So, watching the video of Derrion Albert getting killed on the street got me thinking….Are our young Black men an "endangered species"? I’ve heard that before. But now that I’m a mother, it takes on a whole new meaning. And if that’s the case, who or what, is the cause of the downfall? Sadly, I think we all know the answer to that question.
A lot of people woke up the day after the election and saw that, their problems were the same. And with the rise of unemployment, and the cost of everything going up, and the staggering number of single mothers, we’re seeing the end result. Our kids are pissed off and frustrated. Momma is working 2 and 3 jobs, struggling to keep it together, and kids are left on their own. This isn’t a new problem. We know this. But the fact that this took place, in Chicago, says a lot. But then again, crime in Chicago is nothing new. Before, or after the election.
I’m a mom now. My daughter is two. No parent ever wants to get the call that Derrion’s mom, and countless other mothers have gotten. My father is a forensic pathologist for the city of Philadelphia (another high crime city), and murder is such a real problem in our community. Do we know who started the fight? Does it matter? I know what I saw on the tape. When you’re in that rage, it’s all, emotional. You just wanna fight the closest thing to you. And most of the time, it’s someone who looks just like you. And guess what? They’re going through the same thing you’re going through. I feel like, we, as a society, put so much pressure on women in general. Especially, BLACK and HISPANIC women. But when it comes to single mothers, are we doing enough? I don’t know if Derrion’s mom was a single mom, but I know the numbers. Are we doing enough??
Is Derrion going to be the “Neda” to the plight of the young black man in America? The countless other “Derrions” have gone unnoticed. When do we do our part? And what exactly does that entail? I don’t know. But while we continue to blog about the latest “Phat Ass” or latest “Celeb Jump Off” more and more mothers are getting that call.
I want to commend Nas for blogging about this. Maybe now it’s time for more "Black Celebrity Men" to do the same. I know a lot of them reach out and give back. Probably more than we know.
But is it time to do more? And should it be their responsibility? I don’t know. But I do know, if you’re the parent of a teenage black or brown male, you can use all of the help you can get, making sure your child makes it to adulthood. Yes, this is America. Obama is in office. We tell our kids, they can be whatever they want to be with hard work, and determination. We tell our kids, they can make anything happen. We tell our kids they can solve all of the world’s problems. Maybe it’s time, our kids start telling us the same thing.
Posts
