DarkStar Spouts Off

WashPo Black Men Series: Wrap Up

It looks like The Washington Post "Black Men" series is complete. It ends with commentary by people involved in writing the articles and two sociologists opinions.

Now that the series is over, I'll do the following:

• I'll comment on Orlando Peterson's inane comments about the series.
• I'll comment on Patricia Williams' near suicide inducing comments about the series.
• I'll spout off with my own comments.

[ Update] It looks like my comments will be multi-part.

• Part one

[ Update ] More up on Jan 15, 2007.

• Part two
• Part three

[ Update ] I really wrap it up on Jan 21, 2007:

• My final piece, part four

I read Peterson's and Williams' pieces over breakfast. I had a rush of thoughts about what they wrote and what I wanted to write about the series. I wish I had tape recorded my thoughts at that point. The family then went to church and now I'm back. Hopefully, I will be able to get those same thoughts out again.

Spouting Off On: The Washington Post Black Man Series, IV

While DS 2.0 is asleep and the wife is running errands, let me wrap this up.

A Chance To Get Into The Room

This article about a Black business owner "spoke" to me because of this statement:

Do not mistake his business decisions for some lack of black pride, Ford insists. Like many black businessmen who have long felt like outsiders, Ford just wants "a chance to get into the room."

"If I get in the room," he says, "I'll show you what I can do. And I'm going to do whatever I can do to get in that room."

That is something that I think applies to me. Just let me get in the room and once I do, I'll shine.

The article does a good job of relating the feelings of a Black business owner. I'm not going to say all Black business owners go through the same thing this man does, but his view of what he is doing is something to which I can related.

To Ford, perceptions are powerful.

Take what happened when former Enlightened accountant Frank Wentink was hired last year. His friends told him that working for a black firm would not be so hard. Set-aside programs, they said, would make his workload easier. But Wentink, who is white, soon found that he was working through the weekends and pulling all-nighters and that Ford and his senior managers were always in the office "working their tails off," he said.

Such false assumptions drive Ford, the firm's big thinker who is responsible for long-range planning. A muscular 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds, Ford thunders into a room like a politician, laughing, shaking hands, demanding eye contact. With employees, he is often like a jovial, joke-cracking big brother. But when problems surface or deadlines approach, employees say, the big brother turns into a stern, no-excuses businessman.

Ford doubts that executives at BearingPoint Inc. or Perot Systems Corp., much larger competitors, have his kind of anxiety. They never have to worry about race being a factor in winning major contracts, he says.

I've witnessed such assumptions and have startled people by my work ethic that is stronger then many in my field, white or Black. Just ask my wife, who is not too happy right now about my work schedule to meet a deadline. :-(

I had my own consulting business and will have one again in the future. It is a lot of work to get a business running and get the business generating a decent stream of income. It's much harder when you are dealing with the government. They work on their own time tables and while the process is supposed to be open an fair, a lot of it really depends on relationships. I know for a fact that the best AND least expensive response to a proposal doesn't always win because of "politics."

The Meaning of Work

There were a couple of articles in the series that made me livid. This article was one of them.

But he was concerned about his résumé -- and all that it didn't say. For instance, it showed him working at the Giant Foods warehouse for two months, and what would an employer think of that? Should he mention that he was working the overnight shift? That on his last day, "I felt good when I got off work, I didn't feel sleepy"? That his eyes got droopy somewhere along Martin Luther King Boulevard, and they closed on Alabama Avenue, and when he slammed into a utility pole the engine ended up in the front seat, and the hospital bill that he has yet to pay is $1,500, and that's one of the reasons he needs a job? Preferably near a Metro stop?

And what about his first job, as one of the red-hatted guides in downtown Washington? "The best job I had," he said. It was $12.52 an hour, 40 hours a week. He had a bank account that got up to $700 -- and then, after 18 months of giving the same directions, helping the same homeless people, making the same money, he quit.

"I wanted more," he explained. "It wasn't no career. I wanted something better."

And maybe that's when the tailspin began, he said, because he didn't have another job lined up, and there went his savings, and there went his car soon after, and now, two years later, tie on, résumé in hand, wondering why "I waste opportunities or don't see opportunities," he was down to this one option. It was an interview for a job with Jiffy Lube, arranged by a government-funded job-placement service whose clients are mostly black men.

"God, help me out," he prayed before going in.

A week later, at a Virginia Jiffy Lube that was a 43-minute subway ride from Ward 8, Chris began his new job. Eight dollars an hour, 40 hours a week, $16,640 a year. "Looks like it's gonna work out," he said.

