Monday, December 20, 2021

Comrad George Jackson Addressing the Black Insecure Sensitive Ego

*Comrad George stated:

“It is always a job getting along with our friends and relatives. Establishing lasting and mutually rewarding relationships always calls for delicacy, sensitivity, and mainly suppression of the ego. One simply cannot say the first thing that comes to mind with no regard for the next person's ego problem. If I constantly say or do things that make the next person feel as if I am challenging his person, his capacity to reason, his standing as an individual, how can I ever hope to relate to him.

People the world over are not the same but those that we meet here in the U.S. are generally of a single type. By and large they are all fools, intellectual non-persons, emotional half-wits; status symbols, supervisory positions, and petty power motivate their every act. Personal, individual, financial success at any price is their social ethic, the only real standard upon which their conduct is built.

For us Blacks in particular this is a nightmare proposition. When this standard, this criterion for the measurement of individual merit and worth in this society is applied to us, measured against our standing or holdings, we cannot help but come out with a very low opinion of ourselves. From the womb to the tomb this plays in our minds. We are not worth more than the amount of capital we can raise. That is why you see Blacks pretending to be doing all right. That is why a Black man will buy a new car (status symbol) before he will buy food for his child or clothes for his wife.

And again with Blacks this whole thing goes even deeper. No man or group of men have been more denuded of their self-respect, none in history have been more terrorized, suppressed, repressed, and denied male expression than the U.S. Black.”

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

Black Men: I’m My Own Man?

 by Kenny Anderson

Recently I watched an interview with Freeway Ricky Ross a key point person ‘major Black drug dealer’ in the CIA geo-political drug trafficking operation of massive 'crack' cocaine profits funding arms to the Nicaraguan Contras ‘Iran-Contra Affair’.
During the interview Ross was asked when he was in prison what was the difference between Black and Mexican gangs? Ross said Black gangs were a lot less effective than Mexican gangs. Ross said that Black gangs were loosely organized, no real structure or leadership; that most gang members were individualists ‘I’m my own man’.
In contrast Ross said Mexican gangs were highly organized with a leadership structure; they operated as a unit of we are Mexican men! While I was listening to the interview with Ross, I reflected back on my experience providing Male Responsibility Development service to school-age Black boys (K-12) and to Black men in prison.
From elementary to the penitentiary I often heard “nigga you aint my daddy.” From my perspective this sentiment of “You aint my daddy” I raised myself results in “I’m my own man” that’s based in part on the tremendous numbers of Black boys who’ve grown-up decades fatherless resulting in feelings of insecurity, bitterness, and resentment towards older Black males ‘father figures’ that remain as ‘child within issues’ in adulthood.
The Fatherless Resentment Syndrome (FRS) coupled with significant socialized Black-on-Black male distrust undermines Black men’s objective need to be organized as a super-oppressed gender in America. These undermining ‘disorganizing’ factors is why ‘organized’ Arab, Asians, and East Indian men dominate Black communities economically.
Black Men, if we keep it 1000 we are limited of what we can do ‘accomplish’ just being only I’m my own man in the face of organized non-Black male oppressors and exploiters. Facing organized odds alone saying I’m my own man sounds confident, however underneath these words a sense of incapability and insecurity is there.
Black men when its all said and done 'bottom-line' the individualist notion I'm my own man is bullshit socioeconomically in the fact that as a race of men we lack the power in this country to control our own lives; we don't control 'provisions' and 'protections'!!
As long as we continue to be our own be all-end all individual ‘I’m my own man’ we will continue to be a bunch of disorganized individuals ‘I’m my own man’ who will remain oppressed and exploited by non-Black male organized groups.
Indeed, until we as Black men mature to a sense of group Black manhood, just being individually I’m my own man only ‘do me’ is why we will keep ‘getting done in’ collectively.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

A Black Mother's Advise About Raising Black Sons

Black mother's advise to Black mothers to advise their Black sons growing-up in institutional racist America where they are the #1 'targets' of oppression.

