This weekend I use my own initiative to attend two very enlightening events:
- Morehouse College: Third Annual "Black Male Summit"
- The "Malcolm X Banquet" - Sponsored By The "Malcolm X Grassroots Movement"
Though both events differed in their foundations - one featured a panel of academicians, the other a series of religious/community activists - they both kept referencing the same force "White Supremacy". They both told of the necessity to "Speak Truth To Power".
The Black Male Summit
Back during my days as a single man I used to spend more time at the Atlanta University Center. Even though I was not a student at Morehouse I attended the Sunday church service at the King Chapel several times. My recent visit to campus rekindled these memories of these past occasions. Though several new buildings and parking lots now adorn the campus - the same spirit of uplift remains on these sacred grounds.
The "Third Annual Black Male Summit" was held during "Founders Week" at Morehouse. They moved the event out of the King Chapel. Its stage was full of instruments, prompting me to figure out where they moved to. On the way out of the building I saw the grand statue of Martin Luther King Jr. I could not help but think about the possibility of a similar statue of Kwame Nkrumah, which had once been the symbol of a people's pride, years later being torn down to the ground below after the people turned against him. With the state of affairs in the community no more than 5 blocks to the west/northwest of where the statue of King is placed - there are a number of individuals who would dismantle the bronze statue and sell it for scrap metal. The $50 they receive would never pay for the shot to our community honor that their actions would cast upon us.
After finding my way to the building, with the assistance of a security guard I was pleasantly surprised to see a packed house of attentive people. All of the panelists where "hyper articulate" - using certain words that I jotted down for inclusion into my own vocabulary. All of them were acutely aware of the problems facing young Black males today. Each presented their individual slide show laced with sobering facts.
The two contributors that stole the show, in my view (not to take anything away from Judge Hatchett) were Dr Deborah Prothrow-Stith and Dr Jawanza Kunufu.
Dr Stith cross referenced the modern day violent acts committed by "Street Pirates" with the history of dueling among "men of honor" here in America. She notated that in both cases the act of "dissing" one's adversary is the root of ensuing violence. Her argument was - If this standard means of settling "beef" is now eradicated from common occurrence among "White males" then it proves that the modern form, as seen among Black males is not GENETIC - as some would like you to believe. Instead it has cultural/political/sociological roots that need to be mitigated.
I took issue with Dr Stith when she initially made generic reference to "the industry which PROMOTES/PROFITS and SOCIALIZES violence in our nation". It sounded as if she was throwing up the tired use of the ubiquitous "THEY" - as in the word "THEY did this to us and THEY must be made to pay". She later cleaned her statements up, making it clear that "WE" are a part of the problem per the messages that we allow to flow within our community. Why is anyone surprised (my words here) when a "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" has his tour bus shot at in real life when they traffic in these messages and this lifestyle, their songs being a docudrama of their experiences?
I got the same felling that I receive after listening to Farrakhan - those who can accurately articulate a reference model as to "what we need to enforce upon the ESTABLISHMENT in order to protect our people's interests" are often unwilling to impose these "best practices" upon real world Black people - especially those who are within the establishment power base. The problem is that there is a loathing to hold these Black leaders (and the rank & file) accountable with the same passion that is cast upon an adversarial being. The conflicting goal of seeking to retain "Black representation" in the halls of power yet the compromised outcomes as we now do not apply corrective pushback on the seat - now that it is "favorably occupied" is a common flaw in the present Black political operation as it is cast today.
Long story short - while Dr Stith presented a framework for comparison that was of merit - she needs to be solemnly aware that there is a large force of Black people who are anxiously waiting to take her PowerPoint presentation and use it in their argument "You See! THEY Are Violent Too". They prefer to find "partners in the mud with them" rather than defining the terms of their own organic uplift. There needs to be a more clear methodological framework articulated as a means of mitigating this problem.
I believe that Dr Jawanza Kunjufu came the closest to defining the terms of this "corrective methodology". He spoke of the one construct which all future corrective proposes upon Black males should be based: "The Rites Of Passage". He argued that individual mentors paired with individual mentorees will likely result in 20 different outcomes, based on the individual experiences by both of the parties in the relationship. A "rites of passage" program, by comparison has a standardized framework which is applied to all of the participants, thus resulting in more consistent outcomes. He mentioned that "The Harlem's Children's Zone" is based upon "the rites of passage".
