My
beloved audience, I beg you, from my literary knees to listen to me,
keep an open mind, and realize that sometimes the truth hurts, but I
assure you that the truth is always worth hearing and heeding.
The tragedy of Trayvon Martin should not make us mourn at the
killing of a young boy screaming for help at the top of his lungs.
The tragedy of Trayvon Martin should not make us cry because of the
911 tape in which you hear neighbors, close enough to assist or
defuse the situation, do nothing but cower and CYA.
The tragedy of Trayvon Martin does not haunt us by allowing
Zimmerman to walk as a freeman, even though Mr. Zimmerman disobeyed
the police dispatcher's explicit and direct order DO NOT FOLLOW
Martin. This tragedy does not make us wail because of the “Stand
Your Ground” law which enables potential victims the right to
defend themselves against threats, which are very real and
increasing. The true tragedy of Travon Martin is that the majority
of African Americans fail to associate their daily behavior,
lifestyle, and decisions with the racial profiling which caused
Zimmerman to target Martin. I repeat, the true tragedy of Travon
Martin is that the majority of African Americans fail to associate
their daily behavior, lifestyle, and decisions with the racial
profiling which caused Zimmerman to target Martin.
First
off, let me state that I am a black man. I am painfully and
personally aware of the perceptions and problems which plague the
young black male. I grew up and still reside in 30349, where kids
would yell, “Zone 3!”, which pridefully boasts the police
precinct for which my city and neighborhood are designated. A weed
man lived a few houses past mine, there was a drive-by across the
street, and we had a “candy lady” round the street. I've been
too poor for ramen noodles and made it on rice and frozen lima beans.
I've been so tired of water I've tried to make a sort of flavored
drink by mixing jelly packets in water; it didn't readily diffuse.
I've gone through domestic violence and washed clothes by hand in a
sink. By no means, however, am I stating that I lived in the hood or
had the worst life ever, but I was definitely not raised in a white
well-to-do suburb. I state these facts to establish myself as a
brother, not as a blamer or bourgeoisie. But enough about me for
now, let's talk about the state of Young America and Black America.
Let's
begin with education. Now is
a time where the country's STEM (Science Technology Engineering and
Mathematics) educational statistics are lagging behind other
developed nations; only 32% of United States students are proficient
in mathematics1.
One out of every 5 students are enrolling in remedial mathematics
coursework on the post-secondary level2.
Minorities, particularly blacks are also suffering in regards to
mathematics education, such that 50% are low-achieving3.
Experts warn US secondary, collegiate, and post-graduate educators
that students are being passed on who are increasingly more and more
deficient in mathematics4.
In general, only 12.9% of all Associates, 9.8% of all Bachelors,
10.7% of all Masters, 7.1% of all First-Professional, and 6.5% of all
Doctoral degrees are conferred to African Americans5.
The African American dropout rate in 2009 for ages 16-24 was 7%, and
not even 20% of African Americans ranging age 25-29 have at least a
Bachelors degree5.
Ghastly...
As
a long time teacher/tutor on the high school and collegiate level, I
witness all too often the reality of these numbers. Statistics, I
assure you are accurate and reflective of society, because they are
based on and derived from the people themselves. Simply put, in
class, I commonly only have about 40% of my students turn in any work
and a 33% pass rate for 9th
grade Algebra. For those who want to point the finger at racism, I
ask you and literally them point-blank, “How did the white man in
your home keep you down today, preventing you from doing your
homework and/or studying? Also, where is the white man in this
classroom who is keeping you down right now, making you text, talk,
and not do your classwork and/or not take notes?” To their
sobering silence I reply, “Let me know so I can get campus security
to escort this unauthorized guest/visitor from the premises and have
him arrested.” God forgive us.
Let us
now consider the societal issues surrounding our young black people.
Remember the “Zone 3!” expression from earlier, why are young
Black males so fascinated with criminality?! Boys here run around in
fake gangs, not real stuff like Crips, Bloods, Black Disciples, etc.,
just glorified cliques, nothing more than a ghetto breakfast club.
Chumps running around claiming they are “savages” and “a beast”
but cry in parent teacher conferences when their mother takes away
the Polo and PS3. Boys claiming to be grown men, who when
man-handled by a real man, want to go home crying to their parent(s),
because their mouth wrote a check that their butt could not cash.
