Young Black Men

A news item in the local paper caught my eye…an 18-year-old student at Edmond Memorial High is charged with aggravated assault and battery after fracturing the skull and jaw of a 15-year-old student in the school restroom. The older kid is black, weighs 270 pounds, plays football and identifies himself as a “Rolling 60s” Crip. The younger kid has a Mexican surname, weighs 155 pounds.

[Police reported Fields admitted hitting and stomping the other student, saying Sanchez used a racial slur and “got what he deserved.”

Police reported Fields also said “this is what you get when you mess” with someone “from the hood.” Police reported Fields repeatedly described himself as a “Rolling 60s” gang member.

Witnesses said the assault began because someone in the bathroom was singing a rap song, which has the slur in it, police reported.]

So, the Mexican kid may or may not have been the one singing. Details are sketchy on that. Regardless, Fields is an idiot. And a dangerous one at that. Who knows what situation he will misperceive next, there’s already many packed into this little scenario. First, mistakenly assuming he was the personal recipient of a racial slur and possibly mistaking who made it, then thinking an acceptable response to that would be breaking someone’s skull and jaw. This is a stoopid and dangerous individual. How should we as a society try to fix this? Can this young man be rehabilitated, taught to be more patient before reacting with his fists, taught more appropriate responses? Sure he can, but the chances are not likely in our current system. He will be given a year in prison where he’ll really learn the dope on how to be a career criminal – why bother with a trial, he already confessed to the crime.

Another question is why would a football player be so eager to claim gang membership? This is Oklahoma, football is serious business here, and a 270-pound defensive lineman on the MaxPreps list has a future. At one time this boy was ranked 25 in the state in his position. Did the gang influence outweigh the football influence?

So, what’s up with the Rolling 60s Crips – who the hell are they and why are they in an Oklahoma City suburb? Wickipedia: “According to the Los Angeles Daily News, Rollin’ 60s is ‘the largest black criminal street gang in the city of Los Angeles with between 2400-4500 members just in LA…Gang activities include pre-meditated murder, bank robberies, rape, drug trafficking, carjacking, assault and vandalism.’”

Did this idiot not realize he had a future?

Why the hell are they here, in the heartland – we already have tornadoes, snow blizzards, flooding, out-of-control grass fires, dust storms, ice storms that make trees explode, an earthquake that shook my house, temps that range from below zero to over 100 – do we really need the gang problem, too?

So, how did the Crips become an organization with 35,000 members in multiple subsets (over 800 by 1999)? The top four states with the highest estimated numbers of members are: California, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. You’ve got to be kidding me. We’re freaking Crip-Central? This is sort of funny if it weren’t so damn tragic. Missouri – the Ozark mountains, home of the hillbillies? Oklahoma – nothing here but plains grasses, blackjack scrub, cows, and oil wells drilling here and there. Wow. Why have we fallen prey to a foreign invading sweep of gang culture? (Trust me, California and Oklahoma are like foreign countries to each other!) Why does anyone succumb?

According to the Wikipedia article on the Crips, two guys joined their little street gangs in 1969 to fight other little street gangs. They became known as the Crips, a reference to the young age of 17 of the members (cribs) that morphed into crips, short for cripples, when some started carrying canes to display their pimp status. But, this is the line that makes me see red in the article.

“Gang activity in South Central Los Angeles has its roots in a variety of factors dating back to the 1950s and 60s, including post-WWII economic decline leading to joblessness and poverty, racial segregation leading to the formation of black “street clubs” by young African American men who were excluded from organizations such as the Boy Scouts, and the waning of black nationalist organizations such as the Black Panther Party and the Black Power Movement.”

The Boy Scouts refused to let black young men join? Really? And the Black Panthers were waning in 1969? Hmmm. Why would they name the BSA, the only one named mind you, for widespread racism?

This was written by someone who has no idea how BSA works. The BSA is not a top-down organization, in which a group of men sit on high and make decisions how things are going to happen in the thousands of little packs and troops all over the nation and world. No, it’s the greatest, largest mobilization of community volunteers the world has ever seen. Packs and troops are run by volunteer dads and moms, who commit their time and energy to delivering a program in their neighborhood. The parents choose whether they will work to ensure a certain experience for their children, and they are not paid one dime. Every unit reflects the cultural make-up of its community. You would be shocked to know how few paid positions there are in the BSA. And those guys concern themselves with background checks and training of all the volunteers, raising money, and moving resources to the local units.

