The title of this article reflects a question that I always have asked deep within my heart constantly as I see how the world and its practices has shifted from one way of thinking to an entirely different set of rules that the masses seem to be unaware of this “cultural shift” to say the least.
Am I talking about Gay people or bashing the LGBT lifestyle? No I am not! So let’s get that straight from jump street and know that in this article I will speak on some fine line issues that come close but know that I am not going to repetitiously state this over and over throughout this writing as I feel that once is enough.
When I speak on the various issues that affect my life and my community I speak out in a very strong and unapologetic manner. If in time it is discovered that my “opinions” were off based or ill informed due to the lack of understanding or depth of available knowledge at the time of the expression, I am not to big headed of a person to refuse to acknowledge where my perspective was off and make the necessary apologies and corrections. This is how I have grown and matured and if anyone truly knows me they will tell you that I accept righteous intelligent correction happily and graciously if I have been proven wrong.
But it must also be stated that this article is written based on my feelings and speculations and not actual research or fact. But on the surface it is based on some general agreed upon observations that I am sure most of you will agree on that have been around the block as long as I have that are based on common sense.
But what I see in my Third Eye let’s me know personally that I am not too far off of the mark in my observations. Our personal opinions are really our personal facts until proven otherwise…….
It’s no secret that our world is changing so fast and that rate of change is really getting to be a bit of a challenge to keep up with.
For many of us, it just might feel as though we are now unwanted guests in a strange new land. What was once considered normal is now old and outdated. Where are the real men? If I can say this as a man then I know that our women are hurting for it badly and maybe even worse for they have an even smaller pool of available mates to choose from.
Thank God I still have my childhood buddies to keep that good ole’ “back in the day” feel in my life even though most of us live in different states scattered across the country.
But to get back on the subject of Black men breaking some unwritten and unspoken law by being extremely masculine, it appears to me that there is a low level of tolerance for any manifestation of righteous Black aggression in this society. It is subconsciously frowned upon where one must express themselves in a manner as to not upset or appear to be threatening to those who hold the reigns of power in our overall society and on our local communities as well.
Maybe you don’t get what I am trying to say.
When I say “righteous aggression”, I mean it in the sense that ALL men have a right for power and dominion over their world and all of the factors that affect their existence as long as it doesn’t violate the divine rights of another human being.
But in the post civil rights modern American society there seem to be some very strange rules that haven’t been taken off of the books that need to be addressed.
Just a few thoughts:
Why is it that when entering the world of corporate America many of us must leave our Blackness at the door? Is this some kind of self mutulation ritual and proving ground as to show how bad we want to join onto a world that would rather that we not be there at all?
I’ve spoken to many of my close friends about this and they seem to know exactly where I’m coming from…….and these are men who have very imposing physical attributes that they’ve retained from years of athletics in their younger days. They’ve told me that they literally had to lose the appearance of physical superiority in the workplace in order not to intimidate their “superiors” as well as to appear more “nerdy” to not be so threatening a presence in the corporate boardroom.
But it is not only the physical aspect of the Black man who has the total package going for him, most will agree that it is not well liked when one displays their brilliance for company advancement but will be viewed as “showing up” the superiors or the members of the chosen clique as a way of competing against the people who are supposed to be on your own team! How confusing!
While you as a Black man feel as though they are “doing it for the team”, some of your coworkers may feel as though you are out of place for not getting their approval to shine!
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t! What a dilemma! I mean, it’s bad enough that you have to quell the natural flair and charisma that you have with the members of the opposite sex at your workplace that the insecure bosses feverishly watch with a keen eye just waiting for the opportunity to infer that you are moving too close to the line of what they would deem inappropriate behavior.
So now your natural magnetism becomes a liability but when displayed by a superior it is considered a plus! Must we be the designated buffoon in every situation unless we are in the boxing ring, basketball court, dance floor or comedic forum.
I find it so sad that for many Black men, they are only comfortable playing certain so called “safe” roles when in the presence of Whites who may have some type of affluence or status that is above their particular station in life.
What do I mean by “safe” roles?
Well, how many times have you attended a corporate lunch, dinner or Black Tie affair and you saw that one Black man playing the tap dancing Minstrel Man role trying to make the people around him laugh who really don’t want his “dumb Black ass around them anyway?
…….and if you emasculate yourself at the door and present yourself as a gay male you automatically get bonus points because you are not viewed as a “real man” to the establishment and in actually your lifestyle preferences and indulges become a comical curiosity to those who are in the power positions above you and you as a gay Black man are embraced even faster because you are deemed to not be a threat at all.
That’s just an observance and something that I have noticed time and time again over the years. It can be a frustrating feeling to be penalized for executing the strength and vast potential given to you directly by the Creator Himself!
When I was a young teenager and attended a high school that had their primary focus on art, I can now see why I had so many problems with the teachers because I was doing things with the pen and pencil that took them decades to be able to do! This frustrated them beyond measure and they made sure I had a hard time and paid for it dearly! I was told many times that my art was “wrong” and wasn’t acceptable as to what was needed in their class. Many times the simpler more elementary artists that were in the class with me were praised not only for their “abilities” but for their superior ability to follow instructions as this was something that I was accused of not doing.