That night, his girlfriend told him their relationship was over.

The next day, he moved in with his mother.

Two days later: "I don't know what happened. I haven't heard from him," said Wally Kenner, his boss at Jiffy Lube. "If he doesn't call me or show up tomorrow, we'll probably have to let him go.' "

The next day: "He no longer works here," Kenner said.

The next day: "I don't know, man. Stuff happens," Chris said, sitting in his mother's home, head down, lights off, voice barely audible, trying to explain.

"If I had the answer, I'd tell you, but I don't know," he said. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know."

Dude is just straight up lazy. He wants more but doesn't want to put the work in to get more. What more can be said about it except that his mother should not have let him move back home.

In Or Out of the Game?

This was another article that made me mad.

I'm going to "be real" here. This guy is a waste and a danger to society. He should be sent away from civil society until he breathes his last breath.

The corner is a staple of street life, that rare piece of real estate that can't be purchased. Occupy it, claim it, it's yours. Anthony Marcellus James is a corner celebrity, a paradox of menace and charm. He is leaning against a fence, next to a vacant lot, in the Brentwood neighborhood of Northeast where he once was feared, as he put it, by people who would whisper: "That's A.J. Man, you don't want to [expletive] with him. He kills."

A.J. worked hard to earn his reputation, beating three murder charges in the 1990s and helping to settle numerous scores. "I'm known for having ammo, supplying people with guns and ammunition," he says. He has become, by his own admission, part of the scorned but emulated class of black men who have spent their lives as gangsters, drug dealers, stickup artists, killers. No collection of black men has generated more attention, more anger, more tears. By 2001, nearly 2 million black men nationwide had been to prison. On any given day, four of five D.C. jail inmates are black men. Many operate in a "thug life" world of their own -- with its own codes of conduct, its own language and economics, its own vulnerabilities.

Not only should he be sent away from society, but so should the aunt who he is living with. Dude has no job but is bringing in money? You know he's doing something dirty but you don't care, you just want the cash.

You must also go. You are also a part of the problem.

And, finally, what about his sons? What kind of "role model" is he providing to his sons?

Final Thoughts

The series was as fair as can be expected from The Washington Post. As I wrote before, I would have liked to see more "ordinary Black men" profiled, but this series was decent.

So how long of a wait before Black men are under the microscope again?

I Haven't Forgotten

I'll finish spouting off on the Black Man series.

Spouting Off On: The Washington Post Black Men Series, III

More commentary on the Washington Post Black Men series.

Dad, Redefined

This covered the relationship a "man" has with the mother of his child and the relationship he has with his child.

When 19-year-old Donn? McDaniel became pregnant last year, Tim Wagoner didn't consider marrying her.

"Nah, man, it wasn't really discussed. We're just friends."

They'd dated a year. The pregnancy wasn't planned.

Now their son, Zyhir, is 4 months old. Zyhir stays here, stays there.

It's 11 a.m., a cold fall morning. A darkened rowhouse in Northwest Washington, just off Georgia Avenue. "Cold Case Files," the television cop show, is the only electric illumination in the room. Cries come from the crib by the couch.

"You fussin', shorty? You don't want to be in there?"

A tattooed hand reaches down, pulls little Zyhir up to his lap. "The bottle? This it?"

Wagoner is 27, handsome, neat moustache and goatee, the oldest of five kids. Lean, muscular, not too tall. Maria, his mom's name, is tattooed on his hand. He lives with her and his sisters, making $7.50 an hour working at a teen recreation center in Brookland two days a week. He's studying for his GED.

Wagoner is with his child part of the time, and part of the time he's not. He and McDaniel share child-raising duties but there's no formal agreement, and Wagoner pays no child support.

In many ways, this is a new norm. Single black mothers almost outnumber black two-parent families, and absentee black fathers have become a staple of conversations, sermons and stand-up comics. Some 48 percent of all black children live without their fathers in the home, nearly double the rate of any other ethnic group in the United States. On his block, Tim Wagoner knows more guys his age who have been shot than who are married with kids.

He is 27 and she is 19.

On more time.

He is 27 and she is 19.

In this post about the article, I wrote this:

Question: What the hell is a 27 year old man doing dealing with a 19 year old young woman?

Answer: with his background, any woman his age with any sense wouldn't be dealing with him.

See, there's a problem right there.

You have a loser, wanting to get his rocks off, choosing a young girl who was ready to do the do. This is something that needs to stop, no matter how phat and ready these little girls are. It's up to the "men" to shake their heads at these phat young girls, mumble to themselves, and walk the hell away.

