The Life of a Useless Negro

As I was flipping through the channels today, I came across a re-broadcast of the State of the Black Union on TV 101.

I wanted to see the “Who’s Who” of Black America. There were the same old familiar faces with a few new ones mixed in. I wonder what’s going to happen when these familiar faces start dying off. Will there be no more State of the Black Union? That’s another blog for another day.

What caught my attention during the forum were the comments made by Rev. Al Sharpton. He said one of the hardest jobs of a black preacher is to give the eulogy of a “useless Negro.” As the casket is being rolled down the aisle to the front of the church and the family is crying, Sharpton said the preacher’s job is to create a fantasy of the life of the deceased. He went on to express the importance of making your life mean something while you’re alive so preachers don’t have to work so hard to re-create something out of nothing when you’re dead.

Say what you want about my fellow African American baby boomer brother Al---but he often speaks a truth many people---both black and white---don’t want to hear. But I, for one, was listening to that message and I totally agree! The question is how many of the folks (young people) who really needed to hear what he said were listening? They probably were out gang bangin' or involved in some other type of criminal activity preparing for their early visit to the grave.