The city of New Orleans also known as the “Big Easy,” has no gangsters. Instead, we have some people who try to live a hard life. We now live in a time of so many opportunities for the African-American of today. True it is still somewhat hard for us now but it is still better than how it was in the past. In the city of New Orleans, there are so many blacks with amazing talents in education, arts, music, and sports. Why do we let are poverty become an excuse to do illegal crimes that tears down our community? The amount of energy that is spent killing and selling drugs should be spent on enhancing your God giving talents to the next level. Then you could use your talents to build up and strengthen the black community. Let us get off the corner, let us get out of the government assistant line, and let us get out of the poor education system for our children. Let us build up wealth instead of poverty, let us build an education system that properly educates our children, and let us clean up the community by running out the bad element. Generation Y lets build up a new New Orleans that will thrive and outshine any other black community in the United States. We should help create a biking of hope for all blacks across the globe. Let us lead the way for the African American people. Let us stand educated, let us stand strong, let us stand wealthy, let us stand united, and let us stand on top of God as our foundation.
I was born in Plattsburgh, New York on September 16, 1987. I moved around a few times with my parents and bother and then we finally decided to settle down in New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans East is where I was raised. New Orleans East also known as the land of the East Beast, a name that I proudly claim, however, the thing is I am not any thug, no gangster, or a killer. Even though that is what surrounded me for 13 years of my life in the East, I did not take on their ways. Instead, I educated myself on their ways, such as, their grammar, their body language, and their actions. Then I became the opposite, I became a businessperson or the streets would call me a hustler. You see to survive in the jungle you must know the ways of those who can bring harm to you. The East was not very bad but crime was there because crime is mobile. We started living a good middle class life in the begging. My brother and I got everything we wanted and we did not care less for how we got it. Then that thing poverty came in and I was shock very bad. I was a spoiled little kid in the hood who ate out every weekend, went out of town every year, and had everything I wanted. That world went crashing before my eyes and I did not want to believe it. Sometime after that my parents split up and it got even worst because we was staying with my mother and she was a single parent with no child support coming in. While all of this going on at a young age for me I blame my mother for what was happing to us at the time and today looking back on it. It was my father fought not my mother’s fought. I showed hate and ugliness towards her mostly. I showed it towards my father sometimes but not as much as I did towards my mother. My father was the bad guy in the situation not my mother. She never talks bad about him around my brother and me. She took all of the licks that we verbally through at her while my dad who I spent little time with got most of the praise and glory. As I got older, I started to see my father for what he really was. He built up this image of a Mr. Big Stuff in front of people but I seen the real man. He was weak and lost while my mother was strong and beautiful. The women who raised me most of my life, She is the main reason why I did not turn to a life of crime even though I grew up around it. She was and still is my Superwomen and nobody can tell me anything different.
The city of New Orleans is some of the hardest streets to survive in and if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. If you make it to the age of 18, you have to thank God. Because there were a number of times, I faced death. In this city, there are a number of times where anybody can catch a stray bullet to the chest. This is the city where dope fins do not get no rest, they be lurking around the streets for that fix to ease their itch. In New Orleans we have the best politicians that money can buy and they be wondering why it is hard for black people to survive. Our education system is so bad; you can get a high school diploma just for showing up to class. In this city most of the corner stories, gas stations, and clothing stores are not own by the black folks. The Arabs or the Asian folks own them and this is why the black neighborhoods stay broke. Louisiana Purchase is what most blacks call a second source of income and staying on Section 8 is what we call moving on up. I can understand why the elderly needs food and housing assistant but I cannot see why some of these young people cannot fin for themselves. New Orleans got so many job programs out here where you can be paid while you train. You cannot bit that, being paid while you learn. They say New Orleans is struggling but don’t worry we are going take a few protein shakes and then we will be able to bench press this weight.
It pains me to see that my generation is killing each other over the stupidest things. As I said earlier, the black people of New Orleans are some of the best people around. We know how to make money, we know how to survive, and we know how to have fun when times are not bright. We are a strong people and we are a beautiful people.
