aight i'm back. i work as a mentor and plan on teachin so like i said before, i think about this shyt alot. i think two of the biggest problems in the black community, as a whole is a lack of true identity and a lack of self esteem. we were stripped of our identities when were brought here as slaves and anytime we've tried to gain it and empowerment (garvey, malcolm, etc) its been shot down. we like to think otherwise, but the major part of our identiy has been shaped by white people. look at the culture of professional sports for example, for well over century baseball was by and far THE favorite sport for black people. today you'd never even realize that. everyone knows who jackie robinson is, but i dare yall to name the first black football or basketball player
95% cant because there was NEVER the same kinda resistance. in the same era that we were fightin for desegregation and civil rights black men were ushered into nba/nfl. look up today and at only 13% of the total population, we somehow command 60% of the nfl and 80% of the nba. i made a thread about this all on the other site.
now why do i bring all that up??? cuz, in doin this, black intellectualism was downplayed and hasn't been the same ever since. just NAME another industry in our society that black men dominate anywhere NEAR these levels??? you cant. aside from hip hop-- industries where education and intellect
aren't the main keys to success. our identity has been defined by our physical prowess but more importantly, NOT in our mental. this brings the lapse in self esteem. children growin up believin they're not smart enough to be somethin more, and how could they??? when the "only" successful icons from the hood play ball, rap or sell drugs...
we gotta STOP playin so much stock in this shyt cuz we're allowin kids to buy into it and emulate it and/or become jaded on whats honestly NORMAL and much more ACHIEVABLE routes for success. people like us, those of us that are high school and college grads, need to become the new icons for black success. we need more black men TEACHING, NOT COACHIN in schools, especially in elementary (where i plan to go, shake the stereotype) imagine bein a lil boy and havin someone who looks like you, that made somethin outta their self spend day in and day out with you helpin to plan YOUR path to success... its somethin thats seen farrrr too little but could honestly have a profound impact. i didn't think of it til now but maybe that should be a movement... i've thought of some other shyt... makin a community-wide (i'm talkin schools, churches, barbershops and other small businesses) thats based on workin with EACHOTHER rather than dependin on the government to change the quality of life in the hood, but i've typed too much already and i havent figured it out completely anyways... my bad for bein so long winded. if you read this that is
lol