Dear friends,
I think it's sad for anyone to base his or her decisions about his or her career on how much money s/he will make. This type of value judgment shows a shallow way of looking at life, to me.
It is no different than a businessperson who is more concerned with making profits than creating customers. In both cases, the dominating factor in decision-making is greed for such people. Greed is always shortsighted, from the cheating spouse to the BP oil spill.
Moreover, while it is important for both young males and females to have male role models, female role models play no less an essential part in how young people relate to others and themselves, male or female.
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus
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Showing posts with label Mentoring Youth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mentoring Youth. Show all posts
Sunday, April 27, 2014
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Girls and Young Womem Need Mentoring too
Dear friends,
We constantly hear talk about both African American boys and young men needing mentors. In fact, there have been various degrees of attempts to bring grown men, especially African American ones, into contact with Our male youth.
Yet African American girls, as well as young women, need mentoring too. After all, there are far more females than males, of every ethnic and cultural group, who are interested in contributing to their communities, Our society, and the world. Unfortunately, too often, beginning at an early age, instead of developing a "sense of self", these same young women just mentioned are deliberately distracted by the exploitative and oppressive notion of Male Supremacy/sexism that their real purpose in life should be to get married and start a family.
To be sure, only females can bear children. And the experience of building a family and raising your children to adulthood can be rewarding beyond words. However, although you would never be able to tell by the way that most American families are structured, your children are not your property; rather, they are your legacy. Therefore, with the intention of raising your children, from the very outset, in a way that allows them to become their own parents one day, also makes it possible for the elder parent(s) to continue a meaningful life outside of raising children, so that s/he/they can continue to constantly try to become fully human, by physically, intellectually, and spiritually engaging with his and/or her inner powers, until death. This will also make the aforementioned elder parents the most valuable resource for their adult children, whenever the latter need advice.
But then, of course, within the context of mentoring there is the ever present problem of female self-hatred, the other half of Male Supremacy. That is, just as "racial" self-hatred is the other half of White Supremacy/racism all females are constantly made to internalize their oppression by way of the schools, churches, and mainstream media, to name a few.
What is worse, is the unfortunate reality that this affects the way that older women interact with their younger counterparts, especially with professional women whether in academia or the private sector. On a side note, it also points to how paradoxical Male Supremacy can be, since it rewards psychotics like Bradley Manning and his ilk who claim to be "a woman living inside of a man's body", when none of these very sick, sexist men have even the slightest notion of what it is like to be a little girl who grows up to be a woman in this Male Supremacist world.
In any case, let's now imagine that the same young women and girls mentioned earlier had been mentored by both older women and men for years, not just in their private lives, but in their academic and work lives as well. Additionally, what if the mentors themselves were people who have a genuine interest in seeing all children grow up to be independent but cooperative, thinking yet imaginative, competent, and caring adults?
Do you think that the females of any particular community who have had years of being mentored, and not simply by one individual but many people, would then not only mentor their younger sisters and brothers, but as well teach their charges how to prepare to replace them, while planning for the future for those who have yet to come?
In building genuine communities, as opposed to simply creating more consumers for "the market", at least to me, it is essential that we begin to embrace value judgments that will allow all of Our youth to be able to set goals for the future and for the future of Our communities. One love!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
We constantly hear talk about both African American boys and young men needing mentors. In fact, there have been various degrees of attempts to bring grown men, especially African American ones, into contact with Our male youth.
Yet African American girls, as well as young women, need mentoring too. After all, there are far more females than males, of every ethnic and cultural group, who are interested in contributing to their communities, Our society, and the world. Unfortunately, too often, beginning at an early age, instead of developing a "sense of self", these same young women just mentioned are deliberately distracted by the exploitative and oppressive notion of Male Supremacy/sexism that their real purpose in life should be to get married and start a family.
To be sure, only females can bear children. And the experience of building a family and raising your children to adulthood can be rewarding beyond words. However, although you would never be able to tell by the way that most American families are structured, your children are not your property; rather, they are your legacy. Therefore, with the intention of raising your children, from the very outset, in a way that allows them to become their own parents one day, also makes it possible for the elder parent(s) to continue a meaningful life outside of raising children, so that s/he/they can continue to constantly try to become fully human, by physically, intellectually, and spiritually engaging with his and/or her inner powers, until death. This will also make the aforementioned elder parents the most valuable resource for their adult children, whenever the latter need advice.
