Issues Facing Black Boys

[Kim Crouch]

What do you think as a mother will be the single biggest issue you will face raising a black boy?

[Look For Me!]

I THINK MY ISSUE WILL BE MAKING SURE HE HAS STRONG POSITIVE MALE ROLE MODELS IN HIS LIFE. THERE WILL BE TIMES MY SON WON'T WANT TO LISTEN TO ME SIMPLY BECAUSE I AM A WOMAN. I NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT HE CAN GO TO MEN THAT WILL GIVE HIM THE CORRECT GUIDANCE INSTEAD OF TEACHING HIM TO BE A WOMENIZER, DEAD BEAT, OR CRIMINAL. I WANT TO HAND PICK THE VILLAGE THAT RAISES MY CHILD.

[kim]

wow ....there are so many things. But what comes to my mind first is BLACK ON BLACK CRIME. Second ensuring that my sons are deeply imbeded with a strong foundation that will be able to carry them through possible attacks on their lives.

[ShiningStar]

I agree with Look For Me! Providing my sons with POSITIVE role models. I got out of my marriage because it was unhealthy for myself as well as my children. I thought (and I really know now) that moving to a new place and showing my children that no matter the situation you can overcome it. Along with my new environment are new faces. You can't trust any and everyone around your children. I have been on the waiting list for well over a year for Big Brothers and Big Sisters. I instill plenty of values into my children but at the end of the day I'm a woman and no matter how strong I am I can not properly teach a boy to become a man.

[bygINCpesents]

waiting list for big brothers? that's shame. you got a question about your black son, email me. what are my credentials? come by my page, take a look at the videos i've made about my life. that's my vice and my story you will hear, the life i've led and the insight gained on the road from black boy to black man in america. come by when you have time. know that i've lived thru most issues you will worry about. i've seen and been thru what your boy will never tell you... heck, he may not even tell himself, it's that deep. but i've been there and i can offer advice.

[Cheryl]

I think the biggest issue that I will face and currently facing is trying to get our son to understand, life is not fair and because you are a Black male that the same rules don't apply to you. Therefore, don't make choices that will put yourself in harms way.

[bygINCpesents]

thank God this topic is here. this is why i wanted to be on this site.... the biggest issues i faced as a young boy becoming a black man in america was to understand, accept and live through my intelligence. my family taught me right from wrong. you moms ain't steering your boys down the road to jail and the street corner. i have to assume that some responsibility has to start with them recognizing and living the power within themselves. they must be versed in their history as men in america, must read other black boy stories, must know they are part of a legacy of struggle, survival, overcoming and... and, TRIUMPH! we triumph over race, discrimination, hatred, death. we always have... they must so that we always will.

i lived through the dregs, the despair, the hurt, the hate, the destruction, the anger. all that lay latent in me and was manifest onto the world. i had one thing: control. i needed control. many don't have that power and never will.

please click onto my page. i'm telling my story, showing my journey from black boy to black man. nobody did that for me when i was your son's age... I MUST DO IT FOR THEM... and for you to understand and talk to them.

come by and watch the videos with your boys. please. feedback will be appreciated.

[Nailah]

Thank you for sharing....much appreciated info!

[GWENDOLYN]

im worried about the gangs, and the whole fitting into the thug scene, so do not want that for my children, im also worried about them thinking that to go to college i need to be in sports, i also dont want my childrent to become fathers while they are still children.

[bygINCpesents]

provide and promote an alternative. the thug scene was all around me growing up but i had an alternative. i believed in the power of education 'cause that was stressed at home and i was an athletic child. i was gonna go to college no matter what. knew that from the minute i got to this country. knew college as the only path... and if athletics pays for your boy's college education, what's the problem? as long as they get their degree and get prepared for life. as long as YOU stay in their ear from... from NOW about what college is REALLY for, you wont have big issues. my full scholarship was $90,000 my parents would never have and 90K i will never have to worry about. i have a degree and much more... alternatives. they're everywhere. find them... blessings.

[Nailah]

I'm not sure but I won't tackle it all on my own, whatever it is, I will always find a team of supporters & positive role models to help guide him. Starting with God!

[Nappykat]

Countering the innate feeling that he (or any black person) is generally not as valued as white people in this society, and that his life is not as valuable as anyone that is black. Even black people don't value the lives of other black people - that why there is so much black-on-crime.

Black men (people) are revered and feared but not much loved and understood.

So far I think I'm doing okay on that, but I know he can see and feel what I see and feel when it comes to blacks in this society.

[Georgetta Rena Scott]

I am now raising my son after he has lived with his father since he was 2 and now he is 18 and only has a 8 th grade education and has no self worth and looks like he is not trying to get it. I am wondering if he is gay because he has no problem with wearing girl clothes. I am trying to do my best but I also have twin boys and I do not want them to pick up the bad habits he has I want to put him out but my heart will not let him but I am sick of his bum ass ways I set him up with like 6 jobs and he manages to mess them up. I do not know what to do