Category Archives: African-American Girls

African-American Girls, African-American Women, Black Girls, Black Popular Culture, Black Women, Hip-Hop Culture

Black America We Have A Significant Culture Problem: Essence Festival 2023

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I am old enough to remember when Essence covered the diverse nature and multiple issues of Black women living in a white man’s world. Essence went further in their coverage of Black women than merely printing beautiful pictures of them; there was no beauty of the week centerfold within the pages of Essence. I recall the presentation and discussion of substantive issues impacting Black America and Black women. When one desired exposure to the multi-faceted nature of Black women, Essence was mandatory reading.

The recent performances of Megan Thee Stallion and Janelle Monáe at Essence Festival reflect the diversity found among Black women regarding how they choose to present themselves to a world whose amused contempt and pity rise with the risqué nature of the presentation. At the same time, the alluded performances have resurfaced an essential issue among Black America regarding what a Black woman should be and should do. It can be reasonably stated that Black women have never been monolithic in any facet of life. This rich diversity of thought, dress, language, and public behavior has unfortunately forced a conversation that sadly ends in the conclusion that there is now a vocal minority population that can no longer be considered a credit to the Race regardless of the evaluation criterion.

In a long-forgotten comedy special, Chris Rock made the shocking statement that a Civil War is occurring in Black America between Black people and Niggas, and Niggas have got to go. Although I would like to cite the recent performances of Megan Thee Stallion and Janelle Monáe as the catalyst to a significant split regarding public decorum, morality, and sensibility among Black women, the truth of the matter is that those issues have been gradually worsening at an increasingly rapid pace for decades. Somewhere along the way, many, certainly not all, Black women have abandoned Black America’s cultural norms and chosen to violate our ancestors’ age-old advice to not go out and “show your color.”

One needs to look no further than the response that artist India Arie’s reaction to the performances mentioned above that, including a twenty-woman twerk fest from festival attendees at Meg’s invitation or Janelle Monáe’s idiotic decision to bare a pasty-covered nipple to the disappointment of Black men, women, and children attending the Essence Festival. Arie issued the following constructive criticism in the wake of the performances.

Is everything for KIDS? No, is everything for EVERYBODY? So when we as a culture make something like this mainstream, it shows a lack of discretion and discernment.

The response that the above comment received from a vocal minority was telling due to its wicked, horrific, and unceasing nature. Supporters of the public twerk fest and unnecessary display of nudity dismissed India Arie’s criticism as irrelevant and out of touch with the times. Undoubtedly, a significant segment of our population celebrates the devolving culture threatening to bar Black success permanently.

This championing of socially unacceptable brutish behavior among Black women and girls is proving to be a significant threat to Black America’s existence. One needs to look no further than the manosphere to encounter Black men expressing frustrations regarding the absence of marriageable Black women. Many alluded men have reacted to the declining numbers of what they deem suitable Black women by searching foreign lands for a lifetime mate.

The most frightening aspect of this matter is that the decline of marriageable Black men and women is an unprecedented threat to Black existence. However, there appears to be no way of stopping this cultural devolution that ultimately results in Black women celebrating their status as bitches, hoes, and baby mommas and Black men as uneducated, inarticulate thugs, absent a modicum of discipline. Unbeknownst to those who are reveling in copious amounts of ignorance, their Black contemporaries disapprove of their flawed value system and display a penchant for leaving them behind as they build lives worth living.

In time, the developing gap between an educated class of responsible, forward-looking Blacks and a have-not class will be too vast for the latter group who have chosen to twerk their way through life when they should have been working to cross. Fortunately for future generations of Black America, the formula for creating a life worth living remains available if they desire it. If not, they should seek out their tribe and be prepared to “throw that ass in a circle.”

We need Black men and women to do better!!!!!!

Immediately!!!!!!!

