Black Masculinism...Is It Needed?

[AlainLocke]

Black Masculinism...

I would say it would be the study and advocacy of Black males for the sake of Black males...

It wouldn't be about like...Black masculinity or what it would mean to be masculine. Or any type of gender norms. And it wouldn't include like that NOI, Farrakhan shyt where we would supposed to be some type of pillar for the rest of the Black population to climb on and ride our backs.

Unfortunately we live in a identity politics world and it is not acceptable to identify as men.

Women can identify themselves as women and conquer "Women Issues" but we can't as men...solve our "Men issues"

However I think us as Black men in the USA, particularly native born Blacks, might have a chance to have a "Black male only" identify.

I know Black men tend to be on that unify and "Black first" shyt and I believe and I know that shyt is over with.

We need to recognize when it's time to be idealistic and when it times to be realistic and have realpolitik...

It's realpolitik time. Black men in the USA is an endangered species. We have no allies. All we have is each other. We don't have the time and honestly, we shouldn't have to fukking explain our issue.

The issue is...people don't see our issues as "Black male issues". Since we don't a political identity.

Our issues are seen as "Black community issues".

Just like rape and other forms of sexual assault are seen as "Women issues".

Unemployment should be a "Black male issue"

Lack of education should be a "Black male issue"

Mass Incarceration should be a "Black male issue"

Police Brutality should be a "Black male issue"

Homelessness should be a "Black male issue"

We shouldn't have like a debate.

We keep letting people debate shyt that ain't worth debating. Like we just need to dig in and do what we need to do to get these problems solved.

 

[Poitier]

Yup, it is very much needed.

Its just an uphill battle because we are not as entrenched in academia as Black women.

 

[MajorVitaman]

Yup, it is very much needed.

Its just an uphill battle because we are not as entrenched in academia as Black women.

It would be damn near impossible to try and bring something like this to a college campus. Just the name "Black Masclinism" itself will set alarms off

 

[ThatTruth777]

Feels like some try to make it parallel with the ills of white male masculinity in America.

 

[Ya' Cousin Cleon]

we have to take back and reshapen, if not outright start anew, about our masculinity outside of the confines that it has been structured to what it is associated with via the majority population.

if we keep allowing online talking heads (them youtube, dating/advice, PUA fukk nikkas mainly) who rely on sensationalizing actual injustices black men face and constantly steer them into banal ass gender war bullshyt for the grift, or co-opting the toxicity of alpha vs beta nonsense we will not see any progress. And I bring them up, because that's who has the juice in regards to this conversation, not anyone who actually gives a damn.

And we can't do this alone. And you should know I'm not talking about holding my hands out to cacs.

 

[Neuromancer]

Everything said here is true. But we would need a plan of action. Do we start by writing articles? Ect. Because as @Poitier for this to be made into an issue people will look at with us as it's face, it has to be academic and then spiral into some sort of movement. We then have to worry about black men who are worried about being mislabeled by the talking heads. We literally have to make brothas feel safe identifying themselves as brothas.

 

[Isaiah Bradley]

I agree OP but those are Black community problems. Black masculinity problems includes things like the negative depiction of Blackmale sexuality, rape victims, leadership, intelligence, misrepresentation of courage, assertiveness, aggression and passiveness

 

[Neuromancer]

bump

 

[David_TheMan]

You mean Black Masculinity?
Yes its needed and it needs to be studies, just like black femininity .
True study at that, not just repeating of the negative black male pathology that is pushed by white liberals.

 

[Deuterion]

I feel that we Black men need to be leaders in our community and with that comes the acceptance that every single problem in the Black community is OUR problem. If Black women and children are having issues whether it be economic, academic, gender, race, or age based it too is OUR problem as we are their protector.

That’s not to say that that individual study is not important but us looking at ourselves as a subgroup ain’t gonna save us. What’s gonna save us is being lock step with our Black women and children as a family unit and then cooperating and collaborating with other Black familial units.

I’m down with the study of Black masculinity but the application of it in “we are all we have in this world” philosophy to me is not gonna cut it. We are not in this by ourselves...we are in this with our Black women and children.

 

[David_TheMan]

I feel that we Black men need to be leaders in our community and with that comes the acceptance that every single problem in the Black community is OUR problem. If Black women and children are having issues whether it be economic, academic, gender, race, or age based it too is OUR problem as we are their protector.

That’s not to say that that individual study is not important but us looking at ourselves as a subgroup ain’t gonna save us. What’s gonna save us is being lock step with our Black women and children as a family unit and then cooperating and collaborating with other Black familial units.

I’m down with the study of Black masculinity but the application of it in “we are all we have in this world” philosophy to me is not gonna cut it. We are not in this by ourselves...we are in this with our Black women and children.

Black studies on men is simply study of black men and our issues, to try to force women and non-male children into the mix misses the point entirely.
If you aren't studying men specifically, you can't really address the problem.
That is the issue today, you have people like yourself who are good hearted, but simply don't know that black men being involved in their community positively isn't rare but the norm in black communities in the US for atleast 100 years.

Only through study can we target a root point to the problem instead of going off myth or treating symptoms.

This is why I can't stress enough young brothers such as yourself should go out and buy Tommy Curry's book, The Man-Not.

 

[Poitier]

I feel that we Black men need to be leaders in our community and with that comes the acceptance that every single problem in the Black community is OUR problem. If Black women and children are having issues whether it be economic, academic, gender, race, or age based it too is OUR problem as we are their protector.

Black men are not benevolent superheroes

We can be empathetic to other Black demographics but...

You cant lead or protect anything until you address your own issues.

