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.

Black Folks: I Know We Can’t be Shocked at Current Black-on-Black Male Violence and Homicides When it's Been Going on For Decades!

by Kenny Anderson

This Blog post addresses the current ‘recent’ rash of Black violence primarily Black-on-Black male homicides across this country. Let me start off by saying Black-on-Black male homicides is nothing new in most of my lifetime. For me coming of age in the 1970’s until now a period of 6 decades Black-on-Black male homicides have consistently been very high!

As a retired social worker (32 plus years) the overwhelming majority of my work was providing in-school behavioral prevention services to at-risk Black boys (K-12) and pre-release prison re-entry supportive education to adult Black males. I was one of the original Black male social workers providing fatherhood and male responsibility services in the late 1980's and early 1990's in Detroit.

I’ve examined and addressed Black-on-Black male violence and homicides with Black males ages 5 to 95. My father still living at 99 years of age told me that when he was growing-up in rural Mississippi Black men stabbed each other to death every weekend in “Juke Joints”.

Through my extensive engagement with Black males, the feedback from them, and my experience, observation, and thinking as a Black man I’ve identified from my perspective 2 major factors ‘forces’ driving Black-on-Black male violence and homicides.

First driving factor is ‘verbal induced psychic-devaluation’, as soon as Black boys leave the womb to the tomb they are saturated verbally hearing the words ‘a Nigga Aint Shit’!!! This means as a Black male you’re worthless; nobody cares if you live or die, you’re better off dead than alive so die Nigga die whether by suicide or homicide.

I’ve heard countless times Black grandmothers, mothers, aunties, female friends, and Black women in general constantly echo around little Black boys that Niggas Aint Shit not realizing the extreme verbal-psycho damage being done! Along with most rap music a Nigga Aint Shit is a 24/7 verbal assault theme and hook.

This daily verbal assault of a Nigga Aint Shit floods the brains of Black boys and young adult Black males with negative thinking of worthlessness ‘cognitive toxicity’ cascade that’s overwhelming which becomes too often a self-fulfilling prophecy of Black-on-Black male violence and homicides.

Indeed negative verbal-cognitive programming, socioeconomic deprivation, and chronic stress has a compounded ‘synergistic’ affect that drives Black-on-Black male violence and homicides that’s become normalcy in our communities desensitizing too many Black males.

Regarding negative verbal-cognitive self-worthlessness programming Stanley 'Tookie' Williams Crip gang co-founder referred to it as ‘dyseducation’ (disease education) a term he coined describing the abnormal, impaired, and diseased knowledge he received from life and from the public school system growing up in LA; Tookie stated:

“The more I was indoctrinated by lies about my Blackness, the more I grew to detest myself.” Tookie also reflected: “Throughout most of my life, I was psychologically scarred; I carried and inner loathing of self and my own culture. Since I wasn’t psychotic – Bobby Wright’s book “Psychopathic Racial Personality” confirms my analysis, self-hatred motivated me to seek a kind of accomplishment by hurting other Blacks.”

Second, there is the driving factor of socioeconomic deprivation chronic stress that causes high levels of Black male frustration and anger ‘misplaced, misdirected’. When Black male frustration anger caused by racist institutional neglect is directed toward the wrong person or source ‘other Black men; this misdirected anger - the actual cause goes unaddressed which causes anger to fester and explode violently every day.

What’s a trip, is, in a sick perverted way many violent eruptions by Black males allows them to ‘release’ pent up frustration and anger – provides them with ‘relief’ (catharsis). Yes, misdirected Black male anger will never solve the problem of racist institutional neglect, it’ll constantly keep things deadly worse’.

Until the Black community seriously with sincerity intervenes consistently making Black-on-Black male violence and homicides one of our own #1 public heath priorities ‘which we’ve never done’ that addresses verbal-cognitive self-worthlessness programming, racist socioeconomic deprivation, chronic stress, and misdirected anger the cycle of Black-on-Black male violence and homicides will continue ‘tick-tock and it won’t stop’!

Father's Day: One Black Man's Perspective

 by KenRay SunYaru

This blog article is dedicated to all those Black fathers who died unappreciated. My Father’s responsibilities toward his family, like many Black fathers, was minimally acknowledged; often never getting the recognition they deserve; as Baba Koleoso Karade stated:

“We talk, all the time, about the fathers who left, the men who would not assume their responsibility; but nothing is said of the fathers who stayed. Nothing is said of the father who worked, two or three jobs, to make ends meet so his family could survive. Nothing is said of the father who gets up each morning and goes to a job on which he is still reduced to a ‘boy’, yet, he does it in silence and dignity because he accepted his responsibility of FATHERHOOD.”

When I was a young man growing up in the 1960's and 1970's, I was aware of Father's Day, but it was not significant like Mother's Day. My Mother always got cards and gifts, she was recognized and honored, a showing of love she earnestly deserved. 

Reflecting back, most of the time my father did not receive cards, or gifts. Often times he was probably not even told ‘Happy Father's Day.’ If it was mentioned, it was said quickly, in the sense of “oh by the way, Happy Father's Day.”

Like many Black fathers, he was overshadowed by mama. Though he was overlooked, he was necessary for family survival; to pay for food, clothing, transportation, health care, and shelter. His primary family function was going to work; he was just a provider, not a full and wonderful person like mama.

