Notes From D. R.

Is there anything more shortsighted than the notion that the actions of Massachusetts Governor-Elect Deval Patrick will do anything to stem the tide of black-on-black violence in Boston?

"Community activists" and progressive ministers are already hoping that Patrick will make it a priority to combat urban violence. Their intentions are pure, of course, but even if Patrick does make the reduction of urban violence a priority, it doesn’t mean it will necessarily happen.

Despite what these community activists and progressive ministers imply, money alone will not solve this problem. Government alone cannot solve this problem. Hate to get all Bill Cosby on you, but this a problem that goes much deeper.

Patrick can pump the entire Massachusetts budget into "violence prevention programs," and it won’t do a goddamn thing until we start teaching young people of color that they have a chance and a place in this society. As long as young black men and women are led to believe that their lives are worthless and that their value to society is negligible, they will continue to slaughter each other.

I know Rush Limbaugh isn’t what you’d call a popular figure in this state, but on November 20, in a discussion about a controversial column by New York Daily News author Stanley Crouch, he noted:

"…Let me just share with you some of what Stanley Crouch says: ‘Last week, I was in a studio in midtown [in Manhattan] where a popular program for black youths was being filmed. I found myself surrounded by black men, ages 18 to 35, and I was appalled. As a father with a daughter nearly 30 years old who has never been close to marrying anyone, I was once more struck by what my offspring describes as ‘a lack of suitable men.’ She has complained often about the adolescent tendencies of young black men, as will just about any young black woman when the subject comes up. Those who believe that America is perpetually adolescent will point at the dominance of frat-boy attitudes among successful white men and will say of the black hip-hop generation, ‘So what? How could they not be adolescent? They are not surrounded by examples of celebrated maturity. The society worships movie stars, wealthy athletes and talk show hosts. These are not the wisest and most mature of people.’

‘There is more than a little bit right about that. Our culture has been overwhelmed by the adolescent cult of rebellion that emerges in a particularly stunted way from the world of rock ‘n’ roll. That simpleminded sense of rebelling against authority descended even further when hip hop fell upon us from the bottom of the cultural slop bucket in which punk rock curdled. Hip hop began as some sort of Afro protest doggerel and was very quickly taken over by the gangster rappers, who emphasized the crudest materialism in which the ultimate goal was money and it did not matter how one got it.

‘The street thug, the gang member, the drug dealer and the pimp became icons of sensibility and success. Then the attitudes of pimps took a high position and the pornographic version of hip hop in which women become indistinguishable bitches and hos made a full-court press on the rap ‘aesthetic.’ At the television studio, as I watched and listened to those young men, each of whom seemed to be auditioning for a lifelong part as a ‘man-child,’ I discussed this phenomenon with a black woman in her 40s who is a writer. She had worked for rap magazines, magazines that had focused on black women and in black television.

‘Her analysis was quite direct and could be profoundly true. Her profession and being the mother of a teenage daughter has made her pay close attention and forced her to give these issues a good deal of thought. The way she understood it was that these young black men do not see growing up as having any advantages to it. One is either current or old-fashioned and outdated. The only success they think they can believe in is had by either athletes or rappers. Young black men. So they hold on to adolescence and adolescent ways as long as they can.

‘The writer also said, ‘I am sure many knew of Ed Bradley but they did not identify with him. He was too sophisticated. They identify with the overgrown boy, who is everywhere and who is getting over. He’s got a lot of cash, plenty of girls, lots of jewelry, an expensive car. To them, that’s the world. Or it’s the world they want to be a part of.’ So what can be done to make adulthood seem attractive to these young black men? Good question. From one end of the country…" Listen to this, now: "From one end of the country to the other, adults sleep in the street for nights on end as though they are homeless in order to have choice places in line when PlayStations go on sale. That alone gives us more than an indication of how great a problem we find ourselves facing.’

…Crouch’s point here is that certain people among us aren’t, because for whatever reason they don’t want to live long or they don’t think they will, and so they have to get it all now. You want to talk about this in great detail? Why is that? Is it really fair to blame rap music? Or is rap music just a symptom? How about if you were a impressionable, susceptible young black person in this country the last 30 years and your parents happened to think Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and the civil rights movement are the beginning and end of the world. What do you think you’re going to hear growing up about your country, about your past, and about your future?

Do you think you might have a little anger and rage, and do you think, ‘Well, I can’t get what I want [by]  going to college. I can’t take the prescriptions that this country is offering for everybody else because I’m going to be beaten down and I’m going to be stopped by racism, and there’s going to be a cross-burning in my front yard’ or what have you? So the path of least resistance is what you see on TV. ‘Well, hey, these guys have made it, and they’ve made it as a counterculture act: rap, gangsta rap and so forth.’ So it becomes a sick form of, I don’t know, motivation, inspiration for people, and they see that route because they don’t think they have a chance of getting there any other way…"

Even if you disagree with Limbaugh’s assessment of Jackson and Sharpton, it’s impossible to deny that, for many young black men and women in Massachusetts and elsewhere, there are few, if any, figures who can inspire them to hope for a better tomorrow. As Patrick frequently noted on the campaign trail, his grandmother instilled in him a belief that he should hope for the best and work for it. Honestly, how many people are instilling that belief into young black men and women today?

We have a generation of young black men and women who don’t just believe that there is no tomorrow, but that there is no tonight. When no one is there to teach you that life means something, you will naturally believe that life means nothing.

All the money, all the programs, all the expenditures in the world will not reduce urban violence. If one gangbanger who doesn’t value life decides to kill another gangbanger who doesn’t value life, is a social program going to stop him?

Encouraging Patrick to spend money on "violence prevention" is easy. Changing the nihilistic culture of the inner city is hard, damn hard. Until and unless there is a commitment by all of us to change that culture, neither Governor Patrick nor anyone else will be able to stop black-on-black bloodshed.