Post by humanity on Aug 4, 2007 9:46:41 GMT -8
The street has a beat of its own
When we see the words “community development”, the first thing that comes to our minds is a community working together for the benefit of its entire people. Alas, if this were only true, but it is not. It is an illusion fostered upon us by those in power. The truth of the matter is that all people are not recognized as true human beings. Thus, our society does not develop into a human collective.
The most disrespected and unrecognized group of humans is the street community. The street community is the fastest growing population in the United States today. They are located in every community in our country. Big or small, the street is there.
The street community is made up of men, women and children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Sometimes they are more visible in some communities than in others, but they are there.
They are disenfranchised from the rest of the community for many reasons: poverty, social labeling, color of skin, language, illiteracy, lack of communication skills and lack of training in social skills. All these problems can be healed if we will work together as a human collective to help and share with each other.
The composition of the street community is varied. It is made up of people who are on welfare, who work in low-paying dead-end jobs, people on social security, ex felons, people in and out of local jails, families, single people, single parents, drug and alcohol addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, thieves, low income honest and spiritual people trying to keep there heads above water and homeless people.
The street is a way of life, a sub-culture that has been forced upon a group of people that the rest of the community ignores. When you are ignored and disrespected, you must create a culture that allows you to have a place in it.
Being street wise then becomes a decision making process that becomes marginal at best and destructive the majority of the time. Violence, crime, domestic and child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse. filth, poverty, oppression and a total feeling of hopelessness becomes generational. This group has a beat of its own, which is out of sync with the rest of the community and destroys the harmony of a well-developed human collective.
Even those of us who live, minister and share our lives within the community to help heal and liberate those who are forced to be a part of the street community are treated in a disrespectful and oppressive manner.
There are two victims here: the street community and the elite community that oppress them. Consequently, if we are to have harmony in our community we must work together to break down the barriers that keep us apart, so we may all be free and live together as a true human collective. To be equal and to have the idea of sharing,as our focus of life.
Rev Andy
When we see the words “community development”, the first thing that comes to our minds is a community working together for the benefit of its entire people. Alas, if this were only true, but it is not. It is an illusion fostered upon us by those in power. The truth of the matter is that all people are not recognized as true human beings. Thus, our society does not develop into a human collective.
The most disrespected and unrecognized group of humans is the street community. The street community is the fastest growing population in the United States today. They are located in every community in our country. Big or small, the street is there.
The street community is made up of men, women and children of all ages and ethnic backgrounds. Sometimes they are more visible in some communities than in others, but they are there.
They are disenfranchised from the rest of the community for many reasons: poverty, social labeling, color of skin, language, illiteracy, lack of communication skills and lack of training in social skills. All these problems can be healed if we will work together as a human collective to help and share with each other.
The composition of the street community is varied. It is made up of people who are on welfare, who work in low-paying dead-end jobs, people on social security, ex felons, people in and out of local jails, families, single people, single parents, drug and alcohol addicts, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps, thieves, low income honest and spiritual people trying to keep there heads above water and homeless people.
The street is a way of life, a sub-culture that has been forced upon a group of people that the rest of the community ignores. When you are ignored and disrespected, you must create a culture that allows you to have a place in it.
Being street wise then becomes a decision making process that becomes marginal at best and destructive the majority of the time. Violence, crime, domestic and child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse. filth, poverty, oppression and a total feeling of hopelessness becomes generational. This group has a beat of its own, which is out of sync with the rest of the community and destroys the harmony of a well-developed human collective.
Even those of us who live, minister and share our lives within the community to help heal and liberate those who are forced to be a part of the street community are treated in a disrespectful and oppressive manner.
There are two victims here: the street community and the elite community that oppress them. Consequently, if we are to have harmony in our community we must work together to break down the barriers that keep us apart, so we may all be free and live together as a true human collective. To be equal and to have the idea of sharing,as our focus of life.
Rev Andy
