Listen and view this essay from Tyler Perry for People TV from June 2020.
For I'm exhausted also. Exhausted by the senseless killing and death, by the challenges, disparities, EGOs, financial hardships, lack of support, lack of recognition of our organization and membership, and other issues since the conception of the Black Emergency Managers Association International to address our mission & vision and these important issues that make our communities unique.
Exhausted gaining strength in others that have supported, completed their education & training, begun working in homeland security, disaster\emergency management at all levels from the federal, state, county, city, private sector, educational institutions, and implemented proactive plans, processes and procedures in their communities not only for EM but have taken an added step to address the impacts of climate change in their communities.
Exhausted, but with perseverance that there is more work to be done. One house, one neighborhood, one community at a time. It is a lonely road, but the trails of the past have trained me for the future.
Peace be safe, be prepared, stay healthy.
Charles
When Tyler Perry was asked by PEOPLE to
write an essay about hope and his vision for the future of America, he took
an uncharacteristic pause. "I initially said no, and that was strange
for me because I’m a man of faith and I believe greatly in hope," Perry
says.
"My reluctance wasn’t because I
didn’t think it was important, and certainly not that I’m not outraged at the
murder of George Floyd and
so many others."
"It was simply because I was
exhausted," the star explains in what would ultimately become a deeply
personal and powerful first-person essay for this week’s cover story.
"I’m exhausted from all the hate
and the division, the vitriol that I see online from one to another. I’m
exhausted from seeing these kinds of senseless murders play out over and over
again with no changes in our society."
In the end, Perry, 50, a big-hearted
humanitarian with an unending track record of helping those less advantaged,
shared his pain, his thoughts for his 5-year-old son and his hope for a
nation seeking change.
“The
level of racism and brutality that George Floyd faced is something that we as
black people know all too well. When I saw that video, I had so many raw,
guttural emotions. I felt for him and his family, I felt for all of us as
black people, I felt for my five-year-old son,” he wrote. “As I watched with
tears in my eyes, it brought back a flood of years of emotions from carrying
what feels like the weight of racism on my neck.”
Channeling
his emotions, Perry says, “I dried my eyes and put pen to paper for not only
myself, not only for hope, but for morning to come for the millions of us who
just want to be treated fairly, for those of us who want justice for all, and
for my five-year-old son.”
Perry
already knows he will soon have to have tough conversations with his son,
Aman, who he shares with partner Gelila.
“I know that as his
father, a black man in America, it is my duty to prepare him for the harsh
reality that awaits him outside of the watchful eyes of his loving parents,”
he writes. “It will be a hard, heartbreaking conversation but one that I must
have and will have soon.”
In his essay, which
Perry reads aloud for an exclusive video to accompany the PEOPLE cover story,
he offers hints of promise for what lies ahead. “I will explain to [Aman]
that because we are only 12 to 14 percent of the population, this fight will
continue to be a long and arduous one, but I will tell him with pride to
never give up. I will tell him that progress is made in small steps and even
if you get exhausted to fight on, because there are always signs of daybreak
before the morning comes.”
The recorded version
of Perry’s essay lasts for 8 minutes
and 46 seconds, the exact length of time former Minneapolis police
officer Derek Chauvin used a knee to pin Floyd by the neck as he died.
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Exhausted gaining strength in others that have supported, completed their education & training, begun working in homeland security, disaster\emergency management at all levels from the federal, state, county, city, private sector, educational institutions, and implemented proactive plans, processes and procedures in their communities not only for EM but have taken an added step to address the impacts of climate change in their communities.
Exhausted, but with perseverance that there is more work to be done. One house, one neighborhood, one community at a time. It is a lonely road, but the trails of the past have trained me for the future.
Peace be safe, be prepared, stay healthy.
Charles
1231-B Good Hope Road. S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20020
Office: 202-618-909
bEMA International
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“We are now faced with the
fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency
of now. In this unfolding conundrum of
life and history there is such a thing as being too late.
Procrastination is still the thief of time.
Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost
opportunity. This may well be
mankind’s last chance to choose between chaos or community.”
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
‘Where Are We Going From Here: Chaos or Community’.
Cooperation, Collaboration, Communication, Coordination,
Community engagement, and Partnering (C5&P)
A 501
(c) 3 organization
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