Tell Me How Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter? Are you serious? How in the hell can black lives matter when young black men are beating on our babies, and there is no public outcry? How can black lives possibly matter when black on black murder and violence is at an all time high is cities like Chicago, Wilmington, Baltimore and more? How can black lives matter, when our black men are not standing up and engaging this issue in the community? At what point did black men start cowering at the thought of confronting our own youth?
Young Kanya Woodard is the victim of far more than a violent attack from a black man who should have been protecting from hard. She is the result of the failure of blacks, especially black men, to effectively engage the needs of our communities.
Black men, it is time to start owning this madness. The federal statistics reveal that white cops kill two black men each week in America, and yes, we want to address this. Actually, the numbers are slightly higher, but while this is a problem that needs to be addressed, there is a much greater issue. Very few people seem to be concerned about the hundreds of young black lives that are being taken by other blacks each week. No one seems to have a problem with black men using black women as punching bags. No one seems to be concerned with millions of our youth being mis-educated by a system that is naturally hostile toward them. Yet we want to beg our mortal enemy to believe that black lives matter. To who? It can’t possibly matter to us.
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As long as black men continue to be more concerned with protecting their “shine” than they are about making a difference, this is what we will continue to see. The young men I work with understand that this type of behavior is absolutely unacceptable. They know that my brothers and I will go to the mat for them, in fact, we already have. But, they also know that we will straight get with them if they disrespect a black female in any way —- that is absolutely unacceptable. They understand that violence against one another is not the answer.
What we cannot afford right now are black men who are either, disconnected, self-absorbed or scared. We need black men who are prepared to lead.
I have done my research on this story, and what I can tell you is that Kanya Woodard was in a place and position she should not have been in; however, that does not justify the abuse she received. It is reflective, however, of the lack of a consistent and positive male role model. It is reflective of a young princesses looking for male confirmation, adoration and love in the wrong places, because she was not getting it at home.
I am challenging black men to get off of your butts and step onto the battlefield. First of all, I am tired of bumping into my sisters on the front line. That is not where they belong. We have left our women exposed for far too long. Black men lead, and that is what we are going to do! Period! We are going to step up, and step out.
From this point forward, passivity by a black man will be viewed as a hostile action against his community.
While the young man who did this was arrested and charged, we, as a community should have been more involved from the beginning, and we just might have been able to prevent it from happening in the first place.
For the record, our children are neither, incorrigible nor recalcitrant; they are the reflection of our failure to be engaged in their development. They are the result of us posting their fight videos accompanied by sorry and useless comments like, smh, terrible, what a shame and a number of other generic comments that are indicative of assessed judgment, disbursed without compassion and genuine concern.
I am tired of hearing about where we are, and how terrible our struggles are, when we have the power and capacity to change it all. I am tired of hearing about the white man, when it is the enemy within that is the most devastating force moving against my people. White supremacy is nothing more than an agitator at this point. All the system has to do is stir the pot in a number of different ways, and then step back and watch the destruction. They don’t control our poverty levels, although they have done a great job convincing us that they do. Our poor spending habits conjoined with the lack of a collective spending agenda is the source of our economic impotence.
While the public school system is definitely mis-educating and under-educating our youth. It is our refusal to be more engaged in providing our youth with a holistic education that begins at home and extends well beyond the obtainment of academic skills. It is the lack of a holistic education that begins with a sense of identity and understanding of “self” that fosters the self-hatred that is at the seat of the abuse revealed in this photo, and the senseless murders taking place in our inner cities.
It is time for black men to stand up and lead. It is time to put boots on the ground and become involved. This is something every black man can do in some way. There can no longer be an excuse for not being involved. If your contribution to the black struggle does not go beyond this social media platform, shame on you. If your words are not backed up by efforts, shame on you. If you are looking the other way, pretending like all hell has not broken out in black America, shame on you. It is time to Spartan the hell up and get in the game, period! ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.