My Interview With M1 of Dead Prez

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Black Marriage Crisis Part Two: Let's Talk About Sex

or some reason in today’s society people have forgotten about Black love. Fortunately President and First Lady Obama are keeping the image of a positive, successful Black marriage in the forefront of today’s media. However, to remove the stigma that has become attached to Black marriages, what needs to occur is a rethinking about how Black parents educate their children about love, sex and relationships.

One thing that I have found increasingly shocking as I have gotten older is the amount of neglect a topic such as sex receives in modern-day Black American households. Far too often young people like myself find ourselves without proper guidance and education about matters of the heart. Oftentimes parents leave the onus to the child or the school to educate children on sex and relationships and this, I believe is partly to blame for the high rates of both the unmarried and divorced in the Black community.

I believe that the responsibility should fall on parents to educate their children about their own beliefs about sex so that the young person is clear on the parents stance but also able to ask questions for the purpose of education. In my own teenage years many of the questions I had about intimacy were forced to be answered through osmosis, and although society has normalized this I do not believe it is the best method of education for young people.

In 2008 there was nearly a double-digit increase in all STD’s, except for gonorrhea according to Avert.Org, a non-profit HIV/AIDS charity. I wonder how many of these cases could have been prevented with simple education? I realized the importance of sexual education when I was a student at Marist High School, located in Bayonne, New Jersey. Being a Catholic school, the school supports a pro-abstinence policy which in and of itself does no harm in my view. However, being the optimist that I am, I believe that educated people will ultimately make the best decisions for themselves and for the broader society, at least in most instances.

As I go on some of my old high school friends Facebook profiles, I am in shock at how many of them are now parents or expecting a new child. Again I ask, how many of those pregnancies could have been prevented with simple education of the person? This writing is in no way intended to demean the teaching method of my alma mater’s teaching philosophy, I am just asking the question. In episode 507 of the popular Comedy Central series “South Park” the small, fictitious Colorado town is once again up in arms because the question of sexual education is being literally fought over by the parents, teachers and of course the children of the town. Ultimately it is decided that schools and the broader community should play a secondary role in the sexual education of the young people and I believe that this is what would be best for Black America.

As uncomfortable as it may be for some parents and children I believe that having candid, open conversations about sex and matters of the heart would lead to less unplanned pregnancies as well as the restoration of marriage as a cornerstone, normative institution in Black America, and not just a spectacle when successful.

Black Marriage Crisis Part Two: Let

or some reason in today’s society people have forgotten about Black love. Fortunately President and First Lady Obama are keeping the image of a positive, successful Black marriage in the forefront of today’s media. However, to remove the stigma that has become attached to Black marriages, what needs to occur is a rethinking about how Black parents educate their children about love, sex and relationships.

One thing that I have found increasingly shocking as I have gotten older is the amount of neglect a topic such as sex receives in modern-day Black American households. Far too often young people like myself find ourselves without proper guidance and education about matters of the heart. Oftentimes parents leave the onus to the child or the school to educate children on sex and relationships and this, I believe is partly to blame for the high rates of both the unmarried and divorced in the Black community.

I believe that the responsibility should fall on parents to educate their children about their own beliefs about sex so that the young person is clear on the parents stance but also able to ask questions for the purpose of education. In my own teenage years many of the questions I had about intimacy were forced to be answered through osmosis, and although society has normalized this I do not believe it is the best method of education for young people.

In 2008 there was nearly a double-digit increase in all STD’s, except for gonorrhea according to Avert.Org, a non-profit HIV/AIDS charity. I wonder how many of these cases could have been prevented with simple education? I realized the importance of sexual education when I was a student at Marist High School, located in Bayonne, New Jersey. Being a Catholic school, the school supports a pro-abstinence policy which in and of itself does no harm in my view. However, being the optimist that I am, I believe that educated people will ultimately make the best decisions for themselves and for the broader society, at least in most instances.

As I go on some of my old high school friends Facebook profiles, I am in shock at how many of them are now parents or expecting a new child. Again I ask, how many of those pregnancies could have been prevented with simple education of the person? This writing is in no way intended to demean the teaching method of my alma mater’s teaching philosophy, I am just asking the question. In episode 507 of the popular Comedy Central series “South Park” the small, fictitious Colorado town is once again up in arms because the question of sexual education is being literally fought over by the parents, teachers and of course the children of the town. Ultimately it is decided that schools and the broader community should play a secondary role in the sexual education of the young people and I believe that this is what would be best for Black America.

