Much can be said about the condition Black folks find themselves in. Excuses abound, many from both sides of the fence give their own conclusions on why we have not achieved in this land of opportunity. Given the facts that our children are failing in the public school system, Black women are overrepresented on the welfare system, Black men are overrepresented in prisons and the unemployment rolls, we do not cater to Black businesses like others cater to theirs, we do not contribute to our own nonprofits like others support their own, we have a desire for blings and things,,, the question becomes "are we conditioned, programmed and indoctinated" to act the way that we do?

Back in the day, we had to (out of necessity) support each other. I couldn't do something down the street without my parents knowing about it by the time I got home. Of course a whuppin was forthcoming, but I learned many lessons about the consequences of getting in trouble; or at least doing so within the eye sight of neighbors, friends of the family and even strangers who happen to live on our block.

I remember that my dad worked late and if I got in trouble during the day, I was in for it. When he got home at around 1am, I could hear him coming up the stairs and what would happen next still reverberates in my mind. The lights would come on, the sheet would be pulled off, and the disciplining would commence. After those swats I would then have to go downstairs and clean up the house. It may be re-washing dishes that were already washed, and giving the kitchen and bathroom the thorough cleaning. Since we had working dogs that stayed in-house, I learned quickly how to take up dog hair with a sponge, hot soapy water and women stockings.

Being conditioned, programmed or indoctrinated (whatever you want to call it) if I got in trouble during the day, I began to do these things before I went to sleep. In most cases it worked! I just got the whuppin;-)

I became conditioned to not get into as much trouble as I did; which may be why I can't stand a nasty and disorderly house, I can clean kitchens and bathrooms like a pro, my grades rarely fell below B's, the yard never had trash in it, the garbage was always taken out before night fall, the lawn was always cut on time, I never said anything of disrespect to others (especially adults),,,. Of course I thought my dad was the worse person on earth, but today I have to give him props for the conditioning I have to this day.

Of all the problems and issues we face as a people, I think we have to understand we have been conditioned, programmed and indoctrinated as a people and like AA, the first step to recovery is accepting the truth and getting out of the denial.

Any muscle that is worked is conditioned; which is why weight lifters have a systematic program to develop strength and tone. Any mind that is fed something on a repetative basis is programmed to a point, that in that mind, it becomes fact or truth. And, any acts done consistently indoctrinates a person to either continue to acting that way or to understanding the consequences for those actions and therefore change their ways. Considering the music, television shows, videos, articles, classroom teaching methods, neighborhood activities of today,,, our children have been purely indoctinated, conditioned and programmed into being who they are. Anything else such as blaming it solely on the parents is scapegoating and unrealistic. This has happened for sooo long and for tooo many generations to simply relegate to our children; Black adults within the last 20yrs have been conditioned, programmed and indoctrinated as well. Why else would it be that Black adults in many instances are just as dysfunctional as our youth?

Conditioned to want to be the first Black, programmed to be materialistic or indoctrinated to lay the blame on somebody else when things don't go our way or go wrong. It seems that slavery conditioned us to physical strength and stamina while wiping out our mental finesse, programmed us to see WP as those that must look out for our wellbeing and indoctrinated us to have a passive fear of them; even when doing us wrong. Jim Crow indoctrinated us, Civil Right programmed us, and Affirmative Action conditioned us. Welfare worked the same way as did the so-called Urban Renewal and in the end, we have become a people who are not thinking in our right frame of mind and the damage continues. Why else would we be so dysfunctional as a unit with so-called legitimate excuses to boot?

I have given this a lot of thought over the years which is why once I began to believe these things to be true, I took it on myself to work to counteract the effects of longstanding conditioning, programming and indoctrination overtly and subliminally imposed on my mind by a dysfunctional society. I must say, it has set me free!

I truly believe we can counteract the conditioning, programming and false indoctrination imposed on the minds of our young people, but is must take a concerted effort in the home, neighborhood and community. If we set in motion actions and ways of thinking that are devised to become standard procedure amongst our people, over a period of time some of the antisocial and dysfunctional behavior plaguing Black folks will diminish. Doing nothing is not an option. Staying in denial is not an option. Waiting for someone else to do it is not an option. It is we that must end the debate!

Black adults must re-summon the backbone we had back in the day to confront a complex system. We have to stop denying we have lost a common ground and purpose and only then can we find a common ground and purpose that we can work to our benefit. We are quick to use other ethnic groups as an example of how we are dysfunctional, but slow to take it as fact and begin to work as a unit to change it. To that end, we always gettin played!

It is time for Black folks to take on the responsibility to re-condition, de-program, re-program, and un-indoctrinate ourselves from that which is apparently self destructive and of no benefit to us as a people. If we could simply do these things, our future generations won't be plagued by the past to a point they perpetuate what is happening in our current.