As a Black Man Reflecting Back on Some Insightful Songs That Influenced my Consciousness

by Kenny Anderson

Music speaks to all, it's so dear to us; music makes us think” – Gary Bartz
As a Black man I came of age in the middle 1960’s and the 1970’s, during this period I was heavily influenced by Malcolm X, Dr. King, SNCC, George Jackson, and the Black Panther Party.
My growing Black consciousness during this period was not only influenced musically by the specific freedom songs of the movement but also in general by the following insightful songs:
*Listening often to Earth, Wind & Fire’s song “Keep Your Head to the Sky” I learned to be inspired ‘stay-up’, to have self-confidence in ‘rising above’ adversities; to see ‘beyond’ my circumstances:
“Step right up, be a man
you need faith to understand,
So we're saying for you to hear
Keep your head in faith's atmosphere.”
*Listening often to Earth, Wind & Fire’s song “All About Love” I learned about ‘inner and outer’ behavior; about understanding one’s ‘higher-self’ genuineness versus one’s superficial ‘fake and tripping’ self:
“You know, for instance we study all kinds
of sciences, astrology, mysticism, world
religion, so forth you dig!
And like coming from hip place all these things help because it gives you insight into your inner self - have mercy! Now there's an outer self we got to deal with,
you know the one that likes to go to parties, one that likes to dress up and be cool
and look pretty on ego-trips and all this.”
*Listening often to Teddy Pendergrass’s song “You Can’t Hide From Yourself” I learned about facing ‘confronting’ your personal problems straight-up; ‘being responsible and accountable’ because there is no escaping them; that running ‘escapism’ from oneself is ‘futile and irresponsible’ only resulting in a weak character:
“You can't hide, you can't hide
Look in the mirror, there you are
Walking down the street, well
Look in the store window, there you
There you are, you can't hide no, no, no
You may run, no, but you can't hide
You can't hide brothers, you can't hide!”
*Listening often to Gil Scott Herron’s (GSH) song “The Bottle” highlighted to me making me much more aware of the consequences of alcoholism on Black men:
“See that Black boy over there running' scared
His old man got a problem, he pawned
off damn near everything, sold his old woman's wedding' ring for a bottle.”
*Listening often to Gil Scott Herron’s song “Pieces of a Man” made me want to ‘analyze’ deeply know how white supremacy psychologically broke so many Black men down ‘fragmenting and debasing’:
“I saw my daddy meet the mailman
And I heard the mailman say
"Now don't you take this letter to heart now, Jimmy
Cause they've laid off nine others today"
But he didn't know what he was saying
He could hardly understand
That he was only talking to
Pieces of a man.”
*Listening often to the Temptation’s song “Message to a Black Man” enhanced my sense of wanting to pursue assertive Black manhood; that you must be ‘demanding’ having a sense of boldness toward racial oppression:
“Think about it,
I have wants and desires,
just like you.
So move on the side,
'Cause I'm coming' through! No matter how hard you try,
You can't stop me now.”
*Listening often to McFadden & Whitehead’s song “Aint No Stoppin Us Now” became a personal motivational remembrance theme for me; a daily reminder to be determined and persistent ‘keep it moving’; ‘resistance mantra’ of no acceptance and no excuses:
“I know you'll refuse to be held down anymore!
Don't you let nothing, nothing
Stand in your way!
I want ya'll to listen, listen to every word say, every word I say!
Ain't No Stoppin Us Now!”
The music I’ve highlighted have been singing books for me for well over 40 years, I’ve never stopped listening to these songs; they provide a music sanctuary in the midst of ‘kill-kill/booty-licious’ asshole eating Rap and R&B along with so many of my peers back down memory lane 'oldie but goody' music focus only on ‘love-love’ panacea relationship songs.
What happened to listening to music that makes us think, that gives us insight to self-improve?

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Black Male Slave Archetypes Enduring Behavioral Influence

