Excerpt from "Raising My V.O.I.C.E. (Verbalizing Orderly Impressions through Creative Endeavors)" by Jeffery A. Faulkerson, MSSW
Published July 2007 by Infinity Publishing.com
March 2007
On February 10th, I had the privilege of traveling to Virginia to attend television and radio personality Tavis Smiley's State of the Black Union 2007. This event, held annually in different cities across the country to commemorate Black History Month, was significant for those persons in attendance. Four hundred years ago, in 1607, the first Africans had been brought to Jamestown against their will to do work that white colonists from Great Britain were unwilling to do themselves.
I didn't get a chance to stand on the sandy Atlantic beach that accepted the imprints of the first slaves' first footfalls, but as I gazed around the Hampton University Convocation Center, I could feel the eyes of my ancestors peering down at me. Thousands upon thousands of their contemporaries, which included me, had filed into the spacious auditorium to remember their captivity and celebrate our emancipation. Yes, we experienced a sense of pride and nostalgia when Tavis reiterated the amazing success of The Covenant with Black America, a book written by and for black Americans that topped the New York Times Bestseller List last year, but, more than anything, we gave our foreparents the respect that they had earned through the shedding of their blood, sweat and tears.
I still get chills when I recall our reading aloud and in unison the ten covenants and Call to Action, both of which are included in The Covenant In Action, the companion to The Covenant with Black America. Even though I have a long history of working in communities to help my people help themselves, I feel motivated to do even more in the years to come. And doing more to me means doing whatever I can to restore the black American family to its "wild or natural state."
Willie Lynch, a white slave owner from the West Indies, coined this phrase back in the early 1700s. In a document titled "The Origin and Development of a Social Being Called ‘The Negro'", he wrote, "Both horse and nigger are no good to the economy in the wild or natural state." For Lynch, who traveled to Jamestown in 1712 to teach white slave owners how to keep their black slaves in check, this "wild or natural state" provided Blacks with the natural capacity to take care of their needs and the needs of their offspring. He felt it was imperative that the white slave owners "break that natural string of independence from them and thereby create a dependency state so that we may be able to get from them useful production for our business and pleasure."
Jesus Christ warns us about these divisive tactics in Matthew 12:25 (New International Version). Responding to questions raised by the Pharisees, he says, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand." By sanctioning the public whipping of black male slaves, white slave owners essentially caused rifts in the black family that still resonate with us today. Subjected to these beatings because of their so-called disobedience, the black male slaves lost their vision for a thriving, unified black American family. And when they lost this vision, the black female slaves and their children lost all confidence in their ability to lead. Perhaps they thought their black men, their fathers, no longer possessed the power to love, honor, respect, and protect them.
But after taking a second look at the ten covenants listed in The Covenant with Black America, I concluded that the onset of most, if not all, of our problems are directly linked to dysfunction within the black American family. The family unit is nothing more than a microcosm of the larger society, the first place we human beings learn what it means to thrive as citizens of the global village. Our parents show us through their example what it means to be in loving relationships with members of the opposite sex. Through his words and deeds, the father sets in motion a chain of events that ultimately leads to his children growing up to become contributing members of society. More than anything, though, this same father teaches us, with invaluable input and support from his doting wife, that every decision has either a natural or logical consequence. And experiencing these consequences is what ultimately leads to the development of our children's moral consciences.
I believe the authors of The Covenant with Black America erred when they omitted the restoration of the black American family from its pages. Constructive programs are needed to rid the world of the kryptonite that is robbing black American males of their power to love, honor, respect, and protect their women and children. These same programs also need to address the apathy that black American women and their children harbor for black American men.
The first targets for intervention should be our schools and prisons. Many of our Black primary and secondary school students, mostly males, are choosing mediocre lifestyles over excellent ones, devaluing academic achievement and career advancement. To say that they are slowly becoming the generation that is separating itself from the white American establishment would be an understatement. But is this separation a good thing? Not really. What it does demonstrate, however, is Black America's capacity to depend less on White America.
Unlike their predecessors, who continue to believe that White America will one day gain a fuller appreciation of the damage it has wrought and the privilege it has inherited, the younger generation of black Americans has come to grips with the fact that these accommodations may never be made, at least in their lifetime. And these sentiments are being promoted by a Hip-Hop culture that was created to make money, not foster further dialogue between Blacks and Whites. The white executives pumping monies into the Hip-Hop machine care very little about what their artists are doing to dishonor black American women and corrupt the hearts and minds of black American children and youths. The only color that matters in this scenario is green, and for this very reason, many of our black children and youths grow up believing that music, as well as sport, is their only avenue for leading lifestyles that resemble those being led by white Americans.
The fact that black Americans represent the majority group in the nation's prisons is not a coincidence. Advocates for these prisoners argue that their constituents' plight is the direct result of a corrupt system - and they are partially right - but there comes a time when we black American parents must accept responsibility for our own inaction.
Most American parents - both black and white - tend to be inactive when it comes to addressing the issue of race. But it is crucial that black parents and white ones ask themselves if they are encouraging their children to be agents of change or defenders of the status quo. The status quo would have us Blacks remaining bitter and resentful toward today's white Americans for the maltreatment that our ancestors endured at the hands of their ancestors. Conversely, some white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant males, knowing that we harbor such emotions, would uphold the status quo by suggesting and supporting practices that appease us while safeguarding the privilege that their ancestors obtained through unrighteous maneuvers. Change agents are all about the business of bringing an end to these practices so that Americans of all hues can partake of the privileges that come with being American citizens.
Willie Lynch knew that the mark of functional adults in committed relationships is their ability to care for each other and the children that they bear. Because our founding fathers adopted many of his divisive tactics in their dealings with Blacks, it is important that the change we encourage our children to make has everything to do with increasing the black American family's capacity for being formed and remaining intact. This one change would decrease our tradition of dependence on social welfare programs and other forms of charity that remove persons' obligation to work out their own prosperity.
The federal government initiated efforts to curb dependence on the welfare system during the last decade of the 20th century. The maximum number of years a family can receive welfare benefits in their lifetime has been capped at five years. At the time, the hope was that this measure would discourage women from having babies just for the sake of receiving welfare benefits, or free money. It was also hoped that the fathers of these children would be encouraged to be present helps in the lives of their female partners and children.
But the root problems of black poverty persist. Black men continue to break their promises to black women, these days thinking more with their penises and less with their hearts. And when their children are born, mostly out of wedlock, many of them can be found hiding under bed sheets with females that aren't their children's mothers. White America is not to blame for this type of behavior. The blame lies with black American males who have yet to move from selfishness to selflessness.
United we stand, divided we fall.
It's time for black American men to step into the gap for their women and children.
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Copyright 2007 Jeffery A. Faulkerson. All rights reserved.
