Category Archives: African-American Men

African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men

What The Fall of Damon Arnette Tells Us About Flawed Black Manhood Constructs

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NFL pundits forecasted the Las Vegas Raiders release of second-year cornerback Damon Arnette in the wake of a controversial social media tirade before he arrived on a professional football team. NFL scouts have come forward and revealed that there were grave concerns about Arnette’s character. The Raider organization investigated and ultimately decided to select the uber-talented defensive back from The Ohio State University. Arnette’s character flaws were fully displayed in a video of him toting a gun and threatening to kill an unidentified adversary for an unspecified reason.

I am unsurprised by Damon Arnette’s behavior and illogical decision-making. Such evils have become standard operating practices for far too many Black men who mistakenly equate manhood with uncivilized behavior. Manhood constructs resting on undisciplined, unpredictable, and illogical principles guide this segment of Black males.

Arnette’s recorded explosion is a relatively standard fare for unanchored Black males. Those I speak of believe that manhood is an uncontrolled rage capable of destroying all it encounters at its best. Young Black men learn aberrant behavior from Black men broken by a hostile white society dedicated to blocking their success.

Unfortunately for the Las Vegas Raiders, no amount of oversight, a euphemism used by professional sports teams to babysit grown men, can change a person’s core beliefs and behaviors. Damon Arnette is the most recent example of this belief.

Let’s be clear on this matter: Damon Arnette was not born with a predisposition for guns and uncivilized behavior. They were socialized to adopt such things during traumatic childhoods. Much like Bigger Thomas, the protagonist in Richard Wright’s Native Son, a hostile society seemingly opposing the Black world forged Damon Arnette into a Negro brute. Although difficult to accept, not even a million-dollar windfall corrects a flawed moral compass like Arnette’s.

Raiders Player Damon Arnette Appears To Threaten Someone While Holding A Gun | The Daily Caller

There is no more disturbing aspect of Damon Arnette’s fall than what it yet again proves about Black America’s continuing failure, or is it an inability to intercede decisively on behalf of young Black men. The main lesson of this sad saga has less to do with Damon Arnette and more to do with what happens to Black males reared within a disassembled Black American community incapable of providing a reliable path to success.

The above failure to create a worthy socialization process and steer young Black males away from a host of societal ills toward success is possibly Black America’s most impactful shortcoming. A failure that guarantees that we will see future Bigger Thomas’ and Damon Arnette’s in our midst sooner than later.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

 

African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men

My Mind Is Playing Tricks on Me: The Matter of Black Men and Depression

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My life path has taught me many uncertainties. What is uncertainty? Well, I am glad that you asked. In this context, uncertainty is something with pros and cons that is up for a rational debate. Experience has also taught me that rare issues are beyond dispute; such matters fall in the category of “I know this for certain.” Unfortunately for Black men, one of the things that I know for sure is that the vast majority of us have tangled with a persistent enemy that will leave you broken, hopeless, and in many cases suicidal. What makes this enemy so dangerous is the fact that his ongoing attacks are ruthless and relentless.

This invisible opponent’s incredible power is attributable to his ability to use everything, including the few elements in Black male lives to execute further damage. Such attacks are invisible to outsiders.

Black men tend to suffer in dark echo chambers that prevent light entrance yet manage to magnify negative thoughts.

Of course, the enemy I speak of is depression. This dastardly disorder cares not about your socioeconomic status, age, sexual orientation, marital status. Well, you get the picture. Depression is the opportunist of all opportunists.

Predictably, I, like so many other Black men of my generation, did not understand my initial exposure to this chameleon.

Please let me explain.

In 1991, Geto Boys released the album We Can’t Be Stopped, the classic song My Mind Playing Tricks on Me was included in that musical compilation. There is no room to argue against the fact that Scarface, Willie D., and Bushwick Bill rhymed over a hypnotic tune. In hindsight, the music was so good that it caused most listeners to ignore the lyrical content. Maybe if My Mind Playing Tricks on Me were released Accapella, Black men would have understood that the song places a much-needed spotlight on depression and the myriad ways it plays tricks with one’s mind. Just consider the opening lyrics delivered by Scarface, the South Park Stalker.

… I sit alone in my four-cornered room
Staring at candles

… At night I can’t sleep, I toss and turn
Candle sticks in the dark, visions of bodies being burned
Four walls just staring at a nigga
I’m paranoid, sleeping with my finger on the trigger
My mother’s always stressing I ain’t living right
But I ain’t going out without a fight
See, everytime my eyes close
I start sweatin, and blood starts comin out my nose

… It’s somebody watchin’ the ak’
But I don’t know who it is, so I’m watchin my back
I can see him when I’m deep in the covers
When I awake I don’t see the motherfucker
He owns a black hat like I own
A black suit and a cane like my own
Some might say “take a chill, b”
But fuck that shit, there’s a nigga trying to kill me

… I’m pumping in the clip when the wind blows
Every twenty seconds got me peeping out my window
Investigating the joint for traps
Checking my telephone for taps
I’m staring at the woman on the corner
It’s fucked up when your mind is playing tricks on you

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As with most things impacting Black males, African-American men receive more than their fair share of the bad and a small portion of the positive.

