The Fight for the Black Male

The world stands still when you hear the shots and look around to make sure your children are okay. 

The world stands still when you read the news and check the blocks to make sure the ones you love weren’t involved in the city’s latest shooting. 

The world stands still when you receive the call that another black male is fighting for his life after a shooting. This young black male just happens to be a child dear to your heart and he is only 9 years old. 

This is the state of my city. This is the state of my community. Endless shootings and murders of more black men are just another paragraph in a news story while entire families and neighborhoods groan beneath the pain of unjust loss and violence. Entire families and communities groan beneath the weight of unjust loss and relentless violence. 

Our programs are inefficient. Our solutions are irrelevant. The root cause cannot be solved with deep remorse and compassion. The pandemic in my community is the destruction of the black male. Whether it be through community violence, incarceration, child support, systemic racism, poverty, a deteriorating family unit…but the black male is the catalyst to the restoration of all that is broken in my community.

Will we fight for him? Will we fight with him?