The Plight of Black Men
The Issues mentioned in the article about the plight of black men are things that I have been thinking about for a while now. It seems to me that black people as a group have lost their way. And as much as it pains me to say this black men have in no way shape or form have held up their end of the bargain as it relates to family. We have allowed ourselves to be defined and have long since bought into many of the negative stereotypes that were first forced upon the entire black community. The real heavy stuff happened way back when. Although the black man was demonized the most, all black people suffered. And all black people went hungry. We were and always will be in this struggle for self improvement and equality together. 1 for all and all for 1 you know , that type of stuff. If a black man was lynched it wasn’t just him that suffered it was his entire family. Who raised the kids when black men were lynched, jailed, ran out of town ect. At this point I believed we have lived with these issues long enough to know that things are not working It is my opinion that Blacks (black men in particular) should redefined themselves on what it is that we want out of life. We need to fully become a part of the modern world and change how we view that world. Basically we need to take full control of our lives.
The issues I am talking about are themes that most black people have heard before. I believe that a good portion of this failure can be attributed to bad parenting. I think black people's attitude towards education in general is a joke. In my opinion the biggest joke going is the black mans attitude towards education. Id bet money that young black men spend less time focusing on education than any other group in the country. Part of this is because their role models, or lack thereof do not promote and emphasize the value of education. In fact they emphasize many values totally obscene to education. I believe that young black men have the worse role models of any group in the country no doubt about it. . Which results in a lack of mental understanding and emotional restraint being developed in those individuals . The things that they see and experience are not conducive to attaining ongoing success in life. And lets be honest, some of these things holding us back should be pretty obvious to people who are really focused on learning, growing and evolving into better human beings. For instance, knowing the incarceration and unemployment rate of black men, I would think that every black mother, grandmother, uncle family member ect would be constantly preaching , working and teaching to keep more of these young men out of jail. Staying out of jail makes it easier for anyone to get employment. Since everyone in the black community knows that black men are having problems staying out of jail and employed I would think one would hear of a grass roots campaign on what the black community needs to do to turn these disgusting trends around. The type of focus, drive and energy needed to pull this off is something I’m not feeling from black folks at this time. What happen to that spirit, creativity and drive of the civil rights movement. I know that properly intellectually stimulated black people and others can figure out solutions and come up with ideas to help us move forward. To be honest this process may take 200 years to fully develop. I hope not , but It might. But the longer we wait the longer it will take to finish the process. It is also going to be painful as most of us will have to give up some of our non productive and self destructive habits. I do know that there are people out their with innovative ideas who are serious about helping to change the plight of black people. If you are one of these people then lets have at an honest, fair, progressive and open dialog of what needs to be done to totally and fully introduced black men into America society. Mark Bey
The Issues mentioned in the article about the plight of black men are things that I have been thinking about for a while now. It seems to me that black people as a group have lost their way. And as much as it pains me to say this black men have in no way shape or form have held up their end of the bargain as it relates to family. We have allowed ourselves to be defined and have long since bought into many of the negative stereotypes that were first forced upon the entire black community. The real heavy stuff happened way back when. Although the black man was demonized the most, all black people suffered. And all black people went hungry. We were and always will be in this struggle for self improvement and equality together. 1 for all and all for 1 you know , that type of stuff. If a black man was lynched it wasn’t just him that suffered it was his entire family. Who raised the kids when black men were lynched, jailed, ran out of town ect. At this point I believed we have lived with these issues long enough to know that things are not working It is my opinion that Blacks (black men in particular) should redefined themselves on what it is that we want out of life. We need to fully become a part of the modern world and change how we view that world. Basically we need to take full control of our lives.
The issues I am talking about are themes that most black people have heard before. I believe that a good portion of this failure can be attributed to bad parenting. I think black people's attitude towards education in general is a joke. In my opinion the biggest joke going is the black mans attitude towards education. Id bet money that young black men spend less time focusing on education than any other group in the country. Part of this is because their role models, or lack thereof do not promote and emphasize the value of education. In fact they emphasize many values totally obscene to education. I believe that young black men have the worse role models of any group in the country no doubt about it. . Which results in a lack of mental understanding and emotional restraint being developed in those individuals . The things that they see and experience are not conducive to attaining ongoing success in life. And lets be honest, some of these things holding us back should be pretty obvious to people who are really focused on learning, growing and evolving into better human beings. For instance, knowing the incarceration and unemployment rate of black men, I would think that every black mother, grandmother, uncle family member ect would be constantly preaching , working and teaching to keep more of these young men out of jail. Staying out of jail makes it easier for anyone to get employment. Since everyone in the black community knows that black men are having problems staying out of jail and employed I would think one would hear of a grass roots campaign on what the black community needs to do to turn these disgusting trends around. The type of focus, drive and energy needed to pull this off is something I’m not feeling from black folks at this time. What happen to that spirit, creativity and drive of the civil rights movement. I know that properly intellectually stimulated black people and others can figure out solutions and come up with ideas to help us move forward. To be honest this process may take 200 years to fully develop. I hope not , but It might. But the longer we wait the longer it will take to finish the process. It is also going to be painful as most of us will have to give up some of our non productive and self destructive habits. I do know that there are people out their with innovative ideas who are serious about helping to change the plight of black people. If you are one of these people then lets have at an honest, fair, progressive and open dialog of what needs to be done to totally and fully introduced black men into America society. Mark Bey
6 comments:
Mark,
I don't think that for the vast majority of African Americans that education is a joke. For a segment of society - yes.