Yes, there are strict, tough troops with strict, tough dads running the show, with military ties. They camp a lot, engage in high-adventure experiences. There are soft, laid-back troops, who focus on merit badges like Reading. All sorts of crews or explorer posts that focus on a future profession or hobby: law enforcement posts sponsored by police departments, scuba diving venture crews, etc. The typical BSA unit today is sponsored by the Mormon church, but executed by the parents in the neighborhood (although, there are a lot of Methodist church-sponsored units). Through ongoing training of the adults, a strong, vital unit can be maintained for years.

Little Johnny’s dad, Scoutmaster of Hoolaboolah, may have been guilty of racism in 1969, probably was. But, that may not be the official stance of the BSA, and the BSA cannot control what every volunteer does and says. Let’s look closer at black involvement in scouting.

The first black troop was formed in 1911 in North Carolina. (BTW, the BSA was not officially chartered by the U.S. Congress until 1916, so this troop probably applied for a charter from England. The Boy Scouts of America was just getting started in 1910.) By 1926, there were 5000 black scouts in 250 all-black troops (segregation was not the fault of BSA). By the 1960s, a committee on inter-racial service became Urban Relationship Service, working to establish units for inner-city children of all races. According to this article found on a website for the African American Registry, “Programs targeting gangs were unexpectedly successful, and in many cities as many as 25% of boys living in housing projects were enrolled in the Scouts, many former gang members.” Of course, units in the north were integrated, most of those in the south were segregated. After the Civil Rights Act, all units became integrated except those that chose to remain all black. (And I have a problem with that actually, it’s called reverse discrimination. However, I am sensitive to the needs of individual communities and their methods to achieve their goals. A BSA unit ONLY reflects the composition and commitment of the individuals in its community.)

The greatest program for young men in the history of the world is available to all young men. Oh, thank God. The only thing you need is volunteer parents to run the unit. However…even that is changing today in high-need areas. Yes, units are sprouting up all over for the sons of homeless families and sons of incarcerated single mothers, all conceived and executed by VOLUNTEERS who are not the parents. God bless those citizens providing this service for the future of our nation. Tears well in my eyes looking at the pictures and videos of little boys given blue shirts, yellow kerchiefs and a code to try to live by, with or without their compromised parents.

So, how can someone carelessly claim the BSA excluded black youth and furthermore, name the BSA as a CAUSE of the rise of gangs, and how can the rest of us let that sort of statement pass? Did you know some scout jamborees were raided by Ku Klux Klan? The scope of this lie is absolutely breathtaking. They not only included black boys, but bared the brunt of radical crazies because of it.

What about advancement, were black scouts blocked from achieving high ranks? Let’s talk about Eagles, those young men who defy the odds (less than 2% rise to this top rank). Do you know what it takes to earn the Eagle rank? The young men who do this are special, there is something inside of them driving them forward with positive attitude. It would take too long to explain all the 21 individual merit badges with escalating pre-requisites in specific areas, the numerous pieces of each rank building toward the next, endless boards of review and scoutmaster conferences, and the Eagle Service Project itself, omg, which has to be approved by several committees, volunteers recruited, funds raised or solicited, do the dumb project, the work evaluated, then all the paperwork before, during, and after. At every step is a dad or mom volunteer checking quality, character and intent before signing off. Some young men do this incredible thing as young as 14, however most are 17. This is not easy, and I propose that most American adults could not do this. Eagles go on to win Nobel Peace Prizes and fly spaceships to the moon. They will naturally assume roles of leading this nation.

The first black Eagle was probably Edgar Cunningham in 1926 (uh, that was 43 years before the Crips formed), and the reasons this is uncertain are because several young black men eagled at that time and BSA does not ask ethnicity on Eagle rank applications.

There was Dr. Frank “Tick” Coleman, of Washington, DC, eagling in 1927, who went into education and counseling. Tick said “If we can get young men, young boys into scouting, it might help them get off the streets with these guns.” And you know an Eagle doesn’t just talk, they do. He dedicated many years to bringing scouting to underprivileged youth. He passed away in 2008, but a prestigious award is still given annually in his name by the BSA to its volunteer scouters who serve underprivileged youth. He said “I always wanted to make a difference.”

And what about Percy Ellis Sullivan, a 1936 Eagle out of San Antonio who went on to become a legend, first as a Tuskegee Airman then a Civil Rights lawyer. He said, “I dreamed that I could go anywhere in the Boy Scouts.”

