Trayvon

I hate crime and courtroom media. I know a lot of folks love to judge the cases themselves and love to listen. But how could one accurately judge without knowing all the facts, like a jury that sits through hours of testimony? And so I have been trapped by Trayvon this week. That’s all you can listen to on talk radio or TV. Since everyone seems to think they know what happened, I will add my two cents—or if you are in Canada, that rounds down to nothing, zip, nada, free.

If a boy has no father or has no relationship with his father, he is 400 times as likely
to engage in juvenile delinquency and 25 times as likely to join a gang. With 70% of births among Afro-descendant Americans being out of wedlock, this is why they have such a high rate of
delinquency and crime as young men. (49% of incarcerated males are Afro and almost ¾ of reported violent crimes are committed by Afros.) The reason for this is that a
young guy yearns to make his mark, be accepted among other males as having measured
up. When a kid has a father or close father image, he will argue and fight, crab, bitch and bellyache at the old man but nothing makes him happier than when dad tells him in some way that he has measured up. Alternatively a young warrior can get this affirmation from a group of men who have already measured up, like the military or some competitive group. Women cannot give this kind ofaffirmation. Only other guys.

But when there is no father, no army, no coach, the gang of peers becomes the
substitute. Yet the gang members are all members who have not made their own mark either. There is wild, erratic behavior trying to impress the peers—who have only a foggy idea about what they should be impressed over. Gangs lead to violence, sexual exploitation, race-baiting and substance abuse. This kind of thing gives only contempt to a real man, but insecure gang members think it is somehow cool. And the problem in Afro culture is that although you might have had a good father, there are all those other misfit gangsta guys. Thus the great men of fame, like Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas talk about grandparents and mentors who were such strong influences that they were in some sense insulated from the fray.

For thousands of years, fathers have taught sons the skills of professions, the
philosophy of a knight, the ways of a warrior. Once a young man realizes he measures up and is now a warrior, the world begins to look different. He is quietly confident of his abilities, but golly, the world is a really big place. It would be nice to have a partner, a mate, a
companion who is really close. Thus, unless a young guy measures up and finds his place, he won’t be ready to seek out a true love. Gangstas don’t love. They are too insecure. They try to act tough to cover their insecurity, the kind of bravado that would make a Trayvon turn and try to beat up some old guy who was trying to watch what he was doing. The true warrior would have strode on by, confident and happy that somebody was watching and concerned. For he is at the top of his game, a young lion headed for the title of Lion King.

And without being able to love, gangstas leave behind fatherless children, thus perpetuating the problem.

If the leaders were truly a warriors, lovers, and Lion Kings, they would be angry with the gangs, not trying to insinuate racism into the game. The Lion King would be calling for investigative justice, not ‘blood in the streets and mobs if we don’t get our way.’ The Lion King would aim squarely at the problem of absentee dads.