by Kenny Anderson

Black men in our African forefathers native lands they were born and socialized to be proud, free, and independent – never to be slaves! When our African male Ancestors were enslaved white male supremacists plantation owners knew that to maximize their control and labor exploitation they had to place specific emphasis on emasculating and distorting captured African men psychologically.
The best way to control enslaved African male slaves was a consistent topic of conversations among slave owners and Southern magazines providing advice on how to manage, handle, discipline, and break Black male slaves. Indeed many enslaved African males rebelled, more ran away, and most often slowed down on the job, avoided work, deliberately broke tools, or pretended not to understand commands.
These forms of slave resistance presented a real problem and ever present danger for the white male masters. These plantation owners realized they had to breakdown ‘destroy’ a sense of Afrikan male ‘psycho-cultural archetypes’ of manhood that would inspire them to resist ‘rebel’; that they had to forcibly instill subservient and self-defeating ‘slave nigga male archetypes’ in them.
For example our enslaved Yoruba African forefathers sense of manhood prior to enslavement came from their spirituality known as ‘Ifa’ and embodied in male archetypes known as ‘Orishas’; the following are some Orisha archetypes:
*Kokou - a violent warrior
*Ògún - presides over iron, fire, hunting, politics, and war
*Shangorepresents thunder, lightning, and avenging over wrongdoing
*Ọbàtálá - represents light, spiritual purity, wisdom, and moral uprightness


Enduring Slave Archetypes

Psychologically an ‘Archetype’ is a pattern of behavioral traits that become the model of which all things of the same type is replicated. The following are the original Slave Nigga Male Archetypes that are socialized, perpetuated ‘replicated’ in Black men to this day:
*Buffoon – Were enslaved Black males who were reduced to acting dumb, stupid, and unintelligent; they were jokesters too laughing all the time to make light of their enslavement. This archetype tradition is carried on today by too many Black males who are ignorant and always got something funny to say; never taking life serious as if being a Black man in racist America is a joke!
*Fiddler – Were enslaved Black males who entertained their white male plantation owners musically. This archetype tradition is carried on today by too many Black male Rappers who entertain their majority white fan base with kill other Black men rap lyrics.
*Slickster – In Africa they were known as ‘tricksters’ who were entertainers, teachers, healers, and sages, however on the plantation they often became enslaved Black males who tricked ‘slicked’ manipulated other slaves with superstitious subterfuge. Today we have too many Black males continuing this archetype tradition of constantly running game, scheming, con-games ‘deception’ trying to get paid.
*Studs – Were reduced to sex breeders ‘baby makers’ producing more and more slaves; today too many Black males continue this archetype tradition by womanizing and leaving massive numbers of Black children fatherless and poverty stricken with no support prone to many socioeconomic maladies.
*Mandigos – Were enslaved male boxers who fought each other viciously at the behest of their plantation owners who waged bets on the winner. Today too many Black males continue this archetype tradition by violently fighting, attacking, and murdering each other.
*Uncles – Were loyal butlers ‘gatekeepers’ who promoted, articulated, and protected the white male slave masters interests; they were the original sellouts and opportunists “House Negroes” as Malcolm X referred to them. Yes we have too many Black males who today continue the archetype of gatekeepers who use their leadership ‘broker’ influence to convey ‘political correctness’; gatekeeping for their own self-promotion/self-serving political and economic interests ‘agendas’.
*Cotton-Pickers – Were enslaved males who were reduced to only identifying with their labor; today too many Black males carry on this archetype tradition being preoccupied always talking about their jobs, services, and what their company produces – ‘I am solely what I do, provide, and buy’. They never identify with their own job of being self-determined!
*Preacher Man – Were enslaved Black males who were selected with privileges to convert, pacify, control, and justify theologically Black enslavement by white male supremacy through Christian preaching and prayer:
“I have just shown you the chief duties you owe to your great master in heaven. I will now tell you your duties to your Masters and Mistresses here upon earth. You must have one rule that you must always have in your minds that is - serve your master as if he were GOD himself. Poor creatures! You don’t consider that when you are idle and neglect your master’s business, and whatever faults you are guilty of - these are faults against God himself. If you steal from your master, you are stealing from God himself. If you tell lies to your master, you are telling lies to God himself. When you steal and waste your Masters’ goods, when you are saucy and wise, when you are stubborn or sullen, you are sinning not only against your master, but also against your master in Heaven.”
Yes too many Black men carry on this archetype tradition today of using the Bible to tell us to forgive racist murderers and as a religious tool to emotionally manipulate the Black masses to enrich themselves.
*Moonshiners – Were enslaved males who secretly at night distilled liquor to make what they referred to as ‘happy drink’ that made them feel good after grueling ‘back breaking’ plantation work. Today in Black communities there are liquor stores on every corner selling Black men the happy drink; too many Black men carry on this archetype tradition of drinking alcohol as a coping-mechanism on the neo-urban plantations; today moonshining would include Black men who grow or purchase marijuana to smoke every day to self-medicate themselves.
*Tattle-Tellers – Were enslaved Black males who told the white male plantation owners anything that was a threat to his control; today too many Black men carry on this archetype tradition being informants and agent provocateurs.
Black men we must realize and accept the legacy of slavery still continues psychologically in our minds through Black Male Slave Archetypes that prevents us from being truly free as Dr. King told Black men that we can never be really physically free until we become psychologically free stating:
“As long as the mind is enslaved, the body can never be free. Psychological freedom, a firm sense of self-esteem, is the most powerful weapon against the long night of physical slavery. No Lincolnian emancipation proclamation or Johnsonian civil rights bill can totally bring this kind of freedom. The Negro will only be free when he reaches down to the inner depths of his own being and signs with the pen and ink of assertive manhood his own emancipation proclamation.”
Black men breaking the psychological shackles of the Black Male Slave Archetypes is an ongoing inner-emancipation practice of mindfulness to identify, to understand, to check, and to rid ourselves of these slave archetypes that are subconsciously driving our behavior due to their deep-seatedness and reinforcement.

Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Black Men Sharing a Self-Reflection For Us to Think About

 by Kenny Anderson

As a practice I engage in reflection that entails both specific developmental self-reflection and general memory reflections.
Regarding the later I often reflect on 2 critical points older Brothers highlighted to me when I was a young teenager.
First, I remember older Brothers schooling us Black male youngsters telling us to never say we didn’t have work to do or that in the future stating we’re unemployed.
Their point to us was that how can Black folks be out of work when we suffer from racial oppression and there is so much full-time freedom 'self-determination' work to be done!
That as young Brothers we can always ‘should’ volunteer to better the Black community and we can always ‘must’ engage in personal development ‘self-work’ to become responsible, build character, and increase capabilities.
Second, when we departed from these older conscientious Brothers they would say “take good care of y’all selves young bloods,” their departing encouragement was more than about safety and fitness, it had an implied emphasis point for us not to engage in dumb shit and recklessness ‘self-harm’.
I want to cite this about self-care and Black men, in keenly observing us for many-many years; I’ve seen that too many of us don’t take care of ourselves including self-abuse; too many of us take care of material things more than our own health resulting in disproportionate illnesses and suffering.
As Black men too many of us live 7 days a week living in a rush working, raising families, or hustling in the streets to adequately take care of ourselves. Psychologically, subconsciously too many of us as Black men don’t believe we are worthy of self-care.
Indeed from then and now ‘self-work’ and ‘self-care’ are critical points of practice in Black self-determination that prevents irresponsibility, dependency, neglect, decline, deprivation, disease, and premature deaths.


Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Keeping it real, the stone cold truth is that currently everybody else's lives in America matters way more than Black men especially heterosexual Black men!

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Black Men the Real Second-Class Citizens in America Whose Lives Really Don't Matter!