But then, of course, within the context of mentoring there is the ever present problem of female self-hatred, the other half of Male Supremacy. That is, just as "racial" self-hatred is the other half of White Supremacy/racism all females are constantly made to internalize their oppression by way of the schools, churches, and mainstream media, to name a few.
What is worse, is the unfortunate reality that this affects the way that older women interact with their younger counterparts, especially with professional women whether in academia or the private sector. On a side note, it also points to how paradoxical Male Supremacy can be, since it rewards psychotics like Bradley Manning and his ilk who claim to be "a woman living inside of a man's body", when none of these very sick, sexist men have even the slightest notion of what it is like to be a little girl who grows up to be a woman in this Male Supremacist world.
In any case, let's now imagine that the same young women and girls mentioned earlier had been mentored by both older women and men for years, not just in their private lives, but in their academic and work lives as well. Additionally, what if the mentors themselves were people who have a genuine interest in seeing all children grow up to be independent but cooperative, thinking yet imaginative, competent, and caring adults?
Do you think that the females of any particular community who have had years of being mentored, and not simply by one individual but many people, would then not only mentor their younger sisters and brothers, but as well teach their charges how to prepare to replace them, while planning for the future for those who have yet to come?
In building genuine communities, as opposed to simply creating more consumers for "the market", at least to me, it is essential that we begin to embrace value judgments that will allow all of Our youth to be able to set goals for the future and for the future of Our communities. One love!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Mentoring Our Youth in Philly and elsewhere
“My experience has been that people choose their own mentors…”
Dear friends,
Ever since the 1960s, well-meaning men in the African American community have talked about and, periodically, set up “mentoring” programs for African American youth, with special attention to boys.
At face value, it seems to be a worthy idea. The problem is: My experience has been that people choose their own mentors.
In other words, going to a young man’s house and talking with him, or taking him to a movie, as do, for instance, men who are affiliated with the Big Brothers Association, is, obviously, a nice gesture. However, the guidance and direction that that same young fellow, especially an African American one, will need in order to make his way through the foggy path of life’s journey that will eventually lead him to a worthwhile destination requires deliberate planning that is based upon the solid ability of the aforementioned youngster to know how to distinguish a “goal” from an “ambition”. Unfortunately, due to their over-exposure through the mainstream media, politicians particularly have folks confused about the difference between the two, since pols rarely speak in terms of goals, even though they usually proclaim to be doing so.
In any case, almost 30 years ago, while at Temple University, I developed a kind of intellectual model that I call the "Urban Fire Department Paradigm", in order to help people distinguish goals from ambitions. The aforementioned intellectual model goes like this: A person is named as the new chief of a fire department. A reporter asks, “Chief, what are your new goals for the fire department?” The chief confidently responds, “I’m going to have a truck at every fire in city limits, before the fire becomes dangerous.” Well, actually, that is not a goal. Rather, it is an ambition. Consequently, an answer by the chief that would represent a goal should have been, “I’m going to have a truck at every fire in city limits, in twenty minutes”. In other words, the chief does not know how bad the fire will get or how quickly it will spread; yet, s/he is determined that there will be a truck full of fire-eaters there fairly soon.
Hence, in order to help our youth maintain their focus on the future, it is best to encourage them to set goals of say 5 years ahead, regarding what they plan on doing for that specific time period. Moreover, once they become accustomed to setting specific goals, they will do that in all of their activities, whether for school. work, sports, or recreation.
By the way, as I continue to insist, let Us stop asking children what they want to be, in the context of what they will possess, when they grow up. Instead, let Us ask, what they want to be, regarding their relatedness to others. Let Us ask, "How will you help the community when you grow up?". Let Us ask, "What kind of work will you do to help people when you grow up?".
Still, ultimately, if we provide young people with proper and adequate guidance, they will do quite well, when it’s time for them to replace Us. As the great Franz Fanon warned: Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.
Finally, if people (i.e., children or adults), generally-speaking, choose their own mentors, it's better that men – and women - make themselves available in the community by setting up basketball and other such sports teams, or acting, writing, and singing clubs, for instance, to give kids, and not just boys, a chance to interact with positive community people; rather than to just go hangin’ out with a particular kid whose name has been drawn from a hat.
