I really think Kwame Ture's call to "organize! org...

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23222560.post-1151006098324647022006-06-22T15:54:00.000-04:002006-06-22T15:54:00.000-04:00I really think Kwame Ture's call to "organize! org...I really think Kwame Ture's call to "organize! organize! organize!" is crucial. For so long I shunned organizations. There is always something that they have faulty with them it seems. Often they are so ideologically bound it seems cultish. But if we can't find one to join, we need to start one. We need to move to the concrete I think. Like Steph said the other day, we need to start drawing lines in the sand, like the quote from King suggests he was beginning to do when he was assasinated... like Malcolm was doing when he was assasinated. We have to draw lines and hold eachother accountable when we compromise. We have to becomes fearcely independent. Because we have to wean ourselves aways from this madness. I won't smile anymore when someone I know gets a record deal. We have to be done with the compromise. Stop applauding when we see people looking in the right direction and start raising our expectations higher. We should hold our applause until we are moving in the right direction. And perhaps even then we should hold it until we are actually at the place where we are trying to go -- to avoid getting caught up in hopeful utopic rhetoric, let me be clear, that place does not exist yet but if we define that places' characteristics then it becomes a real place. The problem thus far has been that we define that place based on surface level characteristics... equal schools, a Target store, a Cub Foods... we have to go deeper... yeah we want stores and good food and good schools in our communities, but we also have to define HOW we want those things to get there and how we want those things to be maintained and how we want those things to act in relation to our communities. We have to control the foundation, we have to plan every brick... we have to know where every "brick" in that foundation came from so that we can trust that it's well made and will adequately support the structure we're trying to build. We DO need a plan... whoever said this i agree: "Community is formed when people of similar vision commit (which is not just a one time vow or pledge but a continual decision to stay the course, demonstrated in our thoughts, words, actions) to a mission. the problem is we ain't had no real mission in a while... our generation has been stuck in abstractness (if that's a word)... it's like we fear expousing a mission statement cause we fear having to live up to that joint!!! we fear having to do something even when we don't feel like doing it!!! Our words are becoming words, when they should be manifested. They should be made flesh. They should be as powerful as punches. As deadly as weapons. We fear commitment! It's time for that to change. I will sacrifice wealth for community. I will sacrifice health for community. I will sacrifice peace and quiet for community. We got people who've run to the suburbs to get these things because they feel they deserve them. I diagree. We've been fooled into thinking our souls are found by ourselves, our souls are found within the community. Yeah we're good at getting together... to laugh it up and have good times. To go to a movie or a concert. To go to the club or chop it up on the corner. To go play basketball. To go to the bar. Why don't we have weekly study groups though? NO ONE should be exempt. And we're impatient with one another to the point where it prevents us from talking to eachother! The ACTION is not necessarily the most important thing... the committment in your spirit is what is and the communcation of that committment to someone who will hold you accountable for keeping it. ---------- Minneapolis records 28th homicide of year A neighborhood leader notes that the area has been coping with troublesome gang activity lately. Chao Xiong, Star Tribune A young man died Wednesday night when shots were fired into a car from another vehicle after the cars turned a south Minneapolis corner, police said. A red Ford Mustang and a suspect vehicle were going east on E. 38th Street and turned south on 22nd Avenue S. about 7 p.m. when shots were fired, Capt. Rich Stanek said. When officers arrived, they found a young man dead in the driver's seat of the Mustang with its engine running. The victim's name wasn't released Wednesday, and police said they were still working on descriptions of a suspect or suspect vehicle. Stanek said police don't yet know what led to the homicide, which is the 28th in the city this year. It's unclear if anyone else was in the vehicle with the victim when he was shot. Block club leader Lisa Axell, who has lived in the Standish neighborhood for a year, said she heard what sounded like a string of firecrackers. She realized when the police cars arrived that it was a crime. Two boys witnessed the shooting, Axell said. She said that there is concern in the neighborhood about the Surenos 13 gang and that there are a lot of graffiti along 38th. "[The street] is like a billboard. That's where they do their recruiting," she said. There was a crime prevention meeting Monday night at Word of Grace Church, across the street from where the Mustang was parked Wednesday. "I don't feel defeated." Axell said. City Council Member Gary Schiff said a truck was seen leaving the crime scene Wednesday. "It's disconcerting," he said of the shooting. Anyone with information on the shooting is asked to call 612-692-TIPS. Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391 ----------brianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13098780056183717730noreply@blogger.com