Black Boys Rock Too!

Last night, BET premiered “Black Girls Rock!” a celebration of Black women’s accomplishments on and off screen. Honored were author Iyanla Vanzant, actress Keke Palmer, internet phenom Teresa Clarke, Major General Marcelite J. Harris, musical visionary Missy Elliot, entrepreneur Raven Symone and the legendary Ruby Dee. All of these women without a doubt deserve all the praise in the world for their contributions society. God knows how many more Black women and girls out there are making strides to change the world we live in for the greater good, making it a cleaner, safer, more fun, more equal and more educated place for all women to thrive in. Shows like this are so necessary to boost the esteem of young women who do not see themselves in a positive light on television, and it would be nothing but a blessing to watch the “Black Girls Rock” movement continue to grow.

Now, it’s time to give love to the fellas out there who are about their business! For the record, I love men. ALL men. But clearly, black men need a boost more than ever these days. Just as BGR does for young women, we must drill into the minds of black men their worth as fathers, businessmen and educated contributions to society. As much as we encourage our young women, we need to plant in little boys the ideals of responsibility and self-love. In fact, we may need to drill these ideals into their minds even more so than young women. For the last few years, black women have been doing laps around black men when it comes to high school completions, pursuing higher education and entering the corporate world. Clearly, our brothers need some further encouragement. Viacom peddled entertainment would have us thinking that the image of the black woman shaking her ass is the worst of it because the males involved are usually in positions of power. These so called “powerful” positions are still detrimental to the black men admiring them. While women are without a doubt being exploited, we are teaching our sons to be the exploiters, which is just as sad.

It is so difficult being black in this country, and no, I’m not going to get on my soapbox and sing the same sad song about slavery and the like (although I could, rightfully). Instead, I’ll bring up the latest in the injustice of today’s legal system against black and brown people. Friday afternoon, Johannes Mehserle, a BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) cop was sentence to two years with time served on the charge of murdering Oscar Grant, a black Oakland resident, at a train station. Video shows Grant being held face down on the platform by another cop who already had his knee in Grant’s back. For some reason, Mehserle thought Grant still needed to be tased, but “accidentally” pulled out his gun and shot him at point blank range. You mean to tell me that a trained cop doesn’t know the difference between his own taser and a gun? And even if it was a mistake (bullshit), what warranted him breaking out a taser when he was already surrounded by 6 other cops and pinned to the ground? The criminality of it all is so obvious that it’s sickening, and the fact that this cop is getting away with 2 years (of which he will end up serving 14 months) for taking this man’s life is a gross miscarriage of justice, as was the Sean Bell case and so many other cases like it. This sends the message to young black men that your life of no value and it is imperative that we counteract these messages with words of encouragement, support and love. I’m also sad to say this story received less coverage than Weezy coming home. I love Wayne to death, but more important things happened last week, and I feel the need to shout out my brothers who are staying on the right side of the law just as much as my brothers who are coming home.

So this is for you, father who never misses a little league game. This is for you, sole black man in the boardroom who feels obligated to laugh at the casually thrown around, semi-racist jokes. Here’s to you, ex-con who is honestly changing your life for the better. And to all the little black boys out there who don’t feel loved and don’t truly love themselves, this is for you overcoming the hurdles placed in front of you and succeeding beyond what you thought possible. BLACK BOYS ROCK!