I don't typically identify with being African-American: with or without the hyphen.
In my house, I don't remember being African-American, we were black.
We weren't black as in "Kid Dynomite" and "The Jeffersons," but we were black as in black power, "say it loud" black pride, or the Black Freedom Movement.
I can vaguely remember hearing about the Panthers, Gil Scott, Angela or Malcolm. As a young child, however, I didn't understand what it was all about.
At that point in time I hadn't read anything, only gleaned what little I knew from conversation snippets and lectures. In essence I didn't know much, although I could say with certainty that my godfather was, as he said, "a real Black Panther."
And so I grew. The number of books I read rose, especially those related to material not covered in class. Just as I was taught I had to work twice as hard, I was taught to seek out the knowledge that was important. No investigation, no right to question.
In my house, where Blackness, with a capital 'B,' was emphasized. I remember my mother saying on more than one occasion, "Black is a state of mind." Blackness is a strong state of mind - one willing to do what needs to be done, willing to say what needs to be said.
I still go home and listen to my godfather talk about the power of the Black Union, the bond between the genders, in Dr. Naim Akbar-like terms of earning the titles of Black Man and Black Woman.
Be black men. Be black women.
Though specifically talking about black males and females earning the right to be called men and women, it remains true to everyone. - black, Latino, Asian and other. You must go through rites of passage. In simplest terms, I lean on elder poet Saul Williams: "Send in the true b-boys, be boys? Be men!"
Be men? When something that's second nature for most is highlighted as abnormal (responsible family men) and something that is detrimental to the community is overlooked as eccentricity (see: R. Kelly and "the power of the p-u"[sic]), it becomes time for males to be men.
I'd say it wasn't big news or controversy enough to warrant an arrest because of the home addresses of the victims, but that doesn't ask the most important questions. How could one do such a thing? Why would a man do such thing?
He wouldn't. A man couldn't. A man wouldn't. A male or boy would.
At some point in time, enough has to be enough. Draw that line. Be women. Be men.
Where do you draw the line?
Write to Aric at ariclewis@hotmail.com
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