We desperately need a revolution. Tonight’s guest on SKEE Live, Lupe Fiasco is from one the most dangerous places in the world, Chicago IL, and preaches against the chaos that has taken over his hometown, even aiming to help curtail it with his foundation.
During the first two weeks of nice temperatures in Chicago this year—which included Easter weekend—the city was overcome with some 100 shootings leaving nearly a dozen dead. Many of these were young kids. In fact, Five children were shot at a playground on Easter Sunday alone in one specific incident. In that same month, not one american service man in iraq or afghanistan was killed, making the ghettos of what we call chiraq arguably the most dangerous place on the planet- and its right here in the middle of our country.
Even worse is the fact we all know it and do nothing other than shake our heads. It’s like everyone is waiting for someone else to fix it. Guess what? They aren’t.
Why don’t the politicians? It simple. The ghettos affected aren’t big voting populous’ and won’t affect an election. It’s also not a polarizing topic like abortion or taxes that people take hard line sides on and debate to get media attention, but instead something everyone agrees on yet does nothing about.
So why do cities like Chicago and Detroit continue to decay under our nose as we do nothing, while we send more troops overseas? Just like the prison system I spoke on a few weeks ago, It’s all about money. Companies like Halliburton make billions of dollars from war. This comes by making the bombs, planes, drones, and the war machines used to destroy the country, and then getting hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts to come in and rebuild — aka clean up the mess they made. It’s absolutely insane a few specific companies have a monopoly and work on both sides of the fence- a clear conflict of interest. That’s another subject altogether though...
And this comes from someone who thinks we do need to use our power in other countries even when they don’t directly attack us. I am one of the people that believes it’s important we pay close attention to the global picture and intervene when absolutely necessary. It keeps stability politically, but more importantly, is just the right thing to do as a human being. If you see someone being wronged, step in and help. You never know when it could be you.
I just wonder how we justify spending billions overseas but nothing at home? It’s extremely well documented and there’s no debate on the horror happening in Chicago- there just is no action.
I’m not JUST calling out corporations and politicians though. We know they are corrupt and only out for themselves and can’t be depended on. We need to take things into our own hands. I’m calling out every single one of you at home, and even myself.
There are no true revolutionaries anymore. I’m disappointed that we all sit here and always wait and assume others will come in. When something wrong happens, we may talk about it for a few days until that news cycle is done, but ultimately just talk about it and let it be. Shame on us for not having the balls to step up.
We have all become too comfortable in our own lives to help others. Don’t just sit there. Do something! It’s time to step out of our comfort zones and do what is right. It’s time to take a note from our forefathers and those who paved the way for us and take things into our own hands. Revolutions have to start somewhere, so why not tonight, and why not you?
Chance the Rapper proved this was possible on his own by launching a small social media campaign that stopped gun violence in the Windy City for 42 hours straight- quite a feat for a city that can average a shooting every hour.
Kudos to him and Lupe for what they are trying to do, and In line with that, its time for all of us to step up and play our part.
I was originally going to tell everyone to do something specific tonight, like donate money to a charity, tweet a hashtag, email a politician, or volunteer in the community, after speaking with community leaders in Chicago I realized there is no fix all. However, the most important thing is to do SOMETHING. So i call all of you out tonight to do just that. Whether it’s donating money to a charity like the ones listed below, spreading this message and involving others through social media conversations, going out to the community to volunteer, or contacting our government at the email addresses below, lets not sit back and let something we know as being wrong continue on.
I’m going to start off by putting my money where my mouth is and not only donate my entire paycheck for tonights show to Lupe’s foundation but also spread this message through my various platforms, e-mail our government, and set up a trip to go visit the community again first hand. You don’t have to do anywhere near as much, but please, do something.
