Boomers have a very interesting take on the American Dream notion. For some Black Boomers it means more than a white picket fence with a mom dressed in pearls. It has come to mean mini-mansions, kids with cars, shoes that cost more than a week of meals and enough electronic play devices to run a small country. It means succumbing to being the ultimate in consumers, but also not able to pass this fleeting 'wealth' on to their heirs.
What this will mean is yet more generations starting from scratch. Is this a good thing that breeds integrity and ambition or does it increase the circle of poverty?
Beverly Mahone runs the stats on this phenom in her blog entry
Black Baby Boomers and the American Dream and places the blame on institutional racism.
Perhaps its time for us to 'pull up' and take a good look at our lives and the alleged legacy we intend to leave (if that is the intention at all). Will the fact that we can afford a blinged out SUV or the largest HDTV available really matter if our grandchildren still endure the indignities of the Jena 6 or the brevity of life of the Newark/Delaware State victims?
It's time to re-tool the dream.
Not feeling the love for your slightly older, just a little creeky body? Well you'd better not let Sheritha Bowman know about it. She's a Washington, D.C. author and playwright that is laying it down for anybody not quite in the mood to feel fabulous. Oh yeah, she is kickin' some butt and not bothering with taking names.
