Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Letter To My Sistas

Dear Sistas,

A new day is upon us and a sense of a renewed responsibility is in the air. Throughout history, we have been the backbones of our families and of our communities; often overcoming many obstacles and trudging through various struggles. There is no question that we have had our share of burdens to bare.

Today, many of us find ourselves in some challenging circumstances. We find ourselves not only being the backbones of our families and of our communities, but way too many of us have become the head of our household; the unity of the black family slipping away beyond our grasp.

We have the difficult task of raising our beautiful children to become productive members of society when so many vices encompass them. When society projects the idea to our daughters that they are not beautiful, that they are not worthy, and that they have to live up to decades of negative stereotypes bestowed upon them; we can not miss a beat, as we ensure them that they are beautiful, that they are worthy, and that their purpose in life exceeds all stereotypes. When it comes to our young men, a new level of commitment is needed to ensure their place in history. We can not afford to ignore the opposition they face in their journey to manhood.

Social ills such as HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, and domestic violence continue to plague our communities. Our silence has become intolerable and we have to fight these social ills head on to preserve a lasting legacy to pass on to further generations.

As we move forward in a new direction, education plays a vital role to our prosperity. Those before us fought for equality in education, championing against segregated schools and we must uphold our end of the bargain by sending our children to school everyday; helping them with their homework every night and when needed, putting a course of action into place to help them to succeed. If our children our failing in our education system and we stand back and do nothing, we have failed them, and we have ultimately failed those who sacrificed their lives to ensure a brighter future for our children.

Once again, so much is being placed upon our shoulders, but we are needed, we are expected to, and I am confident that we can carry our families and our communities to the better days we all long for. So in this moment, I encourage all my sistas to be the unsung heroes needed to transition a better life to our children.

Love,
Onetta

No comments: