Dr. Boyce Watkins
I figured that since black male personal responsibility is on the table for discussion, we might spend a second talking about personal responsibility for others. This is not intended to be offensive, but rather, to change the discussion around a bit and allow us all to take responsibility for our actions. We've heard the chorus about how black males are failing to fulfill their roles in good citizenship, now let's talk about everyone else.
1) The recent mortgage crisis showed millions of Americans losing their homes, largely due to buying homes they could not afford, along with undersaving, overborrowing, underinvesting and overspending. The government followed up by providing a set of welfare packages designed to help these borrowers keep their homes. Perhaps middle class America needs a lesson in personal responsibility, rather than asking for a government handout to save them from their behavior.
2) Speaking of the mortgage crisis, perhaps we should take a look at the personal responsibility being exhibited by banks who made irresponsible loans that threatened to undermine the stability of the US economy. Personal responsibility check called for? I think so.
3) I was on campus last week and saw some statistics about massive alcoholism, rape, arrests and even murder occuring on college campuses every year due to campus drinking. Thousands of students walk off campus as alcoholics each year, and their parents, nor campus administrators do much to stop them. In fact, those who try to stop them are attacked by their parents. Lack of student responsibility? Yes. Poor parenting? Absolutely. Perhaps we need to call in Bill Cosby on that one. But then again, he is afraid to say much about white people.....most of us are. That's why police are quick to raid drug houses in "the hood" but wouldn't dare do raids on college campuses.
4) Speaking of drug use....did you know that most drug abusers in America are white and middle class? A New York Police commissioner took a tremendous amount of heat for noting that 70% of cocaine users are middle class Americans. It is ironic that black males are the ones most likely to be sent to prison for drug possession. It sounds like middle class America is dropping the ball on this personal responsibility thing.
5) Middle class Black America, are you listening? Before you stand and applaud Minister Obama's sermons on Black male irresponsibility, think for a second about the way you are raising your own kids. I can understand when a poor kid wants to be a gangster, since he actually lives near them. But I see alot of middle class kids from the suburbs who do the same thing, and I see their parents spending money like it's going out of style (one paycheck away from being homeless). You too are being hit by the mortgage crisis. You also must deal with the fact that some of you (or shall I say us) have dropped the ball completely in terms of your moral responsibility to actually reach back and help the communities from which you came. No, an annual donation to the NAACP doesn't count, and neither does being the first Black accountant with an all-white firm.
6) Black women, check this out. You know I love you and I am devoted to you. This is also not to say that your claims of Black male behavior are out of line, but let's think for a second. How responsible is it to presume that the breakdown of black marriages is always the man's fault? How have you contributed to your man not being in your home anymore? How good are you at picking the right man in the first place? How supportive are you of allowing that man to see his children when he wants to see them? How controlling are you in terms of jacking his parental rights and dictating the terms under which this man can spend time with his own child? Isn't it a bit irresponsible to say that Black men are the cause of all of your problems? Why not work together with committed brothers to find common ground, as opposed to villifying and further distancing us from one another? While it might be convenient to join the band wagon of Black male extermination, it certainly allows you a convenient alliby for your own broken commitments to personal responsibility. After all, these troubled Black boys are being taught by their mothers.
7) While conservatives stand in line to point fingers at fatherless Black families, have they noticed their own horrific divorce rates? Isn't it a bit irresponsible to condemn people for not getting married when over half of you are ripping your own homes apart via divorce? Don't divorcee homes also end up fatherless too? Perhaps you need to take a note in your own personal responsibililty before saying anything about Black men. In fact, perhaps we should be giving the advice: Most of you are not mature enough to get married in the first place and don't have the personal responsibility to make marriage work.
I am not here to throw down gauntlets of personal responsibility. I am as flawed as the individuals I write about in this article. However, before we start condemning poor Black Americans or Black men, it is important that we remember that we are not as perfect as we might think.
If you talk about personal responsibility, you must do it in a responsible way. Focus on your own house first.
5 comments:
Bro. Boyce,
Your point is well taken, but we don't have to prove that we don't corner the market on irresponsibility--in fact, we don't have to prove a thing.
