The years have passed by and still today, schools to colleges are failing Black children. And when I say Black children I don’t just mean children from the African Caribbean community but from the diverse black communities such as Yemenis, Pakistanis, Somalis, Bangladeshis and so forth.

For decades, the system didn’t listen to the parents, the youth workers, development workers and the genuine Black teachers in education. I say genuine because there are many who see teaching as just a job instead of shaping the lives of the youth. I say genuine because some see teaching as a stepping-stone for a career or promotion, and securing a pension. I say genuine, because some teachers know something isn't working so they either put up with it or fight it, or we can say the usual excuses, "we are overloaded with paper work," which is often the cry of tutors. But let us not put so much blame on SOME teachers.

We may think that the education system can find a solution but they can’t because they are still thinking in the box – where the child has come "to learn." The child comes with a whole heap of history, experiences, misconceptions and low self-image. So in essence, the schools of today should concentrate in preserving the culture; the identity of that child for the great process of learning is to learn about who he or she is.

The schools and colleges must implement creative, cultural content in the curriculum. I mentioned that more outreach workers were needed years ago and what is needed is to bridge the gap between community and the education system, so no child loses the opportunity to be misunderstood and seen as a number, but as a human being with issues that need to be resolved. That meant, more time to build relationship with parents too.

Black history should never be a once-a-month celebration but a lifelong pursuit for each child because each child deserves the right to know who they are, from where they came and when they know who they are, they also see the great legacy trusted to them from inventors to scientists, to explorers to heroes that call upon each child, each student to say, “why not me?”

I mentioned that the education system needs to take responsibility in exposing our youths to career options by taking them out of the cage, out of the box and into the real world to see exactly what it means to be an inventor, a doctor, a scientist, a teacher, an entrepreneur, a fashion designer, a fireman, a police woman, etc. Many children are underexposed to career options and CHOICE is a gift but unknown to the ignorant. Ask any child today, what they want to be when they grow up, and they reply, “I don’t know.”

Now is the time to expose children to the option of business ownership. This is now a priority. Emmanuel Modu, director of the Center for Teen Entrepreneurs (CTE), is one of the leaders in the growing youth entrepreneurial education--kidpreneurship--movement. "I don't expect all black kids to become entrepreneurs," says Modu, author of The Lemonade Stand: A Guide To Encouraging The Entrepreneur In Your Child (800-438-TEEN). "I just want to plant the seed in their minds that business ownership is a viable option; that they can be employers as well as employees."

It has become a systematic process in our world today, where many look at the symptoms instead of the root cause of the challenges students face today. The core is to now sow the seeds in each child, of possibilities, capabilities, of choices he or she has not known because teaching has not moved with the times and the issues that have many a time called for change. Today, if a student passes by the skin of their teeth, they will not have the communication skills, the leadership quality, the courage, the experience to stand strong with high self esteem in an interview.

Education has not become a vision of shaping leaders, pioneers, instilling dreams, and nor has it become an exciting adventure to grab leadership and feel excited of a new day of learning. Nor has it become a process of integrity, pride but rather a race for funding, a race for more outputs, a race for who has more students, who has more achievers and a fight for status.

And here’s the thing; parents, our communities are willing to go to meetings, willing to shout, willing to scream for a day, celebrate for a month for Black History, and go home to carry on with the lives. And as they do this, they are hoping, praying for somebody else, the return of Malcolm and Martin Luther King but you see, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King did what a whole generation today, won’t do – see the challenge of another child, another brother, another sister, the whole community, GLOBAL perspective that what happens in USA will effect their homelands around the world. They saw communities and their global communities as their challenge, their duty to explore, to fight, to not just debate, but to do, act and plan, to unite, to know how the system works from ground up and be in the arena. If they didn't then they knew someone else would try to be their voice. Somebody else with a different kind of agenda than the willingness to help and empower the local and global communties.

