The Unspoken: What the World Don't Talk About

By John L. Brown

This is a small book, but powerful. The book is about how I, as a Vietnam vet, see the world of the ghetto. What I see happening to good people as they cannot get any help. It is as if they have no way out. How do our own black people see us? How can we turn things around? Also, the book talks about what we dont talk about in the ghetto. Thats why I am naming the book The Unspoken. What the world dont talk about.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 26, 2008
• ISBN: 9781450003247

John L. Brown

JOHN BROWN is Professor Emeritus, University of Alberta, his working home of twenty-six years as Professor, PhD program director and Associate Dean. Prior to that time he observed the academic world from the other side of the podium as a student at the University of Saskatchewan, University of Washington and Cornell. He also enjoyed international opportunities in Nairobi, Paris, London, Edinburgh and China to stretch his familiarity of the academic world beyond North America. His inside view of university life gives him ample opportunity to delve into the challenges a young and brilliant graduate student faces in the pressure cooker world of a demanding graduate program while juggling the many licit and illicit pleasures the fascinating city of Vancouver offers on a silver plate. Too Soon Gone is his fifth book since leaving the halls of academe and he now lives in Vancouver.

Book preview

Copyright © 2008 by John L. Brown.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2008902770

ISBN:                    Hardcover                978-1-4363-3174-6

                              Softcover                  978-1-4363-3173-9

                              Ebook                       978-1-4500-0324-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Introduction

First, let me say, this book that you are about to read is not to put down the black man or woman or any other race. This book is factual. Some of the incidents you may be able to relate to. Please sit back and enjoy.

I wrote this book because I feel the people of the world should know how blacks from the ghetto are treated. Also, we as a people should not be victims of society. We should stand tall and hold hands throughout the world and say we will bring unity to all. I feel if we do, God will bring his special gift to the people of the world, and that special gift is peace. This book will not only portray the struggles of the black race but will also provide suggestions on how to pull ourselves out of the rut.

When we speak of rats, mice, roaches, drugs, run-down homes, overcharges at grocery stores, slum lords, no streetlights, potholes in the streets, liquor stores on just about every street corner, run-down schools without finances, welfare, substance abuse, drug dealers, and alcoholics on the corner, the list can go on and on. Why do our kids have to live like that? Where are the leaders? We never talk about our living condition in the ghetto. We go on with our lives as if it doesn’t exist.

I can remember when I was a little boy: my family was working for peanuts. They were sharecroppers; I can remember that a white man used to come by the house and pick up money. One day, I overheard him tell my grandmother who raised me, Dot, you need to make those boys work hard (meaning her sons, my uncles and my father). They were robbed of their education because they had to work in the fields. These days we have learned that we have a choice. But with no education, they didn’t have a choice. Either work or become a hobo. Have things become better since then? I don’t think so. Think about it, things are worse. The crime rate in the ghetto is soaring. People are afraid to walk the streets at night; even in the daytime, they are afraid. Young black men and women are just too blind to see what is going on. That is why they are killing one another and going around scaring the older people. Young black men and women are dropping out of schools and colleges throughout the United States. Why? I think that it is because of the lack of knowledge and education. I keep saying, What is going on? I guess you are wondering, and I will get to that later in the book. Remember, we don’t talk about these things to other races.

When I was eighteen years old, I went to join the U.S. Marine Corps. Why? To better myself. It turned out