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Dr. Philip Zimbardo: Why Most Men Are Complete Losers
Over the last few weeks there have been incredible positive advancements by black males in society and in their portrayal in the media. Barack Obama clinched two more primaries, moving ever closer to the possibility of a monumental and historic presidency.
While in New York, Lieutenant Governor David Paterson rose from the ashes of the Governor Eliot Spitzer scandal to become a unifying force for the state. Today, he will be sworn in as New York's 55th governor; only the third black governor U.S. history and the first for that state.
These two men, not only demonstrate the ability of the intelligence and integrity of black men to bridge the country's racial divide, but both men are married to black women, exemplifying the strength and power the black family can possess.Yet, three men stood to overshadow these necessary and strong achievements. In stark contrast to these symbolic males, we were also bombarded with images of black males that show our dark side.
Last week, we saw the face two young black men who were allegedly involved in the shooting death of the University of North Carolina student body president. Just a week before, another black former serviceman was arrested for the shooting death and attempted rape of another white Georgia native attending Auburn University.
These individuals reinforce the stereotypes that black males are a menace to society and especially threatening to white women.
So, is it possible that for all the Obama's and Paterson's in the country to inspire our young black men, there will always just as many negative to distract them? And, if simply provide the possibility of a better life, better future, and better image isn't enough to stem the tide of violence by our community members, then what is?This question reminds me of the case of Bobby Cutts, Jr. Back in the summer of 2007, we were slammed with images of former Ohio police, who was convicted of killing his 26-year-old pregnant girlfriend. On the surface, Cutts was a black man doing well. He was a married cop and father who should've been on his way up in society; rather, he gave in to primal instincts and lost everything.
The number of articles and books written on the plight of black males is exhausting. Still, the reason for our continuous downward spiral despite advancements is not clearly explained. Blaming those outside of our community is frequently one explanation. But, the truth is bad choices like the ones made by the alleged shooters in the college student cases, is in large part the problem for black males in the US.
In March 2008, black men were shown the yin-and-yang of their possibilities. The question is will black males continue to take two steps forward or two steps backward?
Comments: (60)
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By: naomi haywood on 3/19/2008 4:04AM
I agree that racism is still alive, and one of the reason it comes up over and over again is because many black people live in it every day. as far as the Obamas we have in our race, keep up the good work, we've got your back in the poles. Most of the time we only get to see you there. Please get ours when you come into yours, by bringing more jobs into the low and poor income communities. COME ON these are the communities where you see the most racism. We're not trying to complain, we are like the ones that were trapped in the bottom of the titanic when it was going down, we're shoting racism is still here!!! as we watch racism clean our streets of any black male it can and put the title gang related over it. Let he who have ears here what the community is saying to you.
your sister with love cie cie.
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By: JazzGardenias99 on 3/19/2008 5:09AM
Listen, honey, people will always kill people. Look at Cain and Abel. The fact is nobody should kill anyone--period. The funny thing is, they can talk about these two Black men, but, what about Manson who bragged about killing 35 people? In the case of Obama and Paterson, these are wonderful Black men and they will do great in Office. The Patersons came forward and admitted they BOTH had affairs--good, now it's out in the open. As far as Obama is concerned, just leave him alone: I have never seen ANY white candidate run for Office and say: "I'm running for Office and I happen to be white!" As far as foreign policy is concerned, Jesse Jackson got the hostages out of Lebanon and he WASN'T a politician--so who's zooming who! We finally have a brilliant man running and White America can't stand it! I'm voting for Obama!
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By: Geena on 3/19/2008 12:13PM
To Branden Cobb, Thank you! I agree with you 100%. It is true there is a double standard it is also true young black males and females are in need of prayer, guidance support and equal access to educational resources.
However we must ask the question what makes our young men rob and kill. Of course crimes are committed by all races, creeds and colors but please allow me to discuss the group that looks just like me!
It's simply, we as a people have failed to teach, correct, support and love our children. You buy them more things so we shape image but fail to build character. We have allowed the jocks and the rappers to be role models, not the hard working upstanding black men doing the right things. We have allowed them to be tricked by fools gold and false success i.e. bling, spinners, rims and other non sense.
It is true the media will never acknowledge the young black men and women who are not in the criminal justice system. But since when do we depend on the media to promote positive images in our community? We must become the media and show the positive and good in our community, it is up to us!
Let's pray for Sen Obama! And remember love wins!
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By: Righty Whitey on 3/19/2008 5:56PM
LAUDY,LAUDY,THE REV JUST HUNG THE MUDSLIME !
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By: Bo-Jingles on 3/22/2008 2:00PM
All I can say is thank God for the black grandmothers for they are the one who are raising the kids. Until those so called black fathers take responsibility for their familes the problem will still exists. Black fathers stop chasing white women come home to your beautiful black women and give the grandmother a break. She needs it.
