Dear Mother, Father and to my people, Thank you. You gave me life and the teachings of Jesus. You withstood the cotton and tobacco fields and the rope. You climbed over the mountains and crossed the river to give me freedom.
Tyler Perry has a studio thatis large enough to encompasses a former military base. The Abbot Elementary school television show is a major success along with the Tamron Hall talk show and many other shows on the big screen and small screen. There are generals in the military, law schools full of Black students, and dental and medical schools full of Black students. There are Black-owned newspapers throughout the country and literary arts writers and numerous Black authors. When my father took the opportunity to move from racist Oklahoma to little, less racist California, he made a great move. When my mother decided to stop being a house cleaner to open a store to support the annual cotton pickers and field workers in Kern County, she lifted our family out of potential poverty and to middle class. When I convinced my family to send me to barber school and then helped me open a barber shop, and later when a client convinced me that I could get through law school and practice law, it further lifted the Hopkins family into a higher class. This is the story of my little portion of our family. What it does not tell is the upward moves, from mega music entertainers, Movies, and various churches. Nor tell about the times we ran through the house shouting, “There’s a Black person on television,” even though it was probably only a ten second commercial. We sent our children to public schools. We took them to church like our parents had done with us, allowing our children to become a preacher, college professor. Blues musician and entertainer one to work his way up into a government department position. America has come from keeping Black folks into involuntary slavery for over four hundred years to the richest and most progressive country in the modern world. We have elected a Black President, and a Black female vice president. All while people, like America’s past president, tried to deny President Obama’s nationality, using all kind of tactics, and even bringing Nazi in to speak at the Republican convention, this year, but we just keep on moving forward. How we keep on moving forward is like my parents did. Each one who rises, teach others what the rules of progression are. The rules are to get an education for a trade or profession, practice the profession, purchase some income producing property, real or otherwise, pass the property on to your children andkeep the income coming. Do not do things for conspicuous consumption, only for your own profit or income producing assets for yourself. You must find time for exercise daily or weekly, walk, play a sport, do something! Your body is your temple. Take care of it. Do not just feed it. See your doctor and dentist. Be careful about who you give political power to. Do not elect idiots, selfish leaders, or racists to power. You will live to regret it. Avoid traps like selling or using drugs or conducting theft and other criminal behavior. These are traps to keep us down. Last but not least, find a good life partner, and a good church and let it change your life for the better. Things are getting better, not yet perfect, but getting it better. It is up to you to choose. |
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