Welcome to the Roland S. Martin Newsletter.

Welcome to the Roland S. Martin Newsletter.

As the alleged killers of Sean Taylor were shown on television via their mug shots, I kept wondering when we were going to see their parents step forward. I saw a couple of mothers, but their dads were missing in action.

Dads matter, and it's ridiculous for us to act as if all it takes is a loving mom.

Now, I don't know what it means not to have a father in your life. I'm not familiar with a mom being strung out on a crack binge. And when my parents were called to the school when there was a discipline problem, Mom and Dad didn't go off on the teacher or principal. In fact, I can still feel the pain of my elementary school principal's paddle being applied to my butt when I acted a fool. The principal only could pop me three times. Dad? He had no limit.

Bottom line: I can sit here today and celebrate them and enjoy a wonderful life because my parents were hellbent on raising their children to do right by them, especially my dad.

We can spend all day talking about the ills afflicting urban America - and there are plenty that are institutional - but the decaying value of life in inner cities clearly can be traced to the exodus of fathers from the lives of so many young men. Excuses often are tossed about as to why black men leave their children (and their children's moms) to fend for themselves. But a lot of them are just sorry and refuse to accept the responsibility that comes with raising a child.

A lot of my colleagues will suggest it's too simplistic to assign such a high value to a dad being in the life of a child. But just take a visit to your local jail, juvenile hall or state prison. You likely will be confronted with a sea of black men - strong, able-bodied, creative and restless - who have spent or will spend years and years with a prison number identifying who they are.

According to the U.S. Justice Department, of all the black men in the U.S. between the ages of 25 and 29 in 2002, 10.4 percent were incarcerated. Hispanic and white men? Just 2.4 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. If a poll were done on how many grew up without fathers, I can guarantee you the numbers would be staggering.

The rampant poverty that exists has led many young blacks to a life of crime, choosing to sell drugs and involve themselves in gangs, as opposed to focusing on education, as a way out of the cellar of life.

But you see, when nearly 70 percent of black kids are born to unmarried parents, likely to a too-young mom, that puts tremendous pressure on grandmothers (some grandfathers), sisters and brothers to take up the slack. But if the person who impregnated that woman were on the scene, not only helping to pay for the raising of the child but also serving as a strong influence, I just don't believe we would see such a chronic condition.

And of those black men who have done their job, they are scared to death what it means for their daughters.

The day before leaving for vacation, I got word that a good friend, Chicago attorney Reynaldo Glover, had died of pancreatic cancer.

He was 64.
In our last extensive conversation before he was diagnosed in July, Reynaldo pleaded with me to use my national media stage to be a voice to sound the alarm of what's happening to black men in America because he wanted to know that his daughter would have a respectable man to marry one day. (I'm sure if she chose to marry someone who's not black, Reynaldo wouldn't mind, but he realized that as a nation, we mostly marry within our race.)

I promised Reynaldo that I would do all I can because this has been an issue for me for many years. In fact, my mom gets angry because I'm always talking about my dad on television, radio and in my books. And that's because when you see black men who have "made it," the accolades are plenty for their moms, and their dads are hardly mentioned. I just think it's critical to show daddy some love, too.

This is not an issue that black America can continue to sweep under the rug. I've heard countless folks talk about it, such as Sen. Barack Obama, who noted that his dad left his family when he was a toddler and didn't see much of him growing up. Even in the Republican CNN-YouTube debate, Mitt Romney said fathers are part of the answer to addressing crime in inner cities.

We shouldn't shame our young girls who get pregnant, but surely it shouldn't be seen as a blue-ribbon day. Teenage black girls and black boys should be focused on picking colleges, not the names of babies. When a young girl wants a baby christened, her pastor should be asking to meet with the father, as well, even if the two don't get along. We also should be telling black women not to lie down with any fool. A moment of pleasure could lead you to a lifetime of raising that child. Alone.

A friend of mine suggested more black men need to mentor young black men. I agree. But that's a bandage. If we get black men to handle their business in the first place, no one else would have to stand in the gap.

Unless black America owns up to this problem - and fast - we are going to see another generation of young black men who are angry with their lot in life. And the result will be more discipline problems in school, which will lead to folks dropping out, and that is nothing but a one-way ticket to jail.