Besides, by this society's shaky standards, there are a lot of "successful" people, both male and female, who would be a bad example for anyone to follow. Ya dig? I'm just sayin'.
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Dear friends,
Ever since the 1960s, well-meaning men in the African American community have talked about and, periodically, set up “mentoring” programs for African American youth, with special attention to boys.
At face value, it seems to be a worthy idea. The problem is: My experience has been that people choose their own mentors.
In other words, going to a young man’s house and talking with him, or taking him to a movie, as do, for instance, men who are affiliated with the Big Brothers Association, is, obviously, a nice gesture. However, the guidance and direction that that same young fellow, especially an African American one, will need in order to make his way through the foggy path of life’s journey that will eventually lead him to a worthwhile destination requires deliberate planning that is based upon the solid ability of the aforementioned youngster to know how to distinguish a “goal” from an “ambition”. Unfortunately, due to their over-exposure through the mainstream media, politicians particularly have folks confused about the difference between the two, since pols rarely speak in terms of goals, even though they usually proclaim to be doing so.
In any case, almost 30 years ago, while at Temple University, I developed a kind of intellectual model that I call the "Urban Fire Department Paradigm", in order to help people distinguish goals from ambitions. The aforementioned intellectual model goes like this: A person is named as the new chief of a fire department. A reporter asks, “Chief, what are your new goals for the fire department?” The chief confidently responds, “I’m going to have a truck at every fire in city limits, before the fire becomes dangerous.” Well, actually, that is not a goal. Rather, it is an ambition. Consequently, an answer by the chief that would represent a goal should have been, “I’m going to have a truck at every fire in city limits, in twenty minutes”. In other words, the chief does not know how bad the fire will get or how quickly it will spread; yet, s/he is determined that there will be a truck full of fire-eaters there fairly soon.
Hence, in order to help our youth maintain their focus on the future, it is best to encourage them to set goals of say 5 years ahead, regarding what they plan on doing for that specific time period. Moreover, once they become accustomed to setting specific goals, they will do that in all of their activities, whether for school. work, sports, or recreation.
By the way, as I continue to insist, let Us stop asking children what they want to be, in the context of what they will possess, when they grow up. Instead, let Us ask, what they want to be, regarding their relatedness to others. Let Us ask, "How will you help the community when you grow up?". Let Us ask, "What kind of work will you do to help people when you grow up?".
Still, ultimately, if we provide young people with proper and adequate guidance, they will do quite well, when it’s time for them to replace Us. As the great Franz Fanon warned: Each generation must out of relative obscurity discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.
Finally, if people (i.e., children or adults), generally-speaking, choose their own mentors, it's better that men – and women - make themselves available in the community by setting up basketball and other such sports teams, or acting, writing, and singing clubs, for instance, to give kids, and not just boys, a chance to interact with positive community people; rather than to just go hangin’ out with a particular kid whose name has been drawn from a hat.
Besides, by this society's shaky standards, there are a lot of "successful" people, both male and female, who would be a bad example for anyone to follow. Ya dig? I'm just sayin'.
Cheers!
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post
Thursday, August 22, 2013
3 Black male youth murder Aussie visitor
Dear friends,
As I've been saying, for years, all of the attention given to mentoring black male youth means nothing, if you aren't giving the same attention to our female youth (who are the ones who will have the black male youth), as well as creating genuine communities where there will be plenty of grown men available to offer wisdom and experience to all of our youth...
Otherwise, if we keep placing so much emphasis on young Black males only, we will simply be promoting Male Supremacy which is the basis for all human oppression and exploitation. So nothing will change!. Moreover, one of these low-life teenagers lived with his father. We can not be angry with George Zimmerman, and not be equally angry with these three fools! Peace. G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57599336-504083/christopher-lane-australian-baseball-player-killed-by-bored-okla-teens-police-say/
Read full post
Otherwise, if we keep placing so much emphasis on young Black males only, we will simply be promoting Male Supremacy which is the basis for all human oppression and exploitation. So nothing will change!. Moreover, one of these low-life teenagers lived with his father. We can not be angry with George Zimmerman, and not be equally angry with these three fools! Peace. G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57599336-504083/christopher-lane-australian-baseball-player-killed-by-bored-okla-teens-police-say/
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