I come from a broken home, a product of my society, an absent father and a mother only half with us, from a young age we saw the ugly side the world has to offer, surrounded by sad people broken by the past.
Not learning by the past but chasing it, only to get further away each day.
Having no money wasn't the issue, back breaking pain in our hearts because we missed who? We missed a father who was and never could be a father, we missed our happy memories, we missed our moment to break the cycle.
Another moment is never to far away, opportunity knocks like a belligerent bailiff trying to take what is not ours or theirs. A home like many others missing its furnace, our furnace, our drive. How can you learn from a mistake your elders always make, it seems a perpetual cycle of lost love and forgotten hope.
I am mixed race and mixed heritage not black nor white a colour people at school would say resembles a milky cup of tea, so for a time I was called just that.. Milky T. It was an interesting upbringing and like any it had its ups and downs, during the later I would look for guidance but I found myself in a difficult situation, who can I follow, who is my historical leader. I'm not black so I can't follow black leaders, I'm not white so I can't follow white leaders, I am not one single thing so who can I look to for guidance.
I see many young people with this dilemma, stuck looking for someone to follow and they can't follow people at home because they are not leading and they don't feel they fit in with any particular group.
Although racism is a lot better than it has been in the past I think there still are some intrinsically racist parts of society that make it harder for people to find guidance in life. When we see crimes committed being broadcasted in the news we hear young person does 'x' or young black person does 'x' if it is a black or any minority person they always have to let people know the persons race.
The same thing happens when we look at past leaders if a person is white they are just a leader but if they are from a minority background that minority is often put before the word leader. This subconsciously makes people think that they have to be part of that minority to listen to what the person has to say and it places more importance on the race of a person than the actual message they are trying to send.
We are in a world where political correctness has gone mad and people often have to watch what they say or they face backlash of online hate, death threats and at times they lose their jobs and I think things in many ways have gone to far and people should be able to speak more freely especially when it comes to the news. However I think the way we look at race is still holding people back in many ways.
As I mentioned as a child I didn't really have anyone in the media or historically that I looked up to because I didn't know where my place was and I feel always having to put emphasis on a person being black or white just breeds segregation and the same misguided beliefs I had in the past.
I think as a society we need more people that are seen as leaders of people not specific to race, we need to change the way we look at people being black or white and just look at them for being people and if we put less emphasis on black and white I think we will see a lot less segregation and a lot more unity.
I also see that people from a minority will hold on to a historical leader and get angry toward other people for trying to learn about a leader which then just further pushes a divide and the belief that if you are not entirely of one race you can't be a part of it in any way.
For any young person finding their identity and place in the world will always be a hard thing and with more available options comes more deliberation and a divide between races just makes things that bit harder than it needs to be.