 by Kenny Anderson

"It's not only misleading, it's an out right propaganda lie when the LBGTQ community particularly non-Blacks implies or says that they suffer more from repression in America than Black men do!" - SunYaRu
"In terms of gender oppression, Black men are more adversely affected by white male supremacy than Black women." - Dr. Frances Cress Welsing
Black men, it should be crystal clear to us from slavery to this very day our lives under American white supremacy has had a 'super-low' value, as Jamil Ai-Amin (H. Rap Brown) says America's mantra towards us is "die-nigga-die." Indeed since slavery its been 'repressive open season' targeting against Black men.
Black males are targets of racist stereotypes, ridicules, character assassinations, and 'male-bashing'. Black males are targets of ‘narco-oppression’ the War on Drugs and racial profiling: Driving While Black to Flying While Black; Walking While Black to Shopping While Black; Sitting While Black to Sleeping While Black. Just Being Alive While a Black Man.
As far as the anti-Black male sentiment in America, Black male gang-bangers are despised more, viewed more threatening, and more targeted than so-called Arab terrorists and the Taliban! As a Black man when it comes to the tired line that All Lives Matter in America that's straight bullshit!
However what is the stone cold truth is that currently everybody else's lives in America matters way more than Black men especially heterosexual Black men: White men and women lives matter more! Hispanic men and women lives matter more! Arab men and women lives matter more! Asian men and women lives matter more! East Indian men and women lives matter more! Black women lives matter more! Gays, Lesbian, Transgenders, and Queers (etc.) lives matter more; as Dave Chappell stated recently:
"DaBaby was the number one streaming artist until about a couple of weeks ago. Took a nasty spill onstage, and said some wild stuff about the LBGTQ community during a concert in Florida. Now you know, I go hard in the paint but even I saw that shit was like, “God damn, DaBaby.” He pushed the button, didn’t he? He pushed the button. Punched the LBGTQ community, right in the AIDS. Can’t do that. Can’t do that. But I do believe and I’ll make this point later that the kid made a very egregious mistake. I will acknowledge that. But, you know a lot of the LBGTQ community doesn’t know DaBaby’s history, he’s a wild guy. He once shot a n*gga… and killed him, in Walmart. Oh, this is true, Google it. DaBaby shot and killed a n*gga in Walmart in North Carolina. Nothing bad happened to his career. Do you see where I am going with this? In our country, you can shoot and kill a n*gga but you better not hurt a gay person’s feelings. [laughter] And this is precisely the disparity I wish to discuss. I have a question for the audience and this is a real question, I am not joking around. Is it possible, that a gay person can be racist? [audience] Yes! Yeah!"
Black men don't get lulled to sleep believing our lives matter because all the groups in America that believe their lives matter more than ours carried signs with George Floyd's picture protesting against his racist police murder; a lot were protesting out of emotions, sympathy, and guilt; none of this protesting led to a national police reform policy!
Permanently when it comes down to the bottom-line today Black men we are basically on our own!

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

Two Black Men I Knew Who Recently Died From COVID-19

by Kenny Anderson

It’s ironic that 2 Black males ‘Tony Tolbert and Frank Russell’ were outstanding basketball players at the University of Detroit Mercy both ‘allegedly’ dying from COVID-19, they died a month apart; what’s more ironic I knew both of them.
 
Fifty year-old Tolbert from Detroit who died last month averaged 20.4 points his first season at University of Detroit Mercy, then 23.6 his second season after transferring from the University of Michigan. Tolbert twice earned first-team all-MCC honors and led the Titans to the 1994 MCC tournament championship.



Pontiac’s own Frank Russell 72 died this month, Russell was a standout basketball player at the University of Detroit where he was inducted to the Hall of Fame. Frank went on to play basketball professionally in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls.


The COVID-19 Delta Variant and Black Folks

According to the CDC the COVID-19 Delta variant is highly contagious, more than 2 times as contagious as previous variants. The CDC estimates that Delta can be as infectious as chicken pox and is only slightly less contagious than measles which is considered one of the most transmissible viruses.


Some data suggest the Delta variant might cause more severe illness than previous variants in unvaccinated people. Vaccinated people can still contract the Delta virus however the unvaccinated were 10 times as likely to die or be hospitalized with COVID-19 even with the delta variant's increased presence.

According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC) Black folks are the least vaccinated demographic group, according to the Centers for Disease Control, which estimates that 25% of the Black population in the US is fully vaccinated.
 
Of the US population that is fully vaccinated, only 9% are Black and this contributes along with not wearing masks to Black folks internally spreading and dying disproportionately from COVID-19, a death rate of over 2.4 times higher than whites. Dr. Reed Tuckson co-founder of the Black Coalition Against COVID states:

“Much of the ongoing hesitancy with Black people is fueled by distrust in White America due to racism in health care, voter suppression, and disparities in the criminal justice system. There are also lingering myths such as the vaccine will interact with your DNA and impact fertility or that if people eat healthy they don't need a vaccine which national health leaders have dismissed all of these claims.”

Studies have found that many Black folks refuse to get vaccinated because of the nation's history of racism in medical research particularly the U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study in Tuskegee, Alabama.

The study was conducted from 1932 through 1972 by the United States government on more than 600 Black men. More than 100 Black men died from syphilis or its complications by the end of the study.

In an effort to combat vaccine hesitancy, descendants of the men involved in Tuskegee recently spoke out in a short form documentary for the Ad Council and COVID Collaborative's COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative.

In the documentary the family members set the record straight on what happened. Omar Neal the former mayor of Tuskegee whose uncle Freddie Lee Tyson was part of the experiment says the Tuskegee study is very different from what's happening with Covid-19.

