Courtesy of African American Museum 2018
"Loss of the Family Thing, Roxanne Shante."
The loss of the family and birth of the “Single Black Woman” Image is a powerful creation. “The Deadbeat Father,” caricature has rendered a lasting effect on the conscience and lives of both African American boys and girls, who will one day address both ideas for themselves in their own precious experience of courtship, love, marriage, and parentship. The Single Black Mother and Deadbeat Father caricatures’ very existence is the cornerstone and epitome of the failure of the Black American family. Two generations ago, an idea, which existed only on the fringes of our society and at the most extreme circumstance, a daughter with child, and an absent father was immediately subject to ridicule, persecution, and the target of a good Father’s or brother’s munition. Therefore, the acceptance of such a societal taboo, and the establishing of their immoral example as portrayed in social and popular media, while the blood of our Grandparents and Forebearers still courses our veins, is the union of apostasy and the will of our enemies to destroy the very fiber of our existence by the destruction of our families and the propagation of an idea which should not be, but also avoided at all cost. The confusion of why the house is burning has failed the victims to find water and even more myopic, as the fire spreads to the other homes and threatens the entire village, is the devaluing of the African woman and man, as full bodied agents to their own happiness, which is obtained through the true character of committment, longsuffering hardships, faith, faithfulness to righteousness,compassion, mercy, grace, meditation, evaluation, dedication to family, celebration, and the blessing of experience in age. These tenets of character have been attributed to great men and women, long before religious sects have borrowed their ideas for productive rearing. The confusion of liberty is largely the culprit in spreading the poison of the Deadbeat Father and Single Black Woman. This liberty produces the dread of reality in the man and the scorn of the woman, and altogether both are useless and counter to the healthy family, village, community, and nation. Individualism, is an illusion, for there has never existed one human being born, without the precious nurture of a mother and the guiding seed of a father. Liberty has been supplanted by naked individualism and separated from the idea of freedom. The truth is, liberty and freedom are one in the same, but these ideas have been used to prop up and confused with individualism, which has been the source of even more sore evils than the Deadbeat Father and consequently, the Single Mother. The three of which, have always existed among ill-fated families, but today, are post-modern characters, and the creation of which, is as unnatural, dangerous, and temporarily useful to an entire society, as plastic. The African or the African American family must overthrow and defend itself from the very idea of the Deadbeat Father and the suffering of the Single Mother, whose experiences are not bound to racial color but the lack of character. Both ideas were unfortunately ships necessary for the lastest survival for the traumatic experience of Africans in these States, and the hardships are both unimaginable and immeasureable. Yet, the idea must not live, and must be fought against on a massive scale, family to family and community to community. It must be acknowledged, even our own failures, and wrongs righted, or alms paid especially in case of the widow and the unfortunate, orphan children. We, the African American family, shall not perish in the confused corruption of individualism, disguised as freedom and liberty. Both freedom and liberty have never been the enemy of the family.
Brothers, take care of your women and children. There is no such as Peter Pan (living forever) or naked individualism. You will find yourselves and better character in the makings of your family. Sisters, take care of your men. There is no such thing as Fairies (living forever) or naked individualism. You will find yourself and better character in the makings of your family as you bring again your Ancestors, whose blood courses through your veins and who face shines exactly like yours.
Written by Mr. Cowan Amaye-Obu