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2023

 

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African-American Girls, African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Girls, Black Males, EDUCATION, RACE

Reflections on the Middle School Students Attack on a 73-year-old Substitute Teacher from Cardi B and Me

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It is difficult to believe that Black America has no idea of the educational crisis that has enveloped our people in the post-Brown v. Board of Education (1954) period. The voluminous interlocking problems are too numerous to list in this short space. However, it is safe to say that a non-representative curriculum and teacher force and the lack of parental involvement are near the top of the list of issues afflicting our schools. There may not be a more actionable item on this list than the wild and often criminal behavior of some Black children and their parents toward educators. After all, every one of us has attended some school and should therefore not be shocked by what can be best termed decades-long piss-poor behavior of some, certainly not the majority, Black students in our learning centers.

Although this is nothing new, there is a growing trend among American teachers to leave the noble profession after only a few years of exposure to the students and the entire educational system. On their way out the door, many teachers cite the deplorable behavior of someone’s child and marginal wages that render them the working-poor as reasons for their exit and vow to never return to any classroom.

It is difficult to argue against the assertion that many within our midst have placed no value on education, educators, or their children’s future. To the surprise of many, I can tell you that this lack of focus on education does not magically disappear in the wake of their high school graduation. Many of these students bring their poor study habits and inability to adhere to stated deadlines in the syllabi they receive on the first day of class into their collegiate lives.

Although it is a frightening thought, I fear that segments of Black America have gone beyond a tipping point where cultural formations that devalue the utility of education are nearly irreversible. I shudder to think that a part of Black students somehow equate the ignoring of educators and a disdaining of learning as the personification of what it means to be Black. They were not born with such a daunting perspective. Many embrace a complete ignorance couched in vulgarity and anti-social behavior best taught by a pack of unthinking hyenas. In the world that they live in, this disruptive minority of Black students has been guided by their environs to believe that decency and politeness are signs of weakness. At the same time, the pursuit of intelligence and proper diction is a sign of a repudiation of Black culture.

So, I was neither surprised nor amused when I witnessed middle school students from DeSoto (TX) ISD throwing a metal chair at a 73-year-old substitute teacher. Left to fend for himself, the discombobulated teacher had little choice than to throw things back at the rabble-rousers.

If I were not eternally committed to elevating Black youth, I would probably agree with others who charge these types of kids are too far gone to be retrieved.

Such a brazen attack on a teacher signals both a failed socialization and the reaffirmation of a culture incapable of sustaining Black America during these turbulent times. The trouble I speak of occurred across several generations. The solution will take longer. Although frightening to consider, the advancement of such lawlessness could result in the severe curtailing of the existence of a particular class of Blacks. In many ways, it appears as if many of my people whose ancestors survived slavery, Jim Crow, the Black Codes, racial segregation, or institutionalized racism have succumbed to a materialistic culture that values things over, people. Ironically, it is the so-called great emancipator Abraham Lincoln whose words best voice my perspective during this tenuous moment.

(Black) America will never fall due to an external aggressor.  

She will fall from within.

If parents, teachers, and other adults in their immediate surroundings cannot reach these kids, who can? Such a question brings us to yet another cultural malady of who does this segment of Black youth values. The influence of rappers, athletes, and social media influencers trumps parents, teachers, and loved ones.

The socialization process within some segments of Black America has gotten so bad that rapper Cardi B has emerged as the leading voice addressing the students who attacked the substitute teacher in Desoto, Texas. After viewing the taped assault of the substitute teacher, Cardi B chimed in with the following tweet.

Disgusting this generation is really lost … I went to school wit a lot of gangstas and no matter what they never put their hands on a teacher …Kids this is not respected, not cool, not funny, not tough, not gangsta ….

— Cardi B (@iamcardib) March 11, 2022

I applaud Cardi B for stepping forward with a denouncing statement. The following does not disrespect Cardi B or any other public figure; however, Black America is in serious trouble if the foremost role model for our children is some figure they know, such as parents, grandparents, or family members.

