Black Young People and What’s the Matter….

Denzel Washington stressed the importance of having a positive father figure in the home while speaking recently about the mass incarceration of black males.

The Oscar-winning actor told a reporter for The Grio during a special advanced screening in New York of his film “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” that positive change in the black community “starts in the home.”

“If the father is not in the home, the boy will find a father in the streets,” he said. “I saw it in my generation and every generation before me, and every one since.”

 “If the streets raise you, then the judge becomes your mother and prison becomes your home,” he added.

According to The New York Daily News, Mr. Washington expanded on his answer when pressed by reporters, saying, “It starts with how you raise your children. If a young man doesn’t have a father figure, he’ll go find a father figure.

“So, you know, I can’t blame the system,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we make such easy work for them*.” (end of my quote from an article)

Z: FINALLY, someone speaks out.  What’s he actually doing about it….??  Can someone like him make change?  Could he, should he, be on a speaking tour that would encourage young Blacks?  If not, WHY NOT??

*I have to suspect that “them” in his last quote is naysayers of Black youth, but I can’t say that I blame him for saying this because, as he says, Black youth hand it to critics in their oftentimes bad behavior.

By Jessica Chasmar – The Washington Times – Monday, November 27, 2017