RESPONSE to Jim ” Pappy” Moore: We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For
Growing up in the Black community of Bethlehem, Texas, about ten miles from Gilmer, Eye witnessed something many people today never experienced. Bethlehem was more than a place on a map—it was a community. We had our own store. We had our own gas pump. We had neighbors who knew one another, looked after one another, and shared what little they had.
Then, over time, resources became unavailable. Opportunities disappeared. Businesses closed. What was once self-sustaining slowly became dependent on systems outside of itself.
Eye remember watching my grandmother, Ora Mae Mitchell, who lived in Gilmer, walk uptown to clean houses. Eye watched my grandmother, Wanda Jean Johnson, raise 8 children to be upright citizens. They worked hard, not because they lacked dignity, but because they carried a responsibility to provide for their families. They did what many Black women of their generation did—she sacrificed, endured, and kept moving forward despite the obstacles placed before her.
What Eye learned from them was not victimhood.
What Eye learned from them was resilience.
So when people say Black people are the only ones who can save Black people, Eye agree—but perhaps not for the reasons they think.
Not because we are the problem.
Not because we are inherently broken.
But because no one else can remember our power for us.
For generations, we were taught to search outside ourselves for answers while forgetting the wisdom that already lived within us. We were handed beliefs but often disconnected from the sacred knowing of self. We were taught to trust external authority while neglecting the authority of our own spirit.
They gave us lenses through which to view the world, yet many of us forgot how to see through our First Eye—the eye of intuition, discernment, ancestral memory, and innerstanding.
They taught us to seek God outside ourselves while many of our ancestors understood that the Divine was also within. That we are spiritual beings carrying sacred intelligence, creativity, and power.
Before oppression, there was wisdom.
Before survival, there was sovereignty.
Before the labels, there was identity.
Before the wounds, there was wholeness.
Yet despite every attempt to disconnect us from ourselves, we are still here.
Our music survived.
Our culture survived.
Our prayers survived.
Our brilliance survived.
Our spirit survived.
The answer has never been self-hatred. The answer has never been reducing our community to statistics, stereotypes, or struggles. The answer is remembrance.
Remembering who we are.
Remembering where we come from.
Remembering the strength of communities like Bethlehem that once thrived through unity, shared responsibility, and collective care.
Yes, we must save ourselves.
Not through shame.
Not through division.
Not through blaming one another.
We save ourselves through healing.
Through education.
Through economic empowerment.
Through spiritual awakening.
Through restoring the village mentality that taught us to care for one another.
Through remembering that our grandmothers and grandfathers built foundations with far fewer resources than many of us have today.
We are not waiting for a savior.
We are the descendants of survivors, healers, builders, teachers, visionaries, kings, queens, gods, and goddesses who carried light through some of history’s darkest moments.
The power was never lost.
It was forgotten.
And now, it is time to remember.
— Pheknyx J Ma’ri
(Rochelle Johnson)
Class of 1992 Union Hill
Bethlehem, Texas
SCARS Heal
Stillness. Courage. Awareness. Respect. Self-Love. 
Wellness begins with the transforming of the mind