This week, Jada and I have decided to leave behind our typically humorous battle of the sexes debates and traded them for some thoughts about black men.
We built this nation from the ground up. Africans sustained the economy of this newfound country that called us three fifths of a person. What did we get for this deed? We were awarded separated families, our women sexually abused and men were castrated.
After all of that, we are still here. A black man holds the highest and most powerful position on the face of the globe. But everything is not all good.
Every step black men took forward when Thurgood Marshall and Ralph Bunche were our leaders in the 1950s, we take 10 steps backwards today. There are a lot of flaws in the structure of our family lives. If you asked the few guys who attend Howard if they were raised with a father, most of them will say no. That is a shame. Our women are doing the best job they can do, but a woman cannot teach a boy how to be a man without a man. So the end result is that we have boys who are 30 years old. These boys neglect their responsibilities and perpetuate the vicious cycle that is destroying our communities.
Lil’ Wayne should not be anybody’s role model. Material things do not define manhood. If black men would start standing up for what is right and not what is “cool,” we would be in a better situation. Black men standing up would trickle down into everything. Our music would not be as misogynistic; our children won’t look up to entertainers to be their role models, and our women won’t feel hopeless.
When the black community was at its strongest, men were at the forefront of households and leading. Until this order is re-established, our communities will not thrive.
We have been through way worse things in our history. Our fore fathers were lynched, dragged and dehumanized just so we can have basic rights like education. Now that we have access to education, we continue to be dumb. That makes no sense. Everyone reading this article is an agent of change in the black community. It all starts with the black male. Until we get right, there won’t be any change. I’m not an expert on the psychology of the problems in the black community. I do know we do need to stop making excuses for ourselves and catch up to our women.
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