The Cushite,
Are we holding ourselves to that so-called moral standard now, though?
For one thing, to quote a friend of mine, "WE can't do what THEY do" or basically, when we don't go to school, when we don't settle down and have lot of babies, when we glorify lifestyles not becoming of men and women of character, WE aren't able to rely on family for financial and monetary support; WE cannot claim legacy to get into schools; WE are not close enough to resources that would enable us to have a better quality of life (i.e. Whites who are poor, with the exception of a few, live relatively close to middle/upper class areas, allowing them better schooling, better access to healthcare, more examples of success versus Blacks, who oftentimes concentrated in the urban areas, do not have access to these things) so we, systematically haven't been able to take use of advantages unavailable to us.
With 'White Flight', Industrial Movement (Frostbelt to the Sunbelt, in particular), and 'Public Welfare Programs' (this includes what we know as welfare, public housing, etc), Blacks haven't had the opportunity like some to even be motivated to do better. And then the cycle of destruction perpetuates itself. What to do about it? We aren't morally unsound; we are confused, misguided and misprioritized (is that a word--if not, I made it up!)
Why aren't there more eligible, accountable men available? They are any or a few of the following:
a) Doing whatever they can to get by
b) Incarcerated
c) Uneducated--disallowing them the advantages to seek better job opportunities (I don't knock a McJob, but many of our men are still there at 35, 45, 50 and so on? How CAN they be expected to do anymore than just get by?)
d) Unwilling to want more. I don't mean that they are like "Fot it; I like being disenfranchised/in poverty/etc,", it's that they are not MOTIVATED by people, serving as good role models and examples, of ways to do right (go to school, make a career, earn a REAL, legitimate living).
Women with many children/out of wedlock probably (any one or more of the following):
a) Came from a family (matriarchal) where it was expected/not looked down upon to have a child at 15/no male present (I mean husband, NOT a 'baby daddy')
b) Not educated on the reasons why developmentally, economically and socially, having a male/female counterpart is condusive to child development
c) Don't think it's a bad thing to have sex without adequate protection
d) Unwilling to expect more than what they see perpetuated in their daily lives.
And THIS is the base of that: why don't we say "No, you don't have to have sex! You are not a dog in heat---and if you feel so compelled to behave as such, USE a CONDOM!" Free clinics are begging people to use them but, 'It doesn't feel right with a condom' or 'He says if I use one then I don't love him/trust him'. Where are the men (getting back to traditional values) who are upholding that 'No, as a Black man, this is what I expect and this is what I do' --Laurence Fishburn in 'Boyz in the Hood' (was that it?)-esque man? He's in the suburbs, married with 2.5 children, and more often than not, trying to escape the reality he USED to know and not EDUCATE those left behind.
Morality IS at the base of this argument--the moral decay is prevelant in all of American society. You can argue that we might believe in a certain moral standard, but you cannot prove that we are all are actually living it/believing in it. All these things I've mentioned before aren't factors specific to the Black community; but the fact is that something is wrong and it doesn't affect other people like it affects us. Plain and simple.
It is not our job to look down upon anyone who is living these situations; it is not our job to spout conspiracy theories and exact to-the-t the historical reasons behind the current situations of many Blacks; it helps to know all the reasons why, but it is, more importantly, our job to help promote change.
Additionally, you are absolutely correct: we do need to hold ourselves and the government accountable. But they aren't going to babysit us and we can't rely on them to do EVERYTHING. There are advantages to having the federal government as impassioned as we are about effecting change, but if they aren't going to be about it, then we HAVE to be. Even if they are willing to commit to helping US out, we STILL need to be the ones to uphold the standards and expectations. there are resources and people made for this type of stuff; tap into what is here.
enigma_AKA
~~~Sidenote: ^^^That's what being a Black Greek is supposed to be about. Aside from strolling, calling and sponsoring step shows, we need to be about promoting change. And that's what most of us are about---so keep up the good work, us!!
Quote:
Originally posted by The Cushite
Enigma-AKA,
I don't think that Min. Farakahn, myself, or "Black Liberals" who see through the smokescreen of the conservative "Immorality schtick" are excusing the detrimental moral choices of anybody. Having babies too soon and out of wedlock would be detrimental to any population of people , but moreso to that population that doesn't have the social capital, fiscal resources, and institutional supports that comes with being middle class and white in America. The immorality=poverty arguement falls short on a variety of levels:
1. It assumes that the only source of poverty is personal choice. It tends to ignore or discount things like generational poverty and systemic barriers such as disproportionate incarceration of black men, inadequate access to healthcare and education, etc., which are more highly correlated with poverty than premarital sex and spending habits.
2. It also assumes that people who are not poor are more morally sound. All we have to do is look at the private lives of many of the "rich and famous" and we can see that the only thing that separates the social circumstance of many of the rich and many of the poor are resources, not character. You have good rich people and good poor people, if you equate good with making empowering (rather than destructive) moral choices. You also have bad rich people and bad poor people. The question that we as black people have to ask is do we truly have justice in our country if everybody's moral choices don't have the same moral consequences due to unequal resource distribution? Money seems to cover up many character flaws.
3. The most eggregious assertment that comes from the "Immorality Schtick" is that it seems to explain the disproportionate numbers of black people who find ourselves at the bottom of every single social and economic indicator by assuming that Black folk are just disproportionately immoral. I find it intrigung that , considering the history of this nation's treatment of black folks, and the moral resolve that black folks have demonstrated in the face of that treatment, that many want to lecture black people on morality. It's as if the social circumstance of black people is due to some kind of innate moral defect (like the curse of Ham myth). The only thing that has cursed black people has been the systemic destruction of our cultural, historical, psychic and moral selves due to hundreds of years of systemic oppression.
As black people, of course we hold ourselves to a high moral standards, because immorality under any circumstance is not only destructive, but just simply not right. But high morality without just relationships and a just society creates a pacified people rather than empowered one. You end up with a morally upright people who still find themselves at the bottom of every social indicator. Changing the morality of the oppressed without addressing the morality of the larger society doesn't change the larger society. In fact, it further entrenches the notion of inherent, justifiable inequality because the oppressed become satisfied with their own morality, rather than seeking a moral and just society. As we hold ourselves to high moral standards, we need to hold the government, the nation, and everybody to the highest of all moral standards, JUSTICE!!!!!!
Blackwatch!!!!!!
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