Urban Violence in Buffalo, NY usually doesn’t make national news, but this time it did. I just got an out-of-town call from my cousin over a shooting while I was out of town myself. This had to do with the shooting outside an establishment known as the City Grille. At least 8 people were hit in an altercation that seemed to have begun inside the Grille and continued out, at least four have died as of this writing.

Part of the reason tragic events like these keep happening can be laid on the door-steps of African Americans. Too often we mis-diagnose the problem because of our fear that it points too much of a finger at us. The direct question connected to this is, are high murder-rates among blacks more indicative of hostile or de-valued feelings toward their own skin color, or an impoverished economic environment? Are black boys suffering from a lack of full-range brain developments? In other words does their behavior match their scheduled age maturity level?

The same question arise for black females. Recently I posted a comment on my Facebook page about single black moms, that of course got passionate responses pro and con. It is not my wish to lay the burden or blame on them completely, both parents equally have the most important job on the planet whether they know it or not; that job is to continue the black nation (you thought I was going to say feed, cloth and send the child to school didn’t you). Today single black mothers have accomplished a very perplexing thing with their sons. What used to be impossible, has through them become a common-place trait with black boys; 1-Born and raised in the ghetto. 2-Spoiled rotten. Those 2 conditions aren’t supposed to go together, but the black single mom has not only pulled it off, collectively they have created a whole standing army of misfiring miscreants. The result is something akin to a mutated adult; muscular, athletic, but vulgar, disrespectful, paranoid, vengeful, petty, takes everything personally…  just as a troubled woman does.

Much of this behavior is directly due to the father not being there enough to manifest a presence in the boy’s life. Particularly during a son’s most crucial growth-period. The years when he is roughly between 10-15, I call this the Diva Period. All young boys go through this, that you see it more and more today with grown men-aged blacks means dad wasn’t there during those pubic years to knock it out of him (yes literally). This is crucial because this is specifically the father’s job. Most moms miss it, the few who are able to detect and act on it deserve a medal.

Missing this Diva Period now produces a teen or young adult who can’t cope with ordinary everyday situations, and he turns them into a life-and-death situation. You can sit there and pretend the growing number of blacks in the cemeteries directly due to altercations relating to “he looked at me,” or “she left me,” or “they wouldn’t allow me to come in” is really God wanting a whole lot of blacks at the same time, but I ain’t buyin’ it.

Blacks are now killing each other at a faster rate than German and Japanese killing American soldiers during WWII, according to talk radio’s Andre Egglletion. This really should have been predicted by all of the slick players who produced sons but didn’t want to become fathers long ago. Another factor is since the rise of the hip-hop movement, powerful white recording industry decision makers perverted it into something it wasn’t meant to be and have packaged black-on-black violence in rap videos, songs, and for a time, even motion pictures, in order to make this particular type of violence look fashionable or the “in-thing.”

While some take issue with the phrase “black-on-black” for various reasons, few of those critics are watching the government agencies under funding resources, youth programs, public education, because of their writing it off as a “black problem”. Conservatives feel they already have the solution; “tougher laws.” I agree with them, cutting down on interest rates in real estate, cars, and loans would help a lot (OK that may not be what they had in mind).

Another idea I came up with in an earlier column would force indifferent single moms and absentee dads to raise their kids by making it mandatory to interrogate them even if their child commits a crime, and imprison them for up to 5 years if they weren’t involved with raising them while they were under 21. That’s right, I’m tired of empty heads and loaded weapons. Black boys are stocking up on illegal guns partly to make up for their own lack of adequacy in themselves or just as an added material possession.

Truth be told, the enemies of black youth are the same invisible adversaries beneath the very environment that they created. The same enemies who imported illegal drugs and weapons into their own shores, the same enemy who urgently replaced political rap with violent rap that glorifies infighting and feuding among black youths. The same enemy who planned and outlined confrontational talk shows pitting poor people against each other and now reality shows pitting mostly young minority women against each other.

If these young brothers can’t find it in themselves to aim their semi-automatics against the producers and plotters of these programs, then my suggestion is for them to not shoot at anyone.

BlackCommentator.com Guest Commentator Chris Stevenson is a syndicated columnist, his articles also appear on his blog; The Buffalo Bullet Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. Click here to contact Mr. Stevenson.

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