In the hood, young men grow up absorbing his environment. His comprehension of success is relevant based on those he sees as successful in his own neighborhood and those he see’s at the GA office. If he’s lucky, positive intervention will occur by way of a mentor, caring Family member, concerned teacher, or a compassionate neighbor. More often than not, encouragement is replaced by criticism, complaints, and physical & verbal abuse.
So when you talk about the “American Dream” to a kid with no positive male influence, living in poverty, attending a failing school, surrounded by drugs and alcohol, unemployment, prostitution, violence, and gangs, you have to consider that each level of society has it’s own version of that “Dream”. Private Jets, luxury cars, mansion, summer home’s, these make up what some consider the American Dream. Chrome Rims, Candy Paint, New Threads, and a Pocket Full of Cash is considered the “Dream” to others.
It’s clear that knowledge is power and the key to success but today hundreds of thousands of young people across the nation have failed or dropped out of school. As a nation of smart people, how can we allow this to happen? We can go to the moon, split an atom, clone a sheep, but we can’t get schools to effectively teach kids in our nations low income communities. There’s a saying, “You get what you pay for” and if you’re poor.. you get’s nadda.
I speak on this topic today as someone who has traveled down this road. I understand why our boys are in gangs and do what they do in the streets. I know why our girls are exploiting their bodies as a mean of financial gain. I’ve been that young hoodlum carrying guns and committing crimes. I did live that way because at that time in my life, that was my means to survival.
When you live in youth shelter (if you’re lucky), have no home, no food, no education, no job, and someone hands you a bag of dope, guess what you’re going to do! Law of the city cannot trump the Law of nature. Adaptation will occur in the harshest environment regardless of the threat of consequence. Today’s Youth, Are are they going, and who’s leading them?
I look at the way our young people are living and I am saddened to see the efforts of those in our not so distant past and even some in our present to dismantle the economic and political power of the African American people. Martin Luther King, Jr. was considered a Threat to US Security. He spoke against the war and in turn against the Military Industrial Complex and for that, he was silenced. The government at the time wanted to insure no Black man would rise up with the power MLK had so they planned to eliminate the leadership. Men on the stump as well as men on in our homes.
In a country of 400 Million today, and about 40 million black people, Black Males make up about half of the 2 Million people in our US prisons. 1 million men locked up. 1 million fathers locked up. 1 million potential doctors, teachers, police officers, contractors, politicians, TAX PAYERS. It cost’s $50,000 per year to incarcerate a person in prison, but it costs $25,000 to send them to trade school and get them working. The “War on Drugs” was a clear effort to legitimize the dismantling of the economic and political we use to have.
These men in prison aren’t able to protect and provide for their women, or show their boys how to become responsible men, or teach their daughters to respect their bodies. These men cannot protest against a music industry out of control spreading messages of violence, drug use, degradation or women, and immorality.
We can continue to ignore the situation outside our door, but we will regret this even more as we have been for so long. We know, Our Boys, Girls, and Young Adults are adapting to the world created by many smart people who Today we have the TRUTH, now we can take ACTION, and hope that our young boys and girls will retain their FREEDOM.
Great related video if you have the time… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADTbYLUEUZI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBh_hzU-jdI&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=Zu99bwmmlaA