(ThyBlackMan.com) Before you get alarmed know I don’t have beef with social media. It can serve the purpose of dispersing information to the masses, and bringing people together. However, we also know it can disperse drama, confusion and if one is not wise it can land them in jail. The idea is simple…movement requires us to move. It requires us to put our phones down, and come from behind our keyboard and interact real-time with our community. Yes, we can check-in our location, and take pictures…but to bring about the change we need to see in community we are going to be forced to move.
There are many discussions on social media in an endless number of groups addressing every issue you can imagine. The discussions often turn to fights, and resort to name calling because individuals can’t see eye to eye on issues. When we don’t agree with each other we are immediately considered wrong, and out positions are disregarded. When there is no answer for the rhetoric of another…
many resort to personal attacks. Many believe that because they have various degrees they are an authority on issues, and no one can contest their vantage point. This is seen on social media every single day…all day long. This does not lead us to community change. The infighting behind our keyboards is not contributing to movement, and it is most certainly not the definition of being conscious on any level. In this regard, social media can become a hindrance to movement because it leaves its users feeling that they have contributed to betterment by sitting in a group masking fighting as debating issues.
If one is fired up about an issue do so in-depth research and publish a paper on the matter…then get it into circulation. Use social media to find people in your areas then actually come together to plan community empowerment events. Let’s use social media to bring us together away from the technology to actually reach out to our children.
We constantly hear about the violence in our urban communities…instead of posting on Facebook about it reach out to local organizations that are working to fight the violence. If you find there is not an organization to meet the needs of our youth…lets create one. There is a need for activist in our schools to work in tandem with educators to make sure our children are getting the best education possible. Some parents need to do better, but there are also parents doing all they know to do and could use some assistance where education is concerned. Indeed, it takes a village to raise the children, and we must come from behind our keyboards to do it.
Community health must become an initiative as we cannot depend on the government where healthcare is concerned. We must fight for those in our communities with mental health challenges, addiction and preexisting conditions. Meanwhile, we must encourage the strong to take steps to remain healthy. It is obvious that our battle with the Justice Department just became more difficult, but we must be vigilant in demanding equality and fair treatment from our justice department. This is work, and it will require us to reach out to our neighbors and get to know them. We must come from behind our screens and experience the power of interacting. This is the foundation of movement…our ancestors knew it, and it would serve us well not to forget it. Social media can be a positive tool within movement, but it cannot be the primary force.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.
