Friday, February 23, 2007

Lift up Your Skirt and Find Your Balls

As African American men, we find ourselves in precarious and difficult positions daily in life that the average denizen will never experience. Namely due to social, economic and historical factors, we have a hard job of just maintaining respect and our life. The conundrum is that we are few in many, especially those of us deserving of the title of men.

As it stands, we are a dying breed although many self proclaim the title of being a real per say, man. I just think the aforementioned has a responsibility to his community and family as being one. That includes making to the best of his abilities, a stable living environment free from detrimental factors both in the home and neighborhood. This means being responsible enough to provide and take care of our children and our women. It also entails being able to sustain tolerance for scrutiny, criticism, and plane old meanness that will be directed towards breaking us down.

We should be able to critically make decision that look at our families and communities first, even if they may be to our disliking. We should not desire outcomes such as that which lead to the arrest of former Atlanta Falcon Asley Ambrose who is reported to have pushed his wife in the face and threw a glass vase at her after she responded in self-defense. According to police reports, when she tried to call 911, thge brother of the former falcon, Naim Shakir, 24, "tackled her and held her down while Ashley Ambrose kicked her in the side and hit her in the face, according to the report."


So I guess I state this as challenge to us men who claim to be real but are never there at PTA meetings for our kids, never changing diapers, not treating the women in your lives like queens, being faithful and respecting the relationships and commitments of others. More importantly, it means if you cannot do any of these things, then lift up your skirt and find your balls.

10 comments:

Saadia said...

Very provocative post, T.

You make some excellent points. These are things that many people don't want to hear even though it's the truth.

Anonymous said...

Whats up bro,you just hit the nail on the Head.Again why is it that the press portrays such negative accounts of Black men.When need to portray the positive attributes of my black brothers.Terrence I have a suggestion,I want the REAL BLACK MEN to stand up and be accounted for the positive not the negative portrayal of our community.

The Good Doctor

Anonymous said...

This is enlightening.

It's hard in our society for the black man, but our struggles should make us stronger. Not all of our brothers are scrubs.

Hats off to the "real men" The ones who take care of thier children, women, and handle their business

E.R. Carpenter said...

Nice post. I with ya brother.

Shai said...

So what can be done? Alot of black women have been open, supportive and patient. Yet, it goes unnoticed until we stop.

How do we combat the "pimp" and "playa" mentality society has? How do we get some women to stop taking care of men who don't take care of them? How do we show some women to quit using sex for money? I can go on and on?

I give props for the men who stand against all the temptations.

cnulan said...

I find myself leaning fairly heavily on your black skin white mask summation this weekend;

http://www.prometheus6.org/node/15709#comment-20451

and the objectively moral highground for Black folks IS self-determination.

which brings us back full round to the buffet busting big sessie...., that kneegrow is twisting the mirror of external observation in an explicitly devolutionary manner, not only is he fearful of the exhuberance he witnessed in Sin City, (many middle-aged men are) - he's catering to the fearful myopic tastes and preferences of his predominantly white readership. you should've heard the talk radio tumors out hear giving big sessie dap over the past week .

straight up black-skin white-mask kneegrow-damnation....,

I'd also say, don't confuse intergenerational problems, i.e., old men hating on and fearful of young men, with race problems, that shit is old as humanity and a cornerstone of the western cultural narrative...,

properly configured Black male intergenerational relationships would go a long way toward solving/expediting lots of guardian/cohesion and representational/leadership problems plagueing our beleaguered communities...,

the onus for implementing these solutions falls to the elders..., unfortunately, there are lots of elders who're operationally and topologically divorced from the youngers who've been left to fend for themselves or be mentored by suboptimal O.G. mentors..,

too gottdam many punkazz black face white mask elders competing with rather than collaborating with the youngers....,

Unknown said...

Nice points, and you nailed them all . It's hard to be anything respectable in this society when you're black because we're negatively viewed and it's annoying but Black men and Women deserve the out most respect when you add up everything they are .

Lena said...

Ha, I wish you could drive around Atlanta with a blow horn challenging men to this.

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