From the article, this shows promise:

Wagoner grew up without his father around, he says. His stepfather was shot to death when he was a teen, and his uncle, another father figure, was, too.

Now it's his turn to be a father. Now it's his turn to answer a hard question:

What does a daddy do?

There is a pause. Wagoner doodles his index finger around his son's hand. Zyhir is tapping it.

"Just be there," Wagoner says, not looking up from Zyhir. "That's the most important thing. You can buy them all the clothes, all the toys, and it don't matter. Most important thing is that he knows my voice, knows me when he sees me."

However, this doesn't:

This is going to be hard, because Wagoner has struggled with stability and achievement. Started high school, dropped out. Worked Job Corps. Worked at Target. Worked at a storage company. Worked as a driver for the handicapped. Worked construction. The longest job he has held was six months, maybe seven. He has a record after beating up a guy, and now it's even harder to find work.

Pray for them.

Spouting Off On: The Washington Post Black Man Series, II

OK, I have a few minutes of "down time" to get back to giving my thoughts on the Being A Black Man series by the Washington Post.

For The Love of Ballou

This article was about 2 young men making a pact to attend Ballou and to shine at the public school. The article started with this:

Jachin and Wayne: They love Ballou.

Four years before, at the end of middle school, both had scholarship offers to an elite private high school in the Maryland suburbs. It was an offer that few from Southeast Washington, where Ballou is located, would refuse.

But both ended up at Ballou because their fathers decided that an all-black inner-city school, rather than a mostly white suburban school, was what they wanted for their sons. They also figured their high-achieving sons were precisely the kind of examples Ballou needed.

It was a decision that both boys agreed with, making a private pact with each other that by the time they graduated from high school, they would have made Ballou a better place to be young, black and male.

To me, the article was a testament to the fathers of both young men and what can happen with positive peer pressure.

Some number of years ago, The Washington Post had an article about a school in the D.C. suburbs of Maryland where Black children pushed each other to take AP courses and do well. This was after a teacher took the time to badger the school to provide ONE AP class. The students, Black students, responded so favorably, that more AP classes were added.

The article about these young men was outstanding.

The Wrong Man

This article discussed a Black man who was wrongfully arrested and what he has gone through as a result.

A Maryland state trooper pulled up and took Fishburne's license and registration back to his patrol car. Fishburne called a friend who lived nearby to come pick him up. He'd have to get the car towed, file an insurance claim, and what about all the errands he needed to run before flying off to Puerto Rico for the weekend?

The trooper returned. The mood suddenly tightened.

Sir, you need to put your hands up on the car.

For what? I'm on my way to the gym.

Because you're under arrest.

He felt the metal cuffs clench his wrists. Heard the officer asking if he had been drinking or using any drugs. Felt the Breathalyzer between his lips. The trooper began searching the BMW. Fishburne's friend showed up, shocked to find Elias in the back of the police car, and asked the officer what was going on. Fishburne heard, but could not comprehend, the reply:

He's a fugitive from Atlanta, Georgia.

You have the wrong man, Fishburne remembers saying, in the patrol car, then again at the police substation where he was booked May 5, 2005. They kept calling him by a name he'd never heard before: Jarvis Tucker. On the warrant from Georgia, Elias Fishburne was listed as one of several known aliases used by a career criminal named Jarvis Tucker. Fishburne's vehement protests that there had been a mix-up were met with blank indifference. "Someone else will deal with that," he remembers someone in uniform telling him.

Honestly, while I shudder at the story, it wasn't as moving to me as the Ballou story. And given the current blow up concerning Nifong, I wonder how Elias Fishburne feels about that story and the outrage at "the system" that is now resulting.

His Last, Best Cause

This article struck me the hardest because men on my mother's side of the family don't have a history of long living, especially compared to the women. And as I note the changes going on with me as I am now solidly in my middle years, this article was a slap to my face.

Damu Smith looked handsome in his coffin.

His face, with its high cheekbones and sharp jaw, seemed full again. His hair had a soft sheen, having been freshly oiled and woven into small, braidlike twists by his beautician at the funeral home the night before. His unblemished skin was the brown of a honey graham cracker.

The women who loved him most sat on the wood pews at the front of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, a few steps from where he lay. His sweetheart, Adeleke Foster, lovingly touched his face one last time. His sister, Sylnice Williams, dabbed at tears until her tissue was soaked. His 13-year-old daughter, Asha, stared blankly ahead with sad, dry eyes.

In his final days, as he underwent grueling chemotherapy, Smith said he was fighting for Asha -- "I've got to see the man she marries," he cried. But in the end, he was no match for colorectal cancer -- or his own failure to seek medical treatment.

