(ThyBlackMan.com) From the white Jesus painted by Michaelangelo to Tarzan to Thor to Captain America. the white man has been painted and depicted as the savior of the African-American people. Yet some have forgotten that it was those same type men who enslaved our people, created broken homes and divided families. I do not need Captain America, Superman, Government-Man, White-Man or Obama-Man to save me and you do not either. Once upon a time we did not need to be saved from ourselves. Yes African nations and tribes were at war, but not ending up in 400 years of brutal captivity. I saw the entire video of the recent beheadings by ISIS. But the recent beheading of 21 Coptic Christians by ISIS cannot even begin to come close to the atrocities perpetrated against the African, African-American and Native-American Indians. You should Google “The Truth About Thanksgiving” and see what you find. All white people are not bad, white people are not the devil and all white people are not racist. But based on this country’s notorious history, is this the group you are waiting on to rescue you, your finances, your children and their education? You gotta be kidding! The white man is neither our savior nor is he the only standard.
Many of our people still wait on the white man to help us with food stamps, welfare, WIC, Section 8 and Affirmative Action. We have been trained to rely on him, believe in him and turn on each other. We have become lazy, complacent and dependent, expecting the white man to treat us better than we do ourselves or each other. We have been programmed with self-hatred, division and suspicion of each other. We kill each other at a faster rate than George Zimmerman or Darren Wilson ever could because the bad programming is staying in place. Yet while there in fact needs to be standards in place to equalize our chances in this society and nullify the criminal inhumanity implemented against us, it is also time we learn that we are our own answer. WE ARE OUR OWN SOLUTION . We need to police our own communities but instead what do we do? Come up with some BS that promotes “don’t snitch” then blame the police when they didn’t do something to stop a tragedy. Again, bad programming.
I am not a racist (and yes we can be racist too), but facts are facts and history does not lie. My wife is part white and Irish, just like President and Mrs. Obama. But the same color is not a guaranteed solution. Once our people realize we are our own solutions, we will stop waiting on another Martin Luther King Jr. to arise. We will be too busy rising up and achieving on his holiday to stop and rest on what he accomplished. The battle is not won simply because we have a President who looks like us. Your life, your success, your future, your impact and the legacy you leave your children are all UP TO YOU, not President Obama, not Martin Luther King Jr., not Al Sharpton and not your employer. We must individually and collectively will arise, with power and knowledge and unity and impact and authority. The biggest thing holding us back is the illusion of imaginary chains. But the chains are not on our legs and necks, they are in our minds. I refuse to be held by imaginary chains and I command them to be broken. You have to do the same right now, not later, right now!
Forget minimum wage because you can do better. Stop smoking weed because you need your wits about you to run this race and win. You do not need anything clouding your mind or putting a temporary band aid on a gunshot wound. I believe in you and you have to do the same. Believe in yourself, believe in each other and spread the word. No you are not waiting on God so stop using that 
tired excuse and step out to make things happen. The sexy prostitute on Backpage needs to close her legs because she is better than that. The drug dealer needs to stop poisoning his own people because he is better than that. The man or woman on minimum wage needs to realize you were never created to stay there so a year from now you should not even care what the minimum wage is.
Every fake holiday that arises in this country should not be used for you to relax. They should be used for you to catch up and pull ahead. Every tax refund you get should not be spent as if you think you just got free money- it’s your money they are returning to you, not a lottery winning. Act like you know. Whatever small business idea you have, do it – and stick with it. Don’t have the money? Borrow it, use a credit card, sell something you have, wait on something you want – BUT GET IT DONE. No more excuses for not reaching your potential. Are you afraid to step out? Do it anyway and don’t think yourself out of success and purpose. The white man is not holding you down (though many of them try and it feels like it). You are holding you back, yes YOU. But that needs to stop today.
Stop focusing on, savoring and commemorating what other people have done and get busy. With all due respect, I am so tired of hearing about Martin Luther King Jr. I went to school with his kids and learned his speeches. My parents knew him personally and my father attended Morehouse College with him. But the issue is what are we doing today? I hope Dexter, Bernice and Martin Luther King III are reading this article because I think they missed the boat. Doctorates and books mean nothing if they cannot impact a community and change a life. That is why I write and send it to anyone, everyone, any time and all the time. Knowledge is power but wisdom shows when, where and how to use that power.
We need to weed out the pseudo-activists in our midst and let the real ones step up. The opportunists are doing us no good but because they make noise, we think they are on the case. Look closer at the Steve Harveys and the Derrick Boazmans. What do you find? Little knowledge, a lot of fluff and untrained rhetoric that sounds good. Am I judging or am I calling things for what they are? If you want a mover and a shaker in your life, you need to learn to move something and shake something else. But time out for waiting on somebody else to take care of you and complaining when they don’t. Many of you may disagree but I encourage you not to be like the lady sitting in a wheelchair on a bridge after Hurricane Katrina hit. She said “that aint right that the government would not come take care of us“.
I teach my sons to approach things as if they are the only one in the world who can and will help them. They have learned to rely on themselves because I will not always be around. We need to build stamina in our young men – and not just sexually. They need to learn diligence or consistency, patience, passion, aggressiveness, problem-solving, conflict resolution, focus, discipline and the ability to negotiate. Guys and ladies, stop singing We Shall Overcome Some Day and do it now. The day is today. Actually the day was yesterday. Nobody or nothing can stop you but you or the belief that you can be stopped. I do not care what you have been through, you came out the other side and now is the time to make things happen. I could tell you some things I have been through that would make you forget every sorrow you have ever had, but I am here, making an impact, changing lives and rising higher.
You don’t need to be giving testimonies from the Bible, you need to be giving yours. You don’t need to keep pretending you are waiting on God, you need to do what He equipped you to do, what you were gifted to do, what you were called to do, what you were born to do. President Obama , in his campaign, said YES WE Can, but too many of us forgot the WE and act as if he said YES THE PRESIDENT WILL MAKE IT ALL BETTER FOR YOU. That’s not going to happen unless you make it happen. You make it happen.
Staff Writer; Marque-Anthony