Today's Lesson- "If there is no struggle, there is no progress"

"The more Hall watched the boycotters, the more impressed he was by their unbending determination. Every weekday, some 15,000 to 25,000 Negro residents of his hometown, many whom lived all the way across town from where they worked, somehow managed to get to and from work without the bus transportation they had always used. The car pool system alone, involving more than two hundred cars and forty regular pickup points, was an organizational wonder. Hall, like so many others, had figured that the first light shower would send all the maids, babysitters, and cleaning ladies scurrying back onto the bus. But the boycott went on and on, each and every day, hot or cold, rain or shine." - The Race Beat

We are facing some of the same situations that they faced in the 50s and 60s, yet our fight doesn't exist. We complain about our school systems, gentrification, police brutality, and Affirmative Action, yet there is no real fight.

We conducted the Million Man March, which was amazing, but lasted for one day. Many people have done "March on Washington", for some cause, but only for the moment. Al Sharpton helped conduct a protest in New York after the ruling of the Sean Bell Case, but the newspapers captured it and that was it.

How many of us would be willing to fight a long battle for the rights of our people? How many people would sacrifice their comfort, go out of their way, stay up late nights, and protest until change was made?

I am reminded of the words of Frederick Douglass, “If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground."

Will we ever make progress if we continue to just complain? Will we just sit here and complain that the government is not helping us? Will we just sit around and wait for change to magically come? Oh I know, we think that Obama is going to be the change.....

People we must recognize our conditions and somehow each do something towards the fight. During the Civil Rights Movement there were protesters, leaders, followers, preachers, teachers, and writers. Everyone played a different role during the movement. What will your role be?

Well, I will continue to write and I hope spark motivation and determination in someone. I will continue to write and try to tell our story. I will continue to write and teach anything that I learn from the books that I am reading.

I am also willing to sit down with a group of people and come up with a plan of action.

1. Can you identify the struggles that are keeping us from our progress?

2. Do you have a process that allows you to anticipate and overcome these struggles?

3. What role do you want to play?

We can easily learn about what we need to do to spark change, by READING and learning about what others have done before us. Today this has been a lesson from Frederick Douglass and The Montgomery Bus Boycott.