According to family members there have been widespread misunderstandings of the study, for example many Black folks believe that researchers injected Black men with syphilis but that's not true. Researchers told the Black men they had come to Tuskegee to cure “Bad Blood,” but never told them they had syphilis, and the government doctors never intended to cure the men.
 
Since September is ‘Black Reading Month’ I recommend that Black folks read “Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment” by James H. Jones.

Wednesday, August 25, 2021

Black Men No Progress Until We Reduce Respecting the Dumb-Shit!

 by KenRay SunYaRu

Black men, being dumb means being stupid, unintelligent, and foolish; one major aspect of our enslavement by white supremacy was imposing ‘dumbness’ on our Ancestors; the forcible process of making us dumb ‘unintelligent’ exacted by racist laws prohibiting us from reading and writing so they could more effectively oppress, exploit, and manipulate us.

Black men our being ‘dumb’ helps maintain our continued oppression, as Neely Fuller stated: “If you don't understand white supremacy/racism everything that you do understand will only confuse you.” On the results of being dumb Malcolm X said: "You’ve been had, you’ve been took, you’ve been hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray, and run amok.”

Indeed We Should Never Want To Be Dumb!

What's the Dumb-Shit?
Black men, dumb-shit is being arrogant 'self-righteous' in ignorance; means believing that opinions are the same as facts; means just talking, hoping, wishing, and dreaming is the same as doing 'efforts'; means making 'excuses' and not 'executing'; means suspending critical thinking and swallowing-up conspiracy theories; means being caught-up in your feelings 'emotions over reasoning'; means accepting 'gossipp' as the 'gospel'; means promoting and perpetuating self-defeating and self-destructive beliefs, values, and behaviors; means glorifying Black-on-Black disrespect and violence; means self-neglect and abuse; means accepting obesity as just beautiful only and not unhealthy; means taking your life and health for granted.
Dumb-shit means ignoring historical and personal life-lessons; means that you're 'entitled' and folks must always 'tolerate' your bullshit 'love you unconditionally'; means always blaming others for your problems never taking a look at yourself; means living a lie 'self-deception'; means having no plans just living for the moment 'sensationally and spontaneously'; means believing COVID-19 aint real yet it's killing us super-disproportionately; means constantly paying for what we want and continually begging for what we need; means always praying for 'God's help' while never 'helping ourselves'; means just voting, waiting, and depending on the American government to save us politically and economically 'providing us security' instead of our own struggle for self-determination.
Black men, when we going to get on 'respecting' some smart-shit that advances us?

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Black-on-Black Male Lyrical Violence the Only Acceptable Rap Music!

by KenRay SunyaRu

Black folks, got some questions about the blatant double-standards in Rap music:

*Why is it that Black male rappers rap 24/7 about disregarding and murdering each other ‘niggas’ and make millions and billions of dollars including getting various music awards.

*Why is that if Black male rappers rap saying “bitch” they have “toxic masculinity”? In contrast, Black female rappers can rap 24/7 saying “niggas aint shit” but it aint viewed as “toxic femininity”.


*Why is it if Black male rappers rap saying “fag” they are denounced as homophobic, if they rap mentioning killing Asians, Arabs, East Indians, Whites, etc. its denounced as hate speech; if they rap saying kill racist police its viewed as a crime.

*Why is it that the only acceptable rap music in America is Black male rappers rapping about degrading and killing each other 'disrespectful and verbal fratricide'?

Monday, August 9, 2021

Ex-Black Basketball Players and Post-Traumatic Basketball Stress Disorder (PTBSD)