Smith, 54, like many other black men, died before his time. Black men have a life expectancy of 69 years, six years less than white men and far shorter than men of other ethnic group. They are more than twice as likely to die from cancer as white men, according to the National Cancer Institute, and nine times as likely as white men to die of AIDS. They suffer from lung disease, heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes and other chronic illnesses in disproportionate numbers that alarm health-care professionals.

...

But Harden left an important anecdote out of her eulogy. One day in 2001, as she and Smith drove along Cancer Alley, he told her about stabbing pains in his stomach. Harden practically begged him to see a doctor. Smith politely brushed her off. "He told me I was right, said that he should do it, the way a person says 'Yeah, right, I should quit smoking,' " Harden recalled days after the funeral.

By the time Smith was tested -- four years after Harden's plea -- it was far too late. Colorectal cancer had developed to its most advanced and lethal stage. Doctors told him there was nothing they could do. They gave him three months to live.

Two older male relatives died of colon cancer in their 50s. They died within one year of each other, and for each, they didn't know they had it until it was too late.

I remember that as I note the foods that I used to eat that now give me serious bouts of gas, the growing lactose intolerance, the need to watch what I eat so I don't have to take medicine to lower my cholesterol level, and watching the relatives who I seem to be following in health matters. The last one, for me, isn't surprising given our strong family traits in other areas. And if I go by that, it's not a matter of if I will need to take cholesterol reducing medicine, it is a matter of WHEN I will start. So, the article hit me very hard.

Singled Out

I was torn with this article.

This is what she had come for: the chance to meet a man, a black man, a potential husband. The moment was full of possibility and light, much like the romantic Nigerian films Robyn has come to adore -- where lovers' eyes meet in passionate glances, and romance rules over reason.

But it was also a moment that masks a maddening numbers game. She is a 31-year-old black woman seeking to marry a black man, which lands her in the heart of the most uncoupled demographic in the United States. For every 100 single black women, there are 70 single black men, according to recent U.S. Census Bureau figures, a number that does not take into account the prison population or men living in group homes. In the Washington area, there are 83 single black men for every 100 single black women.

For eligible black men, that equation can look like a dating smorgasbord, with seemingly limitless choices, and not just among black women. According to the 2000 census, black men enter interracial marriages at a higher rate -- 9.7 percent -- than any other racial or gender group except Asian women. That's twice the rate of black women.

For Robyn and black women like her -- who see their fates intimately bound to black men -- life means strategizing and dreaming beyond the numbers in a world where it seems the ground has shifted under their feet.

Her experiences in that world are far more than some "Waiting to Exhale" story line. They are a window on black men, a foray into the never-ending dialogue about the delicate balance -- or imbalance -- between black men and women. It is one of the most volatile and enduring conversations. Just what does it mean, for example, when a half-million more black women than men are college graduates? For some black men, it can be a chance to redefine traditional roles; for others, it opens a widening intraracial battleground over class and gender.

Robyn hasn't joined the ranks of black women who are beginning to talk about exploring their options elsewhere.

You see, I was single and living in the D.C. area at one time. I enjoyed the numbers in my favor, and I won't lie about it. But having lived though it, a large part of me states that Black women in the D.C. area, are unrealistic in their expectations. The truth is, the D.C. area his highest in educational and income levels when compared to other regions in the U.S. This is true for Blacks as well. And given the highly educated Black men and women in the area, I think many Black women developed the "I HAVE to have the WHOLE package" syndrome: a man with a high paying job, a Acura/Benz/BMW/Lexus/Infiniti, 6 feet to 6 feet 5 inches tall, good this, great that, yada yada yada.

I don't meet all of those requirements but I was still in the game and I had choices.

On the other hand, why should people "settle"?

More later... Real Dot Life calls again.

Spouting Off On: The Washington Post Black Men Series, What I Wanted To See

I don't have much time, but I want to publish something today on The Post series, so I'll do this one. I wanted to end my posts with this one, but so be it.

The Post series didn't write about the thoughts of these Black men:

• Black men who are police officers
• Black men who are correctional officers
• Black men who mentor or take part in groups such as Concerned Black Men in D.C.
• Black men who are blue collar workers
• Black men who make up the membership of majority Black churches
• Black men who are the on air personalities of hip hop stations

I think this would have provided more information about us, since we are under the glass in this series. Overall, it could have been a lot worse as well as a lot better. For The Washington Post, this was a good series.

Spouting Off On: The Washington Post Black Men Series

Here is where I get to give my commentary on the articles in the Black Men series.

