Looking Back And Looking Ahead Chiraq Becoming Chicago Again

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

IT'S IN YOUR HANDS BLACK AMERICA, IT'S IN YOUR HANDS"

YEAR TO DATE 738 KILLINGS IN CHIRAQ, AND OVER 7,400 SHOOTINGS SO THAT MEANS THAT 1 OUT OF EVERY 10 SHOOTINGS IN CHICAGO THE BODY ENDS UP ON A SLAB IN THE CITY'S MORGUE. HOW MANY POTENTIAL FRED HAMPTON'S, HAROLD WASHINGTON'S, REDD FOXX'S, TERRANCE HOWARD'S, BERNIE MAC'S, MELVIN VAN PEBBLES'S ENDED UP ON THAT SLAB OF STEEL IN 2016 NEVER TO FULFILL THE PROMISES OF EXCELLENCE SWORN TO THEM BY HOPE OF TOMORROW?

THIS HAS GOT TO STOP THIS BECAUSE WHEN MALCOLM X ASKED THAT WE AS A PEOPLE NEED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN THE BALLOT OR THE BULLET. MALCOLM X NEVER INTENDED THAT WE AS A PEOPLE OF COLOR CHOOSE THE BULLET AND POINT THOSE GUNS DIRECTLY AT EACH OTHER OF THE SAME COLOR. WE ARE THE OPPRESSED NOT THE OPPRESSOR YET WE STRIKE OUT AS OPPRESSED AGAINST THE OPPRESSED. DAMN, CHIRAQ HAD A TOTAL OF 481 KILLINGS IN 2015 BUT THAT FIGURE WAS SURPASSED BY LABOR DAY THIS YEAR.

"US KILLING US" SIMPLY MAKES THOSE WHO OPPRESS EVEN STRONGER, AND THAT MAKES "US" THE SUPPOSED OPPRESSED SEEM SO IGNORANT OF THE PLIGHT OF OUR OWN STRUGGLES BECAUSE IT SEEMS WE ARE ALIGNED IN OUR VERY OWN DESTRUCTION. SO, AS OUR COMMUNITIES ACROSS THIS NATION PROCEED TO MOVE INTO A NEW YEAR. THE DEMISE THAT OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT SO VIGOROUSLY AGAINST SHOULDN'T BE ENABLED BY OUR VERY OWN HANDS. IT'S TIME FOR OUR COMMUNITIES MEMBERS, YOUNG AND OLD, RICH AND POOR, EDUCATED OR NON-EDUCATED TO RECOGNIZE THAT WE CAN EITHER BE OUR OWN ALLIES IN THE STRUGGLE TO ACHIEVE COMMUNITY GREATNESS. OR, WE CAN BE OUR OWN ENEMIES TOWARDS ATTAINING ANY MEASURE OF POSITIVE CHANGE. YOU SEE WE CAN BRING DOWN ANY CHANCE FOR OUR COMMUNITIES TO REACH ITS HIGHEST PLATEAUS OR CONTINUE TO SETTLE FOR THE DEPTHS OF CONSTANT DESPAIR. JUST AS ADAM CLAYTON POWELL JR. SAID IT STILL RINGS TRUE IT'S IN YOUR HANDS, BLACK AMERICA, MAKE THE EFFORT TO MAKE A BETTER TOMORROW TODAY, NOW THIS MINUTE, WHY WAIT? YOUR HANDS, NOT THEIRS OR ANYONE ELSE'S.

#joesmokethoughts

Rather than focus the impeachment issues today I am bringing some good news to my blog site. You see the black residents of Chicago, Illinois has indeed begun the battle of turning those small weapons of community destruction away from their brothers and sisters. This year the current murder although still high has dropped precipitously since I made this post three years ago.

In 2016, 738 murders had occurred by 12/19/2016 but on 12/19/2019, 493 murders have occurred which means 245 primarily black men are walking and talking in 2019 because of the downtick in Chicago’s murder rate. Although, 493 lost souls is still an extremely high rate of violence. This is the third consecutive year that murders in Chicago have fallen.

To me that is sign of hope for the black residents of Chicago’s black communities. Because if you can drop the number of murders by 245 in 3 years. You will be able to drop the numbers of blacks being murdered in the Windy City by 493 by the end of the next decade.

For that to happen we must remain diligent and faithful to the cause of eliminating us killing us. Truly when that happens Black Lives will truly matter. You see once Black Lives matter to each and every black Chicago resident then we not them solve our own problems. It will come a time when Chiraq is no longer the moniker for Chicago’s inner city residents.

So rather than spend another post on the political stalemate in our Nation’s Capital. Let’s lift up our arms in grace that Chicago is finally beginning to fulfill the words of Dr. Martin Luther King:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

Chicago has been caught in darkness far too long. Maybe it time for a wondrous beam of light to drive out the hate. Yes, as Adam Clayton Powell said so many times it is in your hands, not the hands of the oppressor.