Blacksmythe

    

Niara and Grandma Tootsie, originally uploaded by Unbowed.

My paternal grandmother passed away last fall. Her birthday would have been today. Here she is with my daughter whose birthday is on Sunday. I thought about her when I heard about Rene Marie.

And thinking about Marie brought me back here:

My grandmother and grandfather were able to raise close to a dozen of my grandfather’s brothers and sisters after their parents unexpectedly passed. Throughout their trials and tribulations they remained steadfast, and dedicated to their family. They represented at their best a model of excellence that we should all hope to attain.

By taking the lyrics of the Negro National Anthem and combining them with the instrumental of the Star-Spangled Banner what she did was bring out the best of both. But you had to be awake to hear it.

Gaye did pretty much the same thing, bringing a level of soul and depth to his rendition that was so powerful I’m tearing up as I listen.

At first I thought that what Martin did was hip-hop. But I got it backwards. What hip-hop does at its best is tap into a reservoir of improvisation that begins much earlier. Feel me? We’ve been attempting to imbue our values into the warp and woof of the American fabric since 1619. Hip-hop is just the latest attempt, and maybe not even the greatest.

My grandmother was, an Omni-American. And I honor her memory:

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us,
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on till victory is won.

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Jimi asked a bunch of us this question, and one of my partners already weighed in. 

I wish I had an answer that would pass muster. I don’t. I can, like Cobb did, pull from a list of my boys–good men all–and use that as some sort of barometer. The graduate chapter I’m active with had a picnic yesterday and there were all types of brothers there. No fights. No beefs. Good eats. Good drink. Omega Oil does the body good. In Baltimore a number of good black men can be found at the Que house, the Kappa house, the Sigma House (do they have one in bmore?), and in the Alpha national hq. You can also find a lot of them at the police department, at Druid Hill playing basketball during the weekends. I run into these brothers everywhere I go except Hopkins.

But I suspect this type of story is rote by now. You’d also find black men walking aimlessly, or hanging out on corners with a purpose. And with the number of formerly incarcerated persons back out on the streets increasing (and the rate of hiring decreasing) I suspect we’ll see a lot more doing this.

Perhaps the more interesting question to me is, what will “good black man” mean given the shifts we’re going through? $3.50 is a GREAT price for gas now, right?  

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Many have written about the stark racial differences in wealth and in income. But what about the differences within black communities? Working on the book I found a couple of charts that I think are interesting here.

The gini coefficient measures income inequality within a group. A score of ‘0′ represents perfect equality–everyone in the group makes the same amount of money. Here are gini coefficients for black and white families. 

Another measure that gets at the same phenomenon is here. The share of aggregate income broken down into fifths. If everything were equal each fifth would have a share of well…a fifth. We don’t see that in black communities. And again here are the equivalent rates for whites.

Notice anything? How do you think this is related to Obama’s speech on fatherhood yesterday?

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It was striking alright…striking in as much as it smacked a whole bunch of black folks who are trying to make lemonade with lemons right in the mouth:

Too many fathers are M.I.A, too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes,” Mr. Obama said, to a chorus of approving murmurs from the audience. “They have abandoned their responsibilities, acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our families are weaker because of it.

More here.

The term “striking” doesn’t come from me but from the New York Times. Thing is that others have delivered “striking” speeches like this. Bill Clinton comes immediately to mind. As does Bill Cosby. Listen closely to the Minister Louis Farrakhan and you hear the same thing. In fact, the pastor of my wife’s church delivered the same message. This is the “courageous speech” that among other things tells listeners–not the people in the audience but potential voters–that he isn’t black like that. That says he isn’t a knee jerk liberal willing to blame racism for the ailments of black men. He adds a canard or two about more job training–these speeches usually include SOMETHING. But that’s about it.

It makes me sick to my stomach every time I hear it. Every time I hear someone give it. Unfortunately, given today’s intellectual climate critics like me will only be “proven right” when the same economic crises hits everyone else…and dads go AWOL. But of course then it won’t be cultural.

These are the types of speeches that make me want to stay home come November.

Update. Racism Review has the best analysis of the speech I’ve read.

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My mother called me last week with the story of the white Morehouse valedictorian. I didn’t think the story important enough to write about, because on its face the story reminded me of the not so famous White Tiger. We’ve got all types of stories about black students overcoming tremendous adversity to become successful, at Morehouse and other places like it. It’s news…but not really.

But I just attended a graduation party. The young graduate’s older brother is a Morehouse man, and is going to transfer as soon as he can. Why? Because he isn’t comfortable with the growing number of gay men who have chosen to call Morehouse home. In 2002 Morehouse student Aaron Price beat fellow student Gregory Love with a baseball bat because Love peeked his head in the shower stall that Price was using. He received a sentence of ten years, but this sentence was recently reduced. In response to the attack on Love, Morehouse administrators have adopted at least one policy designed to re-establish “masculine norms”. Students now have to wear a maroon blazer every day. As this young brother writes, other policies have been considered. The frame of tolerance is a problem here–these men should not be simply tolerated but should be given the space ne