AverageBro Rewind: More Black Men Are Dying In B'More Than Baghdad.... Yawn.

[It's the holidays, which probably means you guys aren't working, much less checking blogs. So, in the spirit of Christmas, AB.com is re-gifting some of the posts that took AB from an obscure office worker with a blog to an obscure office worker with an award winning blog in less than 6 months. Plus, you get added DVD Commentary!]
If there's ever a post that I've written that I wished more people read and commented on, it would be the August post More Black Men Are Dying In B'More Than Baghdad.... Yawn.

Black on black crime is definitely the biggest problem facing our community. Murda Has Been The Case since the Reaganomics fueled crack epidemics of the mid-80's, and while things slowed down a bit during Clinton's 8 years (mostly because Negros were being locked up), that proved to be little more than a temporary illusion.

The past 8 years of Bush Two have bought murderback to the tune of an 8,000/year clip. It's amazing that we can ship thousands of soldiers and billions of dollars halfway across the world to fatten the coffers of defense contractors fight a senseless war, while black men kill each other like a PS3 game on the daily.

Equally puzzling: nobody seems to care much. While we'll load up in buses to go defend a 6-on-1 beatdown, the daily carnage that rips the heart out of out communities goes on with nary a protest.

I don't pretend to have the answers to all this, but that doesn't mean you and I can't do anything to help. I advocate working with kids, whether via coaching youth sports, tutoring, or mentoring, largely because I feel like most adults can't be helped. If there's any change that can be made, it's at a 1-to-1 level with kids no later than middle school, while they can still be kept in check with threats of physical harm they'll still listen. As a mentor/tutor and youth bball coach, i practice what I preach.

Do you see the results of your work immediately? No. Can you control the parents and the home environment that the kids return to? No. But can you be a small part of the solution as opposed to continually jibberjabbering about the problem? I do believe so.

I just hope more of Black America realizes that we all have an obligation to help out, especially if we've "made it out" or been fortunate enough to have never "been in". Change doesn't happen quickly, but it also doesn't happen when you're not doing anything to help.

Peep The Series:

More Black Men Are Dying In B'More Than Baghdad.... Yawn.

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