"'Cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight" ~ Tupac Shakur
Long time, no write. I’ve been so busy lately and have really neglected my blog. But here I am!
The other night, I was hanging out with my fraternity brothers and we were discussing the fact that we, as young black (for the most part) men, try to hold up a light in this nation through our scholarship, service, and chivalry. We are far from perfect, but we are on a daily quest toward perfection. I feel like, both in and outside of my fraternity, most young black men are positive people who want to lead successful lives and provide for our families. We are not all the deadbeat dads, wannabe rappers/hoopers (no offense to those who aspire to be artists or athletes), or criminals that this mainstream (white) culture paints us to be.
But anyway, I have digressed. As my brothers and I were discussing being a light on campus, we received a text from UNCG campus alerts saying “2 armed robberies occurred off campus. 2 B/M driving a red Nissan pkup. 1 wearing plaid shirt, short dreadlocks, armed with a silver handgun.” I was kind of frustrated when I saw this. Me and a few of the bruhs talked about it for a while. I expressed the sentiment that I am sick of the fact that we are constantly singled out by the system for criminal acts. So often, the picture is painted that we are savages who have to be tamed by whites. Those of us who are in college have been “well-trained” and are the exception to the rule, whereas those of us who continue to commit crimes are just expressing natural criminal-mindedness. I beg to differ. If we want to take that route, I would have to say that white people are naturally exploitive and lazy because they enslaved and raped the resources of numerous nations. But I try to stay away from thinking that the word “all” is expressive of any group because there are always exceptions to every “rule.” So why is my nation, the one that drafted my uncles into one war and my grandfather into another, continuing to paint a picture of me that says “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” If there are angry black men, it is because YOU made us this way. You is anyone in this nation, from me to Barack to George Bush to a member of the Klan. It is anyone who subscribes to any degree to the theory that blacks are inferior to whites. It is not possible to not subscribe to it at all because it has been beaten into our subconscious. All you can try to do is fight it now.
Now, the other side of this argument was given by my Dean; true, we’re not all like this, but we still have people who do the same thing time and time again. And I can’t deny that, even though we are disproportionately represented via the media and disproportionately targeted by the police, these crimes very often do happen. So now I must ask, are those of us who are black and privileged doing enough? I must say “No!” We are in the community, but we aren’t there enough. We are giving money, but we’re not giving enough. We are serving as mentors but we’re not serving enough. We have to give up more of a percentage of what we have because, aside from time, we as a whole have fewer resources than whites and we need more help. So, in the case where whites give 5% of their free time to serve at a soup kitchen or as a mentor, we have to give 20% because our need is that great. When they give 10% of their money to the Jack & Jill, we have to give 18% to UNCF because our need is that great. For every 2 times they invite their son’s underprivileged friend over for a play date, we have to invite our son’s underprivileged friend over 6 times so they know what it’s like to have that strong male influence. We have to get these crime rates and single parent rates and infant mortality rates and high school dropout rates down. I am appreciative of any person, regardless of race, who helps a needy person, but we have to hold our own people accountable too. Yesterday, my brother Isaac Brennan Horton said “The Bible says ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends,’ so what are a few dollars.” Let’s keep that mentality when we’re giving back to others. Give more than you planned to, even if it’s only by 50 cents or 15 minutes. You never know how much help that could be.
Litera scripta manet. - Unknown