As uncomfortable as it may be for some parents and children I believe that having candid, open conversations about sex and matters of the heart would lead to less unplanned pregnancies as well as the restoration of marriage as a cornerstone, normative institution in Black America, and not just a spectacle when successful.

2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys - GAMECHANGER BLOG

2025 Campaign for Black Men and Boys - GAMECHANGER BLOG

Black Marriage Crisis: Part One The Assault on Black Love

How do we define ourselves? How do we define success? These are two essential questions that we must ask ourselves as Black people, especially when it comes to the realm of relationships and marriage. On December 22, 2009 my mother and I happened to watch ABC’s latest piece on Black male and female relationships and since that time this clip has been making the rounds on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. The expose follows Nicole Marshond a beautiful sister from the state of Georgia who is the epitome of the modern day female professional. Ms. Marshond is a Prosecutor, drives a Mercedes Benz and even does some side work as an Atlanta Falcons cheerleader. Sadly at the time of this report, Ms. Marshond is unmarried with no foreseeable change in sight for herself or her circle of friends who are also featured in this broadcast. When Brother Cheo asked me to write a response to this story I jumped at the opportunity.

It should be no secret that there are more women (forget about race for a second) than men on the planet. Human genetics and social factors (like war) have made it so that women have a higher likelihood of being born and living longer, even across racial and ethnic lines. Most Black Americans are not under any illusion and realize that life, as a Black male in this country can be tough. Gangs, premature death and certainly prison are all social factors that Black men have to overcome if they live in inner city environments. Nobody can deny the grossly negative and devastating factors that face our people today but now I will attempt to flip the script and “change the game” on this conversation and hopefully if I am right maybe a few readers will fine Mr. Right.

This short news story has gained a lot of popularity recently because it cites a non-cited statistic stating that out of 100 Black men, 21% do not have a high school diploma, 17% do not have a job (never mind the fact that the nation as a whole is facing an economic recession and job loss at record rates) and that 8% of those between the ages of the 25 and 34 are incarcerated. That would leave only 54% of Black men eligible to be married. I will pause for a moment and note that not only was this statistics source not cited but that it also did not give any age ranges for any of the categories except for the one about incarceration.

There is an old saying that “figures don’t lie, but liars can figure” and that is what has been happening in our community when it comes to this issue. Oftentimes people cite statistics that are incomplete or misleading. Filmmaker Janks Morton’s work “What Black Men Think” documents how oftentimes age is not factored into many of the statistics that are shown with regards to Blacks and that it must be in order to understand the truth of the condition of the Black community. 21% of Black men don’t have a diploma, in which age brackets? On this the ABC news story is silent.

There is a propaganda campaign that exists to tear Black men and Black women away from one another and is manifested in much of the media that is being produced in modern America. I cannot however deny the fact that there are many wonderful women in America today who have trouble finding that special someone and even more who never get to walk down the isle. Even my own mother didn’t get married until she was well into her forties, to a man more than ten years younger than herself I might add. My father married my stepmother in 2002, the same year as my mothers wedding and despite my parents having children together this was both of their first time getting married. Why do so many sisters have difficulty getting married? ABC brought in Steve Harvey, author of the popular Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man who actually brought up an interesting point about the requirements Black women have of potential mates. Mr. Harvey says: “If you are a corporate executive, does he have to be a corporate executive? If you make $150,000 a year, does he have to make the $150,000 a year or above?” I believe it is these stringent requirements that have lowered Black women’s prospects.

There is nothing wrong with having standards but in having a conversation with my own girlfriend Kristie George she had some choice words for her fellow Black women. “The problem is that a lot of other black women do not want to be women but define themselves as career women. I make more money than James does but I still cook for him and support James in what he does, not because I am old school but because I understand that a relationship needs more than just money in order to exist. Many of us need to stop allowing ourselves to be defined by our job titles and sometimes we need to just be people.” To Be Continued…

