Black Men We Were Forced to be 'Squares' Let Us Become 'Circles'

 by KenRay Sunyaru

“We will consider where the center is using our Ancestors’ most honored shape – the circle.” “We are a people of the circle.” – Mwalimu Bomani Baruti

According to the current Ebonic word ‘square’ that means to be unexciting, unadventurous, or dull; generally used in describing a Black man with such attributes who plays it safe – don’t take self-determination risks or challenge racism 'institutional white supremacy'.

A square Black male’s goal is to only have a respectable ‘decent’ job, a nice home, a new car/SUV/truck, marry, and have some children. He’s to be a mere mainstream meal-ticket, conformist, consumer, patriotic, voter, sports enthusiast, retire, die, and leave an insurance policy. Then there are square Black men who are trapped ‘self-contained’ in self-defeating and self-destructive lifestyle boxes of drugs, recklessness, crimes, violence, prison, and death.

From historical Ebonics a ‘square’ derived from a slave whose only goal in life was to have three "square meals" a day. Moreover it's derived from the fact that our enslaved Ancestors were dominated by the square: they were sold on auction blocks and lynched in ‘town squares’; they were designated and restricted to specific spaces ‘Congo Square’; they were forced to live in ‘square slave cabins’; they were forcibly indoctrinated with Christianity in ‘square praise houses’; they were super-exploited in plantation 'field squares'.

The oppressive and exploitive square existence forced on our enslaved Ancestors was a conflict 'clash of cultures'. Case in point was the European colonizers’ square architecture ‘Palladianism’ in contrast to the circular architecture of Africans known as ‘Rondavel’. Indeed the European colonizing enslavers forcibly imposed square culture was confining, dehumanizing, exploiting, restricting, and mechanistic. In contrast African circular culture was ‘dynamic’ constantly revolving, expanding, connecting, moving, innovating, resisting, and freeing.

Enslaved ‘Squarely’ But ‘Re-Circled’ Culturally

Though enslaved by the European colonizing cultural square our Ancestors re-established the spiritual-cultural continuity of the circle ‘Ring Shout’ so that it would remain unbroken. The Ring-Shout is a counter-clockwise ritual based on our enslaved African Bakongo Ancestors cosmogram ‘Dikenga’ – circular symbol of existence representing the ongoing cycle of change, transition, and the continuity of human life that represents the movements of the sun.

Our Ancestors counter-clockwise based spirituality kept them attuned to the sun that turned on its axis counterclockwise and the earth that rotates around the sun counter clockwise along with the other planets. The Ring-Shout ritual representing the ‘Dikenga’ played a central role in our enslaved Ancestors transmitting traditional African values and beliefs from generation to generation thus preserving history, culture, and spiritual identity throughout the extreme disruption and dehumanization of slavery.

On slave plantations our Ancestors ‘stole-away’ and gathered together clandestinely in the cabins, fields, and woods in healing circles where they engaged in conjuring, praying, and ecstatic dancing for the purpose of remembrance, reinforcement, and emotional distress releasing - ‘lay their burdens down’ so they could humanize ‘recreate’ themselves as New Afrikans in this foreign land of racial oppression they found themselves captured and super-exploited in.

Through conjure, prayer, dance, and trance they were able to communicate with the African-Ancestral spirit(s) and became inspired. Often times the ‘Ring-Shout’ gatherings were used for the purpose of freedom by psychologically preparing slaves for the arduous and dangerous task of escaping to the North.

Busting Loose From the Cultural L-7 Square and Let the Circling Culture Begin

Under white supremacy the behavior form of Black men was to be indefinitely a self-limiting ‘square’. Unfortunately too many Black men are still suffering from an imposed racist square culture that they self-promote and self-perpetuate; too many Black men super-disproportionately wind up in ‘square death-beds’ box coffins from Black-on-Black male violence and health-neglect 'chronic diseases'; too many Black men are locked in a box ‘square prison cells’.

As Black men we must break out ‘bust loose from L-7’ oppressive square culture legacy; we must become self-determining circles ‘whole’ creating the best self-circle within ourselves, within our family circles, within our community circles, and circles within our peoples'. Let us be mindful of the words of Mwalimu Bomani Baruti who stated: Our Ancestors knew that circles had more area within them than squares of equivalent dimensions.”