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By: Fifth Ward Preacher on 3/22/2008 2:23PM
Why is it that after a hundred plus years of access to educational resources, white folk still appear to be genuinely shocked and surprised when they discover that a black man can read. Regardless of how many degrees you have or the numerality of academic accomplishments in your resume, a literate black man still has the capacity to evoke amazement. I suppose this accounts for the fascination some of them have for SHELLACKuhBAMMA.
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By: Buckwheat on 3/22/2008 7:41PM
Dems sum bag ears dat brutha hav u no whut i sayin ?
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By: Charese on 3/24/2008 11:40PM
Some of those comments were extremely well thought out and immensely complicated. Just like the black race. Complicated. Our past is complicated. Our history is complicated and our future is as well. Yes we are all part of the greater human race but lets be real racism and classism exists in every country in the world. Decendants of African slaves inhabit many major world powers and are many times still treated as second class citizens. Furthermore it exists here in America. All you need to do is look at the prison system, the public school systems, and subprime lending debacle to see evident proof of staggering inequality and oppression. What bugs me is when people, black and white, try and trivialize our history and the racist system that this country thrives under. Why do I say this, because it is not just a handful of people that are still racist. It is many millions of whites and assimilated asians, arabics, and other immigrants that have adopted the narrow views of the majority. Do you know that when faced with the decision to check white or black or other on applications and in census that most immigrants regardless of their outward skin color choose white or other? This is because no one wants to be us volutarily. Just like in that book "black like me", no other race can talk or feel what it is like to be an African-american because thier history is different from ours. They have not lived with the oppression that has dominated our culutre for over 400 years. The simple fact that race is still a factor for Obama shows that this country has not moved beyond it. I have watched this campaign for presidency since the start in 06. Enthralled that a black man and a woman was running. I was exicted because to me, a professional black woman it looked like a true representation of America. I was proud that there wasn't the same old status quo running for election. I was proud to know that little girls everywhere and black boys could now realistically envision that they too could be the president. I was estatic to see that Obama represented things that I stood for. Then I became disappointed when the "major" networks, reporter, commentators, and hype people started to make this a campaign about race. We all can see that the man is black. We don't need to be reminded of this everytime we hear polling results or read about campaign strategy. This country begin to separate Obama as the Black candidate. It then became about which race would win, not which candidate. That is when all the conservatives and racist started to show thier ugly heads. Should he be proud that he is african american? sure just as someone is proud that they are jewish, or muslim, or polish, or irish. But should his skin color be a qualification for his presidency? No. I don't want to hear about Obama's skin color anymore. Its staring me in the face. That is how I know that race is not only an issue but a hot sensitive issue in America, not just becuase of criminals that seem to bring "us" down but because the majority and us sweep all "blacks" in to one big pile and think that being black is negative. That is why Mrs. Clinton started to fight dirty, because she felt threatened; not by another candidate but by the fact that she could lose to a black man. Some of you hate your own kind because you need to rebel against the negative image that is thrust at you everyday,and some of you hate because we remind you of your crimes against humanity. We remind you that even your hands are not clean as long as you benefit from the oppression. And if i was the majority I guess I would hope that the oppressed, abused, bitter and sometimes delinquent minority would quit smearing my sh*t in my face and trying to make me like it. Because it doesn't matter if a black man like MLK takes twenty steps forward, there will always be that lone gunman in the window overlooking the balcony waiting to send him back where he belongs.
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By: Ronda on 3/26/2008 9:14PM
What amazes me with regard to all of the support that Obama is getting from blacks. You can all say his skin color has nothing to do with the support he is getting but we all know that is not the truth. The reason he is getting the support from blacks is because his skin color is black.
But what amazes me the most is how all of you seem to forget that while is skin is black he wasn't raised black. His Black Daddy walked out on him and his Racist Grandfather didn't want anything to do with him becase he didn't like the Obama name being sulled but a WHITE WOMAN. The man that Obama is today has nothing to do with his Black side. His WHITE MAMA's family is the one that raised him, so why are all of you giving him street cred when he doesn't have any? The values of Obama are WHITE not black.
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By: starfire on 5/08/2008 9:20PM
brandon cobb why bring this up? THIS IS AS THOUGHTLESSNESS, UNWISE, AS REV'S STATEMENTS MAY HAVE BEEN TOO COSTLY. PEOPLE TALK TOO MUCH WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT HOW THE WORDS WILL BE TAKEN. WE TIRE OF THIS. IT WAS A MEDIA PLOY, THOSE WITH ANY SENSE KNOW THAT. LET IT DIE, COBB, LET THE DECEIT END. YOU MAYBE WELL WISHING BUT IT WAS A MEDIA PLOY, AN ATTEMPT TO DERAIL. WHY BE AN ACCOMPLICE TO STUPIDITY? A SENSELESS PUPPET. WHAT OBAMA DOES SPEAKS TO WHO HE IS AND NO ONE ELSE. A PERSON IS ONLY HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS AND NOT THE ACTIONS OF SOMEONE ELSE. OBAMA MAYBE AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN BUT HOW MANY AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN DO YOU KNOW THAT HAS HIS BACKGROUND. ENOUGH SAID, PEOPLE.
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