Black men, it's time to man up. Enough with the sperm donors. We need real men to stand up and accept their responsibility. The state of our boys is on us. And no one else.

To reach Roland S. Martin:roland@rolandsmartin.com To read Roland S. Martin's blog:www.rolandsmartin.com/blog

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Obama's Black Problem: Part 1 January 2007

Obama's Black Problem: Part 1

There is little doubt that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is going to aggressively pursue the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

The forming of his exploratory committee is simply the foundation to what will be a campaign that many are saying will be a formidable challenge to Democratic rivals such as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.

While Democrats across the country fall over themselves just to touch the man, he is being eyed suspiciously by the nation's black leadership.

For the first time in history, America will have an African American seeking the world's most powerful position — one who actually has a shot at winning, and you would think that black politicians, civil rights and religious leaders would be the loudest voices calling for him to run. But, no! We have folks playing coy, whispering behind the scenes, questioning his blackness, and in some cases, complete silence.

This is nothing more than black-on-black hate at its best.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, who offered nothing more than a few great quotes in his 2004 presidential bid, told the Chicago Defender: "I think that Obama brings to the race a fresh face with an impressive background. I think that all of us around the country will be assessing all of the candidates and seeing what they have to offer. It is then that we will be able to make more solid comments about Obama and other possible candidates and what they will bring to the table."
He added: "My own thing is that I don't know him that well, but I seek to get to know him," Sharpton said. "Then I can give you better impressions about him and I will be able to grasp what it is he is seeking and trying to do."

Grasp what he is trying to do? Rev. Al, he's trying to become the president of the United States!
On my talk show on WVON-AM/1690 in Chicago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said he supports Obama, but added that many black leaders nationwide don't know the junior senator from Illinois.

"He will have to take time to build relationships," he said.

The Rev. James Meeks, who served in the Illinois Senate with Obama, told the Defender that ego and envy has a lot to do with the lukewarm response from black leadership.

?"I only hope that African American elected officials and other African American leaders do not become jealous and force Barack Obama to kiss their rings before getting their support," he said.
"Black people are going to have to be fair enough to let him campaign in the United States, and not just in the African American communities and on African American issues. This is the United States, and not the United States of African Americans."

?Yet Dr. Ron Walters, one of the nation's pre-eminent political science professors from the University of Maryland, College Park, said the feelings about Obama have nothing to do with jealousy.

"It's clear that Barack Obama is ascending to the pantheon of black leadership, and the problem that we always have had historically is whites sort of picking African American leaders and then importing the paradigm that they represent in our community," he said on WVON-AM. "That was the old Booker T. Washington problem. There is a reticence on the part of some of our leaders to accept Barack Obama until he comes full force in terms of his program. I think that's fair. I want to see ?where he stands on the critical issues that black people face before I give him carte blanche."

Here is the rub for me: Obama is entering his third year as a U.S. senator. Prior to that he served seven years in the Illinois Senate. By the time the first primary rolls around, he will have double the legislative experience that George W. Bush had when he was elected. The man has been speaking on black issues for years. So why force a litmus test on him that is not being established for Sen. Clinton and other candidates?

Frankly, the real problem black leadership has is that Obama didn't come through "the civil rights system." And like it or not, there is tremendous jealousy that he has been able to do what so many others have not done: First, he actually got elected to something. Second, he launched a campaign that people actually believe can win.

Lastly, Obama's rise as the top black political voice in America supplants others who have served as the arbiters of black thought.
This is nothing but the old lion flexing his muscle in order to try to scare off the fearless young lion. But as with life in the jungle, the only way a species keeps surviving is if the young take the place of the old.

People like Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick represent 21st century black leadership, and it's time for the men and women who have been on the scene for years to stop fighting change, and rest on the fact that they are seeing their labor come to fruition. If not, they will look like old fighters embarrassing themselves in search of glory days.

Roland S. Martin is the author of "Listening to the Spirit Within: 50 Perspectives On Faith." Please visit his Web site at www.rolandsmartin.com. To find out more about Roland Martin and read his past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE

Originally Published on Friday January 19, 2007 Roland Martin's column is released once a week.

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