But then, at the same time, I also resent your "quotation marks" around:

>"to pick up the pieces?"
>

I'm not coming at you, either. But the burden and suffering in "picking up the pieces" is some real shit too. And it deserves our respect. I don't want to know the grief a parent feels burying their child. And that's just considering the emotional "pieces".. What about all the money they have to come up with for the financial "pieces"?... Bail/bond, court cases, debts, sending money, collect calls, talk less of the costs to actually bury (how many young black men have life insurance?), etc.

I'm glad we agree re: Black men don't exist in a vacuum. And that acknowledging the broader impact of Black Male Victimization doesn't invalidate these experiences.
But perhaps the fact that these burdens so often fall on the Black Women and Children in a victimized Black man's life - as opposed to the other way around - is one reason why it's so easy for some of yall to dismiss what they go through??

I mean, bringing it back to the original debate: This perspective being championed throughout this post that the sheer existence of Black Male Victimization invalidates the concept of Black Male Privilege. We then take this notion one step further if we dismiss the impact that victimization of a Black male has on those that love him.

My question is, why would it be impossible for these various realities to coexist in one man's life? What is with this desire to distance Black Male Suffering - both physically AND figuratively - from the extended fabric of people who love you guys? What advantages have yall seen from doing this?

It just seems like this 'distancing' actually makes Black men more of a target? The more your identity is restricted to being simply a 'black body'.. the less you're viewed as someone's son, brother, father, romantic partner, boss, mentor, etc. So why even reinforce that reductive-ass crap?