Everybody seems to be aware of where our problems lie, where they started
What we can do to solve them, what we are not doing as a black nation
But nobody seems to be willing to initiate the solutions

Everybody is asking, why black people are not opening their big supermarkets
Why aren’t black people forming a chain of wholesalers that will only support other black people
Why they don’t partner to form this and that, you’d swear some white dudes are feeling sorry for us
Until you look at them and see black faces, because black brothers accents are slowly getting whiter and whiter
You barely recognize their voices when they employ “George” in their conversation

Why they don’t withhold their money, stop supporting their oppressors, they ask
why do they keep giving power to the same people they’re trying to get it back from
But nobody is willing to initiate that movement

Everybody seems to be aware that black people should take their money and spend it in their communities
They say black people should stop taking their money and give it to their oppressors
Yet nobody is willing to take action, to change that mentality
Instead, they move to the suburbs when the money starts coming in
They look from the distance saying, “bonani benzani” why would they burn the very same clinic they depend on
“Black people mara”, why would you burn the school instead of your councilor’s house, or the president’s at least, he’s no different anyway
They move away and look back to point at the problems, but never bring the solutions

South African education is meant to produce employees rather than entrepreneurs, they argue. They go on to start businesses, probably an excuse to distract themselves as they simply abandon them when they get employed, life becomes more comfortable

I read about stories of the Jews, watch movies dedicated to their history
I see the stories of a black man covered under their skin
Because their history is exactly the same as that of a black man
But my mind suddenly change when I look at them today, how they transformed their lives
That comparison quickly change because they turned their lives around for the best
Yet as black people we haven’t done much, because we still support the same people who made us suffer
With all the solutions we have, all the problems we’ve identified
We still can’t implement them, because we are so divided that when we see one succeed our hearts break
Instead of cheering with joy, we suffer in silence, wishing them nothing but failure

My 2 cent opinion, 1000 registered companies are a positive thing to hear, but they mean nothing when they’re just a number on the database
They mean nothing when only one will live to see another 1000 days before it disappears on the very same database it was kept on
But 10 big and successful companies are way better than 10000 unsuccessful small companies when they help fellow black people put bread on the table
Maybe, after all, we don’t have to register companies, but join forces, put our brains together
Maybe then we can realize what we are capable of, what black men and black women can achieve when they put their heads together

We have all the problems listed on the back of our minds, we’ve taken so many years to identify them
We have all the solutions to each one of them, we even know how to implement them
Yet, sitting on top of them doesn’t seem to be the right word to describe how far we go to make sure they don’t come close to existence

Can we for once take action, obviously talking hasn’t yelled any positive results
Can we all stand up and join hands, apply all the solutions for every problem we’ve identified
Come forward with your manufacturing skills, come forward with your sales skills, you’re a result driven individual, come forward we need you, we can’t get anywhere without your accountability skills, come forward
You and you and what you can offer, come forward, you don’t need to start something of your own sometimes, but join to grow the existing movement. Your skill, my skill and their skills may just combine together to produce wonders

I raise my hand, count me in for every initiative
I hope you’ll do the same, raise your hand to be counted
Help someone else do the same, start with the guy next to you

All the black companies that failed were never built on strong policies
I’m sure you know enough about the problems that buried each one of them
But that can’t be an excuse for you to hide behind the bushes because you can’t trust a fellow black person
That shouldn’t be the reason you can’t hold hands and build with fellow black brother and sister
Because past experiences make us better in a way
They make us wiser when we take a moment to reflect, learn from the lessons they pose

I stand to be counted
It’s Good Motives

Picture by Arjunsyah on unsplash.com