“A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.”

-W.E.B. Du Bois

So, granted, we are probably done with all the civil rights bills for our generation – pertaining to race equality that is. Nevertheless, the above quote can still be aptly applied to the current state of the African-American community. To be frank, some individuals need to stop talking about it and simply be about it. And to borrow another cliché: definitive action certainly speaks louder than mere words. So, if you have any specific issues that have been troubling your mind as of late, maybe it is time to bring an end to the lip service and commence a constructive plan of action. Because, believe it or not, government cannot remedy every problem that ails our neighborhoods. Which is why I admire a lot of things about the original Black Panther. They pinpointed the needs of the community and then they actively implemented community based programs to put forth solutions. Seriously, it is time that our generation does the same. Now more than ever, we have the power, the capacity to bring about positive change. We just have to get going and do it!