By Terrace HardyIt is important for Black Americans to rebuild a sense of community that transcends socio-economic boundaries. A community is not defined only by what the economy is like in that community. A community is defined, and made stronger by the people within that community. If a community is only defined by its economic status, then it is open to fail. For example, what if a communities sole employer is a factory? Suppose the factory closes. The community cannot die if the economy is interrupted. They have to ban together and force the community to come together and create change. Communities that are populated by Black Americans have to define themselves by the people and relationships inside of the community, not by the economic class of that community. There are actions that can be taken to connect the fragmentations that we have allowed to divide our race. We have to come together as a people and decide what our standards are. Will we, as a community, continue to allow our children to idolize hip-hop and rap stars over those who can provide a much better example on how they can spend their lives. Successful black doctors, lawyers, and judges maybe. Of course, children are always going to idolize celebrities, but it seems that in the black community children are allowed to idolize celebrities while not given good practical role models to follow. This is in part due to the loss of the black father in the community. Black families must stand together and be the base of their community. By having good, strong, hard working, proud black families, the children can still idolize the hip hoppers while, in their heart, knowing that they want to be just like their father, or mother, or even grand parents perhaps. We have to give our kids standards to live up to. Strong families should be a standard, and we, as a community, have to stand up and say that our standard is to keep our family structure together. Our standard is to not see our kids growing up as thugs and drug dealers. Our standards are to come together and build a good foundation first. That foundation should start at home. One characteristic of a growing and thriving community is a strong family base. I feel like our community was much stronger back in the 1950’s and 1960’s during the civil rights movement. Back then, the family unit was much stronger. Also, there were more leaders for children to look up to and say, “I want to be just like him.” And even when the leaders were less the ideal, they were always strong. Online social networks can help Black America by helping them to network. This will help them to find better jobs, find long lost relatives, find connections to help them improve in their lives, and join together so that they can fight for change and fight to become a community that is a force to be reckoned with. Many communities have come out of tribulation stronger. For example, the Jewish people dealt with oppression, slavery, and the threat of extinction for thousands of years. Now, they are a force to be reckoned with. Why should black people be any different?