Black Men Under Glass

I think the entire series showcased the idea that Black men are an animal of which we know little and are unaware, thus we have to look at them with a scientific eye to understand these strange beings.

However, going into the series I decided to read the articles with as much of a non-prejudiced eye as I could. I also tried to withhold commentary so that the links I provided were just about the article and not about me spouting off.

Now it is my turn.

To Start Off

At The Corner of Progress and Peril was the first piece in the series and I think it was a strong start. I thought it was a fair representation of the good and bad information concerning Black men, and showing the "stars" and the "not stars."

The Poll

What really gave me some hope that the series would show an HONEST balance of what is going on, is The Poll that went along with the start of the series.

Black men report the same ambitions as most Americans -- for career success, a loving marriage, children, respect. And yet most are harshly critical of other black men, associating the group with irresponsibility and crime.

Black men describe a society rife with opportunities for advancement and models for success. But they also express a deep fear that their hold on the good life is fragile, in part because of discrimination they continue to experience in their daily lives.

...

• Six in 10 black men said their collective problems owe more to what they have failed to do themselves rather than "what white people have done to blacks." At the same time, half reported they have been treated unfairly by the police, and a clear majority said the economic system is stacked against them.
• More than half said they place a high value on marriage -- compared with 39 percent of black women -- and six in 10 said they strongly value having children. Yet at least 38 percent of all black fathers in the survey are not living with at least one of their young children, and a third of all never-married black men have a child. Six in 10 said that black men disrespect black women.
• Three in four said they value being successful in a career, more than either white men or black women. Yet majorities also said that black men put too little emphasis on education and too much emphasis on sports and sex.
• Eight in 10 said they are satisfied with their lives, and six in 10 reported that it is a "good time" to be a black man in the United States. But six in 10 also reported they often are the targets of racial slights or insults, two-thirds said they believe the courts are more likely to convict black men than whites, and a quarter reported they have been physically threatened or attacked because they are black.
• Black men said they strongly believe in the American Dream -- nine in 10 black men would tell their sons they can become anything they want to in life. But this vision of the future is laden with cautions and caveats: Two-thirds also would warn their sons that they will have to be better and work harder than whites for equal rewards.

The full poll, itself, is here.

Right away, the results jump out at  you in a media sound bite world where people like Larry Elder and Alphonso Jackson make a name for themselves or claim that Blacks don't take responsibility for their actions or believe "the white man" is to blame. Additionally, let me state right now: In my life, I regularly interact with Black people of many economic levels. I mix with the poor, the middle class, and the well off. I don't mix with the rich and/or super wealthy. Rarely do I hear the phrase "the white man" or "the man", so when I hear someone else saying it is said, I immediately get suspicious. Am I saying "the white man" this or "the white man" that is not said? No, but I don't think "the white man" is the focus of many Black people as is lead on by some.

So, when Alphonso Jackson says something like:

"I am not going to let the black leadership -- the so-called leadership -- of this country tell me that I am a victim," he said. "I believe that if you work hard, strive to do the very best, things will work out for you. [That] doesn't mean you won't have obstacles -- you will. But we can't keep living in an era that is bygone," Jackson said. "We need to begin today to teach blacks that they can look in the mirror -- and that they have the ability, once they look in that mirror, to achieve."

Who is he really talking about? Or is it more important to determine who he is talking TO and why he is talking this way?

Also, Alphonso Jackson said this:

Nor do they have anything to do "with that fact that we have more black males in prison than we do in college."

That statistic is not true.

OK, this is going to be a multi-part response. More later.

WashPo Black Men Series Wrap Up: Orlando Patterson

Orlando Patterson gives his opinions on The Washington Post "Black Men" series in this opinion piece.

After reading what he had to write, I came to the conclusion that he had strong preconceived notions going into the series and, no matter what was read, stuck with those notions.

Let me cut to the quick: Patterson's comments are inane.

These two themes struck me as I read The Washington Post's "Being a Black Man" series. I was impressed with how the young black men profiled in the series acknowledged their plight and assumed responsibility for it. Their unsentimental realism contrasts sharply with the persistent victim arguments of the experts and specialists interviewed for the series, and those of many academics and social scientists, white and black alike, who think they understand black men and the solutions to their problems.

That is reasonable commentary. What I think is hogwash is what follows not far after that:

It is heartening to see that young black men, even more than whites, think that to "blame things on other people" is not only a false take on reality but a sure way to guarantee failure. The men interviewed repeatedly made the point that viewing the world as a victim can be self-fulfilling. Most telling is Rahsaan Ferguson's account of his father's mantra, "You are a black boy. That's two things you will always have against you." This, Rahsaan fortunately came to realize, was terribly disabling advice: "It kind of brings you down," he said. Indeed.