In actuality, I would like to amend the above statement. Black America remains in serious trouble if the foremost role model for our children is some figure other than family. Although it is a frightening thought, this phenomenon that some strangers will have more influence over a child’s development than those in their immediate environs is nothing new in Black America. As a group historically marginalized from mainstream culture, it was to be expected that we would cheer for Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers over the Larry Bird led Boston Celtics or be glued to the television when a new show prominent featuring a Black cast (Sanford & Son, The Jefferson, The Cosby Show, A Different World) aired. However, the enjoyment of popular culture, even identifying with notable Blacks who had made it big, is different from allowing such figures to be your primary or only socializing agent that shapes your goals, priorities, and worldview.

Yet, non-elite Blacks have always tended to allow famous people to disproportionately influence how they order their lives and the things that they consider markers of success. This unwise choice led to the 1993 Nike campaign, nearly three decades ago, featuring Charles Barkley that sought to deemphasize the role of professional athletes in the lives of children. The commercial focused on Charles Barkley repeatedly stating that “I am not a role model” to any of the millions of viewers watching an NBA game.

If only Black America had listened closely and taken heed to Barkley’s admission regarding his proper role in their lives.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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African-American Girls, African-American Males, African-American Men, African-American Women, Black Girls, Black Males, Black Men, Black Women, LABOR

No Reported Income?: The Dire Economic Plight of so many Black Millennials and How We Can Address It

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One of the most repetitious yet bemusing moments that repeats itself in my courses occurs after I cover the indispensable contributions of Civil Rights attorney Charles Hamilton Houston’s fight for racial equality. Despite common misconceptions, Houston, not his protégé Thurgood Marshall, matters most mightily in the buildup to the historic Brown v. Board of Education (1954 & 1955) decision. The Supreme Court decision began the process of ending racial segregation in American schools.

The historical record indicates that in the decade following Brown, American institutions (schools, businesses, colleges, etc.) took small steps toward relinquishing many of the vestiges of American-style apartheid. Unfortunately, for the sake of truth, the damage done to Black America’s economic infrastructure as a result of desegregation is rarely discussed. The historical record indicates that Civil Rights leaders shortsightedness relegated Black America to economic subservience.

The consequences of moderate Civil Rights leaders’ decision to exclude Nationalist voices calling for economic self-reliance are impacting us to this moment.

One needs to look no further than the present economic plight of many Blacks for verification of this assertion. The dire economic prospects of a significant portion of Black America demonstrate how important it is for Black America to possess the ability to employ themselves by circulating the dollar amongst themselves. Consider for a moment that recent U.S. Census data indicates that 973,209 millennial Black men have no reported income. I am confident that with the damage that the Black Male brand has undergone over the past decades, many will shake their head at this information and say, “the brothers have got to do better.” Yet this is not a problem exclusive to Black men. The same Census data reports that the plight of millennial Black women is not much better as 707,625 of them are in the same predicament.

The above data would not be as devastating if America were not a Capitalist nation. Even the Wu-Tang Clan told all within earshot that Cash Rules Everything Around Me (C.R.E.A.M). There is no room for a reasonable debate that within Capitalist America, those who possess money wield absolute power over the economically marginalized.

What makes this reality more dangerous for Black men is the relatively standard demand that others expect them to occupy the role of the primary provider in their household. If financial stability is a prerequisite to having a family, the absence of a reliable, substantial income has banished 973,209 millennial Black males to the realm of being inconsequential in Black America’s advancement. Let’s be honest about this matter; the inability of the aforementioned Black men to access capital through “legitimate” means weakens Black America today. It curtails its future potential because Black family’s matter mightily.