The following facts provided by an initiative called Brother, You’re on My Mind shows the consequence of this unfair arrangement. The initiative, a partnership between the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., reports the following realities.

  • Adult African Americans are 20 percent more likely to report severe psychological distress than adult whites.
  • Adult African Americans living in poverty are two to three times more likely to report severe psychological distress than those not living in poverty.
  • Suicide is the third leading cause of death for African American males ages 15 to 24.
  • African American men ages 20 to 24 have the highest suicide rate among African Americans of all ages, male and female.
  • African American teenagers are more likely to attempt suicide than are white teenagers.
  • Young African Americans are much less likely than White youth to have used a mental health service in the year during which they seriously thought about or attempted suicide.

Why Black Men Face Greater Mental Health Challenges - Talkspace

After viewing the above facts, one cannot conclude anything else than Black America in general, and Black men of all ages are in crisis.

Unfortunately for Black men, the decades-old stigma associated with any engagement with a mental health professional problematizes an obvious solution. Black men will attempt to fight through these issues via an assortment of self-medication efforts that include, but are not limited to, numbing themselves with massive doses of alcohol, food, promiscuity, rage, and drugs. If things could not be any worse, Black men willing to receive professional help have limited choices. Only 2% of 41,000 American psychiatrists are Black.

No one is coming to save Black men from this mental health crisis or any other crisis. So, we must do a much better job of checking on each other, going the extra step, and accompanying or arranging for engagement with mental health professionals. We must attempt to save each other “by any means necessary.”

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

 

African-American Males, African-American Men, African-American Women, Manhood, Race, and Culture Interactive, MRCi

Who is Pickmesha and Why are so Many Black Women Seeking to Marry Her?

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We are inviting you to this week’s Manhood, Race, and Culture Interactive Zoom discussion over the rising argument surrounding Pickmesha and why she is so attractive to Black men.

MRCi discussions occur every Thursday @ 7:30 (EST) – 6:30 (CST). Click on the link below to join our intellectual community.

Join us as we discuss pressing matters facing and impacting Black Men and Black America.

Just in case you can not get the link to work, use the information to join the Zoom session.

Meeting ID: 353 334 8869
Passcode: 1YF4BG

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

Why Black Men Are Desiring Pickmesha Over Modern Women

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For most, it is a foregone conclusion that there is a civil war occurring between Black males and Black females. It would not be a stretch to state that the alluded conflict has taken on a life of its own. At its core, this conflict reminds one of Michel’le’s inventive creation of the word “Nicety”; meaning behavior that sits somewhere between nice and nasty.

I am sure that you agree that such matters should be the purview of grown Black folks. Unfortunately for Black America, the alluded discord has prematurely entered the lives of middle school-aged Black children. If I did not know any better, I could be convinced that a portion of Black youth’s socialization is intended to prepare them to be foot soldiers in a raging conflict that not a single participant understands how, where, or why it began. The only thing certain is that there are few winners in this game of Black love.

If it can be argued that the “N-word” is the nitroglycerine of the English language, it is more reasonable to consider Black love an allergen to so many of my kind. There is no greater evidence of such than the droves of disenchanted Black folks whose pessimism is displayed via their disengagement with any real hope of finding love with a Black spouse.

Things have gotten so bad on the dating scene within Black America that men and women are eager to teach succeeding generations on how to survive this gladiator sport that often requires participants to destroy potential mates and may lead to one’s mental, spiritual, or even physical death. Often it appears that the goal of Black love is not finding love, rather surviving with dignity and sanity intact.

Admittedly, it is impossible for me to comment on this matter from any perspective other than a Black man, so, I will not attempt to balance my perspective by injecting what I think my female counterparts would say; I certainly do not want to be accused of mansplaining.

I have spent several decades seeking to learn something new every day. Trust me when I tell you that lessons often come from the least likely places and at the most bizarre times. Experience has taught me to accept the blessing of increased knowledge/insight and keep it moving.

This understanding of the unexpected nature of life lessons makes my unexpected engagement with a new term a rather mundane occurrence. While listening to a podcast titled, The Crimson Cure, I learned a new term/identity. During a show that reminds one of the content of Kevin Samuels, I learned about Pickmesha. Apparently, this lady is someone that many Black men love and the majority of Black women hate.

