Tag Archives: Black Males

Are Black heterosexual males in the worst position of all American groups?: A MRCi Discussion About Manhood, Masculinity, Race, and Gender

Tonight’s MRCi discussion will cover the question of “Are Black heterosexual males been losing the most ground to other groups in the pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of property?” As always, you are welcome to join us as we delve into what many still believe is a taboo subject matter among Black men.

MRCi discussions occur every Thursday @ 7:30 (EST) – 6:30 (CST). Click on the link below to join our intellectual community.

Join us as we discuss pressing matters facing and impacting Black Men and Black America.

If you can not get the link to work, use the information to join the Zoom session.

Meeting ID: 353 334 8869
Passcode: 1YF4BG

Are Black Men and Black males (of all ages) engaged in a Civil War?: The Case of Excusing the Issuing of some “Act Right”

On January 15, 1991, famed rap group Gang Starr released their legendary album, Step in the Arena. It is no overstatement to say that Guru and DJ Premier’s contribution to Hip-Hop culture still reverberates at the present moment. Some music outlets went so far as to call the album “the greatest Hip-Hop album of all time.”

For our purposes, the most memorable song on this classic recording is titled Just to Get a Rep; Guru draws mental pictures of individuals seeking to gain a street reputation through various criminal activities and underhanded means.

After watching one of the most vicious yet deserved whippings in recent memory, this particular song came to mind. At a Memphis, Tennessee, mall, cell phone footage captured a pair of young African-American males harassing a self-described “grown-ass man.” As the video unfolds, the “grown-ass man” attempts to ignore continuing harassment from an African-American male who repeatedly informs all within hearing distance that he is “Piru,” a statement highlighting his gang affiliation. This Black male also notifies everyone of his intention to get a rep by beating down the “grown-ass man.”

This Black youth soon learned that it is unwise to push a “grown-ass man” past a certain point. As shown in the video footage, the lesson doled out by the “grown-ass man” onto this lost young African-American male was, in a word, epic.

After viewing the bountiful amounts of “act right” delivered to this youngster, my mind wondered what does it mean when Black youth challenge men who traditionally would have served as their mentors as they attempted to reach manhood status. The video offers a most unfortunate downward spiral of the relationships between “grown-ass men” and the youngsters who aspire to take their place. Unbeknownst to far too many rudderless Black males, the roadmap they are using to arrive at manhood is warped, illogical, and non-sensical. In many ways, this young man and thousands of others have no idea how to make the enormous leap from being a Black male to becoming a Black man; trust me when I say that I know far too many retirees who never made this transition. Unbeknownst to so many of my race, being a male and a man are two very different things.

Anyone with even a passing interest in saving Black males from the snares and traps that capture so many of them daily must ask themselves the following question. Where do these young Black males learn life philosophies and behaviors that serve neither them nor their community in the short or long term? One does not need to search far to find Black men who can attest to some form of intensely negative interaction with Black males of varying ages who believe that hyper-aggressiveness, disorderly conduct, and promiscuity are synonymous with manhood.

In this space, I have frequently mentioned a civil war occurring among different classes of Blacks. I must amend that statement. We must settle a dormant conflict between Black men and Black males before Black America can move forward. Of course, those Black males who are little more than irresponsible boys in adult bodies belong to the latter group.

While most of my counterparts eagerly rush forward to chastise Black women who refuse to take the necessary actions to regulate the behaviors of Black girls in adult bodies, they rarely address Black males. Many of them are willing participants in behavior that sits at the core of Black dysfunctionality. This hypocrisy guarantees that succeeding generations will be socialized to continue one of Black America’s most unfortunate traditions, hyper-masculinity, and disorderly conduct from Black males toward all that they encounter. At the present moment, it is difficult to argue against the assertion that for far too many Black males, the more vicious the behavior, the better.

I will tell you the truth. A part of me cringes at the sight of Black men beating down Black males, as recorded in the video mentioned above. However, a weary part of me viewed the corrective action that the “grown-ass man” in the footage handed out to the young Black male as a necessary evil to bring back some semblance of decency to Black America. We used to term such conflict as a person receiving “some act right.”

In the end, I guess that we can excuse the doling out of some “act right” because desperate times require desperate measures. And these are certainly desperate times.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

 

 

What a Black Man Should be and Ought to do: A MRCi Panel Discussion

I am sure that I do not need to tell you that the issue of Race continues to serve as one of the most divisive factors in America. If it can be stated that racial matters are a divisive issue within the nation, it makes sense that it would be problematic within the Black community. So, much of the in-fighting occurring within our community revolves around the issue of Black men and their general failings to be leaders within our community and a suitable provider and head of household. These matters raise the question of “What a Black Man Should be and Ought to do.” The Manhood, Race, and Culture interactive intellectual community took this issue on during a recent discussion. I hope that you find it worthwhile.

