Finally listened to his statement. Couple points come to mind. First off, I'm tired of the black savior complex many people have where they demand black people do things no other race does, in order to save ourselves. I'm not going to tell a successful black man where he can or cannot live. If you want to live in the suburbs that is your right. I live in the suburbs. It's pretty fukking nice. Living in the suburbs in no way hinders someone from going back to the inner city to help people.
The worst thing about this accusation is the idea that successful black men don't also live in the community or hood. He's using the phrase "professional" to suggest success means being a doctor, lawyer, etc. Those are all great, successful professions. I make a lot of money and am "successful." But you know who else is successful? The black HVAC guy who lives in an apartment in the city. The black postal worker. The black construction worker. The black librarian who is working while in school. Any black man who is working hard towards a goal or profession is a success. Focusing on lawyers and doctors while ignoring brehs who are out here doing the right thing and doing WELL is wack to me.
Here's my challenge to black men on the Coli. You don't need to move back to the hood. But there are ways you can give back. Call up your old high school, or a high school in your community. Most high schools have Big Brother Big Sister programs where you can mentor kids in the evening. They also have events where you can come by the school and give a speech on your job/profession, how you got where you are, etc. I started doing these and noticed that I was the only black man there. There were a lot of white women there. One time I brought my girlfriend, who is Hispanic (yea yea yea...) and we were the only black or brown adults on stage. I'm not saying you gotta do this every week to give back...but surely you can do it a couple times a month right? I've done the metoring thing where you help kids build a computer, do puzzles, participate in a book club event (this one is awesome btw), etc.
