Teach!

Teaching our children is very important because as a parent you must send your child to school young black males often grow up and single parent homes and then they go to school and get taught life lessons by women. Parents are speaking out about the shortage of black male teachers; Black men make up 5 percent of Jackson-Madison County Schools' 1,140 teachers. Only four black men teach on the elementary level, while there are 36 in the high schools, according to the school system's human resource department. Black men and women make up about 28 percent of the teachers in the system, while about 60 percent of the student population is black. Educators say it is important for black students, particularly boys, to see positive black role models in the classroom. Black male teachers are important mentors, and in some cases father figures, to black male students. The relationships the teachers build can help curtail behavioral problems and keep students and track toward graduation and academic success, educators say. It is time for Black men to become teachers in order to provide the positive examples that our community needs this is a big void that desperately needs to be filled.

Why did I ger married?

I recently went to the movies to see Tyler Perry’s new film “Why did I get married Too” I am not a Tyler Perry fan at all but I decided that I would watch the first part of the sequel Why did I get married which was collecting dust in the corner of my DVD collection and then go see what the fuss was about. When I got to the movie I decided I would have an open mind while watching the film. The film was actually good and it displayed different couples and the problems they go through. The movie was a little over the top in certain situations but I was worried it would depict African Americans in a bad light but I was definitely happy with how the movie was written. The only thing I didn’t like was the ending. But I would encourage young African Americans to go check the movie out it will have you take a look into your own relationships.

New Amerykah?

Erykah Badu is an artist that I grew up listening to. I have always loved her music and her creativity. I look at her as a very brave influential artist. The reason why I love her is because she always thinks outside the box. Recently she has returned to music with her new album “New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh. Although the album has been released all the major buzz has been about her new video for the single “window seat.” The video ends with the singer being shot and killed at the exact same location of President John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. She walks down the block taking off her clothes until she is shot. She uses this video as symbolism and at the end she recites this “They who play it safe, are quick to assassinate what they do not understand. They move in packs, ingesting more and more fear with every act of hate on one another. They feel most comfortable in groups – less guilt to swallow,” as I watched the video over and over to see what point she was trying to make I listened to many people say that they were offended or that she was crazy. I came to the conclusion the Erykah is the definition of an artist and this video is a genius display of her individuality.I appreciate what she is doing for music especially for the African American community because her music makes us think. It's a breath of fresh air to hear music and videos that make us think and do more than just get the promote partying.

Census 2010

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. So with the new year of 2010 it is time for people to fill out the new census forms. But there has been a lot of controversy surrounding the new form. On the box for race for black people it says black, African American, Negro. Many people were offended by this box. Not only black people but also Caucasians were speaking out about how the way the box tried to categorize the black race made them feel uncomfortable. Personally I found it offending. However the makers of the census justified this by saying that they didn’t want anybody to feel like they were not represented. They said that older African Americans refer to themselves as Negros while middle aged people consider themselves black opposed to the progressive generation who consider themselves African Americans. With that being said I just feel like it shouldn’t matter what race you are in the first place when it comes to receiving federal funding. And I want to encourage the community to fill out the form do not let this issue keep your community from receiving funds.

Importance of Health

I was in the barbershop waiting to get a haircut and was reading a article in one of the magazines that had some disturbing information. The article was about heath and it pointed out that Black men are the least heath conscience group of people. Black men suffer far worse health than any other racial group in America. There are a number of reasons for this. They include racial discrimination, a lack of affordable health services, poor health education, cultural barriers, and poverty, employment that does not carry health insurance, insufficient medical and social services catering for Black men. The life expectancy for a Black male child born in 2004 is 69.5 years, compared with 75.7 years for White males born the same year, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Black men are more likely to get and die from prostate cancer than men of any other racial or ethnic group in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As black men we have the responsibility to act as fathers and husbands and lead our households. We need to educate ourselves and begin to take care of ourselves. I found these facts very disturbing. Brothers we have to do better so that we can raise our children and live long enough to have a positive impact on the community.

Racism in the classroom

Friday March 5, three white teachers from Wadsworth Avenue Elementary School in South Los Angeles were placed on administrative leave after giving students portraits of O.J. Simpson, RuPaul , and Dennis Rodman to carry in the school’s black history parade. The three teachers are accused of acting concert to mock black heroes and take advantage of the children's innocence. The chapter president of the NAACP is Leon Jenkins who said he is pushing for the teachers to be fired. I feel like this was an act of racism these are African Americans who we should not teach our children to emulate or make them believe that these individuals represent the best of our history or community. People like Nelson Mandela, Harriet Tubman and President Barack Obama, and Martin Luther King are just a few people that embody the traits that we want our children to follow. This just is another one if many wake up calls that racism is still very much alive.

Beyonce Building on the community

After talking about the movie Brooklyn’s finest I figured I stay on the borough for a while. In recent news singer Beyonce Knowles visited the New York City borough Friday for the opening of the Beyonce Cosmetology Center at a residential substance abuse treatment center. The center previously offered programs for residents including technology, carpentry, and culinary arts. But, Knowles thought the center should have more programs geared towards women. Her work for the community is endless and I would love to see her along with other entertainers to continue to use their brand to better the african american community.