Monday, June 05, 2006

The Washington Post State of the Black Man...

The Washington Post is embarking on a "State of the Black Man" year long series of articles and I'm not sure of what I think about them. On the one hand, there are serious issues to deal with. There's the whole pathology issue with everything from jail, drugs, alcohol, HIV, absentee fathers etc. that needs to be talked about. On the other hand, I HATE being some "species" of man that needs studying. If you talk to educated black men, you'll find that they have the same interests, same ambition, same desires as every other man in the world. But there are things in this society that can derail us from our goals, and as long as the articles balance the concept of personal responsibilty and merit (yeah, as though Paris Hilton needs that) with the systemic and institutional failure of the educational system, legal system, etc. when it comes to African American men, then I'm okay with it.

1 comment:

tia said...

We are so on the same page. My jury is still out on that series as well. I guess I feel a bit insulted--as if they don't have the right to publish them. Crazy, I know. Maybe if it was a Black-owned media entity I might feel better about it. But like I said, I haven't really formed an opinion just yet. Hopefully they'll do what you mention and I can keep the primarily neutral/slightly positive impression I have of them.