In our world today, we wait for funding before we implement ideas. We wait for approval before we build partnerships. We compromise that which does not belong to us but rather it belongs to the future generation. We are silent until someone else speaks. We expect a large following before we lead. We are NOT pioneer MENTALITY at this moment in time. We now HAVE to be.

If Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were here today they would want to know, how come we have not fought for cultural content in schools and colleges? And how come many parents from the Black communities, Muslims have not taken the initative to be governors instead of running for the dollar? How come they have lagged behind, not had foresight that if the boss, "kiss your job bye-bye," they have not built another income on side for controllability and self respect. Instead of having chains around their neck. One may say, "I love my job!" My brother and sisters, love your wife, husband, children, family first because the system, the boss, isn't going to! Love your community first and anyone with a mindset of vision will realise, "I can't put my future, all power in the hands of any human being. I've got to think and move fast so if anything does happen to me, my family is set, and is fine financially." Has anyone thought of this? No. Put your family, children first, not your job. It's not YOUR job. It belongs to whoever gave it to you.

Martin and Malcolm X will ask, how can it be, that Black History is a celebration of once a month when it should be through our lives everyday? How come we have not become economically strong and used faith, belief to not be economically strong instead of a reason? How come we have become apologetic of who we are, what we wear, what colour is on our skin, when to pray and how to? How come parents today do not inspire their youths to entrepreneurship of any kind but instead have downtrodden their youths' dreams, to go so far as to not even invest in their youths' products and services, and the spirit of entrepreneurship? How come parents give advice which THEY don't follow themselves and expect respect from their own children? Children will not DO what you say but what YOU DO. They don't care how much you know until they see how much YOU CARE.

They will ask - how we can look to the system today for the support, help, solutions, when we are the support, the help, and the solutions. We, the people are the government. From the Black communities to the Muslim community – they have one thing in common. They are waiting for someone else to do the work in mosques, in creating programmes that will enable the youth to be active in their own legacy. They are waiting for someone else to create a media tool or a process to develop and teach politics and media savvy techniques. They are waiting for the right time, the right place and right leadership.

They are passing the buck and for any individual to community or nation to blame their lack of progress on anyone that is to reveal the lack of responsibility, accountability and the core values of that community and individual. These are our children, and our community and our responsibility as brothers, sisters, parents and community to get angry enough inside to come together as one – not like committees debating for years on end and have not acted on our words. Rather to see the errors of others and ours and move forward by grabbing leadership.

The system has failed but we too have failed our children, the future generation and our community and the Ummah all over the world. For every disease there is a root cause and that starts from home. The core values, the beliefs, the self image of a child is duplicated in the mirror it stares at. The parents. It's time, we hold ourselves responsible for our own mess too, and for the deprivation of knowledge of our own history, our own faith, our own language, of leadership, the instilling of dreams, courage, the meaning of delayed gratification, to look towards vision that has been lost and instil in our youths today not a microwave philosphy but all based on truth, patience, vision that aligns to all that God Almighty, Allah commands us to be.

Most importantly, we must excel with belief in God Almighty because if the journey is about the feeding the appetite of self then it shall not benefit humanity, for the self only craves to nourish its ego. We must stop building our youth’s future and legacy on sand but in a greater purpose. A purpose designed by God Himself.

Martin Luther King and Malcolm X are NOT coming back. The posters of your heroes won’t help you this time. The waiting is over! This is not a movie! Wake the heck up! They have lived up to their promise. It is we who haven’t lived up to our promise. It is we who must now finish the journey for once upon a time, there was a forest of darkness, and now that forest of darkness is gone. We see paths laid out for us, paths someone great has worked hard and sacrificed so much for us to follow. Paths carved by Muhammad (pbuh), the final Messenger of Allah the Most High. Why do you think when people know all this, that only a few will walk on this path?

Shall I give you it straight? Let me give it to you and I so straight and please, don't tell me it is any different.

There will be many winding roads but the great men and women took the path that is less travelled and it is this that has always made the difference.

Yes, we all know what we need to do but like everything with success - it is easy to do and not so easy to do.