Some of this rings true and a lot of it does not, as would, be the results of someone from the outside ‘looking in’. I am more concerned with the actions and reactions of our community in these polarizing times. It’s true more white people have ‘drunk the kool-aid’ of spin jockeys and propoganders like Bill O’Rielly, Rush Limbaugh, and FOXNews to the extant of believing everything negative reported, discussed and screened about black people — especially our youth. Because they are losing the culture battle with their kids and blaming us for it — as much as they blame every Muslim they see on the street with a covering over their face or head with having a connection to terrorism… To a large section of the ‘silent majority’ we are the enemy, for no other reason than the fact that we are making strides to break out of our subservient, service and entertainment roles they have identified with us, Hispanics, and Asians. “Sing a song, starch my shirt, tend my garden… and we’ll get along just fine.”

So a lot of what goes on today, and its a shame, because where I live, Christmastime in the South is warmth, smiles, season greetings, parties, laughs with strangers, all of us getting along on a personal, sympathetic level.

But not this year, Fear has turned eyes downward, smiles upside down, with greetings and courtesies at their lowest. Suspicions are at their highest, we don’t trust one another, each other, or authority, and its heartbreaking, especially to the kids. Both yours and ours… we need to talk.