A woman in her 60’s was killed the other day. In her neighborhood. She was the mother of nine. Nine children. Her neighbors said she was a pleasant woman who could be found outside sweeping the sidewalk outside of her home.  Her son said she was always quoting Bible verses. She was shot in the back of the head and left for dead in an alley near her home.

A 51-year-old woman was beaten and robbed today, by a ten-year old boy. A ten-year -old boy. Police say his accomplices were ages 9 and 7.  He’s Hispanic–because I know you’re googling the story now just to make sure it wasn’t “one of us”, but it was, wasn’t it?

There is a war going on out here. The violence against women and children is increasing at alarming rates. Not to mention, our young men. But we rally, and we wear T-Shirts and we blog about it. (Exhibit A, I’m apart of the problem). Oh and we march, boy, do we march. Then we go home, and lock our doors, and ignore the suspicious looking activity on the corners because we’ve got to live in this hood, and we know that boy’s mother and couldn’t stand to send him to jail. Until, of course, he’s standing over us with a pipe, demanding money. Or until, that “crazy, fast, girl from up the street” is found dead, on that little block, where you never park your car. But you won’t tell police about that scream you “may have heard”, because, who will hear yours? You have to protect yourself. Isn’t that the way to win a war? Protect yourself; beat the opponent to the punch, or to the shot, or to the wound, or, to the grave. Pick one. Survival of the fittest. But if the armor of protection still ends in death and tragedy, what good is the shield? It shields one of us by ultimately harming all of us.

 

We’ve become such an individualistic, selfish society, only satisfied by attention. Like my picture, Re-tweet my post, come to my show, and take a picture with me there, so we can show everyone how amazing we are. Instant gratification is satisfying enough; we are so enthralled in ourselves, so intrigued by the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The people most of us will never be or get to meet. We have GOT to do better. I feel a revolution coming on. I’d like to channel the motivation of the Black Panther party, a little less radical, but just as passionate. We have to preserve and protect the human race against, the human race. I challenge you, whoever you are, to do something to positively benefit someone else. If you see something that’s wrong, say something, if you’re doing something that’s wrong, stop it. Figure out an action plan to promote positivity and stop some of this senseless, selfish behavior that’s killing us. Start an army of change. Don’t wait for a chain of command, every soldier that joins must also be the General. Start today.

That’s an order.