Well... I CARE! || Get Involved!

So, if I learned anything growing up, it was the importance of giving back to your community.

If I knew anything, I knew that I was going to be active in my community when I became a successful adult.

I was going to be like my mom who was so involved in my schools that she was PTA President for my brother's middle school, an active member for me and my sister through middle school, she was a crossing guard when we were in elementary school, and she remained involved with our schools through middle.
I was going to be like my dad who was our Civic League President for quite a few years (I flashback now to hating having to attend every meeting).
I wasn't necessarily going to do those things, but my goal was to be involved.

When I got into high school I was involved in school politics, I mentored and volunteered at the local elementary school. I was excited about the potential for visiting my high school post-graduation and talking to the students and talking about my experiences in college.

That was me.

Then I got to college.
And it was a different world. And I was car-less. Which meant I only went home during school breaks. Like summer. And even those became shorter. I eventually fell off, however I became active in the town my college was in and on-campus.

Then I graduated... And moved across the country.

Four years later and I realize that although I'm very active in my church and my job is one that permits me to interact with many people in the populations I developed a passion for helping, I wasn't very connected to my community, outside of church. There are multiple reasons for that, but since I'm not here to discuss my laziness we won't discuss all of those.
Granted the cultures are different, so organizations, outreach efforts and events are limited (or just difficult to identify), but my efforts were still significantly less than the heart that I had.

So when the Ferguson verdict tragedy occurred I was reminded of who I am and who I wanted to be growing up.

Involved.

Although I'm not exactly sure how to start outside of college and church, I DO know of a few organizations that are nationwide and, therefore, I'm starting with them.

I'm writing this post for the people like me who KNOW something needs to be done and they want to be involved, but aren't exactly sure where to start.
I might consider documenting my efforts because I'm really hopeful to help others out there, but I can't make any promises.

For now please check-out some organizations that can help get you plugged in.

The National Urban League:
http://nul.iamempowered.com/

YWCA:
www.ywca.org

NAACP:
www.naacp.org

Hope this helps! I know that my being in Arizona already presents as a disadvantage with most of these organizations as they are generally not as active as they are in Virginia (where I'm from), but... I HAVE to start somewhere.

Stay Blessed y'all.
💙💙
-Benita (:

What are we Fighting for?!

Over the past weeks since a Grand Jury decided not to indict Darren Wilson for killing Michael Brown, then the decision to not endict the police officers responsible for Eric Garner's death there have been numerous efforts made, across the nation, to express the concerns of the community.

Although I ABSOLUTELY love the idea of peaceful protests that will go noticed, especially those that are creative and involve the masses, I still have yet to see two things:

1) A leader or set or leaders who, for all intents and purposes will, if anything, be the face of these protests. This/These people would also create...
2) A shared vision.

While one thing is clear, we can agree we want to feel that Black lives matter; I have not seen a real indicator of HOW we will know that others are getting the memo.
This is why I must ask: 

What are we fighting for?

I've seen and felt the anger, confusion, fear, hurt, disappointment, and almost every other emotion that has been brought on over the past few weeks, however when it has come to "organized" protests I have to sit back.

I'm ALL for jumping into the discussion while the fire is still burning, however, when no leader(s) arises AND we haven't created sound reasons for each effort, I'm skeptical.

I can have completely different motives for why I engage in a protest than the organizer or even the person beside me. Given that reason alone and many others it's very difficult for me to fully support these efforts. And although people have posted change.org petitions (or the like), the people who are creating these petitions aren't known and these people aren't necessarily at the forefront of any of these protests.

With the internet and all kinds of social media, I think people take face-to-face interactions and general organization skills for granted. I say this because a LOT of the efforts I have seen over these past few weeks have solely been advertised through some form of social media. Even the discussions are online. I'm looking for someone to not just organize through Facebook, but, maybe, possibly, knock on my door...Maybe?

I said in my last post that I'm not a fan of, what's basically, the "bandwagon effect" that occurs with my peers. But it's not JUST because of the bandwagoners that I have a little bit of a problem with social media. It's mainly because through constant reposting, vision gets clouded.
It's literally like playing telephone.

And I mainly fear that people who are organizing these events aren't even creating a clear vision other than being heard.

