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By Neals J. Chitan

Over the past 30 years, I have always been involved in either planning or speaking at black history events in Canada, the USA and England.

It is the time of the year when we look back at the intense struggles and challenges faced by our people, while also celebrating our achievement and immense involvement in the establishment and development of what we now see as modern civilization.

Neals J. Chitan is the Grenadian-born president of Motiv-8 For Change International -- a Toronto based High Impact Social Skill Agency that is specially dedicated to the social empowerment of individuals, families and communities

And so, I enjoy singing the praises of our people who have risen from the physical, emotional and mental torture of slavery and confinement to now the White House, where a black family serves its nation as its first black American presidential family.

I salute those who, because of their hatred and intolerance for human injustice and indignity, have toiled alongside us in our march to freedom and justice. To those of other races who itch because of racial profiling and harassment, which render our North American statistics of imprisoned black males unreasonable in its ratio to other races, we say thank you.

However, we have to position our history well within the overall scheme of things. History is an open text book from which we learn how to proceed in the future. It is what gives us our bearings and reference point that will influence us to either sadly repeat the past, or to use it and the coping strategies developed to carve out an amazing future.

It is with much disheartenment that I respond to black students and young adults on a daily basis, as I ask them about their future plans. The vast majority of our children are lost without direction. Physically free now, but still trapped within their minds, they simple answer “Dunno” for “I don’t know” when asked about what college or university or even what career they will pursue.

The juvenile impatience and fast paced life of 21st century urban living have robbed our children of a planned future. For many, driven by the thirst of instant gratification, they want their money now and have no time to wait to pursue years of secondary and tertiary education. Acute hopelessness has invaded the inner fibre of our black youth causing them to resort to a mere day by day existence, as they see their friends locked up behind bars or fall to the bullet.

Many of our youth have actually stated that they prefer to “enjoy” life now since there is no certainty that they will live to enter or finish university. And so in pain I exclaim, “Give us our black history, tell us the stories of the past, but please inspire and empower our youth to rise up and emancipate themselves from mental slavery, as the late Bob Marley said, or else, all we may be left with is black history with black future in serious jeopardy.”

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