I have expressed my previous frustrations with mentorship programs. Whereas I depart the company of my own wife and children in order to be a corrective presence in the lives of a room full of Black males - never did I see one of their fathers drop off or pick up any of them in the 2.5 annual sessions of my involvement with the program. (Mothers, sisters or older brothers are the escorts). I believe that the combination of the "Rites Of Passage" and "Those who seek to eat the fruit must tend to the harvest" are necessary constraints to be added.
How To Operationalize These Findings
The Black Male Summit was free of the usual ideological and political indictments that are typically laced within such gatherings of "Black folks". (Sorry but its the truth). They indeed referenced the effects of "public policy" upon the conditions that they speak of but they left the action items open ended.
Judge Hatchett talked about the Black male in her court room that went from an "A student" in middle school into a drop out/drug dealer in high school, this because he had to obtain food for his two siblings. His mother was a drug addict. Still he made sure that his siblings got good grades and never missed a day of school.
At this point in most symposiums is where the usual inflection point takes place. The "boil the ocean" which says "Let's root out the imbalance of POVERTY, and all of the other social problems will be resolved". In doing so their obfuscations allow them to tacitly avoid confronting the consequences of their preferences - just like the male in the story won't be forced to see that by selling drugs as a means of covering for his mother and father's abandonment - he is merely supply drugs to someone else's mother and father. Thus the deadly cycle continues.
Our community activism/political discourse sets us upon a course where we are perpetually demanding of the greater society that they PROVE TO US that we are equal, based upon their willingness to help us without the PREJUDICE of the lack of "familial and racial bond". In truth not even our own common racial bond is powerful enough for Black people to forge a "familial bond", treating those Blacks in need as if they grew up in our own houses, accepting their problems as that of a sister. Instead the racial bond is mostly used as an indictment, proclaiming to others that they are racists because they do not choose to expand the "nationalistic bond" as a more powerful radiating force than the racial or familial bond.
The major void in the room was the means by which we operationalize an ORGANIC set of corrections, thus requiring our community to go after certain people and certain practices that we have a history of defending from outside critics.
(Malcolm X Banquet & Jemimah Wright in Part II)
The Black Male Summit
Back during my days as a single man I used to spend more time at the Atlanta University Center. Even though I was not a student at Morehouse I attended the Sunday church service at the King Chapel several times. My recent visit to campus rekindled these memories of these past occasions. Though several new buildings and parking lots now adorn the campus - the same spirit of uplift remains on these sacred grounds.
The "Third Annual Black Male Summit" was held during "Founders Week" at Morehouse. They moved the event out of the King Chapel. Its stage was full of instruments, prompting me to figure out where they moved to. On the way out of the building I saw the grand statue of Martin Luther King Jr. I could not help but think about the possibility of a similar statue of Kwame Nkrumah, which had once been the symbol of a people's pride, years later being torn down to the ground below after the people turned against him. With the state of affairs in the community no more than 5 blocks to the west/northwest of where the statue of King is placed - there are a number of individuals who would dismantle the bronze statue and sell it for scrap metal. The $50 they receive would never pay for the shot to our community honor that their actions would cast upon us.
After finding my way to the building, with the assistance of a security guard I was pleasantly surprised to see a packed house of attentive people. All of the panelists where "hyper articulate" - using certain words that I jotted down for inclusion into my own vocabulary. All of them were acutely aware of the problems facing young Black males today. Each presented their individual slide show laced with sobering facts.
The two contributors that stole the show, in my view (not to take anything away from Judge Hatchett) were Dr Deborah Prothrow-Stith and Dr Jawanza Kunufu.
Dr Stith cross referenced the modern day violent acts committed by "Street Pirates" with the history of dueling among "men of honor" here in America. She notated that in both cases the act of "dissing" one's adversary is the root of ensuing violence. Her argument was - If this standard means of settling "beef" is now eradicated from common occurrence among "White males" then it proves that the modern form, as seen among Black males is not GENETIC - as some would like you to believe. Instead it has cultural/political/sociological roots that need to be mitigated.
