Rise Black Man, Rise....

On the hustings for the May 24th elections, Patrick Manning, then Prime Minister of the country and Political Leader of the PNM addressed black youth with some very detailed and extremely sage advice in a couple of his campaign contributions and, despite being very impressed with the content of his contribution, all i found myself thinking was 'why now?'

Why wait until the sunset of your career?

Addressing himself and his audience to the major problems that plague the black community in general and black youth specifically, he held his listeners spell bound as he demonstrated an almost fatherly grasp of the issues and gave life changing advice that some, if not most of his listeners may never have heard in their lives and I was again wondering why did he wait until his name, reputation and words were tainted to bring this?

Why was it not his first priority once ensconced in the highest Office in the land where he COULD make a difference to elevate black youth?

Why was it not his focus to encourage them to strive for greatness and put themselves shoulder to shoulder with the other races?

With so many black issues being inextricably woven to negative national issues, and with black people remaining at the bottom rung of the social ladder and exploited for so long by their own kind and by others, why no Ministry of Laventille, Beetham and Morvant as a start as I and others suggested to him when he was in Opposition?

This is not meant to be political, but why was it not a priority of his Administration to convene studies, to set up policies, to create initiatives that would encourage black men to raise the children they father in a loving, respectful home, where they could learn to love and value themselves, their families and their children and dream of a better life for themselves and their loved ones?

Anyway, the point is the then Prime Minister did make a very serious contribution to the issue and i again find myself wondering why no one else saw it fit to continue the much needed discussion.

I recently read a study that surmised that around the age of puberty, black male youth comes face to face with himself as he relates to the world and the choices he makes beyond that self realization determines the tone of the rest of his life; the most noteworthy conclusion of the study was that the decisions made at that point are (simply put) primarily affected (either positively or negatively) by the presence of a strong male role model in his world.

Reading that statement one may want to interject  that the same could be applied to all races and that would be true for the most part save and except that no other race in this country is pulled in such competing directions from so young, and that the choices available to black youth are so limited and diametrically opposed to each other that every step travelled in the wrong direction takes him further and further from any redemption. If Heaven forbid he makes the wrong choice he almost dooms himself to a violent end, and yet black men in society seem to be content to leave their progeny to raise themselves as if social conditioning and personal development are not taught values. 

It is almost as if triumphing over adversity is the one true legacy of black youth in society.

We live in a country where it is common to say that 'we all want to like we self' and that is fine; but raising children to successful adulthood is a responsibility that cannot be ignored and if we want a better world for them, the onus is on us to like them more.

As an aside but important to the overall discussion, I remain astonished at the behavior of some black leaders who, having risen out of poverty themselves, walk away from their brothers and sisters and leave their issues and pressing causes in the dirt.

Why do they do this?

Why not instead fight to make blackness synonymous with greatness and success, with family values instead of ghetto values, with nation building instead of hustling?

This is not Darfur, Somalia or Calcutta, where poverty is all but guaranteed; here the opportunities available to the poor are second to none and stands head and shoulders above anywhere else in the world.

These opportunities ought to be used and exploited for the good of the children so that they could have a future that does not include terms like 'incarceration' and 'known to the authorities,' but someone has to mould their minds to help them make the correct choices.

Forget all the talk about the State's responsibility; far and above all else the children need proper and committed parenting.

I have noted before that the Mafia behind 96.1, Synergy TV and Zen do not encourage little chinese boys to be 'gangsta' and little chinese girls to be 'ho's,' so why are they being allowed to portray black youth in this manner? 

Why hasn't black leadership come out vociferously against this 'ghetto-rization' of their children?

There is no getting away from the fact that the responsibility lies squarely at the feet of the black man who, long emancipated and liberated in the real world, seems to still find himself shackled in his mind. The Caribbean business model STILL wants to refer to black people as worker drones and consumers, and this lack of respect will not change until change is demanded by word and action, and cannot continue unless it is first allowed by the very people themselves.

There is a vacuum of real leadership in the black community, and this may very well be the root of its destruction. You cannot escape yourself and your heritage by changing your hair and your clothes, and the best advice I can offer at this point is to do like the other races and rewrite the past by your actions in the present and the future.

In the words of Bob Marley - "Emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds..."