Stop Being Afraid!

God has not given us a spirit of fear!

People! Wake up! It is time to put fear where it belongs - in the trash can! Better yet, shred it!

We have become a nation of cowering, teeth-chattering, covered-eye, fraidy-cats!

Parents are afraid to discipline little Johnny in the grocery store for fear of the security-cameras that will be turned over to the CPS.

Women are afraid of their husbands if they stay home since the man makes the money.

Men are afraid of their wives if they work because their masculinity is in jeopardy.

Whites are afraid of the "big, bad, black man."

Blacks are afraid of "The Man"

And the devil is standing back watching the chaos with glee on his face!

Stop being afraid, it makes the heart race and the breath skip.

As a fearful people, we are watched from satellite, from cameras everywhere, and from our neighbors.

As a fearful people, we are deemed "unpatriotic" if we don't wave the red-white-and-blue or wear a flag pin.

As a fearful people, we have let the mainstream media hijack our critical thinking skills and have succumbed to a few talking points.

As a fearful people, we didn't stand up to speak out against an administration that let hundreds of thousands of her poorest citizens perish in a natural diseaster.

As a fearful people, we let a small segment tell us what God thought when we didn't have the courage to pray and ask HIM ourselves.

As a fearful people, we let ourselves become strip-searched in the airports and fear our brothers whose skin color or last name is different than ours.

As a fearful people, we let our government wire-tap and spy and invade our privacy in the name of stopping the illusive terrorists without realizing that the enemy has become the establishment

When will we wake up?

This election primary season saw the worse of this "fear" with attack ads and name-calling.

We played into every racist and sexist stereotype that has been in existence since the beginning of the country, yet

Hope prevailed and we have a nominee with a brand that says "Change we can believe in."

But...

The fear peddlers are at it again, and we are going back in our cocoons

Get out!

Stop being afraid of the kids on the block with their pants around their ankles, walk up to them and tell them to pull the pants up.

Stop being afraid of the poor, black, brown, yellow, white or whatever woman with a bunch of kids, go and tell her there is a way for her to do better for herself.

Stop being afraid to teach the kids respect.

Stop being afraid to write an article to tell the truth.

Stop being afraid to boycott companies that are against the common good.

Stop being afraid to turn off the TV, block BET, Vh1, and the rest of the misogny.

God did not give us this spirit of fear!

We can be the change we want! Be courageous and strong, open the door, walk outside, and talk to your neighbor!

This has to stop.