When one considers the myriad obstacles, particularly previous entanglement with the American criminal justice system, that stand between Black men and gainful employment, it is time that Black America busies itself developing entrepreneurs and small business owners. The historical record indicates that any reliance on Whites to employ the “hardcore unemployable” in our midst is bound to fail miserably. Turn inward, my people, develop businesses and patronize them as if your life depends on it because it does.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

African-American Girls, African-American Males, African-American Men, African-American Women, Black Girls, Black Males, Black Men, Black Women, RELATIONSHIP

“It Is Time that Black Men Apologize to Black Women!!!!!!”: One Black Man’s Response to a Dear Friends Assertion

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Some conversations seem to stick in an inactive portion of the brain. The type of conversations that remain dormant until something unexpected, and usually unrelated, brings it to the forefront of one’s mind. During a recent moment of meditation, a long-forgotten conversation with a trusted female friend resurfaced in a way that made it impossible to ignore.

I will not bore you with the entirety of the conversation in this space; I will give you the most succinct recitation, as I remember it, possible. The entire conversation revolved around the best path to end the on-going civil war between Black men and Black women, reduced to the following statement.

It is time that Black men apologized to Black women.

Honestly, I scoffed at the notion that Black men needed to apologize to Black women about anything without a second thought. There has been far too much said by both combatants in this civil war for one group to issue an apology to an adversary that consistently delivered serious blows from a host of angles as if they were channeling the spirit of Iron Mike Tyson during his early days.

Yet, a combination of time, experience, understanding of history, and deep reflection has forced me to revisit this issue. Of course, the still-reverberating words of Brother Malcolm that

The Black woman is the most disrespected person on the planet

was activated without any prodding. I am sure that I am not the only Black man whose life experience and adoration of Malcolm X have led to this thought being pinned to the forefront of their mind.

Alas, my understanding of what can be best termed a civil war between Black men and Black women that stretches across several generations had appeared at the forefront of my mind. Its arrival was akin to a supreme challenge that struck my understanding of manhood and its means to be a Black man in America.

I was forced to consider the validity of Malcolm X’s statement regarding the horrific disrespect that he asserted that Black women have received from all of those around them. Unfortunately, this list of offenders that have used Black women as a reliable tool to included their hearts desires includes Black men. The historical record proves that Black women are always excluded from any rewards when goals are secured.

Although equally painful and embarrassing to admit, there appears to be a segment of Black men who have learned from Whites that the most assured means of advancing in this requires the engagement and exploitation of Black women. According to this playbook, Black women are to be engaged, exploited for their usefulness, and then discarded and denied at an opportune moment.

If I was not well-versed in the historical record, I could be convinced that all Black men view Black women as little more than a means to some desired end. However, this same historical record and personal experience prove that not all Black men have viewed the women of their race as a “beast of burden.” Yet, this does not cancel the inexcusable fact that there are Black men in our midst whose desperate struggle to survive makes exploitation second-nature. Unfortunately for Black women, they are more likely to encounter exploiters than upstanding Black men if for no other reason than the former never cease their hunt for their next victim.

Rest assured that upstanding Black men are aware of the presence of those whose every interaction with Black women is self-advantageous; yet, we remain silent regarding such matters – a daunting decision that flows from a desire to “mind our own business.” Such passivism remains our standard verse until one of these individuals or someone socialized by them emerges in the life of our daughter, niece, or even mother with a voracious appetite to devour all that they can access. Trust me when I say that efforts to protect Black women from predatory Black men will continue to fail as long as we allow their manufacturing within our community.

I guess that this journey began with a daunting assertion that began with what I considered to be an illogical demand that

It is time that Black men apologized to Black women

forces me to realize that maybe, just maybe, Black men should apologize to Black women for not providing an impenetrable hedge of protection around them against all those that seek to disrespect and prey on them.

In a world where Black men consistently demand the right to be head of household and leaders within their community, the state of unprotected, depressed, unstable, and uncertain Black girls, females, and women must be placed at their feet.

