”

You can learn more about Sharon Chandler and all of the programs at www.yes2kollege.com and 916-230-1631.

Sharon Chandler with Comedian and Philanthropist, Bill Cosby.


TO TALKWOMEN’ TOWNHALL

MEETING

LADIES WE NEED

Ladies, we have some things to discuss. Things have gotten completely out of

hand in a number of different areas. Because of this, I have decided to call a town-hall meeting. Now, I know that some of you are reading this and thinking, “Who is she to get us together? Did we vote her into office or some-thing? If so, then I demand a recount!” I’ll address those concerns now. No, I was not elected into office, and I cer-tainly don’t speak for all wom-en, which is why this is an open forum; please leave your comments in the comment section below. I am, however, a concerned member of the community of women, and as such, I felt it my duty to bring these concerns before you.

Concern #1: Unity amongst women. If I hear one more woman make the statement, “I just can’t hang around women because they bring too much drama, so I just stick with the guys,” then I’m gonna scream.

Message: Men do not see you or any other woman as just “one of the guys.” While it is true that men may be able to carry on platonic relationships with women, the women in these relationships don’t share an equal position with their homeboys. Men regularly practice the “bros before hoes” mantra. If you don’t believe me, then see who’s back your homeboy has if his boy is caught cheating. Even if he’s friends with the girlfriend, your homeboy will be loyal to the guy. Why…because the fraternity of men is stronger

than the sorority of women. We need to change this. If they wanna live by the “bros before hoes” creed, then we need to take up the “chicks be-fore…” well, you get the point.

Concern #2: Stop antagoniz-ing our single sisters. This sort of builds on concern #1. Being single is a choice and not a disease or disorder to be treated, so we need to stop treating our single sisters as if there’s something wrong with them. After all, everyone was born single. Some may want marriage; others may not, but it is their choice, not their burden. Additionally, married (and coupled) sisters should stop treating single sisters as if they are all desperate, immoral pariahs; in other words, stop treating every single woman as if she is checking for your

man. Let’s keep it real, half the time you’re not even check-ing for him, so what makes you think that someone else is? Although there are always women who prey on taken men and vice versa, everyone isn’t like that, and it causes a strong division amongst women when single women are isolated and unfairly brand-ed with the scarlet letter. Let’s get it together, ladies.

Concern #3: Re-spect other peo-ple’s relationships/situations. This is gonna sound like I’m backtracking from my last point, but I believe in addressing both sides of any situ-ation. While I do hold that single women get a largely unfair share of criti-cism from married/coupled women who believe that they are trying to steal their men, I also believe that many wom-en aren’t respectful of other women’s relationships. This goes for single, married, and coupled women–all of us can share in this disrespect. For example, I often hear women say, “Don’t get mad at me; I’m not in a relationship with you. Get mad at your man.” This is stupid, and we need to stop.

Yes, the person who’s in the relationship has the greatest responsi-

bility, but that doesn’t absolve the other person. Truth is, that other person was inter-fering and disrespecting their relationship. Period. We can argue back and forth about

this, but the truth is that every woman reading this would see it my way if they were the one being disrespected. To see it differently is to be selfish and disrespectful. It doesn’t uplift women, and it encourages cheating.

The truth is that we have been bamboozled and fed lies by some

self-serving and selfish man. This man perpetuated a lie that there was a man shortage and subliminally encouraged

us to “share.” When the truth is that there are six billion peo-ple in the world, and slightly less than half of them are men. There are men every-where waiting on the woman of their dreams, and we pass by them every day. The man shortage is a scam designed to

benefit men who otherwise wouldn’t be able to be a playa. It’s ridiculous, and we shouldn’t buy into it because it is harmful to our community of wom-en.

Quite frankly, there are many more concerns that I

have, but I only have the platform so long, so I’ll take this moment to pass the mic to the next sis-ter. Please address these concerns, and also add any additional concerns

of your own in the comment section. Thank you and have a great day.

Much Love, Jenene


THE DRUNK


You would think after so many blows, after so many years, I’d be used to the

never-ending pain…bullshit. No matter how hard or soft, it fucking hurt and left the same marks. The marks of a battered sixteen-year-old. I gained a skill though, an acute sense of smell. Cer-tain days when he hits me, I can tell what has a hold of him just by the smell of his breath. Hennessey Mondays, Wild Turkey Tuesdays, Wid-mer Wednesdays, Tequila Thursdays, Fosters Fridays and Seagram’s Saturdays.