Yes Black men we must see our circles as being bigger than the squares of 'boxed-in' oppression. Stop being squares, get free from the 'boxes'!

Orthoboxy: Boxed-In by Our Own Thinking

“I reflected many, many times to myself upon how the American Negro has been entirely brainwashed from ever seeing or thinking for himself." - Malcolm X

I remember growing up hearing old wise-heads tell other Black men "You's a box-head MF, you need to sho-nuff free your mind." These 'wise-heads' defined a box-head as being ignorant, stupid, limited, and easily manipulated caught in a 'trick-bag'. They said a Black man in racist America "could not afford to to be a 'box-head"; being a box-head could result in landing in boxes: 'prison-cell boxes' and 'coffin boxes'.

Regarding Black history, the origin of the Black box-head is the slave plantation 'yard box' where African minds were forced 'enclosed' into a white concept box that encased 'produced' a slave mentality 'nigga box thinking'; an ignorant mindset square that keeps us self-confined in oppression.

From my perspective I refer to the Black box-head as 'orthobox' similar to orthodox views. Regarding orthodox thinking, it's a persons concepts especially religious or political ones that conforms to dominant beliefs of what's traditionally accepted as right or true.

Somewhat similar, orthobox means to be self-restricted and self-contained thinking that's self-confining; orthobox thinking consists of the following boxed in cognitive distortions:

*Close-mindedness

*Narrow-mindedness

*Unrealistic thinking

*Fantasy-thinking

*Fortune-teller thinking

*Ego-inflated thinking

*Blind-faith thinking

*Self-righteous thinking

*Confirmation-bias thinking

*Pre-conceived 'unexamined' notions thinking

*Illogical thinking

*Emotional thinking

*Over-optimistic thinking

*Pessimistic thinking

Black folks, it was Malcolm X 'Al-Hajj Malik Al-Shabazz' who taught us to struggle to "think outside the box"; thinking differently, unconven-tionally, or from a new perspective. Indeed, Brother Malcolm struggled not to be contained in the 'self-hate box'; he struggled not to be contained in the 'street criminal box', and the 'religious box', as Malcolm stated:

“I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else’s control. I feel that what I’m thinking and saying is now for myself.”

Black folks, we cannot free ourselves from the box of racial oppression until we free our minds from our own self-enclosed distorted mental boxes.

Black Men If You Compare Yourselves All The Time To Others You'll Constantly Be Losing!

 by Kenny Anderson

Black men its unfortunate that so many of us spend all of our time comparing ourselves to whites and each other.

Regarding whites, we compare ourselves to them and we fall short based on a comparison between the oppressor 'white institutional power and skin privilege' and us the historically oppressed 'systematically despised and denied'. For many of us when we struggle against racist injustices it's not driven by 'justice' but by 'jealousy' of what white folks got.

Comparing from a physical feature and behavior perspective no matter how much too many of us try to look and be like white standards through whatever means we fall short often leading to low self-esteem, shame, and depression.

Regarding Black-on-Black comparisons it's non-stop 24/7, this hyper-comparison is sickening 'haterism', Black males constantly comparing, judging, and envying who has the latest and greatest white folks cars, gadgets, clothes, shoes, jewelry, etc. This comparing, rivaling, and showing-off over white corporate consumer products creates a superficial Black consumer slave culture, furthermore it results in Black-on-Black jealousy, distrust, disunity, crimes, violence, and murders.

Blacks men in order to get a handle on our mental health and improve our relationship with each other we have to reduce pathological comparing! According to why you should stop comparing yourself to others Daniela Tempesta (LCSW) says "If comparing is how you evaluate your worth, you will always be losing. In this game of life you will never reach a point where you are better than others in every way and why would you want to be." Tempesta highlights 2 important points:

1. It's Damaging To Your Sense Of Self:

Research has found that comparing breeds feelings of envy, low-self confidence, and depression, as well as compromises our ability to trust others. While downward comparison, comparing ourselves to those less fortunate, can provide some benefit to one's sense of self, even this form of comparison comes at a price. It requires that we take pleasure in someone else's failures or misfortunes in order to feel adequate, which can fuel mean-spirited competitiveness versus collaboration; jealousy versus connection. When comparing leads you to devalue yourself or others you've entered dangerous territory.

