What's going on with our Black Men?

Welcome!

Sometimes I completely forget to take into account the discourse within my own race. I wish I was more proactive. I wish we as a people paid more attention to the hate that allows us to continue killing one another without hesitation. But instead we're silent; or we complain about the city instead of the people inside of it. As if the city, the buildings or the streets cause it's own discourse.

Apparently you don't feel valuable enough to preserve your own lives or the lives of others. It is indeed animalistic to kill for fun or for recognition. It's sad. We complain and protest when the police kill us and we say they don't value us. We say "they never have"! We record our traffic stops out of fear that we'll be gunned down for no reason. We are outraged when the men and women in uniform take our lives but you become silent when familiar faces do the same. Yet brothers, fathers, uncles, cousins and nephews are being murdered by familiar faces. It's backwards! It's heart wrenching to see families, burying their children without answers.

I know we teach girls to feel special, to feel loved and important. We teach boys to be strong, be assertive and show no weakness. In my opinion, we're saying girls are the only ones who need to hear that they're valued. Boys are no different, they have no automatic reassurance that they are valued. Boys need words of affirmation just as much as girls if not more. As adults it is our job to change this. Girls are shown that they must take care of their own, that love won't come from a man but maybe from their children. Our boys have seen that men don't stay around when things get hard, or when a box marked responsibility shows up. I saw a friend from high school make a great point on Facebook. That older people complain about this generation as though they had nothing to do with its downfall. As though they lead a perfect example and we some how veered off course on our own randomly. The generations before us whether they believe it or not showed us that responsibilities are optional. 

Today, we change the standard. Today we start showing the boys that they are in fact special, necessary, brilliant, brave and caring.

So here's my open letter to you.

To our Black Men,

To me, you mean SECURITY

To me, you mean COMFORT

To me you are PASSION, DETERMINATION and STRENGTH

To me your presence means LOVE, STABILITY and COURAGE

Your intelligence INSPIRES generations. 

Your absence creates HOPELESSNESS and PAIN. 

Your deaths create SORROW so deep it has CRUSHED a culture. 

Please understand that you are LOVED. You mean the world to our world. Don't be discourage you are VALUABLE beyond measure. 

Love,
An Appreciative Adult.

To the young and old men that I come in contact with. You are loved.