 

[Deuterion]

Black studies on men is simply study of black men and our issues, to try to force women and non-male children into the mix misses the point entirely.
If you aren't studying men specifically, you can't really address the problem.
That is the issue today, you have people like yourself who are good hearted, but simply don't know that black men being involved in their community positively isn't rare but the norm in black communities in the US for atleast 100 years.

Only through study can we target a root point to the problem instead of going off myth or treating symptoms.

This is why I can't stress enough young brothers such as yourself should go out and buy Tommy Curry's book, The Man-Not.

You’ve made so many assumptions in your response that it’s not even worth responding to. If you respond to any of my messages going forward, make sure you respond to what I actually write and not to pre-conceived notions in your own head that you falsely attribute to me.

Thanks.

Black men are not benevolent superheroes

We can be empathetic to other Black demographics but...

You cant lead or protect anything until you address your own issues.

I agree that we are not benevolent superheroes but my point is that the Black man’s struggle is inter-woven into the Black community so studying it is fine but applying it into how one engages the world is myopic IMO. We as Black men are not in this by ourselves as OP suggested, we are in this with our women and children. So while we must study ourselves and learn ourselves to be better men we cannot put ourselves in a box segregated from our community. We need economic leadership, familial leadership, spiritual leadership, and so much out here that will only be resolved when the Black family is united and begins collaborating and cooperating with,other Black families. Think about the common issues that plague us as Black men today, a lot of them have been able to affect us so greatly because of the breakdown of Black unity and pride. Why do you think the FBI was so adamant about destroying both? BECAUSE IT SOLVES MOST OF OUR PROBLEMS!

• Unemployment
• Lack of Education
• Incarceration
• Drug Use
• Crime

A lot of immigrant populations do not experience the above, why? Because they stick together! History shows how strong the Black community was when it was united so this discourse IMO is dumb. Malcolm X already showed us what we need to, so did Huey P Newton, so did Martin Luther King, and Stokely Carmichael, and etc. It’s just so much easier to bytch and whine about us having no allies but in the meantime the Koreans cornered the BLACK HAIR CARE INDUSTRY, Arabs and East Asians run all the liquor stores...these people extracting our wealth and reinforcing their communities while we bytch. When is nikkaz gonna stop pouting and start fukking working,..we already know our problems...they are the same problems Malcolm X was talking about 55 years ago! We need to start working together to change this shyt!

 

[Poitier]

I agree that we are not benevolent superheroes but my point is that the Black man’s struggle is inter-woven into the Black community so studying it is fine but applying it into how one engages the world is myopic IMO. We as Black men are not in this by ourselves as OP suggested, we are in this with our women and children. So while we must study ourselves and learn ourselves to be better men we cannot put ourselves in a box segregated from our community. We need economic leadership, familial leadership, spiritual leadership, and so much out here that will only be resolved when the Black family is united and begins collaborating and cooperating with,other Black families. Think about the common issues that plague us as Black men today, a lot of them have been able to affect us so greatly because of the breakdown of Black unity. Why do you think the FBI was so adamant about destroying Black unity? BECAUSE IT SOLVES MOST OF OUR PROBLEMS!

• Unemployment
• Lack of Education
• Incarceration
• Drug Use
• Crime

A lot of immigrant populations do not experience the above, why? Because they stick together! History shows how strong the Black community was united so this discourse IMO is dumb. Malcolm X already showed us what we need to, so did Huey P Newton, so did Martin Luther King, and Stokely Carmichael, and etc. It’s just so much easier to bytch and whine about us having no allies and in the meantime the Koreans cornered the BLACK HAIR CARE INDUSTRY, Arabs and East Asians run all the liquor stores...these people extracting our wealth and reinforcing their communities while we bytch. When is nikkaz gonna stop pouting and start fukking working,..we already know our problems...they are the same problems Malcolm X was talking about 55 years ago!

I agree.

We should not fall to the same trap of "intersectionality" that Black female gender studies has.

That said, Black masculinity as a study to balance out warped and often incorrect information from Black womanism/feminism would be viewed as antagonist from a segment of Black women.

 

[Deuterion]

I agree.

We should not fall to the same trap of "intersectionality" that Black female gender studies has.

That said, Black masculinity as a study to balance out warped and often incorrect information from Black womanism/feminism would be viewed as antagonist from a segment of Black women.

Yeah I think intersectionality presents problems in America because race typically trumps all and so you end up with a bunch of false allies. For instance, a Black and White female intersect at being Women but the same White woman intersects with a White man via their whiteness and so often times the White woman will side with the White man because she values her Whiteness moreso than her womanhood. We saw this first-hand during the last election as White women voted for a lying cheating mysogynist over a woman because their White privilege trumped their womanhood. This left Black women flabbergasted because they were like “what happened to all the pro-feminism and woman power we were talking about the past few years...Trump literally wants to grab you by your p*ssy?”

Lastly, I think Black masculinity as a study COULD be viewed as antagonistic by a segment of Black women but I think it’s because we have some healing to do as a community. I think Black women have felt let down by Black men which turned into distrust and birthed the independent ”I don’t need no man” profile that we see all too often especially amongst the college educated. Whether it be actual or perceived there is a sentiment that Black men have not been there for their families and I feel like the tension between Black men and women begin there. I feel that Black women have suffered from this phenomenon twice...once as daughters and second time as mothers of fatherless children and now there is anger. These same single mothers raise boys who don’t have a strong father figure who then perpetuate the cycle by having daughters they don’t raise who grow up to have babies by men who run out.

So the bitterness we experience from Black feminality IMO stems from a distrust built over time. Why were Black men not there? I think it was the war on drugs, lack of investment in education, cutting of after school programs, lack of work, over policing, killing of our leaders and etc that created the environment where Black men were led astray..so basically White supremacy.