Black men where are you? Or better yet, what are you doing? It is almost 2010 and Black men are still under the scope. For the longest we have been told we are an endangered species. The statistics have shown that as many as one in four Black men are directly or indirectly supervised by the criminal court system. Statistics also show that one in twenty black males will die by way of homicide. Truthfully, as staggering as the statistics are. There is a hidden and deeper danger.
What we have witnessed before and since the 1995 Million Man March, has been an attack on Black males. This attacked was launched not from outsiders but unfortunately within. Now for some this will not be a shock and for others it will be. Black men historically have used defense mechanisms to protect ourselves from other Black men and Whites. One of those defense mechanisms is the idea of "cool". Being "cool" was a way to be popular and even mysterious. "Cool" embraced the idea of hyper sexuality and expression through a number of outwards appearances. Hence, Black men wearing earrings. A modern expression today would be tattoos. Now these expressions are ancient but carry many symbolic meanings. Historically, if one wants to study the journey of our people, one needs only to look at our music. I will deal with music in depth in the next blog. My objective in this blog is give an outline of a number of issues regarding Black men.
Music. The one thing our people have counted on and cherished in this nation. There is an enemy among us and that enemy is Hip Hop. Hip Hop started in New York City in the late seventies. One thing we know is that New York which is considered the mecca of Hip Hop as a culture, is also the place where many vices our people came to embrace. Namely, drugs which is on the surface is a pacifier. However, anyone who knows drugs from a esoteric or spiritual standpoint knows that they are occultic in nature. Vices were given to people in order to seduce them. The war in Vietnam knew all to well the power of opium. Many veterans came back to the states traumatized and addicted to Heroin. Music has been used in a similar way. Like I stated earlier we will deal with music in a greater way in the next blog.
Culture. Culture is powerful but very misleading. As we shall discover. Since Black people have been the victims of culture bandits through slavery and colonialism. Our people have tried to pick up the pieces of our humanity by bits and pieces. However, those bits and pieces many times have been detrimental to our humanity in general.
Acceptance. How is that in some of our communities that acceptance of failure is embraced and even celebrated? Our young men are caged in county, state and federal jails and are almost applauded. Many of the top commercial rappers are in jail or heading there. There is no disgust. No rebuke. Not even the proverbial scratching of the head. Then hip hop magazine journalists want to write articles and blogs about the "attack on hip hop". Our people have to learn that jail is not a place to be. It should be expressed to the people that jail is the place where they put you when you do not know how to behave. It is basically the grown folks "time-out". Felonies are hard to cope with when you are poor. Many apartment properties will not even rent to a felon. Companies do not make it a practice to hire felons. This forces many convicted felons to go back to life or practice of crime they found themselves in originally. The idea of more of our Black men are in prison than in college is a crying shame. While I will be the first to admit that college is not always the answer for everyone, I do know that education of some form whether trade school or specialized training is better than minimum wage and criminal activity.
Parenting. I could write a book on parenting alone. Reportedly 70 percent of Black households are headed by a single parent. Unfortunately, I am apart of this statistic. I have a 12 year old daughter I am raising. I was married at one point and took care of 3 children that belonged to my ex-wife. That was very hard on a number of levels. A friend of mine and I once talked about how unnatural it felt to raise children that are not your own. While I do know that love conquers all, it is challenging to say the least. Teenagers and young adults are getting pregnant at high rates. The fathers of these children tend to disappear. Whether it is because of a scorned lover or just the irresponsibility of the parent can be debated. However, it has become common place to where it is not something of a big deal to see a teenager with a protruding stomach awaiting to give birth to a child that the tax payers of the nation will have to support. While the mentality of some look at WIC and food stamps as being free. Anybody with sense knows that in America there is nothing free. One of my biggest pet peeves is to see a child with runny noses and appearance unkept while the "mothers" of these children walk around with fake designer purses and nice hair dos. Go to your local supermarket and see it everyday. It leaves me fuming. Where is the father? Instead our communities are filled with sperm donors with no education, no integrity, no sense of responsibility. We wear the name brands of many millionaires and yet we cannot find enough dough to feed, clothe, and house our children.
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Okay... Im done venting. I guess you ask what can be done? I honestly don't know. I don't have a one fix all solution. Personal responsibility of course must be taken. Yet, when the bottom completely falls out as it has. You have children raising themselves, killing one another, raping their grandmothers, raping young girls to the hooting and hollering of a crowd. As I have read the news lately, Im going to be honest. The bottom has fell out literally. Our community is at a crossroad. We are either going to live like we are supposed to live or die slowly in 25 to 30 years. Every generation seems to get sicker and sicker. Yet, this young generation that is coming up has seen war, aids, poverty, like never before. We are literally in a falling state. Nobody is crying. Instead we pay money to networks like BET and VH1 to laugh about it. Killing is big business and business right now is good. We are dying mentally, physically, emotionally, psychologically and characteristically. Too bad its only the beginning of sorrows. Yeah I am saying, we have not seen anything yet. It is going to get worse. Nevermind we have a Black president in the White House. While that is to be celebrated and admired. President Obama cannot save a generation of Black children. That is our job and we are failing miserably. I only have two words left. Personal Responsibility.
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