Empowering The Change

One of the most humbling yet exciting benefits of being a Mentor is that we are given the opportunity to change the mindsets of our Mentees.

We embrace those moments and use them to empower our Mentees to help them develop spiritually, emotionally, financially, and socially. (The list is ongoing.) 

Tuesdays our mentoring sessions are titled, "Goals and Visions".  During these sessions our goals are to teach them the importance of goals, goal setting, etc. 

We also help them to write down their visions as we're instructed to in Habakkuk 2:2:

 2 And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.(KJV)

During a casual conversation the phrase, "That's ghetto" was referenced. 

I'll be very transparent in this blog, I hate that phrase, with a passion!

Here's why- There is never a time when 'that's ghetto' is used to reference anything positive about Black people! Never!

That's phrase is always used to reference something negative! 

As a Mentor, we take every opportunity to make it a teachable moment.

Here's how it went:

"Okay, let's talk about what comes to your mind, when you hear that phrase? 

Here's a list: 

1) Black people

2) Black monkeys

3) Guns

4) Being ratchet

5) The hood

6) Violence

7) Murder

8) Abuse

9) Foul language

10) Disrespectful behavior

The I asked them to check off anything that was true about them.

Bingo!  The only reference the mentors checked off was being a Black person.

We then began to discuss how important it is to carry ourselves in such a way that those derogatory and negative references won't apply to us.

I could see their minds working to understand and apply the instructions.

I let them know that they are empowered to make a difference in how people view them individually as well as Black people as a whole. 

Will the change take place overnight?  No, it won't.  

But every time they hear that phrase again, they will be reminded of their empowerment to change it.  

Next week we will discuss and write goals on how we will empower ourselves to change this negative mindset. 

In fact, I think we all should. 

Picture Credit: Santi Vedri@Unsplash.com 

Picture Credit: GirlsandBoysofCharacter