You’re Too Good For Jail!

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(ThyBlackMan.com) You’re too good to go to jail! This is my latest message to the Hood. It accompanies the community conclusion that the correctional system is ” the White man’s jail. ”

Community policing done my way focuses on culture change within individuals and sub-groups ( families; friendships; neighborhoods, etc. ). A thousand police officers in the Hood means nothing compared to the presence of more self-love in the Hood. Self-love is community policing in its highest form. Self-loving communities don’t need the National Guard marching in. But until Black men become more self-loving, government will increasely send heavily armed officers and even troops to stop this destructive behavior from spreading.

When talking to brothers enslaved by convict consciousness I remind them their actions often deliver them to the same ” White man’s jail ” they dislike so much. I take liberty very seriously. Consequently, doing things which deprive me of liberty aren’t high on my To-Do list. The ” crime ” often examined in my Crime Isn’t a Civil Right presentation is lack of self-love in all its forms.

A Black president and US Attorney General don’t trump always engaging in criminal activity. Plunging yourself deeper into the self-destructive cycle of incarceration; parole and probation is not their responsibility. Campaign slogans don’t equal get-out-of-jail free cards, no matter who won the election. At least not for men in our zip codes. That’s why personal responsibility is a life raft we dare not inflate. Every arrest on your record is another excuse to be treated like a 21st century slave.

Self-loving Black men wouldn’t act this way. I know crime is morally wrong, therefore I don’t do it. It would destroy me spiritually but that’s not the only reason.

I feel I’m too good for jail. I’m too good for ” the White mans jail. ” If we lived in a parallel universe where America was founded by Africans, my mantra would be, ” I’m too good for the Black mans jail ! ” I’m too good for jail-period! Self-love isn’t just having inflated self esteem. It’s values and behaviors consistently leading you away from outcomes that are beneath you. Jail is beneath what a self-loving person should experience.

Obama can’t make more Black men self-loving. Neither can Michael Steele. individual brothers have to decide worshiping jail over liberty is a personal problem. Since it’s a personal problem only the man or boy involved can pull the mental plug on it. In a marketplace of background checks and drug tests constant criminal record inflation and substance abuse is simply self-loathing.

You are giving people excuses not to hire you or contract your services. Metaphysically this means signing a daily contract with God agreeing to exclude yourself from consideration anywhere criminal records deny access.

I tell brothers they’re too good for jail and will continue to do so. In the final analysis it ultimately doesn’t matter what I tell them. Obama can say it from the Oval Office. Michael Steele can say it from Republican National Committee headquarters. Minister Farrakhan can say it from the latest Nation of Islam event.

The same with TD Jakes and every other Black Male Face In A High Place we can name.

The day more Black men individually decide they’re too good for jail is when all our conversations finally bear fruit. Speaking for myself I KNOW I’m too good for jail and consider recidivism equivalent to being a volunteer slave.

Continuously throwing myself into handcuffs, chains and cages; Repeatedly having officers treat me like a corralled animal- I’m too good for that! How can we adequately address racial profiling when so many profile themselves into custody???

One last time, I’m too good for jail! I hope and pray you feel you are too!