FOREVER YOUNG (RIP Nigel Ellison)
by Tiphani N. Montgomery
Our children are dying.
They aren’t graduating from high school, they’re being buried six feet under.
They aren’t building families, they’re building deaths counts. Prison sentences are no longer a punishment, yet a lifestyle that is foolishly looked forward to.
Expected. A badge of honor.
Whose fault is it?
Mine. Yours. Ours.
While you’re sitting in your homes, your churches, your businesses. While you spend time with your friends and hug your family, our children are dying.
Being massacred.
Slayed. By each other.
We ARE failing them.
We HAVE failed them.
We have failed them by thinking that just because they’re not our children, they are not our responsibility.
By labeling them menaces to society.
By giving up on them and telling them to make it on their own.
We have failed them by not affirming them.
By not letting them know that they’re more than conquers. That they are powerful and have the ability to save and change lives. Or maybe we cant teach them what we don’t think about ourselves.
For you who live in the suburbs tucked away in your safe houses that you hide in..this is your problem!
For you who live in the hood and have settled with the thought that nothing can be changed…this is your problem!
For you young people who think this is just the way life is…this is your problem!
A problem that can no longer be ignored.
A problem that is causing the extinction of our youth.
A problem, that if not handled, will bring this city to ruin.
A city I have chosen to raise my daughter in.
Blood has been stained on too many sidewalks, in too many homes.
Gallons and gallons of baby blood.
The devil has a strong hold on the minds of our children.
Prayer is not enough.
Faith is not enough.
We have to take action.
God has equipped us with the power to heal this city. Don’t let anymore blood be on our hands.
Plant seeds of encouragement, love, expectation, dreams, and future into our children, in each other, and watch how we grow.
Jay Z said he wanted to be forever young.
Forever young is something Nigel should not have been.
© 2010 www.TiphaniMontgomery.com
Rhochanda
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 9:37 AM
Tip,
This was wonderful to read. I hope parents start getting more into their children lives like how we used to get done to. They need that. My heart goes out to Pete and the family.
A FRIEND OF NIGEL
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 9:44 AM
SPINE CHILLING. I LOVE IT TIPH. THIS EPIDEMIC IS A PROBLEM FOR THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE, I AGREE SO WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
Antonio
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 9:50 AM
I couldn’t have said it any better Tip. If we continue to do nothing to save our children, we may as well be the ones pulling the trigger.
Pamela LeMay
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 10:46 AM
Tiph,
You say what I feel everyday…I think that my passion for empowering the children that think that there is NO WAY or NO OTHER way..is the reason why I am a social worker. Not just one that gets off at 5 on Fridays…but one who cant sleep becuase this work is never done. I feel you.
Ronnnae
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 10:51 AM
Man Tiphani this was VERY powerful and touching but yet o so true! It’s time people WAKE up man…..
Janay
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 11:08 AM
Tiph,
This is so true, we talk badly about those killing when we should have been helping trying to prevent these horrible situations from occuring in the first place.
R.I.P Nigel You will be forever missed
Pebbles
Comment made on March 26, 2010 @ 11:26 AM
I completely agree! It’s sad but true. RIP Nigel! We will be held accountable. We need to step up and be an example to our children or either find someone for them to look up to. http://www.phatkidsmentoring.org.
Ashley
Comment made on March 28, 2010 @ 9:38 PM
Wonderful… Simply wonderful!! I have a child to raise myself and this was so great to read! I will always love Nigel and may his soul Rest in Peace! I hate when things like this happen to anybody but the fact that it hit so close to home was a huge reality check!! I just wish things were better!
Michelle
Comment made on April 19, 2010 @ 12:59 PM
Tiph,
This is so true, we talk badly about those killing when we should have been helping trying to prevent these horrible situations from occuring in the first place.
R.I.P Nigel You will be forever missed