The Feminization of Black Men

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with 2 young black men in their 20's who had their pants falling down and I asked them why do they wear their pants that way. They had no clear answer except that what everyone else does. "Are you aware of where that style came from? Yeah, Prison!" It didn't seem to matter to them that they were mimicking the prison signal of free booty. So I said, "you just gonna fall in line and do what everybody else does regardless of the signal you are sending?" And then I said, among other things something that I have heard said about the feminization of Black men in America, the diliberate promotion of feminine images among Black men. For example, and I'm going to encure the wrath of some of you by mentioning these people, Michael Jackson, a hero to many was feminine, Prince was feminine. And I'm not saying they were homosexual, but face it, they were soft and danty. I also see many of the NBA stars dressed in skinny tight jeans, pants cut off at the calfs. I recall an interview they did with Dave Chappell once on how the writers of his show were angry with him because he wouldn't wear a dress for a comedy skit. "Sooner or later every Black man is made to wear a dress" I remember him saying. The conversation went on to everything from images to manhood. I concluded telling these young brother, "Pull your pants up! Don't just fall in line. Man up young men. You have to represent the race. Now what type of image do you want to present?" And you know what? I think I got through to them. They responded by saying "That makes sense!" You know what preachers? We haver a greater task ahead then just preaching folks happy on Sunday. We have to mentor our young men. Jesus didn't just preach to people. He took the time to mentor His disciples. You may be surprised what these young brothers will respond to if we took the time to mentor them.