Another One Bites the Dust

A suburbanite. An educator. Having led a fairly sheltered life, even I am not exempt. Even I have been affected by this epidemic that is plaguing our community. What am I talking about is young black men that have been, are, or will be, caught up in the justice system. If we turn on the evening news, we can see how black men are continuously involved in illegal activity that lands them on my T.V. screen, in the courts, and in jail or prison or dead. But for most black people, even sheltered suburbanites like myself, we do not have to turn on the T.V. to learn of another black man that has just virtually ruined his life or at least put a major dent in its progress.

Recently, cousins and childhood friends of this suburbanite have faced charges ranging from terroristic threats, to pimping, to robbery, to murder. And I am sure that it will not take you long to think of someone in your circle with a similar story. So if everyone knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who has this story, where is the black community going? Yes, we have made huge advances…Obama is President, but the state of the black community is in despair.

I was having a lively debate with my cousin who was basically stating that “the system” has set our young black men up for failure. They have put drugs into the community, subjected black kids to poor education, etc. And while I agree that these things definitely contribute to the hardships that blacks, and black men specifically face, I had to ask, where is the accountability? I definitely do not want to negate responsibility that these factors carry, but what does identifying them as a reason for our condition do for our condition? We as a community cannot waste another breath blaming someone for what we are currently facing, but instead we need to look within to find out what we can do to help alleviate some of the affects. We are the ones making black men an endangered species, by killing each other over money, power and respect. We sell drugs to our brothers and sisters, leaving them addicted to crack cocaine. We have numerous babies out of wedlock, signing our children up for the many dangers that come along with a single parent home. We leave our children to raise themselves, thinking that real parenting does not involve being an active parent.

My point is, yes, there are definitely systemic institutions and barriers that have, and continue to hold black people back from truly living a life of greatness, but there are so many things that we are doing that make our condition worse instead of better. There are things that at the bare minimum we can do the place ourselves in a better position. It’s a multifaceted problem with no quick solution. But the time is now…