 by Kenray Sunyaru

This post is my personal response 'bigger view' to the recent unfortunate and way-way too early death of ‘Tony Tolbert’ a Detroit high-school basketball legend.
I knew Tony through a family I’m close with; he has children by one of their nieces. I would often see Tony at family events and holiday get togethers. I overheard talk that Tony was a really good basketball player back in the day, I learned about just how good he was after his death.
Looking back maybe I should have initiated a basketball conversation when I was around him; I myself played high-school basketball in Detroit, played in college, and coached too. There’s a 14-year age difference between us; I’m a Detroit high-school product of the middle 70’s and he the 1990’s.
By the time I met Tony I was mentally distant from basketball, I had experienced and seen the ‘downside’ of basketball for decades - the ‘addictive side’ of basketball; the psycho-emotional devastating side of basketball and its negative affects on way too many Black males when the ‘game ends’, when their NBA hoop dreams are over!
Indeed, for the overwhelming majority of Black males their hoop dream is over in high-school, others are over in college, only a very few make it to the NBA and their careers are short; the average NBA career is over in 4.5 years. Black males’ basketball hoop dreams for the most part are over from the beginning; there are 546,400 male high school basketball players of all races in the U.S. only 18,700 will play in college, and only .03% have a chance of a pro career: only 60 will be drafted to play in the NBA after college.
According to a 2020 NCAA study it found that 1.2% of players made the 60 NBA draft spots. The research found that 4,181 of the 18,816 players from the 2018-19 season were eligible for the 2019 NBA draft; 52 of the 60 slots went to NCAA players, with seven international talents and one prep school player taking the other remaining spots.
For Black males the odds of making it to the NBA is going to continually be ‘extremely thin’ due to the rise of international players grabbing more draft slots.
Post Traumatic Basketball Stress Disorder (PTBSD)
After Tony Tolbert’s death, I heard many of his friends, ex-team mates from high-school/college, and ex-NBA players say that Tony was one of the greatest high-school basketball players from Detroit who did not make it to the pros ‘NBA’. Tony like way too many of us Black males were ‘hooked on basketball’ at an early age ‘one-dimensional programing’ of making it to the pros.
By the time Black males finish their high-school and college basketball careers ‘don’t make it to the NBA’ way too many of us suffer both from stunted growth of ‘basketball over-identification’ and psycho-emotionally from what I see as ‘Post Traumatic Basketball Stress Disorder’ (PTBSD) a psychiatric disorder that can occur in Black males who have experienced the ongoing emotional devastation of not making it to the pros or who had short NBA careers; some of the symptoms of PTBSD are:
*Recurrent, unwanted distressing memories of not making it to the NBA
*Upsetting thoughts ‘being irritated’ angry of not making it to the NBA
*Constantly having ‘flashbacks’ living in the past of your glory days of being a basketball star and how you should have made it to the NBA
*Inability to relate to family, relative, friends, and co-workers ‘hard to get along with’; difficulty in maintaining employment; blaming oneself and others for not making it to the NBA
*Avoiding people, places, and things that remind you about how good you were in basketball; this avoidance is a defense mechanism that lessens you from remembering and thinking about your failure to make it to the NBA
Another key symptom of PTBSD is major conduct disorder ‘crime and substance abuse’. Dr. Harry Edwards has studied the impact of failure in sports and how it has affected the mental health of Black men; Edwards stated there are a number of syndromes he’s identified:
“Our prisons, for example are loaded with Black males with tremendous athletic potential. When they found out they could not make it, their energies were directed toward anti-social behaviors – crime and drugs. We have all kinds of cases of depression and nervous breakdowns. We also believe there is some relationship between failure in sports and the increasing suicide rate among Black men. Many Black males whose college basketball eligibility is over, still live in a basketball fantasy world spending all of their time playing in gyms and on playgrounds; some of these men become ‘basketball bums’.”
Self-Isolation and withdrawing is another negative effect of PTBSD, it is my perspective that too many Black men ex-basketball players around age 40 withdraw and start excessively watching basketball and other sports on television because it reminds them of 'being back in the day' when they had athletic prowess ‘I was the shit’.
Most of the time when Black men are watching all this sports on television they are eating unhealthy junk-food and fast-food; many smoke cigarettes and drink liquor too. Sitting for long periods of time lacking physical activity, along with poor diets results in many Black men becoming ‘obese’ physically sick with hypertension, heart disease, strokes, and diabetes.
Sitting down for long periods stops the body from using its muscles and adequately processing sugars and fats. According to a recent studies people who spend more than four hours in front of the television each day have a far higher risk of dying early than those who limit their viewing.
Watching sports on television for prolonged periods is definitely bad for Black men’s hearts according to research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association. People who watch more than four hours per day have a 46 percent higher risk of death from all causes. They also have an 80 percent increased risk from cardiovascular disease.
Moreover many Black men sit and watch television to distract themselves to avoid dealing with psychological male midlife crisis issues; many Black men watch sports on television to escape being depressed ‘regrets, failures’ and recreating themselves.
Post-Traumatic Basketball Stress Disorder (PTBSD) of ex-Black male basketball players is unknown to them however it’s widespread in our communities; ex-Black male basketball players are suffering in silence and it’s emotionally devastating and is disruptive to relationships.
As a community we must address PTBSD by creating counseling and self-help programs to address Black males PTBSD so they can become more aware, active, healthy, and functional.
In closing, let it be known to all who may read this post, in no way I’m indicating or implying that Tony Tolbert ‘specifically’ suffered from Post-Traumatic Basketball Stress Disorder (PTBSD) however in ‘general’ many ex-Black male basketball players do. I wrote this post as an educational piece for the Black community to consider and take action on.

