>black males who are in jail,on
>drugs, etc. are not in
>control. how can a person
>who is not in control
>define his/her destiny?? when
>a large part of the
>community cannot define its destiny
>the community as a whole
>suffers, regardless of how hard
>the other half tries to
>compensate.

What exactly do you mean by "not in control". Living in America no one is in control unless you're rich, white, and male---and then only a select few. The point to my critique is not about who's in control. The issue that I attack is the notion that if Black men were allowed to "be men" our race would be able to rise up and overcome the world. The problem with this argument in my opinion is the definition of being "a man". Those men who aren't in jail, on drugs, etc, are oppressed oppressors of African American women. Although sistas have continously proven their ability to hold it down in spite of the circumstances and not being in control they are supposed to become subservient and "let men be men". I am highly critical of gender roles because they come from the oppressor and they do not allow human beings to be human beings.

>many black communities are like a
>track star trying to run
>with one leg and you
>seem to be saying that
>because some people want two
>legs that we are demeaning
>the contributions of the one
>leg we already have. garbage!

Okay my statements may appear to imply that I am advocating single parent households across the board. This is however far from my viewpoint. We all know that it takes more that one person to raise a child. Using your track analogy, what we have done in our community in regards to two parent homes is only exercise one leg when we have two. Yes it's true that we need two legs but we need those legs to be equally strong, equally conditioned, and equally trained with equal participation for the race.

>instead of getting both legs
>together and running this race
>right you suggest we should
>redifine "running" what the hell!!!
>this is a defeatist attitude and
>supports racsist ideology more than
>anything else.

Well first lets admit that the whole race is f--ked up and needs to be completely rethought. We have to redefine running as you put it for the reasons that I stated earlier. The homes that do have a "man in the house" are dominated by "the man" and everyone in that house is subordinate to him. This is the way of the ruling class and I think that we should become very suspicious of all practices of a class that is inherently oppressive. By taking on the ideologies of patriarchy into our homes we then oppress ourselves and in effect become like our masters. In the long run this does more damage than good. Sure we may raise our boys to "be men" but what kind of man--like our oppressors?

As far as my statement regarding accepting the fact that women have and always will raise children as a single parent, I don't think that it is a defeatest statement. History since 1619 backs up my statement so I have no problem making it. In addition the psycho-spiritual implications of this deep seeded problem perpetuates the causes of this behavior from generation to generation. The solution I provided is a short term solution or rather a solution for the present. It is my hope, goal, and aim that we will see more 2-parent households BUT how that household is run needs to be rethought and redefined. Maybe that 2-parent household will be 2 women or 2 men vs. the traditional male/female. Additionally we MUST do away with the notion that the father ultimately must raise the boy and the mother must raise the girl. By doing this we are limiting and defining our children in ways that can potentially prevent them from being the greatest thing they can ever truly be---a human being. KRS-One said that "Before you are a race, a religion, or an occupation you are a Human being!" I would add gender to his statement and there you have the challenge of consciousness for us all. Who you are is not what you see, that's just what allows you to get around in the Matrix.

-soundz


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The revolution is upon us!

"But Moses said to him...Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!"
Numbers 11:29

"It's imagery. They use their ability to create images, and then use these images that they've created to mislead people. To confuse the people and make the people accept wrong as right and reject right as wrong. Make the people actually think that the criminal is the victim and the victim is the criminal"

Malcolm X on the American Media and Propaganda
Feb, 16 1965 Rochester, NY