Received this in the mail the other day. For those who nominated me I appreciate the honor. But I want to say all the work we all do in the minority community is null and void if we don’t shift the culture. I was explaining to a few guys the other day that I literally see our kids change over night from “ aye Coach JT what you got going on right now can I join???” Or kids I have been in their lives from birth (due to coaching or mentoring a sibling) to see where they are excited to join what they see their older siblings do. To becoming cold and distant. Imagine 6 months prior or even shorter a kid would bum rush you just to speak and be around you to cold and distant to barely speaking. I will never be content that with all of us pulling together that out of 1,000s of minority kids we should be cool if we only impact one. That’s insane. We just have to change things from top to bottom. Music and entertainment being the number one thing we should have something to say about. Too often when things go wrong it becomes a war of who is already doing the work instead of the negative people of this world being held accountable. It’s just like in farming if weeds aren’t cut and plucked they will choke the life out of the good crops. Same goes with people. Like I always say I don’t lack support. “We” lack solidarity and consistency in our approach. Negative people don’t sleep. Positive people lack urgency. People who are into things they aren’t supposed to are willing to be jailed and die over it. While positive and so called God fearing people hide behind religion and titles or in-fight over the slightest thing. Imagine being a person who sells drugs or have the youth sell, sells guns or give guns to the youth, teach the youth how to be a banger and take the fall because of their juvenile status or clean record and no one never challenges you? You don’t think that matters? Not even to the youth? They see their parents date these type of people, party with these type of people, invite these type of people into their homes and communities and they never see them questioned? But they see parent’s challenge coaches over playing time, see their parents complain about transportation to positive events and such, argue with community leaders, say positive people aren’t doing enough and only is in it for money and such…ask yourself. If you are an impressionable mind what would you choose? Positivity or negativity? Why is it not cool to promote fun loving things? Or it’s coined not Black enough? Idk just something’s I ponder. Again thanks for the honor but I can’t feel good until I see my people create an environment conducive for learning and not failure.
#inner city blues smh
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