(ThyBlackMan.com) African American men have great untapped potential, given by God our creator. There is a gold mine of gifts, genius, talents, abilities and resources among black men. These resources have gone untapped for two reasons:
- External forces such as racism, discrimination, poor role models or no role models including the absence of fathers, lack of opportunity and poverty.
- Internal forces such as a spirit of inferiority lack of self-discipline, lack of preparation etc.
External barriers to success are very real, both historically and currently. In many cases, the external forces helped create the internal struggle.
While acknowledging the external barriers, this column will attempt to identify and deal with some of these internal barriers from a practical and spiritual perspective.
My thesis is that as African American men:
- Face up to their struggles, weaknesses and failures
- Weep, cry out and repent of their sins before God,
- Identify, confront and overcome these internal barriers to our success
- Are healed from past hurts and release our anger
- Become accountable to God and to others:
We will:
- Be transformed from victim to victor- reaching our potential in Jesus Christ,
- The result will be an explosive, positive impact in the earth.
This column will attempt to identify some of our internal barriers to success. I believe that as African American men are honest with God and others about our internal frailties, sins and struggles, we will stop making excuses for our personal struggles. Instead, we will be able to say to each other as Shecaniah said to Ezra,
“Rise up, this matter is in your hands, we will support you so take courage and do it. (Ezra 10:4, KJV)
“Why target African American Men? After all, African American men are subject to the same joys, triumphs defeats and victories of any other group of men. We weep, laugh and struggle just like everyone else, right? While that’s true, I believe that because we are African American men, our victories are sweeter and our struggles are deeper.
Because of the unique experience of being an African American male in this country, we face unique social circumstances, which create unique inner struggles.
This column is being written because these inner struggles need to be addressed separately from the struggles of other men in the larger society.
Acknowledgment of Those Who Have Excelled:
This column may come across as negative because it is dealing with the struggles of African American men. Let me stop and say unequivocally that there are many shining examples of African American men who have excelled and achieved against all odds.
In these columns, we will look at examples of black men who have walked out of the dungeon of failure and gotten onto the road to success. We will also challenge successful black men to face up to internal struggles, which keep them from higher realms of success and achievement. Finally, we will encourage them to reach out and help their brothers who struggle. It could be as Mordecai told Esther. “who knoweth whether thou are come to the kingdom for such a time as this. (Esther 4: 14 – KJV). If God has allowed us to get to the “big house” Lord knows it’s not to indulge it on ourselves, but to encourage our brothers to come on up too.
There are many books written by authorities and experts in the fields of Sociology, Education, Psychology and Religion about the failures of black men. While we will touch on findings from these fields, this column is primarily a compilation of lessons learned while living, not just observations made while researching.
A tool is anything used to get a job done The Black Man’s Toolkit contends that we will reach success only as we use the tools or principles that God has given us tools to cut, hammer, saw and claw our way out of our dungeons of failure. In order to use the tools of success, we will have to adopt a different way of thinking and a different way of acting. As the people of Israel told Ezra:
“Rise up, this matter is in your hands, we will support you, so take courage and do it.” ( Ezra 10:4.)
Staff Writer; Rev. Fred M. Williams
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