The onus is on Black men to bring a cease to this nation’s grandest tradition of all, disrespecting Black men by all Americans regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation. Please do not take this as a call that I believe Black women need to be saved. The historical record proves this not to be the case; however, I think that we all could benefit from Black men refusing to join others in their never-ending pursuit to denigrate, disrespect, and destroy the souls and bodies of Black women at every turn.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021.

 

African-American Girls, African-American Males, African-American Men, African-American Women, Black Girls, Black Males, Black Men, Black Women

What A Cursed Day September 23rd Has Become: Reflections on Emmett Louis Till and Breonna Taylor

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Although it would be psychologically comforting to consider court decisions that found the lynchers of Emmett Louis Till (1955) not guilty and the murderers of Breonna Taylor (2020) not responsible for her death were handed down on the same day are coincidental. The truth of the matter is that like so many other days in America’s history, September 23rd has revealed itself as a cursed day for Blacks; a day that makes other ominous dates such as Friday the 13th look like child’s play.

Freedom loving Americans must never forget that on September 23rd, 1955, an all-White jury found half-brothers Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam not guilty of a heinous crime that they later confessed to. Sixty-five years later on the same cursed day, Americans should remember that a grand jury in Louisville, Kentucky, notified the nation that law enforcement officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison, and Myles Cosgrove would not face trial for their actions on March 13th that resulted in Breonna Taylor’s death.

The cursed day of September 23rd illuminates much about racial inequality and injustice in America.

Although difficult to comprehend, Emmett Louis Till, lynched while visiting family in Money, Mississippi, was closer to receiving justice than Breonna Taylor would ever be sixty-five years later. One can only think that at least Till’s killers faced some semblance of a trial. The grand jury decided that a trial was not even a necessity for Breonna Taylor’s killers. The realization that justice was a more distant possibility for Taylor in the new millennium than it was for Till sixty-five year ago in Mississippi is a startling reality.

Those who ignore the events of September 23rd to extend their power guarantees that similar tragedies will continue for decades, if not centuries. It is ironic that those who perpetrate such atrocities have been allowed to cloak themselves in an ill-fitting suit of patriotism. This seemingly impenetrable coat of armor provides them with an unrivaled ability to accuse their opponents of seeking to destroy the nation. In the bizarre world that they have constructed, these self-proclaimed patriots promote themselves as advocates for the freedom, justice, and democracy articulated by the Founding Fathers.

When viewed through an appropriate lens, it becomes obvious that flag toting White Nationalists are the equivalent of Benedict Arnold’s who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that American principles will never be extended to all citizens. Despite their fervent protestations, it is the misdeeds of White Nationalists that ensures America’s historic racial divide remains.

Ultimately, one is left with no other choice than to question what do those opposing racial justice desires? This question is particularly poignant when one considers that the American historical record indicates that their kind has monopolized every seat of power from politics to economics.

I ask again, what more do they want, need, or desire?

If I were a betting man, I would wager that the White Nationalists in our midst are devoid of a reasonable answer as they have never considered such questions. Yet, there is no denying that America’s race problem has its genesis within White America. Hence, it should be understood that the solution to this centuries-old problem begins in that locale. This reality seemingly escapes well-meaning Whites who have chosen to join Blacks during boisterous protests through the nation.

If provided the opportunity to address the aforementioned well-meaning White activists, I would advise them to return home. If this battle against racism is to be won, they must attack it at its root; inside of White America. This pernicious socially constructed evil oozes from their homes, their civic organizations, small businesses, and the political decisions made by their local, state, and national political leaders.

Well-meaning White activists need to learn the adage that one must always seek to work smarter, not harder. The most powerful move that they could make at this moment is to abandon an antiquated playbook of joining oppressed people expressing their angst in American streets in favor of a new plan that directs their energies toward their white countrymen who have yet to learn that at the present moment the most appropriate measure of patriotism are unyielding attempts to ensure that freedom, justice, and equality are extended to all Americans.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.