Then there’s Chuck Smith, retired president and CEO of AT&T West, an Eagle from inner-city LA. “Clearly I wouldn’t have been president and CEO of a Fortune 500 company if it were not for this great movement of ours. I attribute every day of my success to it,” he said.

And check out Guy Bluford. While the Crips were forming in LA, he was busy getting a bunch of college degrees and flying planes for the Air Force, which would all lead to being the first African American in space. Of course he was an Eagle. He brought back the Challenger flag to a scout troop in Colorado.

Earl G. Graves, vice president of the BSA board, founder and publisher of Black Enterprise magazine, and an Eagle, said “The generation now being shaped by scouting will be strengthened by deserved self-confidence and molded with its own history of kindness, bravery, honesty, and its all-out pursuit of excellence.”

I dare you to say that the BSA excluded black youth causing a rise in gangs to the faces of these Eagle Scouts.

The answer is clear to me. If you want to make this a better world (in which young black men do not crush the skulls of young Hispanic men in high school bathrooms), get out your checkbook and donate some money to the Boy Scouts of America. I looked, there is no scout unit in Arcadia, the Edmond community where the big-wrecking-ball football player/ Rollin’ 60s Crip dude lives.



Earl Graves, magazine publisher...Eagle.



Guy Bluford, first African American in space...Eagle.



Chuck Smith, business titan...Eagle.



Percy Ellis Sullivan, Tuskegee Airman, famous Civil Rights lawyer...Eagle



Tick Coleman, mentoring football players into his 90s...Eagle.

Look at that crackerjack on the far right. Isn’t he the cat’s pajamas? I know a Senior Patrol Leader when I see one, and it’s not by the color of their skin. What is that young man going to be when he grows up? Oh my lord, anything he wants to be!

Seeing the Light

Martin Luther King hoped for a colorblind society some day. (And many opposed Affirmative Action because it did not further this idea of colorblindness.) I hope we never become color-blind, because I enjoy all the differences in people, the shades of skin color, patterns of speech, past experiences, opposing viewpoints that enrich my life as a member of the human race.

When we see each other we should take note of the package because it is the starting point of understanding. When people look at me, what do they see? A blonde, white woman, obviously of mostly European descent. I could be (not guaranteed!) dressed in a manner suggesting education and financial comfort and speak with a Southern accent. These may or may not provide clues to my culture, my background, or my life view. Before you make any judgment, though, you must go much further and deeper before you have any understanding of my mind, heart, and spirit.

In summary, external appearance is only about 10 percent of the journey to understanding each other, but an important 10 percent, nevertheless, that could give insight into the life a person has lived. It’s just the beginning.

Somehow, on the prescribed path to becoming “colorblind” (the so-called prescription for fixing our society), did we lose our way and simply become “blind”? Not seeing each other at all….afraid to acknowledge each other and connect?

A Different World Today

One of my favorite TV shows years ago was “A Different World,” a spin-off of “The Cosby Show,” which followed the eldest Huxtable daughter to college. The writing was wonderful. The characters were a bit stereotypical the first seasons, but the actors did a good job of fleshing them out eventually. I adored Whitley’s mannerisms and probably still have a crush on geeky Kadeem Hardison.

I remember clearly my favorite episode. It had to do with fireflies captured in a jar. Even after the lid was removed, the fireflies kept banging against the sides of the jar.

This was a show made by African-Americans with an African-American cast for mostly an African-American audience, I presume. The issues addressed were universal.

I can only wonder WHY, 20 years later, we still have this societal race issue. And why is it considered so un-PC, even racist, for a white person to tell those damn fireflies to SHUT UP and FLY.

I think Bill Cosby would have made a better POTUS than Obama.

Furthermore, what do we get for TV shows today? Stoopid crap. “A Different World” dealt with TRUTHS (black Southern Belle Whitley learns her family owned slaves), date rape, domestic violence, AIDS. They did a dance routine one episode that was horrifying and brilliant back then that dealt with the “Mammy” image. Enrollment increases at historically black colleges and universities during the late 80s/ early 90s were credited to this important television program. The show had a message, and it was heard.