Boys wearing sagging pants and oversized shirts, because it makes
them look bigger, tougher, and harder, are appalled and terrified
when they are again confronted with the reaction/consequences to
their desired and chose projected persona/image. Boys treating
women/girls like property, grabbing, hitting, and controlling them
because they are the “man” in the relationship, in control,
confusing fear and coercion as respect and admiration. In just one city this summer, these African American boys, so desperately and foolishly trying to prove their manhood, creeping around with semi-automatic handguns, AK47's at worst, have out-killed the hundreds of thousands of soldiers warring in Afghanistan who use hidden IED's, F-22 Raptor jet fighters, stealth bombers, surveillance drones, tanks, bazookas, etc! WTF!? Are
adult black men so invisible and absent that all these young men have
as a template of manhood is the rap, movies, music videos, and other
media they consume on a regular basis?
Speaking
of the absence of black men, are black mothers so incompetent and/or
selfish that they cannot find a responsible, caring, man, who would
be a great role-model and boo/husband? Or are they too busy trying
to be 'grown and sexy' not realizing that the responsible, caring,
man is more than likely not going to be attracted to a drama queen,
who does not know that skin-tight leggins and a low cut blouse are
not appropriate attire for a PTA meeting or any other school
appearance. While on that subject, let me say that there is nothing
real about ratchet black women on “Real Housewives of Atl”, "Basketball Wives", “Love
and Hip-Hop” and/or any other of such “reality TV show”; they
are paid actresses, who provide professionally crafted bad examples
for black women and are kicked off if they are not 'ratchet' or
ghetto enough6.
Please
feel free to stop reading if I say something that is untrue. If you
don't believe me, just go to http://www.worldstarhiphop.com, Love and Hip-Hop,
or http://ratchetcentral.com/
to see Black America at it's peak of civility and sophistication.
These modern day "Stepin Fetchit" sites, shows, and more brings me back to the central argument of this essay, “The
true tragedy of Travon Martin is that the majority of African
Americans fail to associate their daily behavior, lifestyle, and
decisions with the racial profiling which caused Zimmerman to target
Martin.”
Do we
really think that we are the only ones who visit and watch the
digital coon-shows or hot ghetto mess we produce? What is self-disgracing and tongue-in-cheek
funny to us is the very kindling which fuels the inferno of racism
and justifies the actions, politics, and treatment of other ethnic
groups and/or races. Why are we this way? What is wrong with a
people who find joy in recording, broadcasting, viewing, and sharing
just how ignorant, animalistic, immoral, lewd, sexual, violent, and
foolish we can be, but then protest, march, picket, and cry 'bloody
racism' when we are regarded and treated exactly like the 'niggas' we
proudly and willingly portray? Let me repeat, What is wrong with a
people who find joy in recording, broadcasting, viewing, and sharing
just how ignorant, animalistic, immoral, lewd, sexual, violent, and
foolish we can be, but then protest, march, picket, and cry 'bloody
racism' when we are regarded and treated exactly like the 'niggas' we
proudly and willingly portray? In other words, how can we be taken
seriously when we claim we are tired injustice and other forms of
unfair treatment when we then turn around and live out the very
stereotypes which justify our subjugation and mistreatment? To put
it another way, how can we be angry at a man who treated a young
black male like a thug/hood, “real 'nigga'” when we allow our
sons, brothers, and nephews to be that everyday? We see our
daughters dressing and behaving like hookers, we hear our sons
listening to trash and emulating thugs, we smell the black and mild
and/or weed in the air, and then feel our stomachs sink when the
aftermath hits close to home, but will we change?
