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Save Our Sons

By Dianne Wells

Fifty years after, yes 50 years done gone and my little mind can only say commemorate the anniversary of the Black Power movement and not celebrate!

Fifty years after and the words of Bob Marley still ringing in mih ears…”Emancipate yourself from mental slavery,” words which continue to hold true.

So we gained the hallowed halls of bank employment and access to country clubs and tennis clubs, but have we gained access to the mental freedom which allows our sons to be all they can be, a true vision of what that Black Power envisaged?

Locked as they are in a vicious cycle of violence, gangs and premature death, the newspaper headlines of another black son dead, scream at us, that we have failed our sons and seemingly given them the black power to choose death!

SOS – Save our Sons!

The writing is on the wall. The writing is in the many reports penned by numerous committees which continue to sit on the shelves. The writing is on the “too many” obituaries and eulogies and griping bellies of mammies.

The writing is in my soul, because I live in a predominantly female household and we are busy empowering our granddaughters to be their best selves, even as I clutch my pearls and shudder to think that at this rate, who will be their mates? Who will be left to be their eagle? They may have to look elsewhere to be evenly yoked.

And as we journey through Lent, a time for introspection and intentionality, can we focus our lens in this year of 20/20 vision, to make a difference to one son, one male, one potential father?

Yes, Jesus fell three times and we have fallen and failed three generations in that 50 years. Yes, the Egyptians journeyed for 40 years before they attained their goal…50 years later, we still searching.

Yes, 40 steps to Calvary, may we find 40 ways to Save our Sons.

Archbishop Jason Gordon alluded to this Black Power shortfall in the commemoration Service on Ash Wednesday and I dare to venture even one more step.

In the Church, we developed the concept of clusters to help manage the shortage of priests and so bring the strengths of communities together in groups, to benefit the whole.

Then, this 40-day Lenten road trip can be used to cluster the Church, NJAC and NWAC, teachers, TTPS, GORTT and all the stakeholders because we just can’t go on this way, thinking it’s business as usual and we ent harnessing the potential of our sons to be more than a gang leader.

Worshipping as I do in the societal hotbed of Maloney, many are the young men willing to walk their personal Stations of the Cross to Calvary, but find themselves stuck in the tentacles of the gang hierarchy. Can we journey with our sons to bring them to the trilogy of true freedom, empowerment and relationship?

My friends, I implore you to take the time to think of a solution, an idea, a forward step, which can get our sons to ‘Calvary’ sooner rather than later, before there are no sons left. Share your ideas, PLEASE.

Don’t throw your hands in the air, for all of us, everyone, has been touched by the spirit of premature death plaguing our ‘young uns’. So yes, the views expressed are my views, but they are views reflected in the mirror of our twin-island Trinity land, which should be our collective view, prayer and cry over our islands.

The Lord said render our souls and not our garments, so the road to a Black Power Calvary, is much more than an African-wearing walk on Emancipation Day. Let’s do this, let’s SOS, so we will be able to not just commemorate, but celebrate our holistic Black Power, 50 years later.

May you be blessed with eyes to see, ears to hear and hearts of flesh, to move from silos to solidarity, as we reincarnate our sons.