Just think of how many of our young men were steered away from developing the seeds of inner greatness that were divinely placed inside of them by God merely because their obvious talents did not fit some narrow minded talentless teacher or “superior” who wished deep down that they possessed even one tenth of the talent that their oppressed “corporate field hand” had!
The time has come for this foolishness to stop! How dare one quell the mighty power gifted to them by God because their brand of righteous aggression simply overwhelms those who have not the power, momentum and torque that comes so naturally to a despised people!
I was not taught this by my Father…….earthly and heavenly! If you happen to be a strong wise and spiritually grounded man, know that to cut your righteous flow is a damn sin! Know that there is NO mere mortal, no matter WHAT their corporate “standing” is in THEIR system that it means nothing over your life and divine mission in the overall righteous scheme of things! When God chooses to exalt you must understand that there is no faction of this worlds population who can halt your mighty ascension!
So do not feed into the broken spirits of others who feel that because they have given up on the quest for greatness in God’s name doesn’t mean that you are supposed to be defeated and inoperable in yours.
You must stand up in every situation in life and be a MAN! Your were created in God’s image but oftentimes sell out to run with the crowd to be something out of what God created you to be! Just because you are bombarded with the constant images of a Tyler Perry and a Martin Lawrence up on these billboards wearing dresses doesn’t mean that this is what your God wants you to focus on in this short life.
Our communities are too far deep in trouble for us as men to only be concerned about cross-dressing and gender bending! We have hungry children who don’t have proper medical care! We have mothers being beat down and abused by husbands and boyfriends in full view of their young kids! There are daughters being abused sexually and emotionally by the very people who are supposed to be nurtured in a way that is pleasing to our Lord and there are not enough people out here to champion these causes that need the able bodied men to execute them.
…….and you think that being worried about being a man accepted in a women’s dress is going to change this?
Have we lost our damn minds?
There is a JOB to be done! We are in a state of emergency and need to look past what it is the we do behind closed doors and come together as men who are focused on the common cause of uplifting ourselves to a higher state of consciousness not concerned over the slight differences that we may possess!
We need to bring back that sense of “oneness” and the only way we can do that is for us to begin to love ourselves first as men and then each other as Brothers. It doesn’t matter if you are a fat man. You ARE a man and there is a job waiting for you! It doesn’t matter if you are a broke man that doesn’t have overwhelming riches, there is a job in the community waiting for you! So what if you are a man who likes to wear women’s panties on the sly, that’s another issue altogether but get in line with the rest of your Brothers to build and restore our world back to what it used to be!
You see, the main reason why your oppressor has you focused on all of this frivolous foolishness is because he knows that you will NEVER rise to the occasion to do what God put you here to do when you are out of your mind with the things of this world and are too damn afraid to stand up in your enemies face and be the man that you are supposed to be!
Your divine power and masculinity combined with the wisdom of your mission scares the HELL out of the one who already fears your awakening the most!
So he bombards the minds of our younger generation relentlessly to disarm whatever budding manhood is there so that an entire generation will be hijack, turned upside down and inside out and no good for the divine mission because we won’t even know who and what we are anymore!
…….and for YOU out here who truly want to be bad according to the terms of the streets, why don’t you show me how bad you are and gangbang the devil every chance you get? It is so easy to point a gun at your own Brother who looks like you because of the hate that you were taught from a person who does not look like you but wants you to do his bidding for him to wipe you out so you follow his orders indirectly because of the hate laced media programming that you absorb like a pig in slop everyday and haven’t a clue as to how YOU are being played!
But to answer the question presented in the title of this article I would say it depends on who you ask. Is it against the law for a Black Man to exude his powerful masculinity? If you ask those who profit from your foolish choices and actions I would say that the answer is YES! It’s yes if you are doing the right things by striving to improve yourself daily in every part of your life mentally, physically and spiritually! That’s not acceptable to your oppressor because you will not fall into the traps that he has laid out for you to fall in!
But if you exude and execute your masculinity in the low minded foolish manner that many of us do then the answer according to your slave-master in NO! He would tell you to go on and continue killing your Brother so one will be dead and another will be locked up! He will tell you to spray up as many wombs up as you are able to with your sperm to create as many babies as you can that will not have the guidance from anyone else other than the State that they live in to form a headless family.
It’s a very profitable endeavor indeed for the State because when you run off from your responsibilities, the State will move in to take care of your children in the ghetto plantations of the diaspora to ensure that there will be another generation of ignorant pleasure seeking zombies to fill up all of these prisons that they are building for you and your offspring right now!
But now if you ask God Himself if your masculinity is to be quelled in the presence of your oppressor He will tell you the opposite! He will tell you that while it may appear that your supernatural melanated strength and intuition may be illegal in the laws of man but in divine law it surely is not! You ARE to take all of your talents, gifts, skills and abilities to develop them highest levels to be enabled to destroy all things unrighteous!
That is your mission!
Remember, that everytime you raise a family, teach your children, respect your Elders, live your life as an example that reflects Godliness and obey His commandments no matter WHAT the temptations are out here in the world you are slaying a devil!
So let’s start by slaying all things sinful within ourselves and once we have conquered ourselves let us go out into the world to heed the orders that were put down in the Holy Scriptures so long ago yet are still very much relevant today!
Once we become the men that God meant for us to be we will then find the heaven on Earth that we have always been looking for!
Peace.
