The State of the African American Male.
 

Hotep Women of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. I bring forth greetings as a brother of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Today had an opportunity to attend a conference that was convened by my fraternity brother Congressman Danny K. Davis(7th). The conference was held at Malcolm X College here in Chicago and was very positive. For additional information regarding the State of the African American Male, contact: 3333 W. Arthington, Suite 230 Chicago, Il. 60624, 773-638-1998, 773-638-3919(fax). Please show your support. What is the State of the African American Male where you live?

I shouldn't comment out of fear that this may become a male bashing session. But before I go into any detail, tell me what do you exactly mean by the state of the African American Male?

Re: Reddawn's Inquiry.
 

Hello Reddawn. Hotep. The State of the African American Male was simply in response to the conference that was recently convened by a black U.S Congressman Danny K. Davis(7th) here in Chicago. First and foremost I must state for the record, that I have come in peace and wish not to cause any negative debate or friction amongst a BLACK PEOPLE as so has been done recently regarding this issue. I respect any direction you so choose to come toward responding and stating your honest view about the State of The African American Male. As a matter of fact I am appreciative that you have taken the time to respond and look forward to reading your post. There has been some criticism of this here BLACKMAN for simply tossing out this issue. Individuals have COMPLAINED that I did not follow PROTOCOL of the chat room, because I brought forth the conference information to the various BGLOs. Again, I am sure you have something to state about your view/opinion regarding the State of the African American Male where you reside. Peace.

In New York, the Black Men ... I hate to say this ... seem to be lost. I constantly get the feeling that they don't know what direction they want to be in.

They seem to be, IMO, scared to get smarts that they need but not afraid to do the "street-wise" thing to be considered a man.

I guess the question is, What is the true definition of a man?

I don't think that is something that can be defined. Something like that is bound to leave someone out. It's all a social construction meant to reinforce hierarchies if you ask me. :p

True

I am going to give an example of confusion.

I have a cousin, he is the same age as me, give or take a few months. He had the same start as me. We both lived in a nice area in the city. only difference was he lived the project and I in a private house. Now he knew what he needed to do. All he had to do was go to school. Move on to college and get a good job. Live life on the straight and narrow.

But he decided that is not what a man needs to do. A man makes money. He's a convicted Drug dealer/runner, gunrunner. The only way he got on the straight and narrow was when he was in Jail. They forced him to continue school and take a few college courses. He has tainted each one of his family immediate family members with his illegal actions.

The call to the street wise mentally was too strong.

He got paroled last April. You would think he learned anything. We all are taking bets on how long he will stay out. He has spent most of his adult and teenage life in Jail.

What are you confused about?

Re: Reddawn & Epitome's Response
 

Hotep Reddawn & Epitome. I come in Peace. Both of you have provided very interesting viewpoints, that I truly respect. Keep up this important dialogue & be it known, that the Black Woman is too an important element of the State of the African American Male with various issues that are not to be ignored. The premise of the subject matter involving the African American male is not to ignore the fact, that the Black female must be allowed to have her issues discussed and examined. Best wishes. Ptah Hotep.

Let me put the breaks on this "lovely" discussion on the Black male.

I've lived in New York myself and it seems that sisters are also riding this train of misdirection. More sisters want to be Lil Kim or Foxy instead of educated young ladies but that is not the topic so I'll digress on it.


To be honest it isn't the young men who are teh problem. The problem was created by the older gentlemen who struggled to make it and now that they got that nice house in a nice suburb, they forgotten about the younger cats who are struggling to do right. They vote for to shoot down "work for welfare", affirmative action, summer job programs (designed to keep them off the streets). The state of the Black (young) male lies in the hands of the people who qucikly dismissed them as ignorant and lazy because of the crap they see on a rap video. People like Armstrong Williams subscribe to this nonsense.

Now the state of the Black male rest on our shoulders. Are we willing to step up and help the younger ones? Or do we just grab our degrees and head to the suburbs. Do we share the wealth or do we get fat while the rest starve?

I have seen all that the other posters have said, and I do agree to it -- to a point.

Personally, I am not a lil Kim wannabe or anything like that. I am just trying to make it like everyone else. I do everything that I am suppose to do to try to uplift the race on the basic and economic levels in my community.

But I know that is not enough. That we need to want it to happen. The state of African American Race, i believe, has been torned to different directions.

I had a convo with coworker and we discussed that there are no one to push us to do something about the world. We all got over the "initial" hurdle and was satisfied. There are no Angela Davises or Martin Luther Kings out there making a difference. Its all about the $$$ and that is it.

Personally, I tried to strive to make myself more presentable of the race.

When I focused on my cousin, all I was saying we had the same opportunities, no it was not perfect--nothing is, but it was still an opportunity for him to excell and achieve. Now, he is probably going to be a career criminal for the rest of his life.

As for the older generation, I have been on both sides of the fence on that one, my mother and grandmother were ULTRA supportive to anything me and siblings wanted to do. It was my father who was against it.

To me it has nothing to do with living in the suburbs. It has everything to do with are you blocking yourself out of what is going on. I lived in a promodimently (excuse the spelling) Italian neighborhood. But I went to a black school. A black church, etc.

I guess it goes back to how we treat one another. If we treated each other with respect and stopped tearing each other down, maybe we will achieve that level that God destined for us.

-- my two cents.

Nice, can dig it. But the older generation does have somethign to do with it. If we turn our backs on the younger brothers and sisters, then we're apart of the problem. I just think this "black male" thing is little overblown and just a small part of the BIG PICTURE.

Maybe you didn't but there are alot of women in NYC who are "trying" to live that lifestyle. I was just making a point that it's more than just brothers trying to live a certain lifestyle.

P.S.
 

Have a little more faith in your fam sister. I have a younger brother screwing up too but I pray that Allah will show him the light.