OK, here is where I start to have intellectual problems with what Patterson writes. I've heard the mantra, you have to be twice as good to be considered as good, and I accepted and accept it for what it is. Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and others, have written that is how it used to be in the past and how Blacks need to have this attitude. Yet, I have never read commentary by anyone stating the "Twice as good" mantra is defeating. This is especially true during affirmative action "debates".

Then, Patterson writes this whopper which, if he was in the room when I read it, I would have thrown a brick at him:

This is nonsense. Other professionals to whom The Post spoke blamed the media for presenting "unflattering images of black men." Added Carl Bell, president of the Community Mental Health Council in Chicago: "We got this outside system putting this lens on black people, especially black men, that says 'toxic demon.' " More confounding foolishness. The mass media's role is, indeed, one factor in understanding the condition of young black men, but not because it portrays them as "toxic demons." To the contrary, the problem is that the media too enthusiastically reinforce a perversely favorable image of young black male culture; increasingly, the people producing these images are black media moguls and stars.

I own the Black Self Help Information domain, and I have one HELL OF A TIME trying to find positive information about Blacks, not just Black men, but Blacks in general! And Patterson has the nerve to say the media gives favorable images of young Black "males"? I have a filter for "African-American" or "Black" in the news and I get TONS of bad information. And to add to this, none other than -- queue angelic music or the theme of The Lone Ranger -- BIll Cosby said the series was TOO POSITIVE!

Next, Patterson gets information wrong, just plain wrong:

There are many such factors, but the most important is the fraught nature of black male-female relationships and the fragility of their marital unions or cohabitations. The Post's series powerfully documents this issue, although mainly among the middle class. But if middle-class women have such problems, how much worse must they be among the poor? Stable unions are a fast-dying institution among African Americans and must be rescued before it is too late.

Surveys increasingly show that, especially among the poor, women even more than men are turned off by marriage because they expect so little from it. Blacks have the lowest rate of marriage of all groups in the United States; when they do marry or cohabit they have the highest rates of disruption; and when they divorce they have the lowest rates of remarriage. The result is both the highest proportion of adults living singly and the fact that the great majority of black kids are now being raised without a father.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I know I'm not, but Patterson has this backwards! Black women are more positive towards marriage, meaning they will get married one day, than are Black men. Not only that, but it is college educated Black women who are having trouble finding "suitable" Black men than are non-college educated Black women. The reason being these Black women want similarly educated Black men and the sad fact is, there are more Black women obtaining college degrees than Black men.

He then ends his piece with this:

A cultural understanding of black problems suggests social policies that reduce the exposure of young blacks to the streets, increase adult supervision during childhood and lessen the burden on black mothers, especially in light of welfare policies that oblige them to work. All this implies more, not less, government: high-quality day care for the poor, longer school days, well-organized and enriching after-school programs, greatly reduced summer holidays and a radical rethinking of the school curriculum in which students learn not only essential literacy and mathematics but also social and cultural skills -- the basic and often tacit understandings, attitudes and behaviors that are required for survival and competence in the world's most advanced and competitive society.

Maybe it's me, but this goes against what Patterson started off writing about. He writes about Black men stating their responsibility for "their plight" and then turns around and says the government has to fix it.

How about this?

I was taught, have taught my daughter and will teach my son:

• Respect for other people and themselves.
• Illicit drug use is not acceptable.
• You are expected to work for what you want to obtain.
• You will do well in school because education is the surest way of providing a path for you to get ahead.
• There are no easy ways to get ahead. All ways to get ahead require hard work.
• Don't give up.
• Believe in yourself.
• You have to rely on yourself.
• Crime is not a solution no matter how dire the situation.
• Surround yourself with people who are achieving something positive and learn from them.

WashPo Black Men Series Wrap Up: Patricia Williams

Maybe it was because I read this opinion article by Patricia Williams after I read Orlando Patterson's take on the series, but after reading it, I felt as though there was no hope left for Black men and I may as well slit my wrist and throat for there is no hope for me or my son.

The Washington Post's report on the status of black men presents a sad picture. The stresses are so great, the odds of success so long, the mantras so empty, the faith in God so punishing.

I'll deal with this in my own commentary, but that sums up her opinion article, as far as I'm concerned.

That is the type of commentary that makes people throw up their hands and say, "It's no use" and walk away from whatever issue is at hand. I can't deal with the negativity especially when the situation is not as dire as people proclaim.