I also see some mitigating factors that leads to that impression or rather perception.
If you really want to join others who think like you and I and others, then we have to state the terms on how we do it.
Do we choose a topic and write on it, and share and critique and come up with some concensus on our thoughts?
What is it you want to do.
And while I agree with the thesis of this post; I think that a day has come where the Black female hast to be as much a part of the help up and help out picuture as the male. And even moreso, since so many Black females have the burdens of being both parents, working and doing so much alone.
Don't you?
Denise said:I don't think that for the vast majority of African Americans that education is a joke. For a segment of society - yes.
Mark said: You might be correct, but even if our attitude toward education is not a joke, if we arent as serious as others folks ( and I know we aint) what chance to we have to compete.
Denise said:I also see some mitigating factors that leads to that impression or rather perception.
Mark said: Maybe thier are but I just want us to stop hurting and killing ourselves regardless of the reason.
Denise said:If you really want to join others who think like you and I and others, then we have to state the terms on how we do it.
Mark said: I thinking something like those think tanks and policy centers, we could come up with the 5 things affective us negatively and what we need to do to change. We should fiercely open and honestly debate all of these issues.
Denise said:What is it you want to do.And while I agree with the thesis of this post; I think that a day has come where the Black female hast to be as much a part of the help up and help out picuture as the male. And even moreso, since so many Black females have the burdens of being both parents, working and doing so much alone.
mark said: I think we have to come up with a plan , for instance we should work on getting black men to give directly back to thier families as soon as posible, perpetually. We should also put together a list of our worse problems and what we need to do. Thank you for stoping by denise.
Mark,
I have read a number of your posts on Field Negro's blog page and I feel your sincerity and passion for the issues concerning the Black community. Like you I am not one to blame the "white man", the legacy of slavery or the injustices of western eurocentric society for our problems. Yes, they may be underlying factors, but we need to take a honest look inwards, especially Black males, to identify and confront what ails us as a community.
I read a few of your posts on this site and I agree with your sentiments. Bad parenting, lack of positive role models, our attitudes towards education (especially the development of basic reading and writing skills) etc. are some of the issues that we need to confront as a community before we can make any substantial progress. I really like your idea of think tanks and policy centers (afrocentric based of course) to debate the issues, recommend possible solutions, develop effective implementation strategies and create valid and reliable evaluation tools to tackle these problems. I have been contempleting the idea of an internet-based Afrocentric think tank/policy center, a blog page where a select number of committed like-minded individuals can post their ideas, debate issues, with the stipulation that some sort of solution to any problem addressed must be a part of the submission. Of course there would need to be the understanding that the site is not a forum for "blog wars", but constructively analyzing the issues with the focus on finding and/or expolring various solutions and strategies. Anyway... just a thought.
I must comment on your post "YOUNG MALE ELEPHANTS GONE BUCK WILD". Very informative.
I enjoy your mind and your passion. Keep striving. You are not alone.
Thank you sir it is difficult because in my oppinion black people like to pretend that shit happening write in front of us isnt. The way black men treat black women, the abuse, the not giving one hundred percent to the cause of black well bieng. Im not feeling afrocentric based think. I been through that type of stuff. To me although the afro cen movement was well meaning they start lying to. Black people need the truth and common sense. It your going to claim that whites are evil, or the devil, but africans were kings and queens of great civilizaitions, we are going to loose. They will absolve people and groups like the Zulus of south africa who have blood on thier hands. The zulus killed a lot of other south africans long before europeans got thier. Its kinda like the nation of Islam calling the white man the devil and christianity an evil religion. The just happen to forget how much murder and rape muslims have committed against every group except native idians. Where is the nation of islam on the issue of muslims african and arab still trading and holding africans in bondage. Where Farrakan on that. They are not honest its about maintaining thier closeminded world view. Not truth not the uplift of black worlwide. Mark
Mark.
I think you misunderstand what I meant by "Afrocentric". I don't mean the "return to Africa" or "look to Africa" romanticized view that you describe. I mean looking at issues from a perspectve based on our experiences and realities, and seeking solutions that will benefit our community/people irregardless of where they originate. Those of us of African descent share similar experiences due to our ancestry. The issues which you discuss are concerns here also in Canada, and Jamaica (where I grew up), other parts of the Caribbean, South America (look at Brazil or Argentina), Europe and Africa. I think it's a matter of "term" semantics.
You mentioned the Muslim-Black African dilemma. I shake my head when the Nation of Islam brothers try to convince me that Islam is the Black man's natural religion! I am doing some research on Islam and African Slavery. I am trying to understand the root cause of muslim attitudes towards Africans as seen played out primarily in Sudan and Mauritania, their continued practice of chattel slavery and State sponsored genocide. I hope to post my findings and conclusions on my blog page in the near future.
Blessings.
Very best site. Keep working. Will return in the near future.
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