Commentary: Along with New Year’s Resolve Comes a Hope – That Black America Defies the Odds and Rises High
Date: Monday, December 31, 2007
By: Deborah Mathis, BlackAmericaWeb.com
It is all psychological, of course, but psychology cannot be overlooked. The approach of a new year brings an equal mix of dread and promise.
Things are going to happen in the new year. Will 2008 come and go with a yawn or will some of the happenings be big and unforgettable? And, if so, will they be big and unforgettable like 9/11 or big and unforgettable like hitting the lottery? The unknown is a fickle sport -- one minute, raising monsters; the next, serving up sugarplums.
Invariably at this time each year, I tiptoe toward the future, aware that people I know and know of who are here today will not be here this time next year. That number might include people I love. It could include me.
Despite those sorrowful prospects, I awaken each New Year’s Day on the bright side, flush with optimism and resolve. My dress size will decrease this year. My savings account will fatten and, overall, I will feel more at peace.
Along with those annual resolutions comes this fervent hope and prayer: That this is the year black Americans defy the odds against us and rise, rise, rise.
This will be the year that the B-word, the Nand the H-word lose their cool, or whatever it is that gives them such currency among our youth. Better yet, the terms aren’t replaced by new vile references.
This will be the year that mothers keep up with their children and hold them accountable for good manners, good grades and good behavior. You won’t hear about a 12-year-old being shot at a party at midnight, because the 12-year-olds are all snug in their own beds at that hour. You won’t see all of the honors at a predominantly black school going to the few white classmates because the black students are going to show what they know.
This will be the year that black fathers find their way home. If salmon can swim upstream for thousands of miles to take care of nature’s business, surely men can push through the societal thicket to get back to the daughter with eyes just like theirs or the son with the laugh like his dad’s and the woman who has been rearing them both.
This will be the year that we will abandon the hard, dead-eyed stare and begin smiling at one another again, treating one another with the kinship and dignity for which, once upon a time, we were legend.
This will be the year that black people of all political stripes will agree that class differentials and affirmative action’s bad rap are false idols that divide and weaken us, leaving us all vulnerable to resurgent racism.
This will be the year that we will wield our political power like the hammer it is and not be bamboozled by 11th-hour appeals to prejudices like homophobia to vote against our own interests on those issues that really are at stake.
One of these years, it’s going to happen. The year turns into that great unknown chock full of possibility. This could be the year. That promise may be bankrupt before the year gets long. But, for now at least, it’s priceless.
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