The only thing I can stomach in this article are these excerpts:

Another small but significant box into which black men are slipped is that of willful laziness. However bad the job market, however many blue-collar jobs outsourced, however horrendous the educational system in black neighborhoods -- the reason black men are unemployed is because they just don't want to work. "Years ago, if you were a black man and you didn't work, it was a shame," Manhattan Institute fellow John McWhorter told The Post. "Now, the shame is gone."

...

Pick up any local newspaper in the country any given week, and chances are good that you can find a picture of very long lines of mostly African Americans queuing up to apply for jobs at Wal-Mart or McDonald's or perhaps a new mall. The caption is always something about the highs or lows of the service industry; rarely have I seen one that says anything like "hardworking black people line up hoping to do an honest day's labor."

This reminds me of the Wal Mart that was soon to open just outside of Chicago. Thousands of people showed up for a few hundred jobs. The crowd included a lot of Black people.

That's my opinion of what she writes.

WashPo Black Men Series: Black Fathers

Next up in the Washington Post Black Men series is this article about single Black fathers.

Dad, Redefined

When 19-year-old Donné McDaniel became pregnant last year, Tim Wagoner didn't consider marrying her.

"Nah, man, it wasn't really discussed. We're just friends."

They'd dated a year. The pregnancy wasn't planned.

Now their son, Zyhir, is 4 months old. Zyhir stays here, stays there.

It's 11 a.m., a cold fall morning. A darkened rowhouse in Northwest Washington, just off Georgia Avenue. "Cold Case Files," the television cop show, is the only electric illumination in the room. Cries come from the crib by the couch.

"You fussin', shorty? You don't want to be in there?"

A tattooed hand reaches down, pulls little Zyhir up to his lap. "The bottle? This it?"

Wagoner is 27, handsome, neat moustache and goatee, the oldest of five kids. Lean, muscular, not too tall. Maria, his mom's name, is tattooed on his hand. He lives with her and his sisters, making $7.50 an hour working at a teen recreation center in Brookland two days a week. He's studying for his GED.

As always, I provide no commentary even though I really should.

Question: What the hell is a 27 year old man doing dealing with a 19 year old young woman?

Answer: with his background, any woman his age with any sense wouldn't be dealing with him.

See, there's a problem right there.

Washington Post Black Man Series: Employment

The Washington Post has published two more pieces in their "Black Man" series.

On Friday, the Post published "A Chance To Get Into the Room".

On Sunday, the Post published "The Meaning of Work".

A quote of note from Friday's piece:

Ford is not aware of ever having lost a contract because of his race, but he is mindful of America's history of racial prejudice. If minority companies did not face discrimination, he said, there would not be federally funded set-aside programs. Enlightened participates in such a program administered by the Small Business Administration. The 8(a) program offers business-development assistance and the opportunity to compete for federal contracts that have been reserved for small firms owned by "socially and economically disadvantaged" people, those whose net worth is less than $250,000. Enlightened, which has been in the program since 2001, is certified to participate for four more years.

...

"If I get in the room," he says, "I'll show you what I can do. And I'm going to do whatever I can do to get in that room."

And from Sunday's piece:

Why does Chris Dansby not have a job?

What happened? What can he do about it? What did he do wrong?

...

A week later, at a Virginia Jiffy Lube that was a 43-minute subway ride from Ward 8, Chris began his new job. Eight dollars an hour, 40 hours a week, $16,640 a year. "Looks like it's gonna work out," he said.

That night, his girlfriend told him their relationship was over.

The next day, he moved in with his mother.

Two days later: "I don't know what happened. I haven't heard from him," said Wally Kenner, his boss at Jiffy Lube. "If he doesn't call me or show up tomorrow, we'll probably have to let him go.' "

The next day: "He no longer works here," Kenner said.

The next day: "I don't know, man. Stuff happens," Chris said, sitting in his mother's home, head down, lights off, voice barely audible, trying to explain.

"If I had the answer, I'd tell you, but I don't know," he said. "I don't know. I don't know. I don't know."

Read both pieces.

Black Man Series: Black Men Health

The "Black Man" series has returned in the Post:

Damu Smith looked handsome in his coffin.

His face, with its high cheekbones and sharp jaw, seemed full again. His hair had a soft sheen, having been freshly oiled and woven into small, braidlike twists by his beautician at the funeral home the night before. His unblemished skin was the brown of a honey graham cracker.