I
personally am more angry at ourselves for not being better mentors,
mothers, neighbors, family, concerned citizens, etc, than I am at
Zimmerman, a man who did what he thought prudent to protect his
neighborhood. As a homeowner in a high crime area, I have known
niggas to break into Black people's homes during the day, afternoon,
and at night, whether they are home or not. Hell, I stopped a
potential home invasion from taking place by circling my subdivision
several times lingering around a suspicious vehicle, prepped to rob a
home on MOTHER'S DAY! Niggas have killed entire families, shot black
men in their own homes, raped young girls inside foreclosed houses
and regrettably much more. My subdivision had 3 home invasions in
one weekend and that next Friday, not even an entire week later, the
car, containing two young black males was back in the subdivision
casing houses again. If I had been carrying, my piece would have
made this piece an entirely different piece, but God, mercifully, did
not have me armed at that time. That said, I could have easily been
in Zimmerman's shoes, even though it would have been legitimate this
time. I see no problem with defending your own or your neighbor's
property from niggas. As Chris Rock said in his “Bring the Pain”
comedy special, (paraphrased) “When I am at the ATM at night, I
ain't looking over my shoulder for the media; I am looking for
niggas!”
My
beloved people, look at what we are doing to ourselves. Use the
Fulton county crime map via the crimereports.com
and contrast a black neighborhood (30349) to a white neighborhood
(30214) and tell me how this is their fault? When will we stop
blaming everyone but ourselves for the decline of our once glorious
race? Oh remember the height from which we have fallen!? Black was
Beautiful! I was a Man! I was Black and Proud! Now, black is not
snitching (lying), thug (criminal), hood (uneducated), sexy
(self-exploited), and other traits so much more sickening... We have
willingly, although I hope unwittingly, demeaned and degraded
ourselves to the societal scum of the USA and world and according to
TMZ and internet stats, damn proud of it.
Therefore,
I beg you. Do not only march for Trayvon Martin. Do not just don a
damned hoody for Trayvon Martin. Do
not only write your Congressional Representative. Be a better
parent for Trayvon Martin! Pass a class for Trayvon Martin! Pull yo
damn pants up for Trayvon Martin! Cover up your goodies for Trayvon
Martin! Be the proud black man Trayvon Martin will never grow to be!
Be a mentor for Trayvon Martin! Clean up your neighborhood's
property for Trayvon Martin! Snitch on a drug-dealer for Trayvon
Martin! Let's be Black and Proud again! Let's be Black and
Beautiful again! More importantly, let us be a people united again,
never defeated by injustice and racism! In Jesus, Allah, Mohammad,
Yahweh, Buddha, Whoever's name, let's stop being the people we hate
to be treated like and start being a people who can truly and
honestly cry foul and claim injustice, when we are mistreated,
because we are no longer thugs, sexy bitches, failures in school,
hardcore, or savages; we are men and women, boys and girls, children
of the Earth, the beloved of God (Allah).
Now
that you know better, do better.
Peace
and blessings,
Charles
Edgar Hampton, M.Ed.
1.)Peterson, P., Hanuchek, E., &
Riddel, J. (2011) U.S. proficiency in math and reading lags behind
that of most industrialized nations, endangering long term economic
growth. Education Next. Retrieved May 1, 2012 from
http://educationnext.org/u-s-proficiency-in-math-and-reading-lags-behind-that-of-most-industrialized-nations-endangering-long-term-economic-growth/Aud,
S., Hussar, W., Kena, G., Bianco, K., Frohlich, L., Kemp J., Tahan,
K. (2011) The Condition of Education 2011. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011033.pdf
2.)Planty,
M., Hussar, W., Snyder T., Provasnik, S., Kena, G., Dinkes, R.,
Kewal-Ramani, A., & Kemp, J. (2008). The condition of education
2008 (NCES 2008-031). Washington,
DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics.
3.)Spencer,
J. A. (2012). Views from the Black of the Math Classroom.
Dissent
(00123846), 59(1),
76-80.
4.)Wenner, J.
M., Burn, H. E., & Baer, E. M. (2011). The Math You Need, When
You Need It [sic]: online modules that remediate mathematical skills
in introductory geoscience courses. Journal
Of College Science Teaching, 41(1),
16-24.
5.)Aud,
S., Hussar, W., Kena, G., Bianco, K., Frohlich, L., Kemp J., Tahan,
K. (2011) The condition of Education 2011. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2011/2011033.pdf
6.)Watkins,
B. (2012). [article] Star Jones vs. ‘BBW’: 5 Things Little
Girls Learn From That Show.
Retrieved May 12, 2012 from
http://newsone.com/2004588/star-jones-vs-basketball-wives-five-things-little-girls-learn-from-that-show/
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