Reclaiming Black Manhood: a guide to healing, growth and personal power - Softcover

Aaron Counts And Larry Evans

9780977477401: Reclaiming Black Manhood: a guide to healing, growth and personal power

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0977477401 ISBN 13: 9780977477401

Publisher: Unblind Communications, 2006

We all know the statistics: shortened life expectancy, higher incarceration rates, increased unemployment, poor school performance... Since being introduced to this country, black men have lacked a positive definition of manhood that is afforded by a generations-old sense of culture. In absence of that culture here in America, we have accepted some definitions of manhood that lead to our demise rather than our strength. In order to thrive, we have to recognize the sources of those definitions and take responsibility for changing them in our own lives. Reclaiming Black Manhood is designed for those young (and older) black men who are tired of the madness and are ready for a change.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Aaron Counts and Larry Evans are co-founders of the Akoben Brotherhood, a grassroots organization in Seattle dedicated to the growth and healing of black men. They facilitate groups in jails, schools and on street corners in the Seattle area. Akoben is an Adrinka symbol from West Africa and is depicted as a war horn, representing a call to action.

Review:

Reclaiming Black Manhood offers some of the best cultural enrichment curricula I have ever seen. --Larry Gossett, King County (WA) Council Member

[Reclaiming Black Manhood] is part anguished cry, part call to action and part Bill Cosby-style cultural smackdown. The book is unflinching about the grim state of black male life. What's most intriguing about the book, though, is what it says blacks can do about it. It contends blacks in America have no firm cultural identity or story that wasn't imposed by someone else. Blacks are cultural orphans. No one ever acknowledges the 'hell this can inflict on a people,' Evans says. So the book suggests DNA genealogy testing, aggressively retelling black history and joining support groups to reclaim what was stolen. 'We can't wait for institutions to change,' Counts says. 'We've got to do this introspection ourselves.' Talking bluntly about race is risky. These two are trying to change the thrust of the conversation entirely. At the least they deserve some kind of medal for courage. --The Seattle Times

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.