WE MUST DO BETTER

Anybody that knows me knows that I have no problem with holding political officials accountable for their actions, but they also know that I have no problem holding the people accountable for their actions which contribute to their own circumstances as well. Yes, the education system in the inner city is completely inadequate, but so is the effort that many of the parents in the inner city put into making sure their children value their education, as well as making sure that their children have the proper learning environment at home. Yes, in our beloved country, the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, we have a criminal justice system that targets Black and Latino men, but are we in the Black and Latino community doing enough to redirect the energy of those Black and Latino men??? We can teach them to take that same effort that they use to involve themselves in criminal activity to start a business, get a college degree, become a Minister or a community leader. Also, those Black and Latino men have to want better for themselves. They must want to do and live righteously. It is true that our Government has allowed BIG food corporations to genetically alter, and to place unhealthy and poisonous chemicals in our food, but how many of us in the inner city are making a concerted effort to feed our families HEALTHY food. I'm am well aware that many people live in food deserts. However, I am also aware that many of those same people whom live in food deserts will take public transportation to go to see a movie outside of their own community, or put on their Friday best to go to a club two cities over from their own. How is it that that in the richest country in the world 46 Million people live in povert, 20 million live in extreme poverty, and 6 million have an income that is totally depent upon welfare? How can it be that over 50% of people in America make below 34 thousand dollars a year, and 24% make a salary that is below the poverty line. Since the 1970s, even with inflation, the average income has risen only by 7%; while at the same time salaries for top executives at large American corporations went being an average of 20 times higher than the lowest paid employees at their respective companies to 200 times higher. No country can sustain itself with such a disparity between the haves and have-nots. We know that their are many reasons for poverty: single parent homes, people who live beyond their means, people who live as though they are comfortable in poverty, people who are unmotivated and do not fight for their rights, Wall Street greed, Washington impotence, a selfish society that ignores "the least of these," an economy that is built mostly on consumerism, an economy that overfocuses on the empowerment of women while forgeting to also empower men. I could go on! I'll stop there! The Body of Christ must do better. The community must do better. The Government must do better. WE MUST DO BETTER.