As mentioned previously, I was unfamiliar with who or what a Pickmesha was, however, after listening to the show, it became obvious that she was an African-American woman who is feminine, cooperative, and submissive in regards to her dealings with Black men. Apparently, Pickmesha is a throwback female of yesteryear who has been bred and raised by a long line of feminine, cooperative, and submissive ladies to understand that her foremost priority is serving as a “help meet” for her man. The same role that her mother played for her father and her grandmothers played for her maternal and paternal grandfathers. It appears that Pickmesha knows no other way to be.

To the chagrin of non-Pickmeshas, there is no doubt whatsoever that respectable Black men across the socioeconomic spectrum are selecting Pickmeshas for marriage over them. The reasons undergirding Black men pursuing Pickmeshas for holy matrimony are fairly simple, they like peace and seek lives devoid of the unnecessary conflict and foolishness that so many non-Pickmeshas introduce to every relationship they enter.

One of the most interesting elements of the robust conflict that occurred regarding this matter was the lack of a true understanding of what a Black woman ought to be and ought to do. As a Black man who has talked to many Black women regarding the above matters, I am convinced that there is no single definition that encompasses Black womanhood. Ironically, there appears to be a greater consensus regarding manhood than womanhood within Black America. There is a near consensual agreement within our community that Black men are to be “protectors and providers.” The failure to accomplish these feats makes one a marginal man in the eyes of Black America. However, one has to wonder what are the consensual qualities that Black women must possess to be a woman.

One thing is for sure. If stable, sane, and gainfully employed Black men have any say in the definition of what type of Black woman they desire, Pickmesha will be the woman for them.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

 

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

The Solution to Dwindling Numbers of White Male Collegians?: Affirmative Action and Preferential Treatment During Admissions

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Although it was a common refrain of Black male educators and a complaint by my Black female friends, it never really hit me that there are few Black males on collegiate campuses. I attribute my relative blindness to the seriousness of this matter to the fact that Black males tend to sign up for my courses in droves.

Long ago, I came to understand that so many of the academic advisors on my campus were intentionally putting Black males in my African-American History courses that purposefully traverse across a wide swath of issues/topics that directly impact Black men. My teaching methods and subject matters are purposeful and aimed at the Black experience.

At the beginning of one semester, I arrived for the initial day of class and, for some reason, noticed that in a class of nearly eighty students, there were approximately four Black males present. Without the slightest thought, I heard myself musing, “Jesus, who are these sisters going to marry?” At this moment, the crisis of the disappearing Black male collegian leaped from theoretical studies to a real problem threatening to doom Black America.

My daily exposure to Black collegians on an HBCU prepared me for a recent study calling attention to the dwindling numbers of men on collegiate campuses. According to the survey, only 40% of collegians were males. Additionally, the disappearing male collegian accounted for more than 70% of the enrollment decline in colleges over the past five years. It goes without saying that if White male enrollment is spiraling downward, things are much worse among Black males. Unfortunately for Blacks, former Presidential candidate Ross Perot’s infamous observation that “If America catches a cold, Black America gets pneumonia” holds in this and every other matter.

I find this moment to be particularly interesting because it will provide a rare glimpse into the strategic actions of American society to reverse the trend of White males disappearing from collegiate campuses. Of course, the fairest remedy to this issue is the same one that white society rushed to the forefront to install within Black America; the alluded remedy is for Black families to reprioritize their values and place unprecedented emphasis on education when it came to their sons. After all, White America’s reading of this matter was that the lagging academic performance of Black boys/males is a by-product of social dysfunction in Black America. If only Black males would turn off the rap music, put down the video game controller, and focus on their academics, they would succeed.

Why aren’t the above remedies being applied to White males who are also disappearing from collegiate campuses? Power-brokers’ avoidance of any criticism of white culture and using a dubious socialization process transmitting dysfunction and questionable priorities is unsurprising. From the lens of white privilege, it is a given that there is nothing wrong with White America or the White males they produce. So, it must be the flawed system preventing their entrance into higher education needing correction.

The solution to the issue of the disappearing White male on collegiate campuses is the discarding of fairness in admission policies resting on GPAs and standardized test scores and a discreet, yet very powerful, embrace in preferential treatment. Yes, many private institutions are implementing Affirmative Action plans to reverse this trend of the disappearing White male collegian. Rest assured that I am not oblivious that this shrewd move to bolster the presence of White male collegians will benefit Black and Brown males as well.

Yet, the most important message coming from this slanting of admission standards in favor of males proves yet again that the unspoken mantra of powerful White males is “if you ain’t cheatin, you ain’t tryin.” However, I must tip my hat to powerful White men whose determination to maintain their position atop American society outweighs any semblance of fairness or justice. If nothing else, they are consistent in the evil that they do.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021