The Outlook for African American Males is equally balanced between good and evil

The Outlook for African American Males is equally balanced between good and evil:

You next act will tilt the scale

By: Ethan Brisby

@ethanbrisby

 

Bryan, Texas- “We the jury find the defendant, Not Guilty.” With those words, the George Zimmerman trial ended last Saturday.  The American court system failed to convict a man who in 2012 fatally shot an unarmed 17 year old Trayvon Martin. Soon thereafter, Ben Jealous, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) called for Attorney General, Eric Holder and the United States of America Justice Department to file a civil rights law suit.

Now, today our President, Barack Obama in unprecedented fashion spoke very candid about his experiences as a black man. He put in words the feelings of so many other black men who have been profiled, suffered an injustice, or otherwise belittled due to the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. We are coming up on the 50^th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King professing such a dream of being judged by the content of your character; not to far from the White House Press Room where President Obama spoke today. King’s spirit lives on through those who carry that dream now.

Just like so many other African American males, I too could have been Trayvon Martin. Likewise, I too have experienced both the silent discrimination that comes with being black in America as well as the blatant disrespect brown skin can sometimes bring. Most recently during a failed stint where I moved to Austin, Texas to take advantage of the real estate development boom did this reality stare me in the face.  

I am a small businessman at heart, but on the advice of mentors and family, I dedicated the first half of this year to finding work, in order to stabilize my lifestyle post-graduate school. My resume is filled with accolades, experience, and academic credentials. This point is validated by the more than 15 mid-level interviews I received from real estate firms in Austin, a town that is currently experiencing booming economic growth. I failed at landing a job in real estate development. I was told over and over again, I was a strong candidate, but someone else most likely a white man had beaten me out.

On one occasion I was sitting in the lobby of an investment firm when one of the managers came to the front desk and instructed the office manager to let him know when the four o’clock appointment arrived, because he wanted to sit in on the interview. He looked around the lobby, saw me, and walked back to his office as if there was no way I could have been that four o’clock appointment his team called in to interview. Could the fact that for every interview I sat in front of a group of white men have anything to do with my inability to get hired in an industry dominated by white males?

I say this to illustrate that the old Kanye West was right when he said, “Even if you are in a Benz, you are still a nigger in a coupe.” As a black man, an education may not get you to where you want to be. A foreign car will not deflect the fact that you are of a darker hue. And a job certainly will not secure you. Instead you could find yourself being the first one blamed when things go wrong. A friend of mine was recently laid off due to a “re-organization” of the company. He believes he became the victim of being a threat to the order of that company’s culture having earn his MBA and two promotions within a year.  

During President Obama’s remarks today, he said it is important for us as a nation to “bolster and re-enforce” African American boys. He said we need to “give them {us} a sense that this country cares for, values, and is willing to invest in African American males.” The President went so far as to ask, “How do we go about helping African American males feel they are a full-part of this society and they have a pathway to succeed?”

Many people such as CNN’s Candi Crowley believe this agenda and news cycle will fade into the back burners once the next thing happens. I definitively disagree. I stand to believe there is a movement among African American males and organizations seeking to improve the lives of African American males which was validated today by the President’s remarks.

As a matter of fact, I texted one of my Morehouse brothers that, “This is real. This is happening on our watch.” He is currently working to address the issue of mass incarceration among black males. This a point social activist, Van Jones highlighted in an interview he gave after the President spoke today.

“If you look at the statistics, there is something wrong with our criminal justice system. According to data, black and white young people use drugs at the same rate, yet black are incarcerated at 10 times the rate,” Jones stated.

All Chaplains of the Greater Good have a role to play in this, and we each should adopt an issue of most concern and organize around it in our community. This is history in the making, a new era in the ever evolving desire for universal freedom among black males. My personal platform is one that speaks to what I have coined, “Economic Efficiency.”

Economic Efficiency is a simple concept which means that each month an individual, a family, or a small business is generating the income necessary for a 10% surplus after paying all expenses. For example, if a man earns $1,000 per month, after he has taken care of all his lifestyle needs (expenses), he should have $100 remaining. This is Economic Efficiency. Having grown up and lived all my life in poverty I believe poverty is the most damning pathology to African American males in a society ran by the mighty dollar, dollar bill.

Economic Efficiency is made of three prongs: educational attainment, small business management, and real estate investing. These are the issues that are of most importance to my team. So then, we have formed networks all over the Southeastern United States that will achieve measurable objectives while ushering in a new paradigm of thinking about black males in America.  

We are in a season of action. Make your move.