BLACK MEN IN CRISIS

Great discussion about the dire situation of black men in the United States.


Black Men Fall Behind

From the Public Radio Show “To The Point” from April 3rd, 2006.

Black Men Fall Behind

The crisis among young black men across America. Facts and numbers newly out in studies by academics at Columbia, Princeton and Harvard are hard-hitting in their indication that it is a rough time to be a young African American male at this moment. For instance, in 2004, some 72% of black male high school dropouts were jobless. Compare that number to only 34% of white dropouts and 19% of latino dropouts. In most crucial quality of life categories, from education to jobs to crime to poverty, young black men generally fare about 75% as well as whites. Why this sense of hopelessness in the young African American male community? Who’s working on policy and resource solutions?

Click link to listen to program:

http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/ram_wrap.cgi?/tp/tp060331Black_Men_Fall_Behin



My thoughts:

Black America as a whole is in crisis. Largely by its own hand. The hip hop music and culture, and really modern "Black Culture" in general continue to harm a large segment of Black people in this country. Rap music and the culture that it represents is one of the most destructive forces impacting so called "Black America" in modern times (Since the civil rights era).

"Black Culture" has lost whatever moral fabric that it had. "Values" in Black America have eroded. African American values have become hijacked by vanity and consumerism on a huge scale. Furthermore, Black "families" are becoming a thing of the past. Having babies out of wedlock, and women with children from various fathers has become more of the norm. There is no longer a sense of "shame" in Black communities for this kind of lifestyle. And now you have the rap culture and the music videos and these idiot Black celebrities- mostly pro athletes and R&B/hip hop artists who reinforce this lifestyle. Just catch a glimpse of the idiot music videos and R&B and rap songs that make Black folks seem more like primates. Black folks in turn buy the music and embrace destructive Black urban entertainment sources such as BET- The Black Exploitation Television network...or the Baffoon Entertainment Television network as I like to call it. This in turn endorses and glorifies the destructive and degenerate lifestyle that these people promote, and creates a cycle...where Black folks end up supporting their own destruction. Not only do they support it, but they celebrate it.

In modern Black culture, education is still seen as something that is not "cool". Coolness= being ignorant for many, particularly young African Americans.
We have boys walking around impersonating Black men. It is not uncommon for young black men to spend more money on accessories for their automobiles, than they spend on their children. They will pay for fancy wheels and stereo systems for their cars instead of paying their child support. Like I mentioned above, many young Blacks have lost value systems....systems that Blacks used to have 1, 2, 3 generations ago. There is no sense of family and priorities for many Black folks are all mixed up.

And look at Black neighborhoods. After 20, 30, 40 years or more of urban blight, why are Black communities still not able to recover in larger numbers? In every major city in this country, you have the same thing. It is not as prevalent in other communities, such as Chinese communities, White communities, Hispanic communities, Vietnamese communities, etc. There are certain characteristics that seem to be almost unique to Black communities in this country. Drive through any Black inner city area in a major city and what do you see? Burned out and or boarded up buildings, no industry- broken economies, dirty streets, criminal activity, young black men roaming the streets or hanging out on street corners with nothing to do, prostitution, drugs, liquor stores every few blocks, fast food places on every other corner, billboards and other ads for dumbed down urban radio, or liquor ads everywhere, and the devastating evidence of "white flight". In fact, what are 3 booming industries for Black urban communities that you will always see as a constant from place to place? I can tell you. it's Liquor stores, fast food places, and to complete the cycle- Funeral Homes. That says it all!!! What you have in these communities is a self contained, self sufficient and efficient cycle of destruction as shown by what industries are actually thriving in these places. And I also should include in there, the Jail/Prison industrial complex. Each part of this cycle I describe leads to the other.... beginning with young men and women born into run down neighborhoods with few opportunities and shady school systems, hip hop culture and mindless urban radio, which then leads to a lifestyle of jail/drugs/drinking. The fast food leads to poor health.... poverty and lack of healthcare, and also the drugs and criminal behavior eventually leads to the Funeral Home. So it's almost like a 2 track system... poor health and drugs will kill them as well as the criminal lifestyle. Either way, they end up being at greater risk of dying early.

If that's not enough Black women celebrate the thug image of Black males. The thug image is now the preferred image for Black women. This lifestyle characteristic has taken off in recent years with the help of Black R&B performers such as Beyonce (Listen to the Song "soldier" by her group Destiny's Child) , Ashante, and many others glorifying this image and telling young Black women that this is the kind of man to seek. People like Beyonce make me want to Puke (I always thought she was disgusting anyway).

But the whole lifestyle that these people represent is disgusting to me.

You now have groups like the NAACP, and even the MLK family (The sometimes annoying Civil Rights Elite) embracing these elements of our society- people like R. Kelly and rapper Nelly, among others. It's sickening.


Talk to most young Black Americans from urban communities and quiz them on what they want to become... what are the typical answers? They want to be rappers, R&B singers, "players", pimps, dancers, drug dealers, NBA players, NFL players, rap video girls, etc. Few want to be professionals....lawyers, business people, medical professionals, public officials, police officers, political leaders, authors, engineers, scientists, academics, etc...

And for those few young Black Americans who do want to become professionals, there are few role models/mentors for them and few adults (parents) pushing them and telling them how much hard work it will really take to reach their goals.

All of these things together are leading to these conditions. It's not one single thing that anyone could point to.

With the way things are going currently, I do not see this situation improving anytime in the near future.