The open letter below was written by Marico D. Rivers, master level social worker, licensed chemical dependency counselor and certified anger resolution therapist. It was too good not to share. Read below

“I hope this letter reaches the people whom I am writing. I invite you, the reader, to help me share this letter with as many Black men, Black boys as you can. The Trayvon Martin murder and joke of a trial has created a much needed movement to rescue and save you, us. There are people (of all racial and ethnic backgrounds) all across this country participating in marches, community meetings, think tanks, and political forums trying to bring about more protection for the Black male. There are Black men and Black women especially, losing friends, risking their lives to stand up for you. There are people, including myself, volunteering to make you and your existence top priority in this country. Personally, it is my job to speak up for you because I am a Black man living in this country and I, too, can fall victim at the hands of a George Zimmerman type in this country or at the hands of a self-hating Black person who readily participates in the genocide of Black on Black crime.

So, I need your help in this movement. I need you to be a positive and willing participant in this movement. I need the parents of these black boys to be positive and willing participants in this movement to rescue and save Black boys/ Black men. I need you (the men and the boys) to work hard at changing the negative behaviors and senseless actions that too many of you are currently involved in so the work that is presently being done by so many people right now and on your behalf is not being done in vain. Black men, Black Boys I need you to drop out of the gangs. Get as far away from a gang as you can. I need you to stop killing other Black men, Black boys. … . I need you to stop getting women pregnant whom you are not married to. I need you to go to school. It doesn’t matter to me. It can be a university, a community college or even a trade/technical school as long as you go to school!

I need you to get back into school if you dropped out to pursue the street life. I need to you pick more positive music to listen to and produce. (Fathers, my words) I need to you to be there for the children you have helped to create in this society. I need you to go to counseling to help bring about a change in which you currently express your anger. I need you to get a mental health assessment for any possible mental illness that may have gone undiagnosed for far too long, which could be the cause of many of the bad choices you have been making in your life. I need you to stop smoking weed and using other drugs as a way of trying to medicate what hurts you on the inside. I need you to stop using your “hood” environment as an excuse to fail and to hurt others. The quote “Hurt people, hurt people” is very true.

I need you to learn to use/speak correct English. You can learn to do this by going to school or going to your local library and reading books for free. Malcolm X did it in prison by reading the entire dictionary from the letter A to the letter Z. You can also learn to speak better by hanging around people who speak correct English. I need you pull your … pants up. I need you stop putting videos of yourselves on World Star Hip-Hip and You Tube acting a … fool by fighting or …… I need you to stop applauding celebrities who behave badly on television, in their music, and in their music videos. I need you to stop pushing/promoting the “thug” mentality within your own community. This is not who you are. This is who white supremacists want and need you to be in order for them to justify killing you. I need you to stop believing that creating bastard children and shooting other Black men, Black boys makes you a man. I need you read up on your Black history, your Black legacy so you can learn about who you are as a Black man. I am a firm believer in when a man learns who he is; he then knows whose he is. I need you to either create or join an existing men’s group in your community whereby you can meet with other Black men and boys and have a discussion about surviving in America, respecting each other, and making an Atonement for the way we have treated each other

Continue reading from digital, print editions in bold in the following paragraph

I need you seek out actual men in the community and ask if they would mentor you and show you how to grow to be a man with dignity, character, and morals if you don’t have a father or positive men in your family to show you the way. I need you to want to be alive. I need you to want to grow up and grow old with your families. I need you want to do your part in making this movement a successful one. I need you to understand that as I am I writing this letter, I am writing it from my heart, which has cause tears to form in my eyes as I struggle to type this letter, this plea, to you. I need you. I need you. …, I need you to help me, to help us, help you.”

BROTHERS, I did not write this letter but it expresses ‘many’ of the sentiments that I believe the LORD has placed on my heart for so-many years. If you’ve been ‘waiting’ and ‘looking’ for a ‘savior’ to come and bring healing and health to our community and families, with God’s help, I am confident, WE ARE THE ONES!