Black Men Why Do Too Many Of Us Get Turned Against Each Other Through Crime And Violence?

 "Many of us turn to crime, stealing, gambling, prostitution. And some of us are used by the white overlords downtown to push dope in the Negro community among our own people. Unemployment and poverty have forced many of our people into a life of crime. But the real criminal is in the City Hall downtown, in the State House, and in the White House in Washington, D.C. The real criminal is the white liberal, the political hypocrite. And it is these legal crooks who pose as our friends, force us into a life of crime, and then use us to spread the white man’s evil vices in our community among our own people." - Malcolm X

Black Men Brief Thoughts on Discipline

I've learned that the words discipline, disciple, and discipleship have the same root meaning of being a student or a follower of some belief, philosophy, activity, method, etc.; of learning and ongoing follow-through; being devoted and determined.

I've also learned in life that we all engage in disciplines of different types and they are distinguished by what you prize, want to 'accomplish', and 'outcomes'.

Disciplines have direction 'forward or backward'; disciplines have qualities 'positive or negative'. For example, one person has a criminal discipline, while others have a writing, meditation, or exercising discipline.

Too often as Black men too many of us have socially acquired self-defeating, self-diseasing, and self-destructive disciplines. Too many Black men have a socialized 'oppression-maintaining' daily discipline of just gossiping, consuming, flossing, fronting, and entertaining; no discipline at all towards Black unity, healing, and self-determination.

Moreover, I've learned that one's discipline is driven by what one 'values'. We have to assess our disciplines: raising the questions are they truly 'important', beneficial, righteous, lasting, progressive, and worth the costs 'consequences'?

Yes, we have to keep in mind the relativity of disciplines and that they may require 'demand' change for new or added disciplines.

Black Men Let Us Stop Faking and Half-Baking

Black men too often we become 'fake artists' and 'busy body's' to ourselves, we believe saying something and engaging in insignificant things automatically means we really did something, thus too often we do a lot of talking and superficial actions not accomplishing much at all.

Action faking is the practice of confusing being busy with making actual progress towards an intended goal and often involves a lot of over-analyzing, planning, and stunting 'posturing', but very little meaningful and consistent actions.

Action faking involves participating in tasks that don't actually drive us towards accomplishments. Action faking is making yourself busy without making yourself accountable and productive; it is a self-deceptive form of procrastination. Too often New Year's resolutions become action-faking!

Black Men Running Our Lives Like A Good Business

"Black men way-way too many of us have run our lives like a bad business 'a lot of losses and very few profits'. Let us start taking care of personal good business, our lives profiting in the 'best' ways." - KenRaySun

"So what does it mean to run your life like a business? First and foremost, you should have a clear vision and mission for your personal life and how you want your relationships to be as well as a series of core values you aspire to live by. These assets alone can help you choose how and where to distribute your time, which, in other words, means it can serve as the deciding factor for what activities you choose to say yes and no to." - David Henzel