Needing the lighter too

I saw a young kid ask a cigarette of an elder graying man. The man passed him at once ignoring him as if he was invisible man. The older turned back to the youth with an apparent change of heart and offered him a cigar instead. The young man accepted and then remarked need for a lighter.

We as blacks are the young man. We have asked for freedom and forty acres. For the longest time we were ignored. Now, we have freedom, but not the forty acres, its more than what we had before. But we still feel entitled to more. We have our freedom do we really need a fire under us to know how to use it? We have been asking so long for freedom now that we have it, we act as if we were not ready for it, as if we did not really know what to do with it if we got it. No one can and should be responsible for us using our freedom to make our collective lives better. When we ask for something, demand for something we had better make damn sure we know what to do with it, and are ready to use it when we get it.

Yet, we are asking for freedom and needing the lighter too.