A Season of Change

Bismillah.

The dictionary initially defines change as, “to change the form, nature, content, future course etc. of something different from what it would be if left alone”.  Imagine the surprise of some, who awoke on November 5, only to discover that a great change had taken place. 

Had the planet realigned? Had we been invaded? No, a Son of Africa had been taken from the outhouse to the White House.  We are taught that the one constant in nature is change. 

When President Obama called for change we could believe in, the words echoed in the chamber of many souls, for the words of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad could be felt in the streets, “dissatisfaction”, he said, “brings about a change.”  All around the globe the people are dissatisfied and call for change.  However, not just any change, but a change we could believe in.

This indeed is a season of change, many are moving from summer to fall on to the harshness of winter.  Others are moving thru the winters of their lives into warmth once again.  Change, it is as necessary as life itself.  Many African Americans awoke on the morning of November 5, feeling very strongly that the work had been done, and that the change, which had taken place, was all that was needed, we as a people had overcome. While much has changed, hence the anger of those, who realize, but failed to be in accord with the season, there remains a great deal more to the process.  For as the seasonal changes are gradual, so is the changing of minds and hearts.  If change can be defined as making the form, nature, content, and future course of something different, then I dare to say we have started in the reverse, for the future is certainly never to be the same.  However, we yet have not completely changed the content of the mind of the birthers, the extreme right-wingers, those who utter countless death threats at our President. 

We certainly have not changed how the nature of some does not allow them to see the humanity of others.  Form is defined as appearance; we certainly have never changed the form, because it appears as though, as stated by none other than President Carter, this man is hated because of his appearance.  It was nearly fifty years ago the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke his dream, in which he asked that a man be judged not by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.  So have we really changed?  Is this the change we can believe in?

No wonder the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is asking us as a people to accept our responsibility in this season of Universal change, for the word we implies at least two, “what are you doing for yourself today, your brother in the east wants to know and hear from you at once.”  What are we as a people doing for ourselves; a world in need of change wants to know at once.

Since the election of our first Black President the black community has not gotten any better, while our future course is forever changed, our present realities are quite troubling; we remain stuck at the bottom of every pile.  The content of our culture remains degenerate, the natures of our relationships remain shallow, and the ghetto has not lost its form.  We must ask concerning the “we”, and having answered, we must get up and go to work.  If this is how WE all act with a President, how would we behave on knowing of a black Savior, or a Black Creator?

-Bro Richard