Sunday, February 16, 2014

The Lost Act of "Rootedness" or How Do We Get From Here to There?

Distractions to Charting & Staying a Course:
The Lost Act of “Rootedness” – Part 1.

By Matthews W. Wright, M.Ed. – Precisely Wright! & Associates

Rootedness – [Rōō’ ted ness

1. The ability to remain seated, as a plant with tap roots
2. The conscious act of remaining culturally stable via applied
    values, by means of deliberate and calibrated measures to stay faithful to ones acts,
    beliefs and goals.


For more than fifty years I’ve struggled in the use of the term “rootedness”.  To me, it describes a condition and the conscious means by which generations of African Americans leveraged their resources and applied their minds to create communities that met their needs – against all odds!  As time went on, I found myself needing to be more descriptive about the term each instance it was broached.  I have come to the point of providing a definition for the term and it is number 2 above.

Using the term caused people to think I was saying/meaning “rooted”, as a plant, which is a physical act.  Becoming PC literate in the 80’s was a challenge because each time I typed the word “DisplayWrite’sspell check informed me that the spelling is incorrect – It isn’t!  It is my means of conveying an act of consciousness and for my purposes it is Fine [at this point I’ve dated myself]!

Now that it is crystal clear to everyone, let me explain the real purpose for this exposé.  Today, it appears to me that we are looking for someone to do for us that we must do for ourselves.  Whether it’s policing, educating, dieting, exercising, conceiving, child rearing, or whatever!  Too many of us are looking for someone else to do the dirty work ­ the planning or the thinking!  How did we get to this pitiful point in our lives?  Why have so many of us taken the opportunity to dropout, unplug and cop-out?

These questions are mainly directed to those of us with money, jobs, the materially addicted and those with comfortable homes in communities protecting them from elements we find appalling – urban, inner city, black and poor elements!  We can no longer avoid issues and conditions that are eating at the very fabric of this nation.  Prepare yourself to face some reality.  Be willing to think rationally about the conditions from which you can no longer afford to hide.  Winter has truly fallen upon America due to its unwillingness to provide equality to all.

Remember your history and particularly your family’s struggle to survive in this country.  Don’t allow yourself to continue saying “everything is alright”!  Stop telling the Emperor his clothes are splendid and of the finest cloth when you know full well that he is butt-naked!  The addiction of materialism is so seductive that we’ve forgotten the meanings behind the fables and fairytales we were taught early on.  The Little Red Hen was looking for assistance in making - not eating the bread, the Big Bad Wolf huffed and puffed and blew down everything except the Brick House and the bone in your mouth is real – the one reflected in the water isn’t!

When I was a young boy, times were slower, people were warmer and families were closely knit.  In the city at that time, neighborhoods were like villages and everyone basically looked out for the other.  Why have we abandoned wholesome experiences for bland and empty relationships and lives?  It is my contention that black people have ventured too far out onto the slippery slope of materialism.  We’ve become so conditioned to instant gratification that two and one-half generations later, demographics reflect that we, as a people and nation are further apart and in a worse situation than since Brown v. The Board of Education (1954).  How is that possible?  The landmark decision for equal education was a culmination of several court battles and one of the significant cases was Briggs v. Elliott (1953) in Clarendon, South Carolina.  Black parents, in that state, filed a suit because the segregation policy throughout the south was “separate but equal”.  However white schools were getting five times more funding than black schools and the parents petitioned the courts not because the schools were racially segregated but because the funding was unequal.  The NAACP (The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) joined in the suit and was surprised that the State of South Carolina, when trying to avoid a court order, relented and offered huge sums of money to remedy the situation.  The unexpected offer created a major difference between what the black parents wanted for their children and what the NAACP wanted.  The NAACP rejected the state’s offer and the initial intent of the black parents1.  An opportunity to receive lawful state funding developing an economic/political base and maintaining separate but equal educational systems was lost.  Thus, a grip hold was lost and we begin to slide down the slippery slope to integration. Even the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King admitted to his closest associates, in the last stages of the civil rights movement, that he had led his people into a burning building!