What message do people hear today? “You need help. You obviously SUCK and can’t do it on your own. I’m the government – I’m here to help you. Never mind that I have to steal other people’s money to push my will upon you.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3cGgr-Rz-w&NR=1

"I was born a poor black child…"

What if I start checking all the boxes on government forms asking about my race? I can't prove or disprove any of them anyway. And I would be amused to see a government official attempt to prove or disprove without obvious visual profiling. I think EVERYONE should start checking all the boxes.

Yes, Let's Talk About Slavery

Sitting in an American public school classroom, I learned all about the evil whitey slave-owners and the noble, African people brought to the US in chains on slave ships. If only life was so black-and-white, and good and bad so simple to discern.

But, it’s not.

There were good white people fighting to end slavery (Civil War), Quakers aiding the slaves in their struggles (Underground Railroad), white men who fell in love with black slave women (Thomas Jefferson). (Actually, Sally was paid a wage for her seamstress skills, making her an employee not a slave in today’s terms, and their children were all legally “freed” and lived as “whites.”)

Was Thomas Jefferson an evil whitey slave-holder? I see a man forced to live in a time under societal circumstances that would not allow him to marry his life partner and true love. Think of all the arranged marriages in societies all over the world. There have always been societal laws over there (wives), and over here, Real Life (mistresses). Thank God he had Sally for comfort and support as he did his life’s work of helping to create the greatest nation this planet has ever seen. I digress. The point is was he an evil man ruthlessly raping one of his black female sex slaves or a man in love? How could any of us claim to know for sure? They had six children.

I have never felt like an evil whitey, although I was born with blonde hair and blue-green eyes. I was also born with the intelligence to look another person in the eyes and see their heart and true measure. This is not found in skin color.

When I imagine my family history, I see a lot of poor farmers, Cherokee Indians, and fighters (soldiers, warriors). My grandmother always laughed and winked when she called us “Black Dutch” – a term used for many generations to hide mixed-race blood between whites and Indians and whites and blacks. My half-blood Cherokee ancestors claimed this to avoid removal. (I have as much Native blood as many on the public dole, but my people chose a different path, to live in the future, not the past.) Why am I discriminated against for certain opportunities for NOT looking like I have mixed blood?

My Cherokee ancestors could have been slave owners, too. I recently read a fascinating side-by-side comparison of how African slaves and their NATIVE AMERICAN owners lived (found in an OK history text book). They struggled together as practically equal partners to live in a harsh, pioneer environ. They did the same work, ate the same food, slept in similar beds, children reared and educated equally. I see this as people working together to survive. Imagine you are a settler who needs more hands, help – one option is purchasing a slave family to live and work with you.

Did you know African tribes captured other African tribes and sold them into slavery? Our moral outrage demands we find a villain to blame, someone to PAY for the sin of slavery. The conquering tribe? Those who purchased (US plantation owners)? Those who bought and used the cotton (British textile mills)?

Let’s look at the world economic picture the latter part of the 1700s. Cotton plantations in the US deep South were pitted against those in India for the business of the British textile mills, victor determined by cheapest prices, of course. Both were snatching up the world’s supply of slave workers to drive down labor costs. Not quite the situation of “the master” just not feeling like shining his own shoes.

Actually, our time engaged in slavery was brief (in the grand scheme of world history), a dangerous flirtation, a powerful seduction. Then we snapped back to our senses, to our values of right and wrong. The ancient Greeks had no such moral issues, as entire conquered armies were enslaved as a matter of policy. Another common occurrence in the Old World involved forced marriages between a Conquering and Conquered People, to ensure future peace.

As you can see, this whole slavery thing is kinda complicated and convoluted. And yet, we want someone to blame, someone to pay. If only people would fit nicely into Good and Bad categories based on skin color, then we could guilt their descendents into giving the rest of us money or advantage. But good and bad cannot be determined by skin color.

I am writing this today for two reasons:
1. To give Obama a how-to map for truly a “Post-Racial” America. Reparations and special treatment based on skin color are bulls***. Get rid of ‘em. Polls based on skin color are silly, too. Census questions, government studies, counts of military members, college students, drug abusers, criminals, focused on skin color, why? Why? Ridiculous. It ignores an individual’s free will. Maybe they’re in the Army, university, or jail because THEY CHOSE IT. The only official discrimination still happening is Affirmative Action. Abolish it. It’s reverse racism, pure and simple. Don’t endorse it any more. The remnants of racism in our society is a societal issue, not a political issue. No matter how many laws we make and throw at it, societal attitudes change slowly and mostly through positive personal experiences. Official reverse discrimination only retards the pace of change by undermining those positive personal experiences.
2. To give dumb racist organizations like the NAACP something meaningful to do. They need to shift all their resources to today’s world stage where REAL SLAVERY is still happening! At the height of the slave trade in the 1780s, 80,000 Africans were brought to the entire NEW WORLD annually. Today, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across borders as bonded laborers or sex slaves annually, according to the US State Department. Most are women. I’ve even got a new name for the NAACP: something like the National Association for the Advancement of Humanity.