I took issue with Dr Stith when she initially made generic reference to "the industry which PROMOTES/PROFITS and SOCIALIZES violence in our nation". It sounded as if she was throwing up the tired use of the ubiquitous "THEY" - as in the word "THEY did this to us and THEY must be made to pay". She later cleaned her statements up, making it clear that "WE" are a part of the problem per the messages that we allow to flow within our community. Why is anyone surprised (my words here) when a "Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" has his tour bus shot at in real life when they traffic in these messages and this lifestyle, their songs being a docudrama of their experiences?
I got the same felling that I receive after listening to Farrakhan - those who can accurately articulate a reference model as to "what we need to enforce upon the ESTABLISHMENT in order to protect our people's interests" are often unwilling to impose these "best practices" upon real world Black people - especially those who are within the establishment power base. The problem is that there is a loathing to hold these Black leaders (and the rank & file) accountable with the same passion that is cast upon an adversarial being. The conflicting goal of seeking to retain "Black representation" in the halls of power yet the compromised outcomes as we now do not apply corrective pushback on the seat - now that it is "favorably occupied" is a common flaw in the present Black political operation as it is cast today.
Long story short - while Dr Stith presented a framework for comparison that was of merit - she needs to be solemnly aware that there is a large force of Black people who are anxiously waiting to take her PowerPoint presentation and use it in their argument "You See! THEY Are Violent Too". They prefer to find "partners in the mud with them" rather than defining the terms of their own organic uplift. There needs to be a more clear methodological framework articulated as a means of mitigating this problem.
I believe that Dr Jawanza Kunjufu came the closest to defining the terms of this "corrective methodology". He spoke of the one construct which all future corrective proposes upon Black males should be based: "The Rites Of Passage". He argued that individual mentors paired with individual mentorees will likely result in 20 different outcomes, based on the individual experiences by both of the parties in the relationship. A "rites of passage" program, by comparison has a standardized framework which is applied to all of the participants, thus resulting in more consistent outcomes. He mentioned that "The Harlem's Children's Zone" is based upon "the rites of passage".
I have expressed my previous frustrations with mentorship programs. Whereas I depart the company of my own wife and children in order to be a corrective presence in the lives of a room full of Black males - never did I see one of their fathers drop off or pick up any of them in the 2.5 annual sessions of my involvement with the program. (Mothers, sisters or older brothers are the escorts). I believe that the combination of the "Rites Of Passage" and "Those who seek to eat the fruit must tend to the harvest" are necessary constraints to be added.
How To Operationalize These Findings
The Black Male Summit was free of the usual ideological and political indictments that are typically laced within such gatherings of "Black folks". (Sorry but its the truth). They indeed referenced the effects of "public policy" upon the conditions that they speak of but they left the action items open ended.
Judge Hatchett talked about the Black male in her court room that went from an "A student" in middle school into a drop out/drug dealer in high school, this because he had to obtain food for his two siblings. His mother was a drug addict. Still he made sure that his siblings got good grades and never missed a day of school.
At this point in most symposiums is where the usual inflection point takes place. The "boil the ocean" which says "Let's root out the imbalance of POVERTY, and all of the other social problems will be resolved". In doing so their obfuscations allow them to tacitly avoid confronting the consequences of their preferences - just like the male in the story won't be forced to see that by selling drugs as a means of covering for his mother and father's abandonment - he is merely supply drugs to someone else's mother and father. Thus the deadly cycle continues.
Our community activism/political discourse sets us upon a course where we are perpetually demanding of the greater society that they PROVE TO US that we are equal, based upon their willingness to help us without the PREJUDICE of the lack of "familial and racial bond". In truth not even our own common racial bond is powerful enough for Black people to forge a "familial bond", treating those Blacks in need as if they grew up in our own houses, accepting their problems as that of a sister. Instead the racial bond is mostly used as an indictment, proclaiming to others that they are racists because they do not choose to expand the "nationalistic bond" as a more powerful radiating force than the racial or familial bond.
The major void in the room was the means by which we operationalize an ORGANIC set of corrections, thus requiring our community to go after certain people and certain practices that we have a history of defending from outside critics.
(Malcolm X Banquet & Jemimah Wright in Part II)
No comments:
Post a Comment