Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
By Naomi K. Bonman
The week of July 5 was a very emotional and overwhelming time for not just our Black community, but for the Nation as an entirety. With the shootings of two unarmed Black men and then the event in Dallas, Texas, as a Black community we have become fed up. We are tired. Tired of the same cycle that keeps happening and has been happening for decades with no hope of ever changing.
From protest after protest, stand-in after stand-in, and boycott after boycott, nothing is changing. It is like we are working hard to seek justice and for equality rights, but constantly being ignored by the system. We feel alienated from society, as well as used and abused. Our culture in America has constantly been mocked, mocked for centuries.
Since the 1960s Civil Rights Movement very little change has happened. Racism in America has taken a reverse turn. So what is the solution? What have we as a community been doing wrong and what do we need to do to start seeing REAL change? Three Black millennial entrepreneurs have spoken up on the issues that have seen in the years and what they feel needs to be done in order for change to prosper.
“When you do not know who you are anyone can come along and give you an identity! It’s time for us to know who we are, be proud of who we are, stop shaming,” Author T’ana Phelice states. “It’s time for Black men and women to begin to celebrate one another again. It’s time to raise our children as a village and take pride in having a disciplined community. It’s time to mend fences and break chains that are meant to separate us. It’s time to unite! It’s time to make God popular again!“
Author and playwright, T’ana Phelice (31), from San Bernardino feels that in order for us to do better and make permanent changes that our community needs to be honest. We need to start being ashamed. We need to start being persistent. We need to educate ourselves on historical information; things that affect us and our children.
Marketing guru, Jay Parnell (33), of Perris speaks on the desensitization of our children. He believes that the current generation has been desensitized by how they are being marketed to through music, television, and social media. These media outlets have the power to develop and alter a person’s ideology.
Starh, owner of Fancy Cartel, from San Bernardino sums everything up with in order for change to come, the issues at hand need to be addressed. Once the current issues within our community are addressed we can then come to an agreement to start seeing the change that we all have longed for.
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Author: Naomi K. Bonman
Naomi K. Bonman is a Digital Content Curator, Journalist, Marketing Manager, and Editor. She is the editor of the westside Story Newspaper. She is also the Founder and CEO of Awakened Lounge (www.theawakenedlounge.com)
