Greetings friends of The Beat! It has been some time since we heard the wisdom from one of our favorite people, OT! Some of you have been asking how OT is doing and where he has been, since the most recent issues of The Beat have featured other thoughtful writers and participants, so this week we invited him back to share his thoughts in this latest editorial note. Without hesitation, he agreed to write the following! We hope you will like!
Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to welcome you Beat readers back to another stellar double issue of the one and only The Beat Within. Once again, this is OT reporting live to you from the hot volcanic rocks and grand lakes of Managua, Nicaragua, Central America.
That’s right folks. That’s pretty far from what I actually consider home in the San Francisco Bay Area. Since I haven’t written the Ed’s note in the last couple of months let me give you “new” Beat readers just a short bio of myself and why I am here.
Let’s rewind the timeline a bit, I was born in 1985 in Managua, Nicaragua. My family left to the United States to escape the poverty that plagued my country because of a decade long civil war. In 1989 I’m in San Francisco, CA. I went to school in Daly City, CA and that’s where I learned and polished my English.
In my time in the early 1990’s growing up, the popular gaming systems were Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and regular Nintendo for the old school game players The Atari! I used to love playing video games when I was young. Back then there were no memory cards, so if you were playing a game you had to stay up all night playing or leave it on pause and just turn the TV off, so you could continue in the morning when you woke up.
Today, I am no longer a fan of video games (mind you I don’t have anything against them) as they’ve gotten way too realistic and I think psychologically it messes with people’s minds. Don’t get me wrong I have played Grand Theft Auto, earned all the stars and got chased by the police and army and went around shooting people. It was fun, and it was stress-relieving when I was fifteen, sixteen years old. “Everybody’s doing it.” It felt normal for me.
But now, as I look back on it, it makes me sick to think that I thought that was cool. It makes me sick knowing that random shootings are so common in the United States that they have drills for it in schools just like fire drills and earthquake drills. It makes me sick to think that playing those video games allowed me to think that being a criminal and packing guns were cool. It makes me sick knowing that I have two daughters that live in Vallejo CA. going to school and every day I wake up nervous about something happening to them.
Now, I’m not knocking on you video gamers. For all those that like the violent video games, and that’s your hobby you even want to make a career out of it and make money, more power to you. I am not hating on you at all. Matter of fact if that’s your passion I hope you are successful, make lots of money, and donate some back to your communities.
All I’m saying is that life carries too many distractions, that we allow ourselves to become distracted from the more important things in life. I’m not just talking about video gamers, I’m talking about bloggers, the fashion industry, the music business, the movie industry, even sports. It’s too easy nowadays for anyone to just get on Twitter and express their negative point of views for the whole world to see, instead of using these platforms to bring positive and unity within our communities.
Now, I’m not saying don’t express yourselves, but many of our youth are so obsessed about wanting the approval of people that they will never meet in their entire lives. So instead of focusing on trying to earn a like, or thumbs up on your social media page, instead Learn about your history, your culture, where you come from. Learn about the US history and think about the sacrifices that countless people made to bring change to their communities.
I had to take a moment to re-read the history on Martin Luther King Jr. to refresh myself about the adversities that he had to overcome during his times. I had to re-read on his accomplishments and when I mean accomplishments I’m not referring to personal accolades that he earned for himself like the Nobel Peace Prize. When I refer to accomplishments I mean the things that were accomplished to help others: The end to racial segregation and the end to the Jim Crow laws. The fact that African Americans had to stand on buses while white people got to sit down. The fact that schools were not integrated, blacks went to one public school and whites went to others.
The assassination of Mr. King would actually put in place the fair housing act two years later after his death, which meant the “refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of race, color, disability, religion, sex, familial status, or national origin.”
He had a hand in the “Voting Rights Act” of 1965 to help African Americans regain their right to vote in states where local and state laws were in place to prevent black people from voting (which were mostly in the southern states).
All this was accomplished without violence. There wasn’t a civil war for none of these changes to happen. There were marches and organized protests, but hate wasn’t used to battle the racist laws that we had during those times. You study the history fellas and you will find a very-very ugly history in this country of the USA that’s filled with violence, anger, hate, racism, and discrimination. Racism still exists to this very day, but we have taken it to another level where we don’t discriminate when it comes to hate.
When you disrespect someone, when you bully someone for whatever reason, that is an act of hate. Blacks kill blacks, Latinos kill Latinos, Asians kill Asians, whites kill whites and the state correctional facility is there just to keep that revolving door spinning like the Ferris Wheel at the county fair. But guess, what ladies and gentlemen? The change that we want to see, and the change that we want to bring about starts with ourselves first.
Don’t fight negativity with negativity. A lot of you talk more about your haters than you do about yourself. You spend more time talking about them, than actually sitting there and thinking about your goals and dreams. You think so much about the negativity that your dreams become nightmares, and that’s not right.
Think more about yourselves in this new year. Think about what you want to do in the short term and in the long term. Be positive, be humble and before you open your mouth, or decide to Tweet, Instagram, Facebook or whatever social media outlet you like to use to criticize someone else, be your own worst critic and criticize yourself first and see how you can be a better you.
For many of you, you will be getting out soon and many of you won’t be getting out soon. Pick up a book to read. Study the moral to the story because there’s always a message behind a good piece of writing.
This is your year, to take step closer to your dreams and be around the people you love like your family, or your girlfriend or boyfriend or kids. I have dreams and goals just like you. I want to make legit money, I want to live a healthy lifestyle, but most importantly I want to help those behind the walls realize that there is more to life than gangs, drugs, enemies, alcohol, money, jewelry, cars, etc. Listen to me. All that is dead end. Don’t sell yourself short and don’t be afraid to dream of something better.
Sometimes it’s hard, but you have to be brave enough to fail and through your failures you will learn and find the success that you’re looking for. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream and never got to see it materialize. Dream and keep dreaming and stick by those who are not afraid to help you reach your dream!
One love to everybody going through the struggle, whether you are locked down or free. This one goes out to Martin Luther King Jr. and those of you who aren’t afraid to dream. Get inspired and inspire those around you! OT is signing out! And The Beat keeps going and going…