2. What You Are Comparing Against Is Inaccurate Information:

What people present to the outside world is usually an edited version of their reality. When someone asks you how you are doing, how often do you respond by saying, "my husband is driving me crazy, I'm feeling like a failure at work, and I'm just about ready to lose my mind"? Instead, you probably bite your tongue and say "things are really great!" A recent study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin confirmed that people are less likely to reveal their negative emotions than their positive emotions. Additionally, the study found that people tend to overestimate the presence of positivity in the lives of others, while they misinterpret or fail to detect negative feelings in others. So not only is what's being delivered an incomplete picture, we tend to distort the information we do receive - a double whammy. So next time you find yourself comparing to someone else stop and ask yourself if it is really fair to compare when you don't have all of the information. As Steve Furtick explains, "The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else's highlight reel."

Black men, the next time you find yourself jealous of what another Black man has, feeling envious, inferior, or inadequate realize that you're just having a 'Negative Black Comparison Moment' (NBCM) moment. When these moments arise take a minute and ask yourself why are you comparing, then check yourself with self-talk stating let me get out of my feelings, I'm just on some insecure and jealousy bullshit that aint even important, I'm better than this!

Black Men Don’t Talk About Health Thus We Suffer From Poor Health

 by Kenny Anderson

I found in life that what you constantly talk about influences your ‘priorities’ and ‘practices’; often determines your ‘attention’ and ‘actions’; what you repeatedly talk about ‘reprograms’ and ‘reinforces’ behaviors.

I also found that when you are an oppressed people and health is not talked about as a priority then health practices are poor – ‘chronic diseases are more prevalent’ and rampant. Case in point, recently I asked a number of small groups of Black men both younger and older what were the main 'top' things they talk about with Black men who they are close to (family, relative, friends) they said:

*Sports

*Vehicles (trucks, cars)

*Women (sex)

*Money (lottery)

*Food

*Alcohol

*Marijuana

*Shooting the shit (gossiping)

*Music (rap, etc.)

*The Streets (crime, violence, jail)

Twenty-four years ago I wrote a health editorial article in the Oakland Press titled “Black Men Must Work to Improve Their Own Lives” that addressed the deplorable health status of Black men at the time. The same things Black men highlighted to me recently what they talk about, was the same things they were talking about 24 years ago.

From past to present the overwhelming majority of Black men weren’t talking about their health, so it aint no surprise that Black men’s health is still the most deplorable ‘no improvement’. Recent health statistics (2020) show that Black men in the United States suffer worse health than any other racial group in America.

As a group Black men have the lowest life expectancy and the highest death rate from specific causes compared to both men and women of other racial and ethnic groups. Statistically speaking, Black men live seven years less than men of other racial groups.

Black men also have higher death rates than Black women for all leading causes of death. Black men have a higher incidence and a higher rate of death from oral cancer, and have a much higher risk of developing HIV/AIDS in their lifetime.

Other Black Male Health Statistics:

*44% of Black men are considered overweight

*37.5% are obese

*Black men suffer more preventable oral diseases that are treatable

*Black men have a higher incidence of diabetes and prostate cancer

*Black men have a high suicide rate; it's the third leading cause of death in 15- to 24-year-olds

Black Males 10 Leading Causes of Death

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the following were the leading causes of death of Black men in 2017:

1. Heart disease (23.7% of total deaths)

2. Cancer (20.2%)

3. Unintentional injuries (7.9%)

4. Homicide (5.0%)

5. Stroke (4.9%)

6. Diabetes (4.3%)

7. Chronic lower respiratory diseases (3.2%)

8. Kidney disease (2.6%)

9. Septicemia (1.8%)

10. Hypertension (1.6%)

Homicide a Leading Cause of Death for Younger Black Males

In the category of leading causes of death, when broken down by age group for Black males in the U.S., more disturbing statistics are revealed.

For young Black men between the ages of 15 and 44, the number one cause of death in 2017 was homicide. A further breakdown of deaths by age group among Black men due to homicide:

*Ages 1-19, homicide accounted for 35.3% of total deaths

*Ages 20-44, 27.6% of total deaths

*Ages 45-64, 2.1% of total deaths

In closing Black men, if we don’t talk about our health as a priority then we will continue to die super-disproportionately. I got to keep it 1000, Black men our ‘health-neglect’ that causes chronic diseases kills more of us (95%) than Black-on-Black male murders (5%) and racist police killings.