His identity was reduced to a job 'meal-ticket', his overall Black manhood was not important; his deep thoughts and feelings were not important, but his paycheck was very important! So many Black fathers were reduced one dimensionally to a ‘dollar’ (money) and a ‘dick’ (sex).

Today, with women having their own money and sex toys, who needs Black daddies after they make babies; he's expendable and useless resulting in the fact that only 30% of Black children have fathers in the home.

From my perspective most of the alcoholism, substance abuse, and domestic violence Black fathers engage in can be attributed not only to racial oppression, but also to a sense of being unappreciated; the rage of feeling invisible and impotent (powerless, useless).

Most of the time when Black fathers abandon their families Black women want to assume they left for another woman; in many instances Black fathers leave because they feel devalued. Maturing over the years and becoming conscious -knowing our history - I understood that Black men’s internal worth and feelings were not appreciated, valued. As Black psychologist Naim Akbar stated:

"The Black man was evaluated by his ability to endure strenuous work and to produce children. He was viewed by the slave master as a stud and a work horse."

When I was growing up, my father like many working class Black fathers worked afternoon in the auto plant; he was not home during prime time; he was not home during after school hours to assist me with my homework. He was not home to participate in after school activities; he was not home to attend graduation ceremonies and school sporting events. Work took my father away from me during the prime time of my life and his.

Being young and unconscious, I translated my father's forced absence due to work to mean he didn't care about me; I didn't realize his own frustration and pain from the stress of racism and work; as Comrade George Jackson stated:

"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 men.”

Reflecting back objectively 'maturely' without animosity and resentment (child within issues), I understand my father’s non-involvement with me as a child was not only due to his working, it also was due to his Southern 'detached' sense of fathering and symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from Mississippi violence and World War II multiple battlefield bullet wounds. 

My father’s concept of parenting did not entail father/son bonding. His relationship with me was not based on love and involvement, but forced obligation to provide; not love, but often times resentment; the financial pressure on him of viewing me as just ‘another mouth to feed.’

His attitude was that I should be grateful he was in the house because he provided food, clothing, shelter, and transportation. This attitude was similar to the slave master on the plantation that the slave should be grateful because the master provided for them.

Most Black fathers of my father’s generation from the South had this neo-slave mentality. They lacked courage to challenge white male supremacy on any level that slighted and denied them; they took their frustrations and anger out at times beating their wives, but also by beating their sons with electrical extension chords.

Often times the sons were beaten much worse because fathers felt that their sons were little men who could handle more physical pain! Many Black fathers growing up in the South were beaten by bullwhips by their fathers. This whipping practice was a transmission from slavery, a reincarnation of the master beating our enslaved forefathers.

So many Black fathers live their lives out in transference abuse - misplaced aggression; female caretakers also physically and sexually abuse Black boys; This physical abuse of Black boys and its psychological impact was graphically exposed in the movie ‘Antoine Fisher.’ Often times when abused Black boys grow up, they continue this cycle of misplaced aggression: Black-on-Black male violence and domestic violence. 

Being a father now I can relate to Black fathers’ anger towards the home front. Growing up I saw why they were angry, I saw many Black fathers work 2 full-time jobs or a full-time job and a part-time job. Working so much they neglected their mental and physical health.

They purchased nice homes, furniture, cars, diamonds, and furs. I witnessed my father, uncles, male relatives, and other Black fathers literally work themselves into sickness and death; martyrs for their families attempting to purchase the elusive ‘American Dream’.

Yet many of their wives were still unhappy because of unrealistic expectations; expecting their Black husbands to provide for them on the same level that power possessing and privileged white males provide for their wives and families.

The lesson I learned from these Black fathers is that you cannot make a wife, woman happy; happiness is not in external things; it is an internal decision; a woman must choose to be happy, or unhappy. So many Black fathers died not understanding that happiness is a woman's choice; too many Black fathers died being unhappy trying to please their wives’ unhappiness.

So many Black fathers have died from strokes and heart attacks trying to live up to their wives’ unrealistic expectations. Many Black fathers drank themselves to death; died from cirrhosis of the liver.

Indeed, many Black fathers were functional alcoholics; they drank alcohol every day and went to work daily. Working every day, they were in denial about their alcoholism. These fathers’ drinking would be influential on their sons who became substance abusers.

These Black fathers like too many Black fathers today didn't realize fatherhood is just one aspect of manhood. Many Black fathers died not developing their own potentials and manhood. Living under white male supremacy in America and often times in a family atmospheres of unappreciation too many Black fathers have died dejected, disillusioned, and depressed.

Yes, it is manhood that determines the quality of fatherhood; a Black man has to adequately love himself before he can properly love a Black woman and his children. One has to develop a strong character to become a strong Black father, as Professor Cornell West states:

“To be a strong Black father, first you have to negotiate all of the absurd attacks and assaults on your humanity, and on your capacity and status as a human being."

West continues:

"By being strong, I mean maturity; a solid understanding of who one is as a person; and a sense of courage."

For me Father's Day is every day, always mindful and appreciative of the best in Black fatherhood. I don't need cards and gifts. My manhood is my card and my gift to myself is being strong and loving!

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'.