Super Hero Sunday

Yesterday was our first time hanging out. It was extremely hot outside so I decided it was better for us to do some indoor activities. My apartment in Baltimore is pretty boring to me, I can only imagine what it would be like for a 12 year old. So I thought it would be better if we headed over to my parents' house. Because my younger brother is still home for the summer, there are lots of interesting things to do at my parents’ house. The kid has a massive collection of DVDs and video games. To top things off, he’s working at Blockbuster video where he can rent even more games and movies for free.
Although I initially intended to play some games and draw a little, I thought of the additional benefit Jamal could gain just by seeing an environment so different from Baltimore. My parents live in Prince George’s County, long regarded as one of the largest concentrations of Black wealth and prosperity in the U.S. (see link below. No they don't live in a $900K house or anything close to that). Although I haven’t had the chance to probe his past completely, I suspect that Jamal has had limited exposure to the concept of a two parent home and the idea of widespread black prosperity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601974.html


As I mentioned before, Jamal and I both enjoy drawing. It turns out we both like superheroes too. There’s something about whupping criminal butt in a cool costume that’s always captivated me. During the trip to my parents house we discussed our favorite heroes from the Justice League. Jamal likes the Green Lantern (John Stewart) as do I. Since I had a captive audience who actually cares, I had to take the opportunity to complain about the Martian Manhunter’s disappointing performance in battle after battle despite his phenomenal powers. That dude gets crushed in every episode. It's just sad man.
Anyway... Looking for a way to gauge Jamal’s interest in school and books, I asked him if he’s read anything interesting this summer. I was delighted when he told me that he had read Ben Carson’s Gifted Hands. Reading that very same book at the age of 13 strengthened my resolve to pursue a medical career. I was very pleased that Jamal has also read it.
We decided we would spend the afternoon drawing characters from my brother’s Justice League DVD. Once we arrived, we warmed up by watching two episodes, and then went to work drawing The Flash from one of the scenes that Jamal liked. It was Jamal’s first try at Flash and he’s still adjusting to drawing humanoid figures. The above image betrays his talents, as he is a very good artist. I noticed that most of his sketch book has animal cartoon characters, like Scooby, Tigger, and SpongeBob. So this was kind of new for him. I gave him a few pointers on proportion and recognizing shapes as a method for drawing specific parts of the human form and complimented him on doing a good job on Flash’s head and neck. In turn, he pointed out that in my picture (below) I used the wrong color on Flash's decorative lightning bolts.


After we were finished with the drawings, we took a peek into my brother’s treasure chest of video games. This dude has more than 25 PS2 games, some of which have not even been opened. He has some sort of compulsive/hording complex I think. I’m reccomending therapy. Anyway, Jamal saw X-men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse and really wanted to play it. It’s one of those games where you go around punching and kicking everything in sight. The more people you beat down, the greater your powers become and you gain new and more impressive ways to beat people down. But when you start, it’s actually pretty boring, so I never took much interest in it. But I played along since Jamal was really into it.
As afternoon became evening, it was time to head back to Baltimore. I was pleased with our first outing, and it appears that Jamal was too. Before we got in the car he asked me when we could hang out again. I suggested that we play basketball somewhere in the city, or closer to the city the next time we meet. Jamal agreed, and told me that he is going to abuse me on the court. I suppose if I blow out a knee, develop pancreatic cancer, and lose an eye to a bb gun accident that could actually happen. But who knows? maybe he'll get lucky.

Why Mentor Black Children? And why do Black People have to do it?

Well, the question is not easy to answer... so I'll give the ADD answer up front. And those who still thirst for more can read the extended explanation with background information just below it...

ADD Answer

Generally, when poor black youth find themselves making the decision to reject formal education, ignore the risk of teenage parenthood, and engage in violence/commit crimes it is for a number of reasons specific to environment of urban poverty. I see lack of educated, responsible, or willing parents as a major contributor to this phenomenon. If children have never seen right, how can they do right? Why must these childrens' mentors be black? All too often, legitimate and mainstream success is dismissed as being limited to the white world. A successful black man or woman can help to remove this as a barrier to progress, and an excuse to continue down the path to nowhere.


Still with me? Good. I have done a fair amount of research to assemble what is my best explanation of the problem at hand, and the way in which I aim to go about addressing it. Please continue.

The Problem is Real

The poor in the African American community are in trouble and getting nowhere fast. Yes, there are many African americans living in stable homes, with strong educational backgrounds, and well-paying jobs, but am I crazy to believe that this constitutes a minority among blacks as a whole? Maybe not. According to recent research..

Average SAT scores: Black: 857, Hispanic: 903, White: 1063, Asian: 1083
1 in 3 African American Males drop out of high school
1 in 3 African American Males are involved in the penal system
Only 32% of African American Children have Fathers in the home
50% of African American Children live below the poverty line
African Americans constitute 12% of the population but account for 43% of HIV cases

And damning statistics continue.


The Original Struggle

The overall goal of the Civil Rights movement was to remove government sanctioned barriers that prevented Blacks from accessing the resources that were freely available to Whites. Exclusion from equal education and equal job opportunities, and real estate were some of the most visible and crippling sanctions forced on past generations. While racism is unlikely to ever be eradicated, America has made great strides in applying it’s founding principles of freedom and justice to the African American. Overt racism has grown less acceptable over the last four decades. Wrongs have often been addressed through the legal system.. However, racism does exist and it can work against Blacks at every level of employment and commerce.