Black men when are we going to start talking about our health more than we constantly talk about Lebron being the GOAT and Steph being the all-time greatest shooter. When are we going to start talking about our health more than we constantly talk about ‘debate’ who makes the best truck GM, Ford, or Dodge?

According to what we talk about as Black men it’s clear that basketball, trucks, and other bullshit is more important than our lives ‘health’.

In 2020 Black Men Lost Life-Expectancy

by KenRaySun

For us Black males living in racist America it is a pervasive health problem of disproportionate premature deaths from police murders ‘Daunte Wright’ to dying from chronic diseases ‘pathology of oppression’, as Otis Brawley, MD stated:

“Black men too often pay the price with their lives in fatal police encounters. But there’s another price: their health, which is eroded by multiple societal factors over their lifespan. In aggregate, Black men have lower average life expectancy and higher rates of chronic conditions like diabetes and kidney disease than white men. There are very few biological differences between people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds. Rather, race operates on a social level, showing up in how Black men are perceived and treated from violent encounters with law enforcement to the slights of colleagues and the paternalism of doctors who second-guess Black patients. Race also operates on a structural level, undergirding centuries of marginalization that leave many Black Americans with less access to healthy food, safe neighborhoods, educational and professional opportunities, and quality health care.”

Black men it is 'clear' if we accept racist oppression, then we should not expect to live long; future longevity will come as a result of 'self-determination', 'self-defense', and 'self-healing'.

The Oxymoron of the Disproportionate COVID-19 Black Deaths and the Need to Smile

 by Kenny Anderson

Black folks, according to recent racial health inequities data analysis of all-cause mortality rates in the U.S. between the years 2016 – 2018 there were 74,402 excess deaths on average among Blacks compared with white people.

Moreover recent data shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an estimated 39% increase in the Black−White life expectancy gap. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a tremendous death toll on us, we’ve been constantly attending funerals as 2-Pac said “death around the corner.”

For Black men this deadly virus pandemic has especially taken a toll on us! While COVID-19 has killed 1 out of every 800 African Americans, a toll that overwhelms the imagination, even more stunning is the deadly efficiency with which it has targeted young Black men.

One study using data through July found that Black people ages 35 to 44 were dying at nine times the rate of white people the same age. In an analysis appearing in ProPublica using the only reliable data at the time accounting for age, race, and gender from Michigan and Georgia, Harvard researcher Tamara Rushovich found that the COVID-19 death disparity was greatest in Black men.

Indeed the COVID-19 pandemic has compounded our cemetery culture ‘death disparities’ caused by white supremacy. Not only are Black folks 'frontlined' more exposed to contracting COVID-19, we are more exposed ‘Living While Black’ consequently more targeted to contract racist police viral murders particularly Black men.

This weekend I was very grateful to see my son visiting for 2 days; he’s a frontline health worker physical therapy doctor doing home visits in California. Yes, these pandemic times requires inspiration, appreciation, and some smiles as 2-Pac remarked again:

“There's gon' be some stuff you gon' see

That's gon' make it hard to smile in the future

But through whatever you see

Through all the rain and the pain

You gotta keep your sense of humor

You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit

Remember that! Mmm, yeah, keep ya head up!”

Black History Month: Never Designed For Black Men To Be Full Men

by KenRay SunYaru 

Prior to European colonial intervention in Africa indigenous African 'rites of passage' process was customary to transform boys into men. Once our African forefathers became economic prisoners of colonialism and forcibly brought to slave plantations in America.

The enslavement process was designed for our forefathers never to be men in the fullest sense, but dependent “child-like” men; permanently under the control of racist, white male supremacy paternalism – the “godfathers.”

In 1712, Willie Lynch, a slave-owner, produced a handbook, “How to Make a Slave,” based on “horse-breaking,” that explained the process used to break the minds, bodies, and spirits of Black people during slavery.

In his handbook Lynch described how to use “fear, distrust, envy,” and extreme brutality to debase our forefathers (the word lynching derived from his name):

“When it comes to breaking the uncivilized nigger, use the same process, but vary the degree and step up the pressure so as to do a complete reversal of the mind. Take the meanest and most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of the remaining male niggers, the female, and the nigger infant, tar and feather him, tie each leg to a different horse faced in opposite directions, set him afire and beat both horses to pull him apart in front of the remaining niggers. The next step is to take a bullwhip and beat both the remaining nigger male to the point of death in front of the female and the infant. Don't kill him. But put the fear of God in him, for he can be useful for future breeding.” 

