FLIPSIDE

Friday marks the end of the work week. The beginning of the weekend. The last day before two days of rest and relaxation. For some it is the end of a school week. A school week that was detrimental to a certain nine students in Arkansas back in 1957.

I was talking with my nephew last night who is a freshman in high school and he was just talking about how bad things were for black people in the past. He mentioned that his class was watching a documentary about the first black students to attend an all-white high school in Little Rock Arkansas. I'm glad he saw that film.

I am also glad he feels the way he does about the injustices done unto our black communities. This younger generation needs to be more in touch with the issues of the past in order to really appreciate that there are so many black business owners. In order to see the importance of an education. In order to see the importance of America voting in its very first black man as president.

Understanding the struggles of the past makes the things that are going on around you more relevant. You think its nothing that Jay Z can sellout a concert at Madison Square Garden, but you can appreciate it more when you realize that less than 70 years ago, he would not have even been allowed to enter the front doors of the Garden to even see a show. We are only one generation away from segregation.

After talking with him I was happy he had learned something about history. I was also happy that he sees the importance of the small things that we take for granted. The things that our last generation fought and sometimes lost their lives trying to get for us as a community. Catch ya' on the FLIPSIDE.