Life is not a video game

I was talking to my friend Tanya about the carjackings in Philadelphia. We were discussing a scenario where an Uber driver returned fire defending himself and I zeroed in on our young people making reckless life decisions.

Our young people don’t respect life.

When I was young people got beat up, robbed, stabbed and sometimes shot, now…people get shot period. I’m not saying we didn’t have shootings or even that the shootings were justified. I’m just saying, shooting people wasn’t the ‘go to’ reaction. Now…everyone wants to be 50 cent, shoot someone, go to jail, come out, be a multi-millionaire…again video game reality.

There’s no coming back from that decision. If you shot someone, it’s likely going to be recorded somewhere and you’re going to jail, period.

Key Statistics:

• Percent of Black Americans in the general U.S. population: 13% +
• Percent of people in prison or jail who are Black: 40% +
• Incarceration rate for Black vs white Americans: 2,306 vs. 450 per 100,000 +
• Percent of people serving life, life without parole, or “virtual life” sentences who are Black: 48% +
• Arrest rate for Black vs white Americans: 6,109 vs. 2,795 per 100,000. +
• Number of arrests of Black Americans in 2018: 2.8 million +
• Percent of people on probation or parole who are Black: 30% +

_{***https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/race_and_ethnicity/}

In the 80’s you had the same mothers screaming that same delusional “he was a good kid” rhetoric. Ain’t nobody hearing that bullshit. Let me tell you now, if you shoot someone it’s your decision.

Like in the movie, “The Harder They Fall” Cherokee Bill shoots Mr. Picket in the back, Mr. Picket is standing there wheezing shocked that he’s shot, dropping his gun. Cherokee Bill says, “Why you got that look on your face?” Mr. Pickett struggles with the reality that he’s going to die. Looking Picket in the dead in the eye Bill says, “No. No, no, no, brother, no, no, no. Stop that. Don’t do that. You had a choice. You always got a choice.” Then in the Cherokee language he says, “Being scared will only give you bad karma in the afterlife.” Then he puts another slug in his chest.

That’s some cold shit…but that’s real. Like those people attempting carjackinging…you had a choice, now you sitting up in the damn hospital and when you heal, a nice cold cell is waiting for you. This is your life now dumb ass no points, no restart the game… jail.

I don’t want to hear the excuses from anyone. …he had a hard life, his father wasn’t around, his mom was on drugs, he didn’t have a good home environment. That’s bullshit…he had a choice.

Men know, you have a choice.

Don’t make excuses about your feelings, that’s some female shit…you’re a man. You made the choice, deal with it.

While I attended Peirce Jr. College, I lived in my grandmothers 1 bedroom apartment…on the couch for 2 years. I put my clothes on two shelves in the house and about a foot of closet space on the rod. I worked 3 jobs; the school night computer operator, Jeans West and the Cookie Co both on Chestnut St. I chased dudes away from my addicted mother the night before graduation. My father was killed by cops when I was 4 but still watched successful people. I made good choices, I’m working at the White House now…it wasn’t easy and I ain’t perfect but I didn’t treat my life like a damn video game.

If life was a video game, you would only get one life and you can’t start over.

MPM