I could barely read the story of Mahabouba Muhammad, found in the new book “Half the Sky,” due to the tears standing in my eyes. This young Ethiopian girl was SOLD to a 60-year-old man as a 2nd wife. Then she tries to deliver her baby by herself in the bush, suffers “fistula” injuries (hole between birth canal and internal organs). She stinks of leaking waste, fellow villagers take her to the edge of town for the hyenas to eat. She drags herself to a hospital, where she is healed, learns to read and write, and helps similar patients. WHO estimates 2 million women with untreated fistulas worldwide, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. A simple surgery can fix.

I want to ask every person in America, young and old: Now tell me again why you can’t or didn’t go to college? Or pursue whatever dream you have? Exactly what is holding you back? Ohhh, your great-great-great-great grandparents were brought here as slaves, probably from sub-Saharan Africa…I see.

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Everybody needs to stop with the racism. I feel that we had made such strides in race relations…until Obama was elected. What a stoopid paradox, indeed.

I feel it’s apparent that Obama was elected only because he was “packaged” as a black man, and many of those who voted for him had no clue about his policies or agenda. Why is he touted as “America’s First Black President,” technically inaccurate. Why not “America’s First Half-Black Half-White President”? Why not be just an American, since we’re all mixtures of this and that. BECAUSE his promoters PLACED emphasis on race and plan to keep it there for another 2 ½ years, whipping the masses, the grex venalium, into a frenzy.

Sad. Have race relations digressed 20 years? It sure feels that way to me. A person who appears white cannot disagree with the president’s policy without being accused of racism. And that is very frustrating to those who feel this accusation is a way to undermine and discount their true position on the policy.

Then Obama brought his own reverse-racism to the office, which adds more fuel to the fire. It’s almost as if he and his strategists sit around and think up new ways of stirring the pot. His administration emphasizes whatever external “package” a person offers over substance, qualifications, in its appointments and seems to choose hot-button areas in which to push when the timing is just not good. He polarizes us instead of brings us closer together as a country.

If only he could offer us more…like the wisdom and life experience and dignity of a Nelson Mandela. I think Oprah would rock as a POTUS! Imagine the phenomenal cut in pay and power she’d have to take, though. But the sound bites! Her strengths are communication, connecting with common people and managing her public perception every day of the week!

Heavy taxation, government programs, and unenforced immigration laws over the course of many years and administrations have fed this situation of heightened race relations as well. An increased population clamoring for LIMITED resources can really bring out the ugly in people. Taxes are simply too high, and the people carrying that heavy tax burden are angry and trying to use whatever tools and means they can to understand, pinpoint cause, and protest. Those people with less power and means, hotter temperaments and less personal restraint will rely on more primitive solutions such as verbal attacks and violence. Those people on the other side with less means, hotter temperaments, and less restraint will respond in same. They drag everyone down with them – into Angry Mob Mentality.

Two episodes of the television program “Who Do You Think You Are” come to mind. Awesome show tracing family histories of celebrities. Emmitt Smith’s blood test revealed he is ONLY 81% African. The other percentages were Native American (7%) and European (white – 12%). I was flabbergasted because he “appears” to be such a dark-skinned man. But my shock was nothing compared to that of Spike Lee who found out one of his relatives was a white SLAVE-OWNER (gee, does that put him in the same category as me and other light-skinned people that one assumes descended from slave-owners?) Hmmm.

Point being: No one is alive TODAY who was a slave-owner in the U.S. pre-Civil War. Why are we still talking about it like it happened yesterday? Why are we still blaming and compensating for it like it happened yesterday? For Gawd’s sake, people, get OVER it. The only thing holding any of us back is ourselves.

I suspect if we all had a DNA diagnostic, we would find WE ALL HAVE the blood of slaves AND slave-owners in our veins. We are the melting pot, the salad bowl, the land of fascinating, stimulating, exciting diversity. Do NOT let the stoopid turn us into a pack of mongrel dogs.