Prosperity for Many

Many Blacks lacked the patience to wait for the U.S. Government to grant them “permission” to excel. Many Black professionals, business owners, and even politicians prevailed despite the restricted social climate prior to more favorable legislation. In the past three decades, educational and employment opportunities have become increasingly available and blacks have gained broader access to America’s vast resources.

But it appears there has only been a slight increase in the percentage of African Americans harnessing these resources to build stronger families, finances, and businesses. So why the dismal statistics quoted at the beginning of this article? Why are Blacks not taking advantage of the wide open opportunities?

Diagnosis

Since the early 60’s we have endlessly, and impotently, complained about the problems in the Black community. We have argued about the solutions. But the problems have only gotten worse. The problems the community faces:
Drugs (Cocaine, Crack, etc)
Teen pregnancy
Non-existent or distorted fatherhood
Street culture
Racism
These will be readily offered by anyone who has given some thought to the source of our current state of disarray. We could spend decades arguing about which is most significant and the appropriate way to deal with it. The time for argument has passed. We will never agree on everything. We don’t need another conference, another book, or another “Black Leader.” We need Men and Women of action. We need to address the cause of the disarray.
So what is the cause? I have read numerous articles, books, and blogs on the topic of improving the black community. I have heard all of the above listed factors and many more offered as reasons for the community’s decline. Although there are numerous problems to deal with, all of these individual issues point to a common theme. Young black people are not making good decisions.

They are choosing:
Time on the street vs time in school and studying
To have casual, irresponsible sex rather than establishing relationships and preparing for the responsibilities of parenthood
Instant gratification over savings and investments
Using violence as a means to status rather than intellectual and financial means
Why are our children making the wrong decisions???

The climate of severe poverty, with little potential for meaningful employment, combined with the spread of illegal drugs have given birth to what some would refer to as street culture. This culture has become a dominant force in the poor black community, and stands in direct opposition to mainstream society’s values of industriousness, responsibility and education.

Due to social and financial instability, many of the community’s youngsters lack parents that are capable of providing the support needed to deter them from aligning themseleves with the Street culture. Many children have a poor father figure or none at all. Too often, women are left to raise children, and provide for them financially. All of this with little education, earning potential, and life experience.

Treatment

Even in the worst of neighborhoods, and the most drug infested and crime ridden streets, it has been observed that a stable, two-parent home can often deter children from adopting the street culture. Sadly, this arrangment is not a possibility for many of today’s inner-city children simply because their parents have never had a proper example to model themselves after. But all is not lost. What is most valuable to children in these environments is having a person from which to learn the steps to achieving legitimate success. Black men and women who can stand up and say that ‘this is how you succeed in America’, and oppose the street culture. This is not a quick fix, and will certainly not be easy.
Two days ago. I met my ‘little brother' Jamal, as arranged by Big Brother Big Sister. He is an inner city Baltimore youth of 12 years. His father is addicted to drugs, and his mother died from her addiction last year. He lives with his grandmother and is doing terribly in school. I am coming into this child’s life to show him another path to success before the streets manipulate him into accepting theirs.

Unite

Obviously, I am only one man with his own personal responsibilities and life. I can help only one, maybe two children at a time. But what if there were many Black men and women in my position doing the same thing? Men and women who have worked hard to earn an education, and start a career and who were also committed to improving the life of another. Men and women who were committed to showing a child another way? Will any of you reading this today join me?

This blog is dedicated to the pursuit of a very narrow set of goals. All of which are aimed at putting intelligent, responsible, Black men and women in positions where they can be involved personally with black youth, and guide them towards good decision making and a brighter future.

Purpose

The purpose of this blog is inspire other young Black men and women to become involved personally in the life of a black child who has not had the benefit of a financially and socially stable family. I hope to inspire these men and women to action by sharing my experiences with my 'little brother' Jamal. Jamal (name changed for privacy) and I met yesterday for the first time with our case manager from Baltimore BigBrother BigSister.
Jamal is a 12 year old inner city Baltimore boy who has already dealt with some very difficult circumstances. His mother died a year ago from complications of her drug addiction, his father is a drug abuser and has sporadic contact with him. He currently lives with his Grandmother in a very clean apartment near downtown Baltimore. The block that he lives on is not very troublesome, but the adjacent area is known to be plagued with drugs and violence.
When I first met him, my impression was that he is quite shy and a bit smaller for his age. I have to admit that I was rather surprised at how polite he was as he let me in the front door and led me upstairs to the apartment. For 30 minutes we sat with the case manager to go over some rules for our friendship and outings. We wrapped things up by doing a little 'get to know you' activity where we shared our favorite things in a number of categories. Jamal and I have a lot in common it turns out. We both love playing basketball and video games, we both like drawing, and we both want to be doctors when we grow up. I had to run out to an evening event scheduled at the same time as our meeting. But before I left, I asked Jamal if he wanted to play some video games. He ended up crushing me in this car racing game that he's probably been playing for months. I hate racing games. But I had to build his confidence, you know.. give him a few victories before I introduce him to Halo 2 or some PS2 fighting games, games which I am known to dominate. I just think it's so sad when kids cry after a serious video game beating.