I am a father, stepfather; grandfather, brother, uncle, great uncle, nephew, cousin and friend. I am an African American male living in America who has been blessed to see age fifty-eight but not because I grew up in a strong family environment. For ten years, I was fortunate enough to have a set of terrific, grandparents. God chose to call them home when I was ten-years old. From then on, I was more-or-less on my own. Handed off like a football from one family member to the next until I were in my early teens.

There is a humongous difference between living with a family and living with a loving family. After my grandparent’s death, my first understanding of a non-loving family came when I was forced to live with my mother, her boyfriend and four of my siblings. That lasted about three years. My mother’s boyfriend was an abuser. While my brother and three sisters were willing to look the other way, I was not, so I was handed off to my grandmother on my mother’s side.

The story and the madness continued for years to come, until I was old enough to join Job Corps and then the Army. For a longtime after that, life “cut me little or no slack” and the streets raised me. I was able to survive and reach the point I am today, thanks to the love and caring of mostly strangers, along the way. I sincerely believe if I were a teenager today I would not make it to twenty-eight and surely not fifty-eight.

This book is about lifting spirits, changing and saving lives of today and tomorrow’s young people.

When I was growing up neighbors, teachers, the community police officers and the judicial systems were not about just doing a job but they cared about children overall. It is not just a saying that, “It Takes A Community To Raise A Child.” It is the TRUTH and it is more IMPORTANT today than it has ever been. The obstacles standing in young people’s way today is almost insurmountable. We must stop caring about what side of town, skin color, race or nationality, country, county or city and start caring that it is all children that need our help.

Oftentimes even with parents, the road to survival and success is a difficult one for young people. Surviving without parents, or dedicated parents is next to impossible but I am here to tell you, it is not impossible. I would not want any young person to live my young life, if it is at all avoidable.

(2)

Parents, teachers, neighbors, friends, police officers and communities, what I am saying is this, if you have children do what you must to standby them and keep them on the right track. Try to see that they have a better life growing up, than you had. No matter if, your childhood was terrific. Show them love, respect and give them lots of support.

There is nothing sadder or more discouraging for a child than having parents who are nothing more than “figure heads,” or “parents who only give birth.

I can attest to the fact that if parents are not good to and for you, you have the tendency not to be good for and to your children. It took me a while and many trials and tribulations before I came to understand and appreciate what it means to be a father and grandfather. Like any human being, I am still lacking in some areas but I am quickly improving.

What I know for sure, unless all men, but especially African American men do not step-up and give women a much needed hand raising our children we will be facing self-destruction akin to genocide, in the very near future.

Some may think my last statement is perhaps “overstated” but I assure you there is not a lot of “grey area” between “self-destruction” and “genocide.”

Let 2008 “Be A Positive Turning Point For Our Children”

Re: Making A Difference In Our Children’s Lives

Greetings Brothers & Sisters (We Are All Brothers & Sisters):

We are now eight (8) months into 2008 and already there have been far too many deaths of our young people. Most, as you know are African Americans. It is beyond scary how too many of us are ignoring the deaths of our young children and adults.

So you tell me, what will it take adults to become fed-up and sincerely want to do something to help our children? Last year, setting at the dinner table, I was wondering how many young people were having the luxury of sharing Christmas Dinner and would live to enjoy Christmas 2008 with their parents, grandparents and other family members, in the same homes, at the same tables.

Recently, I spoke with police officers investigating an incident where an elderly woman was assaulted and robbed on her way to the drugstore. In their communication with the Precinct, they were informed it was the second robbery of an elderly person, in that area, in eight hours. The victims were both Caucasian women. The perpetrators, African-American males. To me, crime is crime and race should not matter however; in today’s society, a lot more effort goes into apprehending and convicting African Americans for crimes against non-African Americans. Why, because once again, we are becoming increasingly UNIMPORTANT!!

Too many of our children have no real lives and no one who truly cares about them one way or another. Many of them have only one parent (the mother) and that parent works two and three job just to pay the rent, bills, cloth and feed their children. The men on the other hand are out making more babies, dealing drugs, doing time or deceased.

Police and private citizens are becoming increasingly afraid of young African American males and females. Do you know what that means? It means they are going to start shooting first and asking questions later. When our children leave home, it will be the “luck of the draw” as to whether or not they return.

(2)

Our young females are not getting the love they need at home so they are turning to teenage gangsters, drug dealers and pathetic older men. End result, they end up pregnant; their lives ruined, or deceased. Our young males do not have any REAL father figures, so they turn to gangs. End result, they end up in prisons or worse, morgues.

Teachers who try to educate and motivate our children end up being abused by their students, their student’s parents or both. How can we expect children to respect teachers if their parents do not respect them? Education is the main key to success. We do not seem to want our children to succeed these days.

Driving through our streets, I am truly frustrated and angry at the negativity I encounter. When I listen to the News in the afternoons, it is heart wrenching to hear about yet another dead child. On the positive side, when I visit schools or churches during the weeks or on Sundays I am overcome with emotion at the number of positive intelligent young people I encounter. All sides need positive adult involvement if they are to turn their lives around or continue to excel.

The situations that exist for our children today are not going to vanish in thin air. Adults are going to have to be the ones to turn things around. If we do not step-up and bring about a positive change for ourselves and our children, the Federal Government will. There change will not be positive and we will not like the change. When the government starts building “holding pens” and having federal troops, patrolling our streets there will be nothing we can do.