Sundays…he slept. But it was never long enough.Those days, the three of us made sure we were either, A: Quiet in the house. Or B: Not in the house. We would unanimously chose B every time. Unfortunately, it’s Thursday, and Cuervo had been chugged down his probably flammable insides as he yelled at Michael in his sleep for turning the sink on. Last I checked, you needed water to clean yourself. To the Drunk, turning the wa-ter on at 7am is a luxury we are not entitled to.

It is like a marathon every morning to get Michael and Moriah ready, get myself

ready, dressed and out the door by 7:45 and avoid look-ing like Mike Tyson and Kim-bo Slice’s target practice.

“Can’t we just run away?” Michael asks me every morn-ing. Pointless is the lie I always tell Michael. For twelve-years-old, he has a lifetime’s worth

of anger in him, and a face so sullen, you would think a lemon was in his mouth on a regular basis. Moriah at nine is the only one the Drunk never

hurt. Her innocent eyes and youthful face would be hard to bruise, and then live with. She reminded me so much of our mother. Her laugh, smile, same skin, eyes. She is definitely our mother’s daughter. But our mother’s eyes were full of pain. Until the day she took power

away from the Drunk. Killing herself. Her body smiled at the morgue. A victorious smile.Sometimes at night, after the pain from the Drunk’s beat-

ing died down and Michael is calm enough to go to sleep, I can see our Mother. She’s at peace. But what is peace? After double checking their back-packs and mine, we proceed out of the Holocaust we call home. We stepped over a mess in an area I know we cleaned and headed for salvation…the

front door.

The door creaked open and the beast awoke. His clothes are dirty and stuck to his sweat

covered body. Bottle in hand of course.

“The hell you think you’re doing? I’m sleep,” he said. No one said a word, just like Jaina taught us. The Drunk walks over to me and gets directly in my face. I put Michael and Moriah behind me. Better

me than them I think. It was 7:27. Still time to think of a new lie. Mr. Dawkins in 1st period Pre-Cal knows what’s going on with me I think. But he doesn’t care. Pussy calls. You can tell by the look in his eyes and his eyes are on Tasha Little’s tits in the front row.

“Derek, you little shit. The fuck I tell your ass about that talking and creeping shit?” The Drunk asked me. I was lost for words,

and beyond done with the repetitive confusion known as the Drunk.

The Drunk socked me in the

gut. The wind blew out of me like Tom Brady passing me a football I wasn’t quick enough to catch. This resulted in the pain of a three men tackle in one drunken punch.

Michael, like always, let his anger get the best of him and screamed out the three words you don’t say to the Drunk…“Leave…him…alone!” And it was too late. The Drunk backhanded me to the ground. Moriah was already behind the couch. Jaina taught her well. Too bad Michael didn’t put two and two together.The sound of Michael’s screams as the Drunk pounced on him could make my ears bleed. Moriah’s eyes are filled with tears as she crouches down covering her ears, want-ing the pain to be over.

In school today, I couldn’t focus to save my life. Mrs. Page sent me to Mr. Williams, my guidance counselor, where I lied through my teeth yet again. I walked down the hall where I saw nerdy ass Jeff Pritchard getting punked by Jamal Evans and Miguel Zuni-ga. Jeff cried after they finished him off. I couldn’t help telling him to suck it up and be a man. Then I returned to Lit.

Long story short, today was another day, just like any day,


where I picked through the files of my brain, just to see if I had any other lies to tell peo-ple. As always, I picked Mi-chael and Moriah up at their school, and the walk home was silent. But our minds are on the dilemma at hand. Go-ing home. It’s selfish of me to even think this, but I resented almost everyone in my family.

Especially my Mom and Jaina. They got away, and a part of me felt like I had to be the hero, the man of the house. But no man takes the kind of shit I do. It keeps me up at night just fathoming how disgusted I am by it.

Since it is Thursday, tequila is visiting the Drunk, but he was on the phone when we got home. That gave us T-mi-nus two minutes to get to our rooms for the night. School is out the next day, so that means we have to be left home with him. I am one of the few sixteen-year-olds who hates when school is out. They don’t know what life is like with him. So hopefully…Monday will come sooner than expect-ed. .

