Real Talk: We're Losing Too Many of Ours

This blog will not be filled with the usual level of humor, bufoonery, or catch phrases you may be looking for, just a somber level of reflection actually; If this upsets you, please look at one of the other posts because this one is not for you, this is some Real Talk. This blog comes on the wheels of me finding out that yet another high school classmate of mine was killed in Charlotte earlier this week. Unfortunately, I haven't shed any tears. I say unfortunately because this is far from the first situation of this nature I have had to deal with since I came to school. Then, after discussing the issue with my older brother, I realized something that I had never explicitly thought about before; these people who are having their lives taken were people who could have had futures and went on to lead productive lives. I mean, going to school in the middle of the hood the way I did, you run into people who you feel like are destined for either prison or an early grave. When the public hears about Black people in the hood, men in particular, being killed at an early age it's comforting to think "He was probably into things he shouldn't be into. He was probably a bad kid who had it coming eventually." That gives the listener just enough sense of fate about the situation that it's no longer as tragic to them. The general public isn't sad when a perceived "menace" or "delinquent" is killed. But these aren't the people I've had to see buried and see their families mourned. I'm not saying these were honor students like the honor student killed by student in Chicago, because that isn't the case. They were from the hood, so they may have a little more attitude than average; but these were people who could make it out of the hood, make it to school somewhere, led out a decent life with some family. The most recent victim was just a chill dude who liked dancing and cracking jokes who was killed over a petty argument, my high school football teammate got killed waiting at a bus stop after getting his hair rebraided, my homeboy's running mate got killed for nothing at a party, another classmate's cousin got killed at a party in Hidden Valley, another homeboy's football teammate got killed over a silly argument. Furthermore, my old AAU and high school track coach (in his 30's) committed suicide shortly after his nephew, who I grew up running track with and who is an NFL hopeful standout scholarship athlete at Louisville, survived gunshots in the back after an argument defending his girl in a club. I was involved in a group fight in which my homeboy got stabbed 4 places and had to be rushed to the hospital with a collapsing lung. And quite frankly, the fight was over nothing but guys bumping gums back and forth. It's dangerous just to be young and Black these days. I mean, even average Black people with no criminal ties or true enemies are just ridiculously close to death or danger all the time. I don't think you can find anyone who would consider me a thug or delinquent and I know this many people who been killed, shot or stabbed short of 25, in most cases short of 20 years old. I don't feel like the white person has people they actually know (like if they saw them they would dap them up and spend a second or two exchanging pleasantries or more) who are doing prison time or have been victims of violent crime. I'M SICK OF THIS BULLSHIT. I know Charlotte ain't Chicago or New Orleans but something has to be done to stop these young Black men getting killed for nothing. I miss the days when arguments were settled with fists. But even more important, I feel like people just have to realize how much there is to life. Then they may not be so ready to take away another life and risk/ruin their own lives. So for anyone reading this, spread the word to every person, especially Black person, you know to take care of themselves and be smart about how they deal with people. There are issues that mean enough to stand for, even in the face of death, but they are few and far between. Most of the people we are losing are being lost for little or nothing. If we don't stop them, no one else will. So I'll leave you with a song that has brought me comfort in the face of all of the aforementioned deaths and convictions. I call this Real Talk becuz this is some of the realest shit I ever wrote; it almost brought tears writing it. Rest in peace Travis, Daniel, Terrence, Bit Trent, Stowe and Moon...