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Black Male's Perspective on the Sickness of 'I' Over 'WE'

 by KenRay SunYaru

Black folks, our current dominant relations of 'I' rampant individualism ‘you do you and I’ll do me’ self-absorption is not advantageous for us as an oppressed people to solve common problems and progress.

On a daily basis I see self-absorption 'individualistic preoccupation and entitlement gone wild' in young Black adults. I see young adult Black males walking around with ear buds in their ears ‘zoned out’ listening to rap music not paying attention while they’re walking constantly almost getting hit by vehicles and often times being hit; they have the arrogant disposition of 'I dare somebody to hit me'.

Moreover I see young adult Blacks males self-absorbed driving at high rates of speed listening to loud rap music ‘texting too’ in a preoccupied zone state zipping down residential streets totally ignoring stop signs with no regard for human life.

Also I see young adult Black women walking around zoned-out on their cell phones interacting ‘constantly talking and texting’ with social media along with constantly taking ‘selfies’ of themselves 'I look so good' totally oblivious to what’s going on around them; many of these young ladies recklessly speed drive too while interacting with social media.


Young adult Black males and females rampant self-absorbed individualism is a reflection of normalized ‘Narcissistic Personality Disorder’ (NPD) a mental sickness of arrogance and selfishness ‘Me, Myself, and I’ in which people have an inflated sense of their own self-importance; a deep need for excessive attention and admiration.

People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder have the following signs and symptoms which can vary:

*Have an exaggerated sense of self-importance; they are superior and can only associate with equally special people

*Have a sense of entitlement and require constant, excessive admiration

*Expect to be recognized as the best even without achievements that warrant it

*Exaggerate achievements and talents

*Be preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the perfect mate

*Monopolize conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior

*Expect special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations

*Take advantage 'manipulate and exploit' others to get what they want

*Have an inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others

*Be envious of others and believe others envy them

*Behave in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful, and pretentious

*Insist on having top shelf - the best clothes, jewelry, cars, etc.


People with narcissistic personality disorder have trouble handling anything they perceive as criticism, and they can:

*Become impatient or angry when they don't receive special treatment

*Have significant interpersonal problems and easily feel slighted

*React with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves appear superior

*Have difficulty regulating emotions and behavior

*Experience major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change

*Feel depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection

*Have internal feelings of low self-esteem, insecurity, shame, vulnerability, and humiliation


Indeed rampant Black individualism 'individualistic preoccupation and entitlement gone wild' causes defeating and destructive competition over cooperation; it fosters major selfishness that facilitates divisiveness, distrust, disorganization, overwhelmed 'me against the world', crime, alienation, depression, anxiety, and substance abuse; it undermines and breaks down family and community relationships; it facilities misplaced rivalry and violence.

Black folks We must understand clearly that we don’t suffer from racism as individuals! Our historical progress against white supremacy was due to ‘WE’ cooperation. Indeed we must realize that the advancement of an oppressed people like us is based on the progress of the majority of us and not a minority of rich individuals amongst us.

We must realize the majority of us have become sick with rampant individualism; the current racist 'white backlash' including voter suppression has been met with less resistance due to our individualism; yes rampant individualism keeps us 'divided and conquered'.

We must 'rebuild' by healing and breaking down this rampant individualism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder; instilling within ourselves a sense of humility and a greater sense of togetherness ‘Unity’. We must consistently promote cooperation around us and constantly find commonality in struggling against racial oppression for self-determination.