1984

1984 - most popularly known as the book by George Orwell, and quite significant to me.

Why?

It's my birth year, but more than that I am the granddaughter of a WWII Veteran who was born on D-Day exactly forty years to the day.

I'm a Life Path Number 7. If you are familiar with spirituality, Numerology, or the Biblical significance of the Number Seven then a lot about me will begin to make sense.

My Meyers-Briggs personality type is the INFJ, and my Enneagram is Type 1 with a Type 2 wing, making me an activist/advocate by nature.

Some might say, if you read into symbols, birth charts, and personalities - that I was born for specifically the type of work I've found myself constantly gravitating back toward.

I want to emphasize this time and what I've witnessed in nearly 41 years.

Raised on the West Coast, I experienced a profound cultural awakening when my family relocated to Tennessee when I was eleven. The shift from laid-back Pacific Northwest vibes to the conservative Bible Belt was shocking, but eventually, I found my footing.

When I was fourteen years old, one of our classmates got sh*t up on the corner while waiting for the school bus. Two of my classmates usually caught the bus with him, but fortunately, on that day, their mom had driven them to school. If she had not, they would have also been shot in the dr*veby that happened that day in 1998.

Some of the things, I can recall with clarity might shock people and that includes the rise of gang culture in the United States. When I was in about the fourth grade, the Crips and Bloods began to break out in large in my area. There were a lot of kids I knew who were being offered to join these gangs, and there was a lot of dangerous activity on the streets.

Growing up in the 90s, I witnessed a disturbing pattern: countless individuals struggling to survive in desperate circumstances, their stories eerily similar.

As the decade unfolded, a sobering reality emerged: the bitter divide between "blue" and "red" – politically, socially, and culturally – had a devastating consequence: a trail of lives lost, graves filled.

There were lots of people caught in the neutrality of it all - victims that never had anything to do with the crime enterprises and activities that many gangs engaged in, and even those gang members weren't always bad people. They were victims of the system, searching for a way to break through impossible barriers.

I saw people OD from heroin at a very young age. I saw a lot of things, and learned how to be humble - I was a white presenting girl in the ghetto in the South. That teaches you quickly to respect the Black and Brown people around you and to be open to learning new tactics to survive.

I, myself, was never initiated into any gangs, but I had lots of family members and even an ex-boyfriend who was a Crip. I also met many Bloods in my adolescence, but all this brings me to the most important point -

Gang culture is American culture. The lessons that the gang wars of the 1990s taught us was that we can be divided against each other making Billionaires rich and continuing to murd*r each other or we can realize we all have a common enemy and recognize that there never would have been any gang culture ever created had the American Oligarchy not funded both sides of the Drug war.

Open your eyes - what is being shown to you is how red versus blue results solely in streets soaked in blood that no white neutrality will ever stop or admit to.

We The People - We are the ones who have to stop it, but if that means gang culture comes back out to remind people what it means to be fierce, remember, we aren't out here fighting one another in the streets anymore trying to gain capital.

Now, we are fighting in the streets for the future and freedom's sake, and that's what you should be scared of.

What world do you want for your children?

Cause, I know being a 90s kid, the heroes of my childhood didn't want us to sit back and watch the same kind of evil perpetuate another world of hating each other.

So, yeah you saw the Crip Walk on National TV.

Let me remind you of what Compton used to be before the gang wars, when it was a Black neighborhood full of teachers, and people wanting to experience the dream they pursued and fought for - The American Dream.

Compton, California wasn't born lawless, it was forged by systemic oppression. Government neglect forced residents to adapt, survive, and thrive despite impossible odds.

The culture of Compton embodies resilience in the face of adversity, strength born from struggle, and the possibility of emerging from impossibility.

Be grateful for what they paved the way through, because many Americans – myself included – witnessed firsthand the harsh realities that sparked many movements.

We continue fighting for a better world inspired by visionary leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, who paved the way for artists like the NWA, Ice Cube, and Tupac Shakur, who amplified the call for justice and equality through their music and contributions to the world.