Disclaimer:This is the inaugural weekly op/ed piece by yours truly. It will be controversial (depending on your view point) and there will be the occasional use of harsh language. I invite everyone to comment, discuss, and critique any and all commentary made in this op/ed. So without further delay, I invite all to enjoy BITCH PLEASE.
There is crisis in the so-called black community today, a crisis of mis-education, a crisis of decency and of values, and crisis of accountability and responsibility. I am in no way denying the existence and the purveyance of systemic and institutional racism. It is real and destructive. But today there is a segment of the black community that grabbed the reigns of denigrating black America from institutional racism and the racist. I absolutely believe that in 2008 we as Americans, specifically black Americans, have opportunities to thrive and succeed more than at any other time in the history of this country. To think otherwise is simply incorrect. To confuse the occasional discomfort and discrimination with the very real and overt oppression faced by black Americans throughout most of this country's history is just asinine. That in no is meant to trivialize what many black Americans go through and are subjected to, however there must be some reality brought to the conversation. The reality is that there is no slave owner or slave plantation in this country today. There is no back of the bus, white-colored restrooms, no attack dogs and no lynch mobs. Those issues simply do not exist.
What does exist is a lack of accountability in segments of our society. There is a lack of child rearing and teaching in segments of our society. Oh yes, racism exists and its not going anywhere anytime soon. Systemic racism is alive and well, but you show me where systemic racism is responsible for some idiot making the choice to rob and kill someone for his or her wallet. Show me how systemic racism has produced an environment where it has become way too commonplace and accepted that many of our young Americans are raised in households where there is no father or no influence of a father. Tell me where systemic racism is to blame for so many of our young children going to school without a basic knowledge of letters and numbers. Oh no people that isn't the fault of systemic racism, that is a failure at the most core foundation of the community: the home. Now, let me make clear, I am not speaking of all or even most the black American community. Don't even think that. I've met, spoken to, and am related to way too many black Americans who feel as I do to even begin to insinuate that this is the whole of the black American experience.
People if your kid is failing in school, the elusive and as yet unseen "MAN" is not responsible. If your kid can't read its your fault. IT IS YOUR FAULT. If your kid goes into kindergarten without a basic knowledge of letters and numbers, that is your fault. What the hell could you possibly have been doing for the first 5 years of that child's life? Clearly not providing a sense that education is important. How hard is it to sit down for 5-10 minutes a day and read to/with your child. It’s not hard, not at all. Nor is hard to watch what you say, watch, and listen to around your children. I love colorful language, hell I probably curse more than most of you here. But I'll tell you where I don't curse, in front of my child. I love Get Low by Lil John, but I'll tell you where I won't be singing or playing 'from the window to the wall', in front of my kid. Its not hard at all, its simply a case of responsibility and sacrifice.
And people if you don't stop calling your young male children Nigga, if you don't stop using the word Nigga in front of your children, I may have to kill someone. How stupid can you be? And please don't tell me the old tried and true BS of we just took the word nigger and made a word of endearment. Please cut the fucking shit. Use your brain and take responsibility for what comes out of your mouth and what your child hears and learns.And please people stop limiting your children by saying what is for white folks and what is for them. Black Americans have fought and died for 400 years just so their posterity wouldn't be faced with that situation. There are so many examples of black American success not named Lebron James or JayZ or Dave Chappelle. We can do more than play a game, make a song, or make you laugh. Show your children examples of black American success. Be an example of black American success for your children. Show them in our speech and attitudes that anything they are willing to work hard enough for is possible. Not entitled, but possible. Don’t shackle them with the belief that everything not good in their life is somehow the fault of this obscure white man pulling the strings.
And lastly to the un-wed father, what the fuck is going on with you. As a father, a father that had to fight tooth and nail for 8 long years, for the right to be a father to my child, a father who drove 4 hours to see my child perform a 10 minute presentation because it was important to both us that I be there; I am profoundly offended at the amount of fatherless children in our community. Parents of these men you be profoundly ashamed. Friends and coworkers of these men should be ashamed. And to the men who perpetuate this egregious ill, you most of all should be ashamed. The black community has survived slavery, a so-called Reconstruction period, the KKK period of the early 20th century, and Jim Crow legal discrimination and oppression. Throughout all those periods of time, including to some degree slavery, there was a father in most black homes or at the very least a father figure. Now in the most positive time in the history of America for blacks we have Cowards making children but not raising them. If you sire a child and don't have a hand in raising them; you sir are a Coward. If you let some woman dictate to you when you can see your child and to what extent you can be in your child's life; you sir are a Coward. There is simply nothing more important than the life you bring into this world, and if you don't do everything is your power to be there for that child; you sir are a Coward.
To be perfectly honest, everyone I've talked about here is a coward on some level. People racism is a real problem. I will not in any way disagree with that, however what I do have a problem with is people using racism as a crutch. Those people and the bleeding hearts that've joined in their cause are keeping the rest of us, who see racism as the evil it is, from taking on the issue because we're stuck dealing with the ramifications of your bullshit.So to all of you I give a well-earned and heartfelt BITCH PLEASE.
