Greetings and Good Morning Everyone!
I hope all well and that your Monday morning is off to an amazing start! I hope that your weekend was a wonderful experience and that you've spent it well! This morning, I want to talk about the overwhelming concern that I have for the state of the human race. I've literally watched a number of documentaries and the news reports from Friday's unforeseen tragic events at the Capitol, and I'm heartbroken when I think about how we treat our environment and each other.
Over the course of this weekend, I've cried so many times because, I'm so hurt when think about what we are faced with on a daily basis. I was overwhelmed with emotion. It is truly sad. It started with me watching a very poignant and eye-opening movie called, Concrete Cowboys. It was movie that enlightened me on the long-standing history of Black Cowboys, living and maintaining such a rich history in the Northern Philadelphia area. I had no idea that this even existed. This movie depicted a very important history of the Black Cowboys in this area. My Dad is a huge fan of western movies and tv shows. One of his favorite tv shows was, Gunsmoke, and shows like that never had Black characters in them. Growing up, I rarely saw Black Cowboys represented in movies, particularly, western movies. However, when I was a kid I remember going to NCA&TSU Homecoming Parade, and every year there were always, Black Cowboys riding their horses in the parade. My Daddy loved this part of the parade. This is my memory of seeing Black Cowboys growing up, but it was refreshing to see them in this movie. In seeing this movie, I was enlightened of it's history and its importance in the community, and how the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club (FSURC) has been a safe haven and a place of camaraderie for this community. It really put into perspective the dangers of living the inner city with the infestation of drugs and poverty and how it affects our communities, and the need for potential places where we can find positive outlets to thrive. There's always stories like this that shows where we find opportunities glimmers of hope in the toughest of circumstances. A club like this should not be worried about the threat of losing its history because, of gentrification, and yet it is. Why can't an inner city cowboy group with such rich history and roots in Philadelphia have the backing of the city? It's been a place for so many of Northern Philadelphia's youth to escape the hardships of life in the inner city. I don't understand why we have to fight for positive places for our children, Black children to experience. It should be a place that is advocated for and wanted in the community, and the city should be helping it be a mainstay in this community. For instance, I've seen cities around the country fight for houses to be considered historical sites, and protected against removal. Why can't the Fletcher Street stables and the various stables in the Philadelphia be protected, and helped in this way? These are the questions that I ask myself. When a community has no outlets, there's no parks, no job opportunities, buildings have been abandoned, businesses have vacated the community, etc, how can we expect for the community to thrive? This allows drugs and crime to take over the community. I want to see groups like FSURC grow and gain the support needed to keep its stables open and thriving, and to continue to be a stable in the Northern Philadelphia community. If you've never heard of them, I encourage you to research them and their rich history in Philadelphia, and if you find it in your heart donate to their cause like I did.
I watched the news with disappointment and pain learning about the police officer killed on Friday in the Nation's Capitol. I was angered when I watched Georgia State Representative, Park Cannon, arrested for knocking on Governor Kemp's door during the signing new voting laws in the state of Georgia, that will eventually suppress the vote in that state. I watched a documentary entitled, Seaspiracy which highlights the inhumane treatment of sea life, the threat of potential death of the sea, and ultimately the human race due to overfishing, the Great Pacific Trash Patches in the oceans, and killings of whales and dolphins. My heart broke even further watching a documentary about bullying with my 7-year old son. I knew that bullying was a problem, but to the extent that our babies are taking their own lives, made me cringe with horror and saddened me. I think about my own child and I cried because, I wouldn't know what I would do if something were to happen to him. If someone threatened his life, or hurt hime to the point where he wanted to take his own life. When I had a discussion about this with my husband, I was overwhelmed with tears. There's many issues that we have to fight against. How do we right all of these wrongs in our society? I'm not even scratching the surface of everything that we have to face. How do you pick just one cause to combat when we have so many fighting against us everyday? Every so often I ask these same questions, and every time I ask these questions, the world grows less and less compassionate and more and more difficult to navigate. How do we deal with all of this?
As I close, I want you to know that we can make a difference. There's so many causes and issues to tackle, but we can do it and we can succeed if we do it together. It's so easy to be discouraged by all of the negativity that surrounds us on a daily basis, but we have to believe in better days. We have have to fight for the good that we can help create and do our very best to preserve it. Little by little we can right the wrongs in this world. I have to do my part, and you can do yours. I want to see this place become a better place for all children to grow up in. My husband and I spoke about something from our childhood that our son will never get the opportunity to experience, and that's go to a circus, specifically, "Barnum & Bailey Circus". There's so many things that we're losing as a society, and I'm tired of this. We have to make it better. A community that has a one-hundred year old history of raising and training horses in northern Philadelphia, shouldn't have to fight for the preservation of its history, nor more than whales and dolphins mere existence be threatened. Both of these stories and many more should be enough to galvanize us all to take action, but it won't, so those of us what will take action may we help to bring about the change that we so desperately need in this world.
Peace & Blessings "M.A.I." Friends! I have a beautiful day and an amazing week!
Charmyra E. Fleming is a romance author with a deep desire to M.OTIVATE | A.SPIRE | I.NSPIRE, her readers and beyond to live their lives with purpose, intention, and full of passion. Thank you for reading her blog post this morning. Hey, do her a favor, if you like or love this post, comment on it. She'd love to hear your feedback. Also, please feel free to share it with your family and friends in the social media universe. Your support is greatly appreciated!
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