The Politics of Princess Tiana

I will start this post off by saying that I have not seen Disney's new animated feature film The Princess and the Frog and therefore must also say that this writing is not meant in any way to be a review of the film because obviously at the time of this writing I am in no way qualified to review it. Instead what I would like to discuss in this article is the political, social, and racial discussion surrounding this film even prior to its release and hopefully bring some clarity to the discourse at hand. If one simply sat down and read a portion of the thousands of different bogs and thread discussions on the internet or if one simply googled the films title one would find a wide variety of opinions most of which along the line of "finally Disney has created a Black Princess". My question is "Why is the Black community waiting for Disney to do something we should do ourselves?" Time and time again I have read comments from people claiming to be African American parents (mothers in particular) who say that although they have some quarrels with the film still feel that racial progress is being made and that Disney's latest animated feature is a sign of that. As a matter of fact the comment that prompted me to write this article was one that stated "Finally I can tell my daughter that she is a Princess, just as good as any white one, and she will have an image to connect to." Upon reading this comment and the many others like it I became perplexed, but not at all surprised, as this discussion has been going on, even in my classes at Howard University’s John H. Johnson School of Communications.

The African race were the first to establish royal titles and positions, why then must we wait for a fictional account from Disney in order to make ourselves feel validated? There is a small but growing contingency of filmmakers and artists who are creating cartoons targeted at children of African descent but can be enjoyed by a child of any racial background. This year I became a fan of Kirikou, originally a Francophone animated film that has made it's way stateside via DVD release and Youtube. All over the world Africans are re-inscribing cultural ways of meaning and our own historiographies without any interpreters nor are we waiting on Walt Disney's estate to do it. Why then has this films gained so much of a following, even before it has been released? I understand that Disney films have a certain cultural value in the United States, however the true use of symbology that is used in the film, even based off of what little bit I have seen is enough to make at least one eyebrow raise, even if that eyebrow has to be my own. A topic, which has been less talked about with regards to this film, is the fact that Princess Tiana's suitor in this film, Prince Naveen, is not Black like she is. Granted the film is mainly set in New Orleans which has a high concentration of people who don't racially identify along the lines the rest of the United States would recognize, (Creoles for instance) however according to a recent article entitled Parents: Disney's 'Princess' is a hop toward progress from CNN's website by Breeanna Hare notes Ms. Kimberly Coleman, a blogger who runs the Mom In the City Blog (http://mominthecity.com/wp/) asked an unnamed Disney executive about Prince Naveen's racial makeup who responded in a very generic way but never exactly answered the question of the Prince's racial identity. This is part of where the real discussion should begin I feel

Even if Prince Naveen were meant be a Black man he is still very much lighter than his love interest is in the film, which in the racially tense environment this film has been produced has raised some eyebrows. In 2009 one would have difficulty identifying feature length, major motion pictures that showed a Black love story, be it animated or other wise. Why is it that in the era of Barack Obama and the supposed racial paradise that America is allegedly in, does Disney decide to create not only it's first Black princess but also decide that they will pair her with a racially ambiguous Prince when part of the draw of the film is it's portrayal of the African American woman? I admittedly do not know the answer; I will leave that question to be answered by my readers and those who see the film.

I Just Graduated... Now What?!

For the recent college graduate and the graduating class of 2010, its apparent that life may not be as our parents told us. The United States faces an economic crisis and an unemployment fiasco the likes of which have not been seen in America since the great depression of the 1930s. The question I and many other college age people are asking at this point in time is "How am I going to be able to sustain myself and make my degree work for me?"

With the nation's unemployment rate hitting 10.2% in October of this year its hard to believe that as a young person there will be a preferred position in a preferred firm upon graduating from an institution of higher learning. In a November 30th New York Times Article, In Job Hunt, College Degree Can't Close Racial Gap, the author Michael Luo points out that the unemployment rate of Black men with college degrees is actually twice that of their white counterparts (8.4% and 4.4% respectively). I decided to sit down with Mr. Runako Galstone an employee of Harlem Children's Zone and a recent 2009 graduate of Howard University to discuss this trend.

Mr. Galstone stated that while he initially struggled to find employment he did indeed find a position. "The key is to be creative in your approach when seeking employment but to also understand the political and economic situation this country is in right now." Mr. Galstone believes being a Howard University alumni gave him a leg up on his competition. "The institution that I came from was a definite help, it not only prepared me for what was to come but also helped nurture me even after graduation". When asked what was his biggest concern he stated "The fiscal security of this country and a lot of big companies is uncertain at this time, I would like to make sure that I am able to provide for myself and my family no matter what is to come". There is a definite universality to Mr. Galstone's statement. Despite the current economic outlook, it is my hope as I am sure it is yours that we are all able to finance our own security and that of those we care about. What happens after graduation? Life. And for me, and many Black men like me, life is about finding a way to reach your goals no matter what.