Journal Entry April 4, 2011

I couldn’t stop her. I couldn’t. I couldn’t grab her tongue and make her take it back, because

she meant it and couldn’t hold back anymore. At lunch time, while I made them plain tur-key sandwiches with just meat and bread, the Drunk grum-bled to life and explained the hatred he had towards us. That’s when Moriah said “I hate you too,”.

The Drunk back-handed her to the ground. The fuck-ing bastard hit my

baby sister. Michael went after him first and was hit multiple times for what he thought was protecting our little sister. I grabbed a wooden bat, located by the back door. I swung, and like a crazed ninja, he blocked it and grabbed it from me. He punched me in the face, while saying every profanity in the English language. Stuff even people in the military would cover their ears to. He hit me in the gut with it and I felt like I would puke but couldn’t breathe, so I fell to my knees like the bitch I was at that moment. Next, he smashed it onto my back. The pain that shot up my body, suppressed the sound of Moriah’s crying and Mi-chael’s hate filled screams. He hit me one more time, tak-ing me to the ground. Every horrible thought is running through my mind. He stops, and shame comes over his

face it looked like. He drops the bat and takes off out of the backdoor. The sound of his 89 Chevy pick up truck, driv-ing out of the gravel covered driveway, followed by tires squealing down the street brought relief to the three of us.

They ran over to me, and could not stop crying. I did the one thing I knew I had to, I told them to pack their bags. They went into the back, while I lied there on my stomach, contemplating. The deep thought turned to streams of tears. We took the bus then got on the light rail. It took us to the Florin area, where Jaina and her thug ass boyfriend Quentin stay. When Jaina graduated, she didn’t tell the Drunk she was moving, and never came back. She’s been through it too, maybe worse than us. But she was smart, but like me, she was selfish. She thought only of herself. Talking to her about anything after she moved usually con-sisted of a 5-6 minute conver-sation on the phone. Words of advice. She taught us what to do, how to survive, but she wouldn’t stay along and con-tinue the battle. Big sisters I guess have that mindset. Jaina did for sure.

When we got there, she was spoke strong-ly about us

not staying forever. Quentin didn’t care because Quentin is a straight thug who is always blown smoking purps. As long as we didn’t make it a habit of wearing out our welcome, he didn’t care. So Jaina had to give in.

She examined us and couldn’t believe how far the Drunk had tak-en it this time. She was

verbally pissed off that Moriah was hit, and I don’t blame her for that. Jaina goes on and on about me emancipating myself, and like always, I tell

her they’d split Michael and Moriah up unless she put her foot down. Jaina just smokes and pays my last comment no mind.

The time went by today, I had too much on my mind. I told Michael and Moriah to go in the back. That’s when I told Jaina we should kill the Drunk. Jaina was in disbelief,

and automatically went off on me. Telling me the things that would happen if I were caught. My mind wasn’t there, I want-ed the Drunk gone and out of our lives. Regardless of what happened. She immediately stormed off. Quentin took interest in what I was say-ing. The complete thug took over and he 21 questioned

me about my plan. The plan I didn’t have. An hour later he broke it down to me, and he agreed to help if I did the dirty work, but Jaina had to play along.

Persuading Jaina was a pain in the ass. She chain-smoked her Newport’s, and belittled me like she did when we were younger. I yelled and

explained why it has to hap-pen. She again was against it. So I stuck her deep, and hit her below the belt when I told her “At least I didn’t leave my family behind”. She didn’t say a word, She was silent. She took a long drag of her cigarette and remained quiet as I laid out the plan me and Quentin talked about. She agreed to


cover and seek custody of me, Michael and Moriah after I went through with it, and I was convinced, I would do it. I would.

A few hours ago, me and Quentin left. Jaina stayed with the kids. But

Michael was begging to go, like he knew. Like he heard me conceiving my plan with Quentin. But I told him I had to go see about something, which he wrote off as bullshit. But I assured him it was fine. I tucked Moriah in before I left. I apologized for what happened to her. She told me it wasn’t my fault. But I still felt responsible. She gave me those eyes that could read through a human’s soul. My baby sister is special. I kissed her head, told her good night and exited the room.

