I just left another forum that I visit now and then.  I ran across this entry (quoted) below:

"I was watching America's Black Forum a while back and it struck me: I saw the intellectual prowess, wisdom, and fire in the eyes of Julian Bond, Dyck Gregory, and some others on the panel, and when this older generation passes so too will the fire die!  Such a shame!"

It was an old post, over a year...  There were other similar ones, but this one stuck out the most to me.  It also kind of summerizes the motivation behind the development of this site, and what drives the people who maintain and contribute to it.

I myself, am someone from the era when we had Black Panthers were posted in the neighborhood.  My mother was a Civil Rights activist herself, in addition to working everyday to support her family.  I have pictures of her with Julian Bond in Washington, when they were working on various initiatives.  She was always into something...  Reading and writing, going to some kind of meeting, where she would often times come back joyful, and sometimes bitter.  She would take me with her now and then, and I would always feel something stirring inside when I saw my people, the older ones, together planning and effectuating Change. 

It definately rubbed off on me cause I've had this flame burning inside me throughout my life.  I've  learned that change only occurs at new levels of awareness.  And that infrastructures are intrinsic to supporting positive change.  I've also learned that our success as a people is dependent upon our Capacity and Autonomy to architect and sustain these infrastructures which make the possible, possible...

We now live in an age of globalization, and light-speed communications where the possibilities are endless in terms of collaboration, knowledge, and information sharing.  The article on "Awareness" is instructive as to our role today, because I feel it is up to all of us to build upon the past and set the stage (a sustainable infrastructure) for the future.  The young ones today watch and learn from us, so we have a two-fold responsibility to counter the complacency that has begun to grip our communities and lead by conscious example(s). 

There is no such thing as automatic progress!  Our parents set the stage for us, based on their resources and skills, and so the flame shall continue through us... 

The proactive cultural imperative: "Develop, Establish, Maintain, and Refine" is now ours!