The Village Report with W. Eric Croomes

A Special W. Eric Croomes Commentary

     Several years ago noted NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley made headlines when he insisted he was not and neither should he be considered a role model for black youth. This despite the fact that millions of youth virtually worshipped at his very feet, indeed his very shot.  Barkley’s words unleashed a torrent of criticism but were indirectly followed by others of the black elite who echoed his opinion. But consider the following:

So who exactly is responsible?

     The rapper may rap that he or she’s just rapping reality; the politician will likely say it’s a result of the policies of the party in power; the preacher may likely tell you it’s because we aren’t praying enough.  And the school teacher may proclaim ‘I’m just working with what comes to my classroom!’ The problem is no one, at least not enough, is willing to say ‘I am responsible!’

     It’s easy to point our collective fingers at the one source we’d love to blame: parents.  But in doing so we miss the point of how the black family has been so ravaged by the American experience as to produce the sad and sullen reality of 70% of our households being headed by single women.

     We also miss a much greater point: if it is true that, as Iyanla Van Zandt points out, parents are the trees and our children the fruit, and I totally agree with her, then does it not make sense that our youth are merely mimicking what they see and hear?  And isn’t it fair to suggest that that mimicking is extended to the entertainment industrial-complex and that violence and misogyny are part of parcel of said complex? 

     We’ve got to stop deluding ourselves into believing that culture does not play an integral part in the dissolution of values in our community and begin holding rappers, entertainers, athletes and the like just as responsible as we hold parents!

     I am not so naïve as to think that parents, or guardians or whoever is raising our young does not in some way find themselves blameless for the mess that we are in. I’m only suggesting that blaming parents or guardians may be, in some misguided way, our own pathetic attempt to escape culpability. 

     So who is responsible?  You are responsible. I am responsible. This madness is happening on our watch! No, it didn’t begin with us and it will not likely end with us.  But something’s got to be done by us! If it’s mentoring, we’ve got to do it. If it’s running for public office to effect political change, we must consider it. If it’s demanding a better product of the entertainment industry, we’ve got to demand it!  We are no long facing a crisis – we are in a crisis!

     Once upon a time when we colored, all of us were responsible. If lil Johnny or lil Susie was acting up, we knew what to do. Try approaching one of those young dudes in the mall with his pants sagging or one of those young girls showing their underwear.  Chances are you wouldn’t even have to take it up with the parents or guardians; it would be handled right there! There was a time when that wasn’t so; there was a time when those immortal words of our ancestors meant something: I am because we are, we are because I am.