Black fathers: Still valuable, still needed

Black fathers: Still valuable, still needed

His name is Steve!!!

     Never in life would I imagine or tell my son to leave the way he came.  Hell ,I wish it was that easy or that whatever it was could make him change back to normal - would just happen. I'd hope to wake up one day and it be a bad joke. I find myself at times completely and utterly angry at the things I could have done to prevent this horrible embarrassment. Yea,  people say "You should see signs, is how you'll know." I didn't see shit!!! Yea I knew he didn't like football but I felt he would come around one day. I would hear his sister yelling something about her dolls but I didn't think nothing of it....the boy was five.
      Most times we were together we'd talk about fishing and school, mostly gym and how he loved swimming and  not being afraid to shower afterward.  Summer camp this year had no negative responses. I thought that was a break-through cause he didn't cry or anything he was quiet the whole way there. I asked Jason if things where okay and his response was a shoulder shrug. While Jason and Lilly were away I thought I could get a little cleaning around the house done.  As I was cleaning his closet I noticed a little shoe box under a pile of old books from years ago.
      I don't know what told me to open the box, so when did I saw what I thought were love letters to a little girl friend he had, but I was sadly mistaken when a picture fell out of what appears to be some boy with no shirt on in his underwear.  On the back of the picture read, 'from your darling Steve'.... I didn't know what to think. Of course I thought this was a mistake til I read the letters they had  been mailing each other since summer camp last year.  I'LL KILL HIM, I thought to myself.  Then, I knew I needed to calm myself  because my blood was boiling. I tried to call the camp but I remembered they were going to be hiking to the mountains for two days. I thought when he gets back I'll beat him to death.  All kinds of questions were going through my head, 'How long was this going on?'  'What has happened?' 'Did he like it? MY GOD DID HE LIKE IT??? I can't wait til he gets home on Monday...I needed answers.  I CAN'T BELIEVE MY SON LIKES BOYS!!!! I'LL KILL HIM.

Baby Language!

Baby I need you.... Translation: I'm really horny and want you to please me sexually without any questions.
Baby I want to love you forever..Translation: I'm really scared of being alone but I don't know what I want.
Baby I want you to respect me as your lover and friend.... Translation: If I tell you my feelings I need you not to use them against me when we fight...
Baby It don't matter what I want... Translation: I only need my feelings to be heard until I feel that yours matter.
Baby I want whatever you want..Translation: I think that if I say this you will eventually give in to what I want.
Baby I want you to know this...Translation: I'm lying for the most part, but I'm sincere either way.
Baby How Can I make Us Better...Translation: If you know how I feel then why do you bother me with talking about the problems we have?
Baby I want to be better...Translation: I'm really tired and I give in so you win.


Baby I love you....

Injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere!

http://www.change.org/petitions/prosecute-the-killer-of-our-son-17-year-old-trayvon-martin

When Black Men Fall Apart.

     There were times when you could find strange fruit hanging, dangling from trees, on-lookers pointing and laughing with a foul stench in the midnight breeze. It was the norm and was once the past time of the Americans. Folks would get all dolled up to spectate the brutality of the young and old while socializing with love ones and old friends. Then there were times of the 'Good Ole Jim Crow' laws which redefined cultural relations through out the hostile South which caused  African American Men to feel the pressure and ultimately they became the victims of social hardship. So the question is did this crack the African American Male? You can look at the social system for the answer, school, home and work to be more specific. Young African American Men have had, and still maintain the highest drop-out rate for high school students if they even make it that far. They also take the same position in the incarceration rates as well.It has been proven that there is a direct correlation between  lack of education for the African American Male and  the high incarceration rate. Why is there more focus on the space programs then the "inner-city" student who can't get funding for books or even keep their schools open?
     The second focus could be seen as the core of the African American Male problems. He has no guidance for help and is lacking motivational skills to do for self. He see what mainstream social norms are as his way to understands his role as a African American Male. A microwaved society that is America prides itself off the things it can take with military force, the illusion of the power of the pen versus the power of the gun, demonizes the poor and glorifies the wealthy. This creates distress and causes a vicious cycle of bottled up emotions that he carries around  without a proper outlet.
      Then there's work, in which he's treated as the misunderstood one and has to be directly looked over or watched to ensure he is productive. At times he must prove himself to be qualified among his peers. He's targeted and made the butt of most jokes and when he tries to address these concerns, he's made to feel as if he is the problem. At what point can anyone be comfortable in any of this? How would or could you understand the pressure of the African American Male? Are you part of the problem or the solution to the breaking down the African American Male? When and what do you feel can be positive discussion to this situation?

The African Mind

Where are the gospels of Marcus Garvey, MLK, Malcolm X, Huey P. or Eldridge Cleaver? How do we understand the world without the understanding of who these people were?  Why do you only hear the stories of their struggles, but don't utilize their understanding and wisdom to create new environmental change for the people of color? I remember my first time I experienced racism at an early age I didn't quite understand it, I felt a sense of not belonging and feeling uncomfortable with the person I was. Many years has gone by since that initial feeling and now I have a greater sense of self due to me learning who I am. It is through the literature of the greats that has overtime given a sense of pride and accomplishment to a people who otherwise are deemed lost with no real identity. With this sense of pride and courage I'm able to now reach back to the youth helping cultivate the knowledge to those who should know who we are and where we come from. The struggle is not over it has intensified and is now beening masked behind color-blindness. We must continue to ignite that ever burning flame our ancestors before felt during their various forms of captivity. If we never forget the voice of freedom it shall always and forever ring. 

Black Fact of the Day

September 8

In 1963, Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film, Lilies of the Field.