Controls over our educational institutions were lost and we embarked on a course that would up-root most of the remaining vestiges of our culture; religion, the ideals of community, family, and employment will join education over the brink and our dismantling has brought us to the present day issues we confront.  Abandonment, confusion, distrust and discontent are just some of the symptoms of being denied rootedness as a people.  I know this history because I lived, breathed, contemplated and was confronted by it.  My intimate relationship to these times allow me to continue the struggle against the rampant racism, self denial and selflessness that destroys the very fabric of family by mis-educating black children, forcing others to an addictions behavior/economy, while imprisoning far too many of our young men and maintaining a 25% rate of unemployment among black men.  All we have to do to correct the course of our ship is choice and change and I ask, “What choices do we have to change our condition?  When will we choose to make the needed changes?”  Once recognized, the choice, as always, is ours!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Learning the Lessons

Learning the Lessons

By M. W. Wright


If truth be told eventually we will understand the purpose of being is to face the light allowing our wings to unfold.  To move beyond the premise of arriving at this place and time with empty slates to be cluttered with promises and the teaching of false hopes that if applied and shouldered will bear riches and embolden us to seek the good life …That’s a lie!  Only Learning the Lessons allows us to survive.

Learning the Lessons is not just schooling, cajoling coaching, and modeling in a room – a box.  We’ve got to embrace the basics going beyond the books, halls, egos and walls to Know that Love is the essence that guides us all.  To Know that to err is human and from Grace we sometimes fall.  To Know that our life’s venture is of a spirit seizing human insight and not as an individual seeking spiritual flight!  Ours is to go to limits not fully charted and return to teach those willing yet less inclined that Learning the Lessons is a state of mind.

Tuition is good and sets a foundation on which to build an intergalactic station linking to sources that provide the resources to exist in this temporal vessel at this time and in this space to Learn the Lessons that we are not Of but simply In this place.  To discount this principle may lengthen our stay or causes greater difficulties that comes one’s way.  Universally we’re guided by Laws that move us through and to another plane; those of Polarity, Commitment and Intension teach us to approach life with an open heart, an extended hand and an open mind and should we seek we will find, if we knock, it will open, if we ask, it will be given and stolen legacy’s will be the token!

Finally, if at your last straw with an issue you can’t solve and unable to figure and you’ve vowed to give it to HIM –Let Go!  Allow the answer to be delivered


The First Precise Step!

The First Precise Step!

My initial attempt at blogging should provide an overview to those issues that intrigue my interests, go against the grain I've established over the years as an observer, or those concerns that strike the heart and soul of my existence. I should like to provide you a glimpse into the 67 years I've taken to traverse portions of the globe, engage and entice minds, scrutinize personal actions and those of others, and finally pondering the possibilities or results of activities expected or taken.


Through blogging it is my purpose to speak of a time when the broader aspects of society were closed to black people and, in turn, they became innovative and created an environment within the community that supported most of their needs and provided a sense of security and protection for the young and old.  I too shall speak to the current conditions and times where opportunities and resources are abundant with few serious takers and the level of discipline among people is at an all-time low.

It is also critical to understand that the skill of listening (reading) requires an assurance that what is being said (written) is the same as what is being heard (read) and that if thoughts and emotions are revealed, their vulnerability needs to be protected.  Through these experiences, I’ve come to understand the importance of my being during this particular time and although change has occurred from those earlier days, I’ve held close to prior images and experiences to insulate guide and protect my spirit to sustain what is truly me!

Like the movement of a pendulum, our lives peak and plunge in relation to the degree of our integrity, the resolve of our intensions and the openness and sincerity of our hearts. We all need to recognize change and our ability to transition, as inevitable parts of life, whether we are ready for it or not.  One of our biggest issues is preparation for it and as a life-long observer, I’ve paid close attention to my thoughts, words, deeds and acts. I've given great care as well to people and their habits over the years and have seen a great amount of inability in people to recognize and prepare for life-long transitions. Getting to a place where one can achieve by applying scientific applications, assess observations and develop meaningful conclusions to assist your life work is a quest for the future of the young and old.  Why else do we wake up in the morning?  Why do we do each day what we do?  A nonagenarian once said "wake up! dress up!, and show up! as simple answers to these questions. We know that each great journey begins with a single step so let your life’s journey begin with simple yet curious questions for yourself and prepare for an exhilarating experience that lasts a lifetime.  All of life’s answers lie within us.  Prepare to begin!