It seems to me that far too many of us in the Black community are missing the point. The point that many of us are trying to make has nothing to do with whether or not Black or White people are more irresponsible. What we're trying to address is the need for the Black community to clean its own house--White folks notwithstanding. We would need to address this issue even if there was no such thing as a White man.
The White man has done enough to corrupt our people. Let us not become so fixated on him that we insist on remaining stupid until he correct his shortcomings. What kind of sense does that make?
Wattree
Good point Eric, I see your argument as one of conservatism, rather than racism. I believe in personal liberties, with people having the right to do what they wish, even if that means not getting married. What it means for us to "clean our house" is mixed, since I rarely hear whites talk about cleaning their collective house, since they don't feel responsibility for what every idiot does in their community.
The racial side of selective irresponsibility targeting is problematic because it justifies discrimination in the workplace and court systems. That's why we can't allow media to make us the sole target of irresponsibility arguments. By Obama not speaking of anyone else's irresponsibility, he is implicitly stating that black people are the only ethnic group in need of such a lecture. That's irresponsible in itself.
When Obama spoke to Jews, he spoke of policies. When he spoke to white women, he spoke policies. When he spoke to Latinos, he spoke policies. When he spoke to black people, he suddenly became a baptist minister. I need Obama to be a politician, not a preacher. I can get that sermon on Sunday and not to the applause of our enemies. Remember: when our enemies applaud a black man's lecture to black people, they are implicitly saying "See, we told you that it's not our fault you people don't have anything. That's why we don't need affirmative action, and that is also proof that your claims of racial discrimination are nothing more than excuses for your egregious behavior."
Bro. Boyce,
You said, "when our enemies applaud a black man's lecture to black people, they are implicitly saying "See, we told you that it's not our fault you people don't have anything."
Brother, the very last thing I want to do is sound like an apologist for the White man, but the fact is, "our enemies" are right. Even the Devil speaks the truth on occasion--and this is one of those occasions.
The richness of our culture has dominated the entire world. At this point in history, even Eskimos are either saggin' or trying to play saxophone like John Coltrane. That in it's self clearly demonstrates that we have a much too creative and powerful culture for anyone to hold us down. Thus, the mere fact that we are on our ass demonstrates that we've allowed it.
Do you think that if a White politician tells White people that they need to stay off of drugs that you're gonna hear White intellectuals complaining that they're stereotyping White people because they aren't saying the same thing to Blacks? Hell no! You know why? Because they're independent thinkers, and they don't give a shit what we do.
But we tend to consider what the White man's going to think before our every move, and as long as that's the case, we're gonna be gravelling at the White man's feet.
To Hell with what the White man thinks. We need to think, discuss, and act, in our own best interest--and we don't do that. Clear evidence of that, is that I guarantee you that you won't even be able to respond to this, without talking about the White man.
Brother, believe me. While your position sounds like it's grounded in the best tradition of Black militancy, it's actually fixated, and a form of worship, of the omnipotence and greatness of White man.
You're saying, let's be careful of what we make him think. I'm saying, fuck 'em.
Wattree
Eric, if White America's opinion were not the issue, Obama would not have given that speech. He spoke to his black audience in front of White America.
Obama was wrong. I get angry at my daughter, but I would never chastise her in front of her enemies. Also, I would never isolate her behavior as if she is the only one doing it.
Stop thinking that your people are screwed up, they are not. They will always have imperfections.
"Obama was wrong. I get angry at my daughter, but I would never chastise her in front of her enemies. Also, I would never isolate her behavior as if she is the only one doing it."
That's new-school thinking. Old- school Black people will get in a kid's ass in the middle of the Beverly Hills Mall.
"Stop thinking that your people are screwed up, they are not."
Oh yes we are, and therein lies the problem--too many of us fail to face reality. How can we have Black people doing video commercials and sending them around the world, saying Black women are bitches and whoes, and Black men selling drugs to Black children, and Black children dropping out of school at a rate of 60 %, and children killing children, while their fathers are standing on the corner with their caps on sideways, then say we don't have a problem?
"Eric, if White America's opinion were not the issue, Obama would not have given that speech. He spoke to his black audience in front of White America."
I told you that you couldn't respond to OUR PROBLEM without mentioning the White man. Doesn't that tell you something? It tells me that we're spending too much time thinking about the White man, and not enough time thinking about ourselves.
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