THE JOURNEY

THE JOURNEY

by Ron Cosby

Publisher of the City-County Observer

As a fatherless child of color is born in a “Privileged Town,” his mother does everything to protect him from the obvious hurt, pain, and despair that awaits him at day’s dawn. With little food, money, or a defined plan to improve their station in life each day, she begins the most difficult journey for a better life. Years of heartbreak and despair, buffered by substandard subsidized public housing, food stamps, and governmental healthcare from a failing health system, she conquers each day with the grace of God and the determination of a saint.

The mother of the child of color begins her day’s journey to catch an early morning bus to earn a non-sustainable wage. She continues to find a way to provide her child of color with the love and protection of a saint, taught by her biblical upbringing. With the burden of a broken marriage and a lost child during birth, she continues her daily chores with the songs of praise dancing in her head throughout the day.

Years of receiving food stamps, and government commodities of dry milk, less than nourishing processed cheese, a yearly trip to the County Health Department for yearly check-ups and shots, a Salvation Army Holiday feast, and care packages became a way of life.  This way of life has taken a toll on her emotional and physiological well-being. She, too, had the same dream that Martin Luther King had, and she instilled it in her son of color.

A rat, drug, and crime-infested jungle greet a struggling soul every morning. Without a nourishing breakfast, her son of color puts on his mixed matched soiled clothes and journeys on foot in all kinds of weather to an ill-equipped school to seek the truth.  At school, his classmates practice one-upmanship and flaunt their trophies of privilege to anyone who listens or cares. He focuses on the real prize that one-day he would become an acceptable member of “Privileged Town.”  At school, he negotiates a landmine of corruption and lawlessness, while he burdens to seek the truth of the world on a half-empty stomach.

His heroes were few. There were no mentors available for help and guidance. With the spirited heart of a lion, his mother’s biblical teachings, and the wings of an Eagle, he continually looked to the mountains for his flight toward the sun.

It’s an unwritten rule that the only way to survive the ghetto is to leave.  With years of disappointment, pain, hurt, and despair, the child of color begins the journey to becoming an acceptable member of a “Privileged Town”.  He understands that his journey shall be long and challenging, but with God’s guidance, his goal is achievable because adversity has brought him strength.

Later, another “Privileged Town” greets the fatherless adult of color with less than open arms. The adult of color takes on a (not so obvious) foe of racial discrimination. With the confidence of a warrior going into battle, failure isn’t an option. With his soul intact and prayerful resolve, he struggles forward to improve his station in life in the same way that he excelled academically and athletically when he was young.

The fatherless adult of color now has a sustainable job and is living in a nice area of “Privileged Town” with his mother, a wife, and two children.

The fatherless adult of color knows that racism and discrimination are alive and well in America. He wants the self-serving career politicians and ineffective bureaucrat’s to step aside so the voiceless can be heard by the sincere and compassionate advocates of the downtrodden. He feels that future government programs should stop offering the disadvantaged handouts, but instead provide them with programs that provide a helping hand.

The adult of color recognizes it is time that the area clergy, advocates of the poor, business leaders, and ordinary citizens band together and take on racism, poverty, blight, and discrimination — head-on with fearless abandon.

FOOTNOTE: This journey has also been taken by many people of color over the years.  The fatherless adult of color believes that black lives matter.  He also believes that the lives of all people matter. We agree with him!