well...things, actually...(not necessarily in this order)

education
society
psychological state of black folks

we HAVE to get our kids back. the schools aren't helping. parents are too scattered, stretched too thin, or too messed up to be involved in what's important.

growing up with an educator & having been exposed to a variety of teaching methods, styles, and applications, i've always been interested in figuring out how we can get kids to really LEARN again. they need to know the basics, yes. but they also need exposure. too many of them have no vision beyond their corner. unless we remedy that somehow, these kids aren't going to go any further than those corners.

and when you get a teacher willing to expose the kids, sometimes the parents will stand in your way.

how do we overcome the crippling ignorance that has gripped the black community for decades now?

i would like to build a school. an independent, non euro-centric school with resources for parents AND kids. kind of like a combination community/education center. we could have lecturers on black & other "alternative" history, but parenting classes as well...

i know there are things like this that exist now...not to mention the fact that the work has BEEN started. the blueprints are out there (e.g. the black panther's efforts). there are community centers here @ home that i had no idea existed. now that i know about them, i want to get involved in tutoring or maybe teaching a extracurricular class of some sort. i want to know how comprehensive these places really are/can be. the more i read about the late 60s-early 70s, the more i realize we need to get that spirit & those resources back & figure out how to rebuild that mentality.

also, we need to get black folks into therapy without getting them into therapy (yeah i know lol)....we've got this stigma surrounding it (still), yet we have the same problems & issues as everyone else. what we've learned to do is self medicate w/ drugs that do FAR more harm than that 5 minutes of peace they provide. fortunately, there has been groundbreaking work on these issues. the flip side is, it hasn't been disseminated widely enough & in a way that's relevant beyond the middle class.

we need to acknowledge our pain (lack of fatherhood, learned hopelessness, & sexual abuse are among the largest problems) and deal with it productively. i also think we need to reevaluate the value of SECULAR counseling that is geared towards our particular needs. pastor's fine & all, but s/he's coming from a perspective that may not always translate well to your particular problem or concern (especially in the case of adolescents who are pushed toward this kind of help by their parents @ the exact time when they may be rebelling against their parents' values). people need practical AND spiritual applications. too much in either direction, and you're screwed.

just my two cents. lol