The women who loved him most sat on the wood pews at the front of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, a few steps from where he lay. His sweetheart, Adeleke Foster, lovingly touched his face one last time. His sister, Sylnice Williams, dabbed at tears until her tissue was soaked. His 13-year-old daughter, Asha, stared blankly ahead with sad, dry eyes.

In his final days, as he underwent grueling chemotherapy, Smith said he was fighting for Asha -- "I've got to see the man she marries," he cried. But in the end, he was no match for colorectal cancer -- or his own failure to seek medical treatment.

Latest In The "Black Man" Series

The latest in the "Black Men" series in the post is up. I have nothing really to say about this piece.

I forgot to mention the previous one here. On this one that covers two teenage boys, I thought it was a great piece.

An interesting note: sometimes more is said by noticing what is not being said vs. what is being said.

'nuff said. :-)

"Independent Thinker" aka "Black Republican"

The latest article in the Washington Post's "Black Men" series is up. This time is focuses on a single individual, Eric Motley, a Black Republican.

I have some observations that I am going to make:

• For a Black person to be defined as an "independent thinker," all that person has to do is register as a Republican. Who cares if said "independent thinker" thinks the same as Republican thinkers. Do you get the point on that one?
• Public "independent thinkers" often say that most Blacks are socially conservative. Using that as a foundation, does that say that most Blacks are then "independent thinkers"?
• Voter registration numbers for Blacks indicate that a growing number of Blacks are registering as Independent. Why isn't that "standard" used as defining Blacks who are "independent thinkers"?
• Eric Motley was raised in a Black environment that could easily be called a conservative environment. Motley was loved and nurtured in that Black environment. He was recognized in that environment as being special. Others also recognized he was special and broadened his life experiences.

Quotes of note:

• His thoughts about politics were beginning to crystallize. "I think it was also the first time I became truly illumined that I was expected to think a certain way, given my race. It was countering everything my grandparents taught me: Think for yourself. Use your own mind. Be your own person. All these retired black persons who had been tutoring me said: 'Stand on your own two feet!' I didn't need the Negro College Fund to tell me a mind is a terrible thing to waste."
• He was becoming his own man in other ways, as well. Motown, the prideful anthems of Curtis Mayfield and the sweeping poetry of Langston Hughes did not move him. He preferred Bach, Glenn Gould and Tennyson.
• One evening, Gwendolyn Brooks wanted some fried chicken, some soul food. Motley didn't know of any soul food restaurants, and didn't know any black Birmingham families well enough to get an invitation to Sunday dinner. So he decided to take Brooks to Church's Fried Chicken. "Me and her were standing there, ordering chicken and collard greens," says Motley.
• "I just think he's risen way above rap music and never agreed with those contentious and rebellious lines of rap music," says Corts, who brought up rap music without any prompting.

Fried chicken and rap?

Oh. Kay.

This was a reverse political hit piece. It is a good article, but it is what it is.

"The Black Republican" is Next in the Post's "Black Men" Series

The next article in the Washington Post's "Black Men" series is up. This time is focuses on a single individual, Eric Motley, a Black Republican.

This is another good article. It covers the upbringing of this individual, his personal "quirks" and how he has advanced to where he is at this particular time.

I am thinking about writing more about this article. I have some points waiting in the queue to be posted but I don't know if I should do it or not. It will depends on what I read from other bloggers about this particular article.

This is a good read.

Washington Post Poll On Black Men

The Washington Post published the results on a national poll on Black men.

People will get out of it what they want to get out of it.

The results of the poll, or at least the summarization of the results of the poll, doesn't surprise me at all. The title of the article is "Poll Reveals a Contradictory Portrait with Promise and Doubt" but I don't find things to be contradictory.

1. You can read about the "bad news concerning Black men" anywhere and everywhere. For people, then, to express thoughts of despair should not come as any surprise.
2. Black people are especially hard on other Black people. That is no secret to Black people, although there are those of "us" who will claim otherwise. None the less, it's also no secret that "successful" Black people are the harshest critics of Black people.
3. In life, those who are most successful tend to surround themselves with people who are positive thinking and successful. You can't overcome any barrier by thinking you can't overcome the barrier and by being negative. The negativity needs to stop, but it won't because there is too much money being made by those who are employed as pundits and commentators.
4. Bookstores are filled to the brim with "self-help" books and betterment books. Being positive and changing negative or unproductive behavior sells. Yet, when it comes to Blacks, being negative sells.

What will be most interesting about this poll will be the comments generated about it.

WashPost "Black Man" Series

The Washington Post is starting a series on Black men.

The first article in the series is titled "At the Corner of Progress and Peril."

This article is a very good start, but I won't get my hopes up. Call that expectation learned behavior.