Just the other day I reposted a photo regarding a protest that was affectionately called a "Die in" which was very reminiscent of the sit-ins that occurred in the 50s.
I loved the creativity of it, but almost immediately after reposting it, a thought entered my mind... What's the end goal of this protest?

During the Civil Rights movement of the 1900s, there was a HUGE goal to desegregate public establishments. From schools, to buses, to... restaurants. When, at one point segregation was legal, these people were making many efforts to change the laws.

So... Fastforward to these past few weeks and I have to admit, I'm a little confused. "Dying" in a mall to the point of the mall having to shutdown does what in effect to police brutality, systematic racism, prejudice, or the many other issues that the Mike Brown case (if I can now even call it that) brought up? And this is a VERY literal question because in my mind I don't see it.

Are there, right now, people attempting to have something legally changed in order to move forward? I NEED to know!
Because either all of these efforts are premature (because these fires will burn out before any real efforts are made) or... someone is doing a REALLY bad job at getting the word out.

So... To end this, if someone can let me know what's REALLY going on, please do. I legitimately want to be involved, just not with mess or pointlessness & this is looking and feeling a lot like that...

Stay Blessed y'all,
❤❤
-Benita (:

Why I WON'T Be Participating in the "Blackout"

I'm over y'all.
My thoughts at 10:44pm. Just about 4 hours after they announced the Grand Jury's decision NOT to indict Darren Wilson for the murder or 19-year old Mike Brown

Less than 5 hours and I am completely over y'all.
And by "y'all", I mean my peers. My fellow black adults; old and young; I'm over you all.

From riots to peaceful protests to "#NoJusticeNoPeace"... I am tired.
I'm tired of everything being a trend, a fad, a bandwagon for you to feel included. I'm tired of the news & "#Ferguson" being all but MIA with the Mike Brown case for... (how long ago was Mike Brown killed? 100 days?) so... for approximately 95 days.
I'm tired of bootleg protests and makeshift petitions.
I'm tired of basic reposts of a repost of a tweet that you ONLY reposted because it sounded cool, but you didn't even bother to go on Twitter and at least look at what was being said, in full context, by the person you reposted.
Better yet, join the conversation.
but no... That's a little too much. Maybe it requires a little bit more knowledge and work than you think is necessary.
We ALL know this is a crisis, right?
If this is how you act in a crisis... Remind me to identify some alternative hotlines.

I'm tired y'all. My heart is heavy and I want to speak, but I feel like a moment of silence is more needed.
I feel like a moment of more than 1 hour of planning a protest is needed.
I feel like a time to come together and get on the same page, in person, not via repost, is needed...

I love the age of technology. The message and the news spreads so quickly, but just as quickly, the fire burns out.
I can't deal.
We can't deal, or grow, or be... Like this...
I NEED to get involved. Life is TOO short, my weekends are TOO long.
Although I claim this as a lie every Monday... THIS Monday is a little different.
Today, I'm tired.
And not just because my day at work was long, but because I discovered, or rather it was reaffirmed, just how long this has been going on...
Not just the hate; not just the cycle of discrimination; but the cycle of passive aggressiveness amongst my peers.
Within myself.
I can't deal like this y'all.
There's far too much love, too much PASSION inside of me to go on like this.

I'm not saying stop... I'm saying DON'T STOP!
Don't stop paying attention just because it's no longer a trending topic.
Don't stop just because no one liked it as much.
Don't stop.
Do not stop trying.
If we really care about this, seriously care. Then at some point more moves need to be made than running into a store and looting.
More moves need to be made than screenshotting an awesome post so that you can post it too.
MOVES need to be made.

And that means time and effort needs to be given.
Time like the time put into The Montgomery Bus Boycott (because Rosa Parks was handpicked to sit there, FYI).
Time like the time put into preparing for sit-ins and Freedom Rides, & school integrations.
Not the time it took you to read this (and yes, I'm aware this is "long").

I'm done just watching everyone fall off then not saying anything until the news brings it up again.
I'm ready to get involved.
I mean, INvolved.
because I'm SO over the alternative.

Because I LOVE the fire, but the smoke seems to last longer these days.