Jaina told me and Quentin not to bring any drama back. I told her “I’m ending the drama”. I took a deep breath and walked outside with Quentin. No turning back now, I follow through and end this legacy of abuse. I couldn’t help but see my kid brother in the rearview. He was standing where Quentin’s car once was with that face saying “Take me with you,”. But we kept driving. We didn’t stop.We parked a block away on a

corner. The house is visible, and the Drunk had returned home. Quentin gave me leather gloves, plastic for my shoes, a ski mask, a parka and a 9MM. He told me to make it like a robbery or accident, and to only touch what was neces-sary. I hid the gun and exited the car. I held my bag of cover ups and proceed towards the house to end the cycle.

I will never, as long as I live, forget those ten minutes that will be with me forever. I’ll re-live it over and over again. It’s haunting, almost terrifying. I put on all the essentials Quen-tin gave me on the side of the house. Then I proceed inside. It was dark. The light from the TV was the only thing help-ing me to see. My hands were sweaty and shaky. I pulled it together and pulled the glock out. I point it straight ahead of me, and that’s where it stays. I go to the living room and the Drunk isn’t there. I sud-denly hear water. That brings me back to reality. I turn to the hallway where I see the light coming from under the bathroom door. I walked closer, and that’s when I clearly hear the water from the tub running. As I walk closer, my shoes soak into the wet carpet. All I can think is the Drunk left the water on and is passed out in his room. Fos-ters Friday. I turn and go to his

room, he isn’t there. The water continued flowing from under the bathroom door. I kept the 9MM pointed forward. I put my hand on the door knob and open it. I immediately hit the wall in the hallway, freak-ing out.

The Drunk was in the bathtub. It was filled with half water, half blood. His wrist was slit, and the bloody razor was on the flooded floor. I just sat in the wet hallway, watching, confused, shocked, angry, pet-rified. None of these feelings are what I had in mind when I first intended to end his life. I looked at him, he looked helpless, frightened, alone, pitiful. I didn’t know if it was an accident that happened because his ass was drunk, or he said fuck it, and took his life. I don’t know why, but guilt came over me. I felt like my thoughts of killing him, were received by him and he did the job first. He wouldn’t give me the pleasure. All I could think of was leaving. I ran out of the house, got to Quentin’s car and we left.

I told Jaina that the Drunk had killed himself. That he took the coward’s way out. Quentin was visibly upset by it, wanting to dispose of a body. Jaina was indifferent like me, but she says it’ll be easier for her to get custody of the three of us.

Then, a voice spoke. Michael said he called the Drunk when Quentin and I left. And he told him off, and didn’t hold anything back.

Then it hit me. Michael got his wish. He hurt the Drunk. He killed him.. Journal Entry

April 3, 2011

Ten years later, things have gotten

a lot smoother for us. Jaina left Quentin and married a banker named Malcolm, and she is now a guidance counselor. She still has her thug tendencies, but with class. Michael joined the Marines and is on his second tour in Iran. He felt re-sponsible for the Drunk’s sui-cide, so he put himself to good use, fighting for our country. He calls me once a week and we talk for an hour. Moriah is going to SFU as a fashion design major, creating clothes and on the brink of starting a clothing line. Not bad for a nineteen-year-old girl with a rough upbringing.

As for me, I became a writer. Mostly fiction novels, poems and short stories. But this is the first time I wrote in this journal, since the night I found the Drunk. I couldn’t put a pen on paper about it, and discuss me until now. I felt

guilty like no other seeing his lifeless body in the bathtub ev-ery time I closed my eyes. The pain he caused us, the pain I was going to cause him. All it took was someone saying one thing, and he self-destructed on his own.

But I learned from him. I got stronger because of him. Hell, we became better because of him. But I’ll never call him dad, or by his first name even if someone asks me. He’ll always be…

The Drunk.

The End.

Written ByRandy Russell

Visit youngurbanvoices.com Young Urban Voices Magazine 43 Young Urban Voices Magazine December 2015 Issue pg. 42

Our Black Is Beautiful


that he could have done more business with Blacks but doing that would be at the expense of other Asian business owners, which, accord-ing to him, would not be practicing Asian love. Finally, he dropped the greatest nug-get of knowledge in the entire response. He said that Blacks should help and sup-port each other, in effect, practice Black love, instead of com-plaining about other people not giving them opportunities. After reading this article and seeing the current state of the Black commu-nity at large (not the small pockets of affluence that some like to tout as wholly representative of the race), I began to craft my beliefs about our need to segregate.

Consider this: The Greenwood community in Tulsa, OK,

known as The Black Wall Street was the most affluent Black community that Ameri-ca has ever known prior to the 1921 Holocaust

that destroyed it. (If you don’t believe me or haven’t heard, then do a quick google search, and you’ll see.) Within this community, Blacks owned every type of industry, even their own

airplanes in the early 20th century. It was bigger than Atlanta or any other chocolate city that you’ve ever imag-ined. The Black owned industries were so afflu-ent and top flight that White citizens in the same city had to come to the Black community of Greenwood to re-ceive quality services. And this was all prior to

1921!

The important part of the Greenwood mod-el, however, is that all of the Black people fully supported these industries. They ate

at Black restaurants, watched movies in the Black movie theaters, bought their clothes at the Black retailers, and supported every other Black industry/service in Greenwood. (Of course, during this time, they had to be-cause of segregation.) In being segregated and, thereby, exclusive-ly supporting their own,

2014 was a strange year to be Black. We had Ferguson, Eric

Garner, and so many others that I’ve officially lost count. There were marches, demonstra-tions, and riots. Some protests were peaceful; some, not so much. Through all of this hurt, pain, and mass confu-sion, I realized some-thing very controversial, yet powerful: I believe in segregation.

I know you’re proba-bly reading this and wondering if you mis-read what I wrote. The answer is, “No, you didn’t.” I said that I believe in segregation. I believe that the only way for Black people to not only survive, but to thrive, is for us to seg-

regate. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m no rac-ist, and I certainly mean no harm or ill will to-wards any other race. I am, however, more con-cerned with the health and wealth of the Black community than any other community, and I do not see it as racist to love and care for one-self above all others. I see it as wisdom. Be-sides, every other race does the same thing anyway; we (Black peo-ple) are the only ones who haven’t gotten hip to the game. Instead, we’ve let others manip-ulate us into feeling bad about choosing our own above all others. We’ve foolishly fallen into the lie of reversed racism, a lie that dooms us to inclusion and accommo-dation at our own ex-

pense. In short, we’ve been bamboozled!

I read an article awhile ago about an Asian business-man in the hair

care industry. He was speaking about how he often heard complaints from Black people about him (and other Asians) shutting them out of the hair care industry by only choosing to con-duct business with other Asians. His response completely changed the lens in which I viewed the situation. In re-sponding, the man said that he had no issues and meant no harm to-wards Black people. He said that he was simply looking out for the best interests of his people; he called it practicing “Asian love.” He said


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however, they were able to accrue wealth for their community.

This is exact-ly what the Black commu-nity needs to

do today, but not be-cause the government has forced us to do it. We should do it for the health and wealth of our community; we should practice Black love. An economist once told me that a dollar has to cir-culate seven times in a community in order for that community to gain money. That means that a person would need to frequent seven estab-lishments in one com-munity to contribute to its wealth. So take a second and think of how many Black owned establishments that you frequent. No shade, but nearly every time I see an Asian, they are driv-ing a Honda, Kia, or a Hyundai. Why…because they are supporting Asian brands. They are practicing Asian love, and they are not the only ones to do this. Nearly every other race of people supports its own, but we have been tricked into believing

that doing so is racist.

Those who have been behind this lie have a vested interest in it. Just think: The buying power of the Black community would make it the 11th rich-est nation in the world. Presently, we are us-ing those resources to advance the com-munities of those who oppress us. In short, we are funding our own oppression by not investing in our own communities and, in-stead, investing in oth-ers. Think about how our communities would look if we invested in our own, if we prac-ticed Black love. Think about how it would look if it spread from Amer-ica to Africa and other Black communities in the diaspora. Imagine the power. We wouldn’t worry about cops in Ferguson because we would have our own police departments staffed with people who have a vested interest in our community. We wouldn’t have to fight for equal rights because we would have our own seats at the table and control our own destiny.

So, yes, I say it loud and proud. “I believe in segregation.” In a per-fect world, we wouldn’t need it. We would truly be judged as Dr. King outlined in his “I Have A Dream” speech. The world, however, is far from perfect, and I am a realist. So in the words of George Wal-lace (although for an entirely different pur-pose), I say, “Segrega-tion now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!”

AVAILABLE NOW!

BY JANAE MARIE

Young Urban Voices Magazine December 2015 Issue pg. 48

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