What Black People Really Need to Overcome

A video recording of a Black Woman in Atlanta, Georgia in the U.S. being viciously beaten by her "friends" has gone viral. The video shows the woman being punched, kicked and kneed by three women while a man holding a 3 year old child sits on a couch watching. Apparently it was all filmed by a boyfriend of one of the assailants. In an era where the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter has become a rallying cry for Black people all over the world; and killings of Black people by police in the U.S. And mistreatment of asylum seekers in the UK are in the news; this is a stark reminder of the damage members of Black communities are also doing to themselves. 

Black people have suffered mistreatment and prejudice for many generations. This has contributed to a lot of the failings in many Black communities. While discrimination has held Black people back it will be down to us to redeem ourselves and advance our own causes. We must remember who it was who conspired with slave traders to sell their fellow Africans into slavery. Let's not forget about the explosion of Black on Black crime in the UK and U.S. Nor should we ignore the internet fraud and scams that have become identified with certain sub Saharan African countries. 

If things are to get better for Black people and stay that way then we all must change how we look at  ourselves. The idea that to get out of the ghetto it is okay to step on each other and destroy what little sense of community exists must change. Selling one another out and murdering each other for short term gain won't make things better. We have to realise that for one person to do well, the whole community has to be doing well. In order to build a better community we need education, employment and entrepreneurship. Some people might find success in showbiz and sports but what each family needs are wage earners. Until that is recognised as being normal there won't be any overcoming because we won't even have what we need to lift ourselves up.