Black Men, Do Better
I spent the last weekend till yesterday watching black women YouTube talk about black men. I do not believe what I’m about to say applies to black men as individuals but it applies to them in general. I mean that this is their reputation as a group, not that the negative image pertains to every single last one of them. I am highly disappointed and that is an understatement.
Exhibit A; Paul and Chioma on Blue Therapy. If you have no idea what I am talking about please go get on YouTube and watch it so you can understand what I mean when I say Paul’s mentality is an East African(because they are the ones I have experienced first hand) man’s opinion and thought processing. It is a Pathology! First they think that women were created to be their servants. Please somebody show me where the scriptures say that. You are the only ones to reference books you do not even understand.
I remember I went to a meeting once for a Sacco where we contributed money to this business venture. Not one man in the group contributed any more money than the women but it was 4 men and 3 women. The preface of the meeting was prayer, then “the women will serve us the snacks as we discuss what we’re here to talk about.” I remember looking at the other women and laughing out loud and the man who was saying this stopping to inquire what was funny. Mind you the snacks were on a table in the middle of this circle we were sitting in. They had tea and I made the mistake of thinking that these men would pick up their cups and hold them up for me to pour the tea and pass them sugar and spoons to do their own sugar because as the women were “serving”, the meeting was on going. I do not remember what was discussed in that meeting but I know nothing ever came off of that business venture.
After the meeting I sat my boyfriend down to rant and get perspective of why this was not ridiculous to everyone else. He went on to laugh at how annoyed I was at this very normal affair. A few weeks later, he took me to his family gathering where I also observed something contextually different but the same expectation of women. I could not get over that men see women as second class while contributing the exact same thing if not less.
My first point on this series is that if black men are demanding respect in a society where they contribute nothing. This applies to black men from the African presidents (because they have power and resources to make change but do not) to the garbage men. Black men have allowed a world to come up that does not consider them competent as a group. A few months ago I came across a South African entrepreneur who literally said, Africa was not ready to be Decolonized. A black man that opens his mouth to speak on the fact that Africans are not competent to run their own world. Then people want to get mad at other races when they look at Africans with disrespect in their mouth.
Shall we talk about the potential of Africa and it’s failed male leadership? And I’m not one to say women would do better, but the quality of life of the women and children in a society speaks of the quality of the men because they are supposed to be the protectors of their society. Let’s not even argue about that. Nothing happening to your wife and children is out of your control. Do Better!
To be continued….
