Guest Commentary: What do young Black males require? By Eric Johnson
PHOTO COURTESY: James Klekowski
A few days ago, a brother of an organization I belong to called Brothers United for Change (BUC), sent me and the other brothers of BUC an e-mail. In the e-mail he posed the question: “What do young male youth need the most right now?” Subsequent to his question, he posited the following as his choices: Do male youth need someone to fight for their community, fight for their injustice, or fight for their education?
My response to the brother’s e-mail question was education, and I buttressed my response by citing a quote from Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s perennial book The Mis-Education of the Negro:
[t]he same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything worth while, depresses and [CRUSHES] at the same time the spark of genius in the [Black] by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples.
It’s my position that the nihilistic behavior exhibited by some Black male youth, particularly, Black male youth in my city of Baltimore is a direct consequence of an “educational” system that devalues, marginalizes and underestimates Black youth in general, but Black male youth in particular.
Why is it that if you ask most Black youth who discovered America, they will emphatically answer Christopher Columbus? That’s right! In the year 2008, Black youth are still being inculcated with this untruth. The late Dr. John Henrik Clarke, in his book Christopher Columbus and the Afrikan Holocaust states:
[t]oday former Columbus cheerleaders have discarded the word “discovery” and are now using the word “encounter.” They too are aware of the fact that Christopher Columbus discovered absolutely nothing.
Apparently, these Columbus cheerleaders are not employed by the Baltimore City Public School system because this falsehood of “discovery” is still promulgated. Moreover, Dr. Clarke goes on to say that:
Christopher Columbus set in motion: “an act of criminality that influences our very life today. He laid the basis for western racism, misconceptions about people and extensive use of organized religions as a rationale for the enslavement of people.”
Do we need to fight for the injustices that are perpetuated against Black male youth? Absolutely! Do we need to fight to bring back the communal/village aspect that enabled our youth to succeed in spite of gargantuan obstacles predicated on race? Sure! However, until we - the concerned citizens of Baltimore City - are able to implement an educational system that reawakens the African mind, we will continue to witness our Black male youth, to paraphrase Haki R. Madhubuti, being responsible and responsive to somebody else’s needs at the expense and detriment of themselves and their people.
I would like to thank brother Overton of BUC and his wife for inspiring a very spirited e-mail conversation.
Eric Johnson is Computer Scientist and a member of Brothers United for Change (BUC) which is an organization dedicated to the elevation of troubled young Black men. He can be reached at eric.v.johnson@verizon.net
May 5th, 2008 at 8:16 am
It is an inconvenient truth that young people people in the black community need what Senator Obama and all of the rest of us need. The successful Senator Obama set out to pursue his dream, and so far he has ended up doing the following:
He has distanced himself from the civil rights movement, his wife’s heart-felt comments about being a proud American, his beliefs about what ails gun-toting Christian marginalized Americans, his pastor and church of 20 years that shaped him into what he is today, his faith (to include black liberation theology)…!
What’s next for him, will he have to divorce his black wife in order to be accepted?
Why is it that he cannot be himself? Look what happened to General Colin Powell, a man who was to be President, instead he was fired by the Bush Administration because he would not capitulate. To be succesful in caucasian America, blacks are required to abandon who they really are at the core, just consider Dr. C. Rice, Judge Thomas and others of late who in every way, except appearance, are required to behave as if they are white instead of black!
In order to be yourself, if you are black in America, young or old, you are often called upon to sacrifice your values and your core being and feelings, that is if you wish to receive the extended hand of fellowship, even at the Obama, Colin, Thomas level. The Wright Reverend, refuses to dance.
The nihilistic nexus that our young people thrive within inside of America, similar to older blacks, often results in a classic feeling of loss, nihilism, despair, pretense, dysphasia and superficiality. Many white youngsters grow up and go to college, many black males end up going to jail or to the streets or graveyard.
And it should not be overlooked, that even the ones who end up becoming successful and wealthy professional athletes, not drug dealers or pimps, in the final analysis, still end up going too jail as well! Black Americans are still wandering in the wilderness that is fraught with pitfalls that are not conducive for black people. Too many of us are striving to thrive in an unhealthy American crucible, which never had the aspirations, dreams, need or desires of black individuals or families, young and old, in mind anyway!
Is it any wonder that schizoaffective disorders are so common in black America, if not among our youth. Our youth need a healthy place to live in, one that loves them and exists in order to meet their needs and to ‘foster their growth’ from the cradle right up and into old age! They simply do not have a healthy environment to grow in at present!