Black Males, Pastor’s….and Why Brother’s Don’t Like Church!

Why don’t brother’s go to church? This is something I always meditate about within myself and here are some of my reflections:

Black men go through life as probably the most saddened and disappointed group of men on the face of the planet. They are disappointed because as a group they grow up without a father in the house on a level that is totally disproportionate to the rest of society, leaving them with no pattern to model after in the pursuit of manhood. In addition to that they are more likely to grow up in poverty that is abject in its nature, more likely to attend poor neighborhood public school’s and are more likely to be targeted by the police in an abstract and at times deceitful war on drugs.

The war on drugs is deceitful in the sense that black males use and sell drugs at the same rate as white and hispanic males, but are many more times likely than either group to see jail time. Once in jail they are labeled as felons with little to no right’s when they go back  into mainstream society. They cannot vote, cannot live in public housing, cannot apply for a number of jobs and in many instances cannot get public assistance. The only recourse these men have (at least in their mind) is a life of crime. The prison population has swelled as a result to 2.3 million people (the largest in the world), with well over 40% of that population being black (and many more under correctional control). This is primarily due to this so-called war on drugs, which started as an initiative by President Richard Nixon, then acted on in a legislative sense by President Ronald Reagan and finally executed in policy by President Bill Clinton. So we see a new type of  ”Jim Crow” developing since the Civil Right’s movement, with the center of its philosophy the disenfranchisement and destruction of the black male.

From a historical point of view, once integration (perhaps the error of the Civil Right’s Movement) took place, gone were black businesses, black school’s, black lawyers, doctor’s, dentists, teacher’s, etc., as well as the concept of the professional black male role model for the community. Black selfless Civil Right’s leader’s such as Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were murdered. As a result angry militant, and youthfully inexperienced black men formed gangs to retaliate against mainstream society with its norms. This helped in creating the perfect atmosphere for the government to deposit guns and drugs (i.e. crack) in the community. Add a feigned war on drugs, hip hop culture’s glorification of street life and voila…a disenfranchised group of angry and uneducated men that society has turned it’s back on.

At one time the church was a place for leadership and direction for the community, but as soon as church and for that matter black public intellectualism became  lucrative ventures (i.e. the prosperity gospel movement with its honorariums for speaking engagements), it became very hard to differentiate the hustler’s of the street’s from the hustler’s behind the pulpit. Black leadership from the church and public intellectual sphere have basically abandoned the community for money (in the name of helping the community) leaving black men cynical and distrusting of church, education and so-called community leaders. Hustler’s specialize in being able to see another hustler from miles away.  As fashionable as many preacher’s think they are, at the end of the day they come off as pulpit pimps, drawing the ire of black men. Sister’s it doesn’t help when, in the name of religious conversion, you try to convince your men of the genuineness of these charlatans.

Black men want truth, they want to belong to something they can believe in, something they can call family (which is why they are more apt to join gangs, secret societies, Islam & five percenters). They are tired of wandering in the state of disenfranchisement. It’s time for the church to become real and relevant and meet brother’s where they are. It’s time for pastor’s to live up to the calling and selflessly help carry these brother’s to meet their destiny. I want to be the type of pastor to start the trend and save these brother’s and convince them that this Jesus thing is real and not a hustle. Who’s with me?