Take it from someone who knows because I read and inter-act constantly, with Representatives on Capitol Hill and in State Capitol’s. They tell me, they are growing impatient and increasingly tired of what is happening in major cities across America. You can be assured the African-American communities will be the first to feel the brunt of their impatience.

Many of us believe our children are just hoodlums, drug dealers, gangsters, baby makers, etc. THEY ARE NOT!!! Young people are hoping and praying for the same opportunities our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents gave us. One of the problems today, adults who are in positions to offer children the kind of support, encouragement and leadership they were given, are turning their backs. Those same back-turners had Great, Productive Leaders and Role Models who were determined to offer their and the next generation a better way of life through education, motivation, love and support.

If you are in positions to mentor, volunteer at schools, provide an academic scholarship or financial aid that will help our children march proudly across high school and college stages, I urge you to do so. Our communities are losing too many young people. Ask yourself this question, where will our children, grandchildren great-grandchildren, godchildren and children over-all end up, without our help?

(3)

So let me say in conclusion, it is the responsibility of parents to be parents. It is also the responsibility of neighborhoods and communities to work for the betterment of our children. Yes, I said “Our Children” because all children are, “Our Children.” If all of us, especially parents, do not stop children from committing violence by showing them love and discipline, the police and National Guards will show them prisons and graveyards, by using nightsticks, mace and bullets. THE CHOICE IS OURS!!! We can start turning things around for our and our children’s future or continuing a genocidal trend.

Sincerely,

David W. Johnson, Jr., Founder & President
Jacqueline M. Johnson, Vice-President & Treasurer
If We Save Our Children We Save America
http://www.wesaveourchildrenwesaveamerica.com
timetosaveourchildren@gmail.com
(410) 265-0028 (H/O)
(410) 984-3086 (C)
(410) 646-5187 ext. 14 (D/O)

Why should our enemies care if we rob and kill one another
If we destroy one another, it saves them from having to do it
African Americans, wakeup before this madness goes any farther
Mothers, teach your daughters they have something more than a slit

We must start to work together if our children are to have any future
The younger generation these days sees no reason to get an education
For too many African Americans children education is just conjecture
If children are to have a future, adults must began building a foundation

Brothers and Sisters, we are putting our children in graves and prisons
Yes, our children are joining gangs and dropping out of schools is true
Not children but adult’s neglect is burdening them with cruel afflictions
Think about it adults, without proper guidance what are children to do

If a son has been neglect by his father, chances are he will do the same
If a daughter sees her mother sleeping with man after man, she follows
Children form the opinion that having a mate in their lives is just a game
For some, destruction of African Americans is an easy pill to swallow

Senator Obama said, African American Men should step-up and be MEN
Instead of getting upset with what he said, we best start paying full attention
African American Women, start looking for Men on whom you can depend
You need someone to help, not someone to cause you unnecessary tension

A dead or imprison child is proof that, “you can do bad all by yourself”
If children had, two Parents and more Mentors things would be different
It is very difficult for a Mother or Father to raise a child by him or herself
REAL Men just do not impregnate Women then become totally indifferent

A lack of education, bullets and drugs are destroying African Americans
Smarten up and becoming more responsible will help us go a lot farther
If not, in a few years we will be off to prisons and graves by the caravans
You remember this, our enemies are saying, “Let Them Kill One Another”

Is This Future Black America… Or This…

“I have said in the past — and I’ll repeat again — that the best reparations we can provide are good schools in the inner city and jobs for people who are unemployed,”

When asked about this issue he stated:

“I fear that reparations would be an excuse for some to say, ‘We’ve paid our debt,’ and to avoid the much harder work.”

I have to say even though they do have shows with african- american families with two parent homes, I think it would be better if the shows were more like the Cosby show. I think that was one of the best shows out that depicted what we could have as black people. I don’t know about anybody else but when I was growing up watching it I wanted my family to be just like them. I think Bill had the right idea and I feel what he said about us needing to be more involved in our children’s lives he was 100% correct. I still haven’t figured out why he got so much flack for what he said. Most black people work so hard to take care of their families but don’t have much to show for it because they don’t have the knowledge to build wealth. Also because so many of us still have this slave mentally we don’t work together the way we should to be uplifting to one another instead it is more of the crab in the barrel syndrome. Whites bring home their knowledge and know how and pass it on to the people around them, where as most of the black people are trying to make sure the next person is not getting more than them. We have some positive role models out there but we so more of the negative. I love India Aire. Where is she? We need more like her. All the mainstream stuff is Beyonce who is singing about her freakum dress.

Here are my thoughts:

America has been built on the back of others…Native Americans, Chinese and Japanese Americans, Africans and African-Americans and I feel as if the “leaders” of those days felt that they had a hold or owned the listed minorites…unfortunatley, it was the African-Americans that were held captive the longest while the other minorites prospered or (sadly) died out.

America’s past, with slavery, still plays a role in today’s African-American society…there is constant oppression (welfare, imprisionment) that America uses to this very day to “control” African-Americans like they used to back in the days of slavery…until recently (well, at least in the past 10 years), I don’t know what happened but we are seeing more positive African-American images such as sitcoms with BOTH mother and father in the household, commericials with African-American physicians, nurses and lawyers and finally…Obama.

With the new and rising images, I feel as if White America is now looking at African-Americans in a different light along with an obligation to do right…hence the congressional apology.

To answer your question, that is why I feel like it has taken so long to finally get an apology.