Lynch’s book was a manual on slave-breaking 'seasoning', a list of instructions to reduce our African forefathers into ‘dehumanized niggers’; As Malcolm X said: “We were chained like animals and then we were reduced to horses, cows, and chickens.” 

Our forefathers were stripped of their African names and clothing. They were denied cultural and spiritual expressions. They were stripped of their manhood; their ability to provide and protect. They could not communicate in their native languages. Lynch understood the importance of language control:

“So you have to be careful in setting up the new language for the slave would soon be in your house, talking to you as 'man to man' and that is death to our economic system. In addition, the definition of words or terms are only a minute part of the process. Values are created and transported by communication through the body of the language. A total society has many interconnected value system. All these values in the society have bridges of language to connect them for orderly working in the society. But for these bridges, these many value systems would sharply clash and cause internal strife or civil war, the degree of the conflict being determined by the magnitude of the issues or relative opposing strength in whatever form. For example, if you put a slave in a hog pen and train him to live there and incorporate in him to value it as a way of life completely, the biggest problem you would have out of him is that he would worry you about provisions to keep the hog pen clean, or partially clean, or he might not worry you at all. On the other hand, if you put this same slave in the same hog pen and make a slip and incorporate something in his language whereby he comes to value a house more than he does his hog pen you got a problem. He will soon be in your house.” 

Indeed, freedom language was outlawed, any enslaved Black men who were caught talking or writing about freedom and equality would be killed. Nat Turner, Denmark Vessey, and Gabriel Prosser were executed for expressing their freedom to rebel. 

Only white men had the right to fully express their manhood. Only white men had the right to be fully sovereign and free. Only white men had the right to defend themselves and their interests by arms.

From slavery until today, Black men’s freedom, both civil and human rights, have been subordinate to the political and economic interests of white men! White men continue to design Black men’s sense of freedom, especially when it comes to negative freedom; as Sanyika Shakur remarked on this social engineering by design: 

”A Black thug, rogue, hoodlum, gangster or criminal is a product of circumstances prevailing in a usually controlled environment.”

Most Black men are forced to live in circumstances of high unemployment and poverty; domestic colonial conditions created by the decisions of white political and economic policy-makers. Most Black men have known nothing but negative freedom: racial oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation. 

Most Black men experience discrimination, deprivation, and frustration daily. This sense of being slighted, denied, and thwarted is misdirected into jealousy petty rivalry, and violence; George Jackson highlighted this self-defeating behavior:

“To the Black male the losses were most tragic of  all. It will do us no good to linger over the fatalities, they’re numberless and beyond our reach. But we who have survived must eventually look at ourselves and wonder why. The competition at the bottom of the social spectrum is for symbols, honors, and objects; Black against itself.”   

Yes, it is critical for most Black men today to question why after 308 years that we are still affected by the Willie Lynch Syndrome (WLS). From my perspective there are 2 reasons: first we are still controlled externally in a neo-slavery fashion by Willie Lynch – the white male power structure; secondly, as Black men, we internally, though unconsciously self-perpetuate it through self-hating, self-limiting, self-containing, and self-destructive behaviors.

Thus the Willie Lynch Syndrome (WLS) based on “fear, distrust, and envy” remains because it is reinforced by exterior and interior forces. Willie Lynch predicted that his slave-making method would last for 300 years. 

As Black men until we become conscious of the Willie Lynch Syndrome (WLS) and break ourselves from the grip of its psychological design we will never become free and self-determining men.

Black History Month Spotlight: Our Community For the Most Part Has Become a ‘Community of Enabling’ Instead of a ‘Community of Accountability’

 by Kenny Anderson

From my perspective over the past 4 decades Black communities and families have increasingly become enabling facilitators of drug addiction that’s had a tremendous financial burden on us; billions of dollars have been lost.

Remember as you read this blog post I am not addressing how white supremacy uses drug warfare against us externally, I’m specifically addressing internally the financial costs of Black addiction.

What is Enabling Drug Addiction?

Enabling generally describes someone whose behavior allows a loved one to continue self-destructive addiction patterns of behavior. Enabling a drug addict goes much deeper than simply providing them with money or a place to stay.