Please enjoy the two-part discussion pinned below.

Am I Everybody’s Keeper?: A Discussion About the Responsibility of Black Men to Black America

Feel free to join MRCi (Manhood, Race, and Culture Interactive) tonight (June 24, 2021) @ 7:30 (EST) — 6:30 pm (CST) for a much-needed discussion titled Am I Everybody’s Keeper?: A Discussion About the Responsibility of Black Men to Black America

Tonight’s discussion will focus on the issue of Black Males and their responsibility to others (Black Men, Women, and Children). Are Black Males responsible in any shape, form, or fashion for everything happening around them? Or have Black Men shed that burden in favor of individualism and the pursuit of happiness?

Join us as we discuss this pressing matter.

The program begins tonight (Thursday, June 24th) @ 7:30 (EST) — 6:30 pm (CST). Click here to access the meeting or use the information listed below.

Meeting ID: 353 334 8869
Passcode: 1YF4BG

Redefining Cool: Why Black America Must Alter What They Teach Black Boys About Being “Cool”

There is no room to doubt that despite their obvious diversity, African-American men have historically considered themselves to be the personification of “cool.” This ownership of “the cool” may be the only thing that Black men agree on. Let’s be honest about this, Black men have historically possessed a monopoly on “the cool”.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Black men, “the cool” has proven to be a double-edged sword that boosts self-esteem, yet widens the path toward evil. In hindsight, it is obvious that “the cool” is of little utility beyond the veneer of self-confidence it provides.  

It is this “cool” quotient that African-American men emit via dress, walk, and talk that young Black boys learn to model during their adolescence. According to Richard Majors, the “Cool Pose” is a set of language, mannerisms, gestures and movements that

exaggerate or ritualize masculinity. The Essence of cool is to appear in control, whether through a fearless style of walking, an aloof facial expression, the clothes you wear, a haircut, your gestures or the way you talk. The cool pose shows the dominant culture that you are strong and proud, despite your status in American society…Much of cool pose is ritualistic imitation of peers. If you’re not seen as cool, you’re an outsider. It’s a way to be included.

Considering the present state of African-American males, one is faced with an over-arching question of “Is the “cool pose” working against the formation of healthy male/female relations within Black America?”

A subtle glance at the Black Family would convince any objective person that “the cool” is a negative for African-American males, the women that they create children with, and the alluded to offspring.

Although “the cool” benefits a few African-American males by bolstering their status among peers, it simultaneously ensures their rejection by a larger White society who despise its manifestation in Black bodies. Make no mistake about it, a segment of African-American males’ well-documented inability to secure meaningful gainful employment, a pre-requisite to marriage and the starting of a family, hinders every aspect of potential relationships within Black America. History has proven that African-American males who have spent their cultural capital investing in the “cool pose” will eventually find themselves permanently ostracized from mainstream society.

Unfortunately for younger African-American males, their ritualistic imitation of peers frequently leads them to prison, probation, parole, unemployment and/or early death. The “cool pose” is integral to understanding why

  • 1.5 Million African-American Males are involved in the penal system via incarceration (Federal, State, and Local) or on some form of probation.
  • There is a 85% recidivism rate for African-American Males.
  • 60% of African-American males are involved in the penal system for a drug-related crime.
  • In 1979 there were 100,000 Black males in the judicial system, today that number has swelled to 1,500,000.
  • The majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails are people of color, people with mental health issues and drug addiction, people with low levels of educational attainment, and people with a history of unemployment or underemployment.

This begs the question of what is Black America to do?

It may be time to forge a socialization process that redefines and promotes a new form of “the cool.” This alteration to a basic element of so many African-American males’ identity would allow Black males to retain their “cool quotient” while directing them toward success. There is no need to argue against the reality that our failure to redirect Black males down a more productive path will lead to the continuation of today’s unfortunate realities. The onus for such an alteration belongs to Black parents and families interested in the success of such individuals; not a “Black leadership cadre” whose in-action all but signals their abdication of such responsibilities.

It is imperative that future generations of Black males abandon what Richard Majors appropriately terms the “cool pose” and replace it with a new view of themselves and what a Black man ought to be and ought to do. Noted poet Gwendolyn Brooks predicted in her poem We Real Cool that the failure to do such all but guarantees that if they fail to do so, “We Die Soon.”

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.