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Message from the President
 My
message to you is “A Time for Change”. Dr. Martin Luther King
said, “There comes a time when time itself is ready for a
change”. Change is something that is inevitable in our lives.
Each day that the Lord blesses us to live, we experience change.
However, we do not always accept change gracefully, especially
when it requires that we make a self-examination of our own
lives and execute change. Many people only see how others should
change but have a difficult time seeing how change can improve
their lives. We hear daily news reports, one after another,
about racial profiling and how African-Americans are more likely
to be denied justice in the judicial system. We know that
African-American men are more likely to be stopped while
driving.
Yolanda Adams sings a song which says, “It’s been too long, it’s
time to change, you can’t get away with everything. Please tell
me why you wait, you’ve gotta answer for yourself someday.”
As you read this, I want to focus on accepting the consequences
of our life’s decisions. This kind of acceptance will require a
profound personal change because this kind of acceptance means
that we are willing to accept worthy and unpleasant
consequences. Personal change isn’t something that is easy to
come by. You have to “want” to change before you can actually
begin the process of change. Once we commit ourselves to this
kind of personal change, we will begin to stop blaming others
for our misfortune and start taking personal responsibility for
our lives.
I think about the nine year old boy who was asleep in his room
when some teenagers took it upon themselves to shoot at the
house, killing him in his sleep. The pain and agony caused was
just nonsense.
The statistics show that by the time an African-American male is
twenty-one years old, they are at a higher risk to end up in
prison or dead. Life has so much to offer than for us to settle
for those stats. Some say that it is hard to live in this day
and age. The only thing that makes today harder to live in is
that the things we are most vulnerable to are easier to come by.
We have a hard time “just saying no”, when our temptation is
right in front of our eyes.
We do not have the same struggles today that the people in
slavery experienced during the period of segregation. Many
people risked their lives and died for the opportunities that we
have today. The song “We Shall Overcome” does not fit this day
and age. Prejudice continues to exist, keeping us at odds with
each other simply because of the color of our skin. We have
overcome many racial barriers and injustices. We need a song
today that expresses that we have overcome and the song needs to
also motivate us and help us strive to make something out of our
lives. Also, we need to stop using our history as an excuse, a
barrier and instead start using it as a motivational tool to
boost our morale to start setting goals and work toward those
goals. We need to appreciate the events of the past and thank
God for those who helped us to experience the better life we
know today. We have to stop being the victim and start pursuing
the opportunities that are available to us. Opportunities rarely
make house calls. You have to actively look for them before they
will present themselves. Opportunities that are at your
fingertips: a good education, but the high school drop out rate
has increased; the right to vote, yet thousands have not even
registered; just to name a few.
We all have a purpose in life. Some people were put on earth to
lead and others to follow. Some are even here to help lift up
someone else. If you reflect on our Black History, each major
era made life better for the next group of people. Slaves such
as Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass fought
for freedom. The segregated generation that consisted of Booker
T. Washington, W. E. B. DuBois, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, and
Martin Luther King fought for civil rights. Today, we experience
the fruits of their labors. What are we doing today to better
the world for the future? What we should be doing is exercising
every right that has been given to us and pursuing opportunities
that present themselves to us not only to better our lives
today, but for the children of today. The children of today need
positive productive role models so they can learn how to conduct
themselves and pursue meaningful opportunities. It is our
personal responsibility to exercise all of our rights because
people have risked their lives and died just so that we can
vote, attend any school or college that we want and pursue any
job that we have the desire to have. We just have to get up and
do it! There were basically two types of jobs, field hands
and house hands. You either worked in the field or cleaned
houses. Today, the choices are doctors, lawyers, pharmacists,
veterinarians, bankers, government officials, postal workers,
webmasters, educators, engineers. Opportunities are endless. We
have to be willing to seek training and apply ourselves to get a
job or a better job. But don’t forget to go to the counselor of
life, God. Matthew 6:33, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and
His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto
you."
This article alerts the readers that there is still much work to
be done. We need more community involvement, reentry programs,
partnerships and most of all; we need to continue to demand
justice.
Success is a subjective word and can also be destructive. It can
become destructive when we define it by money and status only.
Many people are successful today who are not rich or famous.
Proud parents sitting at a high school graduation are
successful. A young adult landing a job for the first time is
successful. Individuals who define success by money and status
alone are the victims of tunnel vision. Individuals who have
tunnel vision only see life as what is in front of them, and
they are blind to all the wonderful and meaningful opportunities
around them. They are like horses with blinders - they have no
peripheral vision.
Without a doubt, we must express our outrage about the senseless
killings. We must be concerned when we witness the sales of
drugs in our community, or the robbing, raping, or maiming of
one another. We must decide to do something, building on the
strength of our communities to make positive change. We must
fight racism directly, but we must also condemn injustice,
irrespective of skin color and regardless of neighborhood.
Join us as we work to bring about a better America - one that is
committed to justice for all. We have the resources and the
opportunities; now we must have the commitment.
Let us change the statistics that I mentioned earlier – our
African-American males will lead productive lives and live to
see their children and grandchildren continue the legacy set
forth.
Lenora A. Cooks-Hudson
President, Central Oklahoma Chapter
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