Whenever you behave in a way that delays the moment where the addict is forced to confront the full gravity of the situation and responsibility then you are enabling the addiction! Some of the most common signs of enabling an addict include:

*Providing them with money to support their habit

*Providing them with shelter

*Downplaying the severity of the problem

*Providing emotional support

*Lying on their behalf to shield them from consequences

*Rationalizing their behavior or making excuses for them

*Constant forgiveness

*Not making them accountable

The worst type of enabling is when family members simply do nothing at all. When families pretend not to see such a glaring problem of addiction; they send the signal to the addict that there is nothing wrong with their behavior.

Accountability the Contrast of Enabling

Family accountability is practicing 'tough love' with addicts, putting them out of the home and keeping them out until they can demonstrate consistently being responsible and not detrimental. Self-accountability or personal accountability means that you are responsible for your choices and actions including the consequences.

Self-accountability means that you don’t subscribe to a ‘victim mentality’ don’t view yourself as a ‘victim of circumstances’; you don’t engage in the forever blame-game! In the case of drug addiction you don’t view your addiction as a ‘fatalistic disease’ of constant ‘justified relapses’.

Self-accountability means you don’t accept being an ‘enabling exploiter’, you don’t let others do what you must do for yourself! You commit to daily work ‘self-improvement’ and ‘self-discipline’ to overcome your addiction.

Drug Addiction Costs Big-Time!

Let me say simply from the get-go, addictions are expensive to maintain, and their cost increases the longer a person has them. Addictions never level out, as it becomes harder for a person to reach the same level of satisfaction, they will need to engage in addictive behaviors more and more resulting in higher expenses.

Indeed addictions are cumulative, they will cost more to maintain the longer a person has them. For example, consider smoking. A single pack of cigarettes costs around $6, although it may be more or less expensive in some areas depending on state taxes.

A person with a light nicotine addiction may smoke a pack a week. As their tolerance rises, this may double, and then triple, until they become pack-a-day smokers. At that rate, an addiction that once cost less than $25 a month to maintain can easily become a $180 per month addiction, and it's not uncommon for many chain smokers to go through more than one pack a day.

A pack-a-day smoking habit translates to around $2,160, or about 10% of a person's income at the poverty level. Considering nearly 30% of Black smokers are below the poverty level, this has a huge financial impact on people's lives; alcoholism has a huge negative financial impact too.

Regarding heroin and crack-cocaine addiction it’s way more expensive to maintain than cigarettes and alcohol.

Black Family Financing of Addictions

For the most part addicts are ‘selfish’ manipulators who don’t ‘give a fuck’ about how damaging the financial impact of their addiction is on their families: fuck y’all bills to pay for food, clothing, and shelter; I’m going to steal and pawn y’all shit on a daily so I can get high, plus I’m going to stay in this house I steal from for free! Y’all gone enable me bitch and bet not nobody say something about it!

Black addicts have no regard for others lives, I’ve witnessed enabling grandmothers, mothers, and aunties beg, plead, cry, pray, and constantly give money but it had no effect on reducing Black addicts addiction. In many cases the stressful chaotic behavior of these addicts contributed to the premature deaths of their grandmothers, mothers, and aunties who died as 'enabling martyrs'. These addicts have wreaked havoc on their families contributing to debt, divorces, dysfunctionality, and displacements.

Indeed Black addicts are ‘financial parasites’ on their families due to property theft and replacement. Over 4 decades I’ve seen family members, relatives, friends, and others who were addicts steal everything but the kitchen sinks out of their family’s homes: they stole money, computers, televisions, video games, VCR’s, CD players, stereo equipment, musical instruments, cameras, microwaves, toasters, electric can openers, electric tooth brushes, hair blow dryers, guns, jewelry, shoes, clothes, toys, bikes, furniture, food, etc.

Not only have Black families loss hundreds of millions of dollars due to thieving Black addicts; they’ve loss hundreds of millions of dollars paying for lawyers, bail, and court fees for family addicts who engage in crime. Moreover they’ve paid hundreds of millions of dollars to drug dealers to payoff drug debts. Yes many family houses have been firebombed and many family members have been murdered due to addicts drug debts.

In closing, Black folks how can we ever have internal economic development when foreign merchants extract billions of dollars out of our communities annually coupled with Black addicts causing billions of dollars in family financial hardships every year?

I say to Black communities and families in addressing family members who are addicts, we have to move from being a community of enablers to being a community of accountability.