An Open Letter to Victims of My Newfound Activism
Posted on 19th June 2007 by antuan goodwinDear friends and family,
Umm… sorry. I’ve been on a bit of a tear lately. It seems that the more I listen to myself talk, the more I sound like a bitter old man… It seems like every day, I engage in some long conversation with one of you about the about the problems of the black community and its self-destructive cycles. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t even listen to music on the radio without pointing out how ignorant it can be. I’ve been harsh and abrasive and generally unpleasant to be around. For this, I am sorry.
Sometimes, I wish I could turn my brain off. Sometimes, I wish that I could just be oblivious to the problems I see everywhere and just enjoy the clubs and parties and just be young, but I can’t. It’s been making me bitter and a bit of a killjoy. I mean well. I want to do good things. But in retrospect, I’ve been a bit of an ass. I can imagine that I haven’t been much fun and you guys are probably getting a bit tired of hearing the speeches on Friday night.
I’m not really sure why I’ve decided to take the problems of the world onto my shoulders, as I have. Maybe I’m still a bit guilty about my racial issues as a child and am trying to make up for it as an adult. Maybe this is just my calling and I see the problem because I’m supposed to do something about it. Whatever the cause, it’s hurting our friendship and I apologize.
While I won’t be ending my crusade to save Black America any time soon, I have realized that my actions are more valuable than my words. My solution to this issue is to do less talking about the problems and more doing.
In the future, I’ll try to tone down the angry black man shtick and try to be more of a regular 20-something.
Cheers.
Antuan
Apology accepted!
