Something I will never understand is the idea that a man would be a better man if a woman forced him to be. You hear it all the time, "if women would demand better then men would treat them better." That notion perplexes me. It use to be the responsibility of the individual to be a good/better person. It was no one else's responsibility to make you better. You had to do that all on your own. You had to make the choice to be better. Some how a shift occurred that lets young black men off the hook. It's no longer the responsibility of the young black male to make the choice to be better; it's now the responsibility of the young black female to make the choice for him. What the hell! I know some men will be like naw....that's not true. I give you the example of speaking about young black single mothers. Nine times out of ten when speaking about who should have been responsible, the sole responsibility lies on the females shoulders. "Young black women need to make better choices." It leaves young black men out of the equation all together. When someone tries to bring the fact that a woman can't make a baby by herself into the equation, the argument goes back to the adage that if the black woman would have made a better choice then it would have forced the black man to make a better choice.
My problem with this is, it's b.s.. Just like it is still the responsibility of the woman to make the decision to be a good woman; it is still the responsibility of the man to make the decision to be a good man. There will come a time in every person's life where they will have to choose what type of person they are going to be outside of everyone else, society, and the world.
We have to stop giving a pass to our young black men. They have to be held accountable for their actions just like everyone else. They should be expected to be good people for the simple fact of being good people. Yes, the black male has a lot up against him, but so does the black woman yet the black woman is expected to do better; to be better.
Where is that accountability for young black men?
Posted By: Ebone Evans
Tuesday, August 12th 2008 at 1:08PM
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