Lorraine Watkins

The Burden and Blessing of Being Black Lorraine Watkins

The Burden & Blessing of Being Black include history summary of slavery to the Great Depression to our first 2nd term black president of the United States. A brief history of where we have been in order to know where we need to be. The burden of being black is feeling the need to constantly prove yourself to others how you measure up; whether its maintaining a business, investing money, to raising your family, or simply being enough. I think we consciously and unconsciously feel the need to be accepted by other cultures or to need the feeling of belonging to a group whether it's in our own community or the community of others to a certain degree. When we embrace our own culture of people more, and have an appreciation for who we are as a people, we can embrace others all in the name of humanity, love, and respect for the way other societies live out their culture differences. I remember back in the 1970s feeling a strong sense of black pride in our community and across America. We had a stronger tide of sisterhood, brotherhood, and community-hood. As we approached the 1980s, and as more women were becoming more of their own power-house in business, education, and managing their lives independent of a man, the community started advancing economically, but the family units were beginning to unthread. Black churches were very strong in their faith and engaging in upgrading and building their communities. Also, it was then a break out in the AIDS academic, and a rise in drug use that really brought the walls down in the black urban communities. When family suffers, the community suffer, and it is a know fact across the board. The fact is that how we respond to the world and how the world response to us begins with the way we are raised as a child.