As children we grow up having our ideal life set in our minds. We know what we would like to become and what we want to do when we grow up. Our dreams begin very simple and as time goes on, they converge and grow complex. Everyone, African-American or other-wise, strive to achieve their “American Dream. ” We mature and recognize that things are not easy. Dreams are something that we all possess but the question, “What happens to deferred dreams,” comes into play when our dreams are not fulfilled. When we put our dreams on hold, what happens to them?
Do we go back to our dreams and put them into action or do we let them sit in the sun and dry until they can no longer be used? People have been studying dreams for many centuries. Plato, a Greek philosopher viewed that dreams show a person’s true nature. I feel that repression will not wholly be gone. The values and antics that people teach their children are passed down from generation to generation. You can not know what you have not been taught. Our dreams are derived from what we know or have heard.
If I dream of one day becoming a great leader, it is because I have heard of someone once being a great leader and I am mimicking what I have seen our heard. Things like repression are passed down from generation to generation. It will take centuries for our society to really become blind to race. Many say that we have made significant progress, in this I agree, but I think have we really? When I can not get a job because my first name is “Shanique”, have we made progress? Because I can not get a job because my accent is that of a southern, have we really made progress?
Do you really think that we have made progress? Right now there is black on black crime because of materialistic things. Things that are ignorant and insignificant. Our brothers are shooting each other over a “Grill”, a piece of gold that will eventually rot the teeth. My sisters are stabbing each other over “triffiling” no good Negros that sleep with ever Tom, Dick and Harry and that are obviously not going any where with themselves and that talks to her like trash. My brothers are getting killed by the police because of stealing a pair of rims, to “fit in” with the crowd.
We are seriously slipping on the “Dream. Martin Luther King’s dream was not to have blacks killing each other for “Grills” or to have the White man shoot a young boy 17 times for dropping his wallet. His dream was for White man, Black Man, Jews and Gentiles to get along and be one and for America to be free at last. We blame our problems on Slavery and use it as a crutch, but the reality is that slavery is over; it is time for us to rise up as a nation, not as individuals, it is time for us to follow the dream, it is time for us to stop being ignorant and it is time for us to start treating each other as humans. Our media does not make our dreams and situations any better.
When I turn on the television all I see is the negative. The media should try to report the positive every once in a while. It needs to stop bringing or brothers and sisters down, be it white or black. When someone lends a helping hand, we need to hear about that. When someone other than a Caucasian does something to help someone, it needs to be reported. They can leave out the “Garbage” portion of the news; we can do okay without it. There is an old saying that goes “Garbage in, Garbage out” changing this minute thing could change the whole country. We mimic what we see. Our dreams are based on what we see.
The media plays a big role in everyone’s life. It can only help or hurt. If we change the media’s dreary outlook on things, we may be taking that one step closer to the dream, and that one inch closer to the promise land. When we reach or dreams, we do not look back to try to help someone else achieve theirs, we move on and we become selfish and greedy. We think because we donate a little money to charity that we have done something. Have we ever thought about just randomly picking an underprivileged child and deciding to pay their full tuition to college? Our focus is in the wrong places, our priorities are messed up.
Our President sends all that money to the same place he is killing. He bombs them and then turns around and sends them medical help. It is ignorant. Leave the other countries alone and tend to your home and help your own falling Country, our country is dieing. We have our own problems. We try to hide them, but they are their. We make all these dreams and promises and goals but in actuality they are deferred, they are set and made and then they sit in the sun and dry until they can no longer be used. We should not be afraid to follow our dreams. For a dream deferred is truly not a dream at all.
