Are Black Men Becoming An Endangered Species?

I don't really believe you can use the words, "no offense" without definitely offending someone so I won't offend anyone with that time-honored prequalified cop-out. I will simply say that some deaths are harder to take than others. With so much death and dying in life, we all have to come to terms with it on some level or another. But certain moments and certain people die, and it shocks you to the core.

My friends and family have endured real heartbreak from recent deaths among the category of Americans that could be pushing into the endangered species realm if something doesn't give real soon. I say that somewhat in jest because I don't really believe in an endangered race of humans because the human spirit is naturally imbued with survival level toughness. In other words, all men are made to be as tough as their environment demands, even if they must be melted and tempered like iron to reveal their rigidity.

The famous, 300 years old "Hanging Tree" of Savannah, GA is an
historic landmark from our past. But what memory does it honor?
Isn't this just a different kind of Confederate flag?  

All that being said, I am certain to my core that black men are targeted to a level equal to our immense power. While those words may sound sorrow filled, I am equally certain that we used to be targeted many levels beyond our power to address it. As a matter of physics, a greater opposing force was always needed to thwart the kind of power black men can generate. With the added force of a black woman behind him, black men have survived. One even rose to become president to the chagrin of a lot of people that questioned a black man's ability to do something so immense.

You see, once upon a time ago, it only required probable cause to snuff out the life of a black man, assuming that you consider fear as a probable cause. In essence, nothing has really changed much when it comes to losing our black men. Either we die from the fear of someone else, or we die (literally and figuratively) while running from the power that we possess because making great choices with so much power in our hands can be scary to the point of deadly.

I often say it, but it bears repeating. As a father of 5 daughters (no boys), I am fairly certain that God was giving me the desires of my desperately fearful heart, that couldn't imagine how ugly America would become for my young black son/s while thinking about how tough it had been for me and countless other black men before me.

The damaging impact of the destructive forces against black men can be hard to quantify when reasonable attempts to shine a light on the real face of Alt-Right exceptionalism get criticized as giving the assholes a platform. I disagree with that notion and totally support Megan Kelly's attempt to stick a microphone in the face of the people that made Trump possible, and a mirror to the face of US all.

Name it what you want. Alt-right'ism descends from the same people who killed black men via public display methodology to invoke power through fear. Alt-right'ers are also the descendants of the same people who knew they had to react drastically to squelch the powerful spirit of a black man- a spirit that rarely loses its will and never stops searching for a way. Even our futile attempts to refine and define this mythical concept called Black America feeds into the two separate America's that the Alt-rigt'ers covet so much.

In the first Black Baptist Church in America, you won't easily find their entry points to the Underground Railroad,
because they are built into the balcony stairs. Are the drive and creativity
it takes to be black in America both a curse and a blessing?   

An important and influential plaque that was always displayed
prominently in the home of my youth.

I support Megan Kelly and every real conversation meant to uncover racial hatred, while I moan and mourn for those who foolishly think genocide of Muslims, blacks, Jews or of any idea are even possible. Ideas are like words.  They must die a natural and unforced death if they are to ever die at all.

Evil forces could have already done away with mankind if we weren't so full of ideas for surviving and thriving on a hostile planet. Ideas are the fuel that powers this planet, and as the former president, Barack Obama often said, you have to counter extreme ideas with better ones. And, there is simply no way to change the minds of extremists who subvert black power without first figuring out who they are.

I have an extreme, somewhat ironic idea. Maybe black men are not being killed in massive unexplained numbers, but we are actually being revealed through massive spiritual purifying- somewhat like gold. For, it is from the salt of many tears that the thirst of hope is quenched. With that thought in mind, I encourage my black brethren (and those who love us) to take upon the challenge of our pain with the surety of its purpose. In other words, don't run from the cause of our pain, but instead, let us all run towards it and stomp it out.