Excerpt from
RAISING MY V.O.I.C.E.
(Verbalizing Orderly Impressions through Creative Endeavors)
Word Count: 592
FROM BOYS TO MEN: THE FUTURE BLACK MEN OF AMERICA
March 2007
Enriching the Lives of Young Black Boys
When addressing their adult advisors, Mr. usually precedes the adult advisors first name. The boys seem to respect their elders, and value the time that these men spend with them, time that the adult mentors could be using to cultivate better relationships with their wives and children.
Antoine Medley, or simply Mr. Antoine, writes on the FBMA website that the current education gap between young African-American boys and other races is quickly widening; therefore, all of the FBMA programs are geared toward closing this gap. These programs include college tours (done in collaboration with Keith Shannon, an FBMA adult mentor and President & CEO of the nonprofit organization Preparing Americas Tomorrow Today), community activities and mentoring. The group also meets once a week, either on Thursday evenings or Saturday afternoons, to engage in enrichment activities that afford the boys opportunities to fine tune their critical thinking skills.
During one of their most recent Saturday morning enrichment meetings at the Wade Edwards Learning Lab, which is just on the outskirts of downtown Raleigh, the boys talked about the masks that people wear. Many of the boys said they oftentimes have to wear masks just to perform at a high level at their respective schools. Mr. Deron (Medley), FBMAs Co-Director, as well as Mr. Antoines younger brother, comments on the boys regard for their teachers. If you like your teacher, youre going to be one way in that classroom, he says. If you dont like the teacher, youre going to have a mean mind on your face.
DaQuan Render, a high school freshman, says his academic performance is sometimes predicated on how well he likes the teacher. If I like my teacher, I have no problem doing the work, he says. But if I dont like the teacher, youll see that my grades are low in that class. However, this statement is immediately followed by a question from Mr. Antoine, who asks, Whos that hurting?
Its hurting me, I know, DaQuan replies. But Ive just been doing it (this way) for so long that it has become a habit.
Habits can be broken, Mr. Antoine snaps back at him. Mr. Deron nods his head in agreement.
The discussion continues with many of the boys saying they must wear the right kind of clothes and communicate in a way that shows that they are down with being black. But then the question is raised about whether their masks as black Americans are any different than the ones worn by other ethnic groups. White people act a certain way sometimes, Stephen Sullivan, an eighth grade member, contributes. They act proper.
Is that a mask or should we be acting that way anyway? Mr. Antoine asks.
Yeah, Stephen replies. You should act that way, but youre from a different background than they are, so you talk differently than they do.
Mr. Deron proposes that the masks that black Americans wear are dictated by stereotypes. DaQuan builds on this thesis, saying, Black men have had it hard; our ancestors did too. We have to try harder to do simple things that maybe some other ethnic groups have an easier time doing. We have to go the extra mile just to prove were on their level. And I dont think it should be like that. But then people start believing the stereotypes, saying all black guys are bad. It gets frustrating sometimes, that you have to act a certain way around the person just because of what a few of us do.
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Excerpt from
Raising My V.O.I.C.E.
(Verbalizing Orderly Impressions through Creative Endeavors)
From Boys to Men: The Future Black Men of America
2007 Jeffery A. Faulkerson. All rights reserved.
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