We’ve Got To See It Through

By Gerald D. Givens, Jr.

Today, we celebrate the 86th birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 32nd national Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in our nation. Dr. King’s holiday is celebrated on the third Monday of January. It is a time that we remember his life; his work and honor his legacy with a day of community service. Around the nation there are programs, seminars, dialogues, and commemorative marches taking place.

Dr. King’s last public words to the world were, “And I’m so happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!”

That was the conclusion of a speech called, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” April 3, 1968 at the Mason Temple Church of God in Christ, Memphis, Tenn. Dr. King was there to help in the Memphis Sanitation Workers Strike. However, what resonates most with me is when he said, “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.”

And that’s the topic of this editorial, “we’ve got to see it through.” Our struggle for freedom, justice and equal opportunity is not over. We can’t stop now.

In July of 2014, I attended the U.S. Black Chambers, Inc., School of Chamber and Business Management in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of us from around the nation participated in four days of educational and networking opportunities, a variety of vibrant speeches, workshops, and training sessions. We also attended a technology discussion at Google, a business forum at the Department of Commerce, and business leader briefings at the White House. While at the Department of Commerce, we were given a fact sheet from the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) that highlighted the importance of Dr. King’s message of “we’ve got to see this through.”

According to the fact sheet, there are 1.9 million African American firms and 20.1 million non-minority firms. The average gross receipts for African American firms are $71,000 compared to $488,000 for non-minority firms. And the number of paid employees for African American owned firms are 910,000 compared to 50.1 million in non-minority owned firms. As you can see these numbers are not even close. These numbers indicated the most important thing I’ve heard throughout the past year and this entire event, “We need more access to capital. Without capital we can’t hire people or expand operations and services.” Almost every African American business owner or leader I met kept saying the exact same thing. We can’t sit down on economics now, we’ve got to see this through.

On August 9, 2014, the shooting of Michael Brown occurred in the hometown of my great-grandparents, the suburbs of St. Louis, in Ferguson, Missouri. I was born in St. Louis and spent many of my childhood days playing in Ferguson. One of my fondest childhood memories was being in my great-grandparents backyard with my uncle making homemade ice cream on the 4th of July. However, at sweet moments in time like this, all too often my great-grandmother would always remind the family, “Get home before it gets dark, you don’t want the Ferguson police messing with you.” In September 2014, my 81-year-old grandmother, who’s lived in St. Louis my entire 43 years of life and is only 10 minutes away from Ferguson, told me, “Baby it’s time!” in regards to the protest and demands for justice being called for locally and around the world. We can’t sit down on justice, we’ve got to see this through.

In October 2014, I became president of a new nonprofit organization in San Antonio, Teaching Responsible Actions, Concepts, Knowledge, and Skills (TRACKS). The primary mission of TRACKS is to train boys between the ages of 10–17 on how to be better sons, so they can become better husbands, so they can become better fathers. Too many young boys and men are not reaching their fullest potential educationally, socially, and emotionally.

All of my life I have witnessed far too many young boys and men be killed, give way to a lifestyle of criminality, and become trapped in an abyss of drug or alcohol addiction. Far too many young boys that I have mentored can’t read a restaurant menu. Far too many young boys that I have mentored lack confidence when they speak. And far too many young boys lack the etiquette while being engaged in the concrete jungles of our nation. We don’t need another study, what we need is a renewed commitment from adults to give these young boys and men a fair chance in life. We can’t sit down on our young men, we’ve got to see this through.

Today, in our nation we have more juvenile detention centers, jails, and prisons than we have colleges and universities. Children don’t build these institutions, adults do. Is this the kind of country that we want to be? Is this the message that we want to send to our children — that we have more places in our society to lock you up than to educate you?

Dr. King didn’t die dreaming, he died fighting. He was fighting for peace while we fought against each other at home and abroad. Dr. King was fighting for economic boycotts while we African Americans have become the nation’s most faithful consumers. He died standing up to a way of life that believes that one race is superior to all other races and ethnicities of people. Dr. King died fighting the same battles that we are still fighting to this day and we cannot give up. We cannot back down. In Dr. King’s words, “We’ve got to give ourselves to the struggle” and “We’ve got to see this through!”

Gerald D. Givens, Jr. is a San Antonio publisher and community leader. He serves on various boards and is currently the President of TRACKS, a non-profit geared toward helping young men reach their full potential.