A Discussion to Young Black Men from a Younger Middle Aged White Guy

     Okay yesterday was MLK Jr. Day.  For me, having worked in the intercity of Atlanta, this is a perverse holiday.  Not perverse in that it is wrong but perverse that we take this time and remember someone we all try and forget.  In fact in Atlanta, MLK Jr. Drive goes right through the heart of the urban projects.  I know that there are more things on the street than that (yes I saw the CNN article this contradicts the article from the Dallas News) but, it is known for the darker side.  While U2 was right that there was a man who came in the name of Love, we still don't have streets without names. 
     So, I guess as a white guy who lives in an ethnic part of town, I would like to talk to the African American young men who I see walking through my yard all the time (pisses me off, come on really!?).  I would like to start by saying, for God's sake PULL UP YOUR PANTS!  I don't want to see your butt.  I don't want to see your boxers.  It also doesn't help when you are being chased by the PD.  Side Note: I actually watched two cops in Atlanta chase a young African American kid who was pulling up his pants to run.  The only reason why the kid wasn't pulling away from the rather hefty cops was because of his pants.  If you can't take this from a white guy that's fine then listen to him..

   I guess this really comes to a more specific issue.  How you present yourself.  If you want to be taken seriously then present yourself seriously.  I mean, look at MLK Jr.  He wasn't sporting an Afro and bell bottoms (the corn rows and sagging baggy wear of his day).  He wore a suit.  He wore a suit even in the hot August sun the day he gave the famous "I have a Dream" speech.

 

     Image is a lot of things and tells people a lot about you.  If you look like a thug then you will be perceived as a thug and treated by others as a thug.  I'm not telling you to "dress white", I'm telling you to look presentable.  Pull up your pants and stop dressing in clothes that make you look like you belong in a circus.  Wear clothes that fit properly, that's all, not a big deal.  You can still wear your hats, and Jerseys, and jeans.

     Now once you look presentable, let's talk about communication.  SPEAK AMERICAN.  Not proper English (even though I like characters in movies who are African American and speak proper English... case in point Don Cheadle in the Ocean's series) just simple educated American.  This means other than at home or with your friends leave the jive, Ebonics, etc. out of your public vernacular.  Speak normal like everyone else.  Like your grandparents, like the white people, the Asians, etc.  American is the language of the business world.  The Chinese and the Indians (as in Asian Indians) are learning to speak American in order to take jobs from Americans, like you.  They are not learning Ebonics (or Spanish for that matter).  If you want to achieve anything in life then you have to be able to communicate.  This means you learning to communicate to the majority not the majority learning to communicate with you.  It's time to stop thinking surviving and start thinking about being a force in the world.

     Also, watch how you talk about each other.  If you don't want to be called a "N", then don't call each other a variant of that word.  You might think it means something different but to the majority of people in this country it doesn't.  Also, respect your women and be good fathers to your children.  How you interact within your ethnicity is how an observer would think to interact with you.  If other ethnicity's segregate their own ethnicity based on social dynamics, then what hope do you have if you are showing a bad image of yourself.  What kind of image are you giving? 

     Listen, before I get into the final rant, I do want to acknowledge that your battle to make something of yourself is hard.  Much harder than it is for me.  This isn't just because of your ethnicity but because of the socio-economic situation that seems to hang around your ethnicity.  That is what really sucks.  Your ethnic plight is similar to that of the Native Americans.  Just be glad that your ethnicity got the better deal.     

     If you want to blame someone for your humble beginnings, then I guess you can blame Abraham Lincoln and a failed southern reconstruction (which failed due to a combination of weak willed groups and hatemongers).  It's not Bill Gates, republicans (modern) or my fault.  Regardless of how many government programs are made to help you (BTW: largely by white people), in the end the only thing that will correct the racial divide is African Americans who have the determination to break through the many barriers and achieve.  Now, I know everyone was up on Obama being African American and being President and that being a signal of a change in America racial, but it wasn't.  The white media (media really in general) doesn't view him like it views you.  People in general don't classify you with him.  He is not you.  Only you can be you and only you, young African American man, can break the barrier.

   So what I am saying really is this, stop blaming "whitey" (insert any excuse here) for your problems and find a way to succeed.  Stop turning to gangs, drugs and crime because that isn't success, that is just another form of slavery.  Present yourself as a force to be respected both visually and audibly.  Take responsibility for yourself and for your ethnicity.  Will it be hard?  Yes.  Will there be those in your ethnicity and mine who will try and make you fail?  Absolutely.  Is it possible? Yes, it is and it is the only hope for your ethnicity.