Can We Restore it Before It Falls Apart?

“I've crossed these sands many times," said one of the camel drivers one night. "But the desert is so huge, and the horizons so distant, that they make a person feel small, and as if he should remain silent." The boy understood intuitively what he meant, even without ever having set foot in the desert before."

―Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

The hood doesn’t provide the time, space, or resources needed for residents to truly practice sustainability. The result of living the life of second-class citizens is manifested in our environment. We are surrounded by waste and decay. We are always fighting for survival in this environment that has been designed to kill us. While we fight for our lives in the toxic environment, we are also tasked with the responsibility of running behind the politicians, who are supposed to ensure that the system is equitable to us. It is exhausting to say the least.

My son, Sean Sawee, took the above picture of an abandoned home across the street from us. This is what our children wake up and sees when they open their front doors. The issue of waste in our community extends beyond this abandoned home. It is sprinkled all around us. There is literally shit all over the streets and, to be honest, I couldn’t tell you whether it is dog shit or human shit, as we are grappling with a homeless crisis. The sidewalks are littered with COVID masks, bottles, and broken glass. Unfortunately, we are knee-deep in waste and decay. I know how this environment has shaped me, with the pressure always pushing me beyond my limits—sometimes for the better but many times for the worse. Yet, I've survived to the point of writing this letter. But my question ultimately is, what happens to the average young brain growing up in a decaying environment?

The ghettos all across America are environments designed to mimic a never-ending battle royale.

What does this environment tell our children to love and accept? It tells them that trash is all they should strive for! Eat trash food, watch trash TV, and don’t forget to treat your neighbors and your home like trash. Even if you make it out, your mind may be littered with trash views and outlooks about the people from the environment that poisoned you by design.

Our communities...our homes have morphed into breeding grounds for chaos, death, and destruction. The environment stunts growth because those who grow there often can't imagine getting over the trash piles to reach the horizon afar off. How does one grow through the trash? They don't. The trash must be cleared, but many residents in urban communities have been robbed of the time to do it themselves or fight for the resources to get the job done. We are deficit of time, space, and matter—or better yet, material resources needed to get the job done. Everyone is running on a hamster wheel, chasing money, “scratching and surviving” just to pay bills, all while the environment crumbles. We scurry along in haste as “things fall apart” all around us. Give us time to weed our gardens without having to run aimlessly for paper that we never seem to have enough of. I'd rather "reclaim my time" and cultivate the things that really matter in my community as well as my home.

How long will we live as “The Invisible Man?” How many ways must we write it and sing it? Or must we display our pain in theater once more? How many ways can we deliver our pain before the system provides equality and equity? As for me, I’m just going to stop. No, I’m not going to stop trying… although they’d love that, but I will stop doing it their way. I will listen to the sirens in the background approaching me. I will stop to see the chaos surrounding me. I will stop and recognize the system for what it is…a system designed to bury me…and I will say enough! I will not live running for my life. Instead, I will just live. I will root myself and make my home. I will take time, study my environment, and look to fill the cracks in the foundation with my words. I will start at home. My ancestors worked enough for me to stand still and demand what is owed. You owe for your atrocities, and the price is time. We are entitled to our time, and since you cannot or will not rectify the situation, we will take it upon ourselves to do so, with or without your permission.

Peace.