The Perils of the Young Blacks

By Daniel Iyeks

Some young blacks start a race and can only watch helplessly as their white peers get a ten-meter head start. They have little or nothing to eat or to hope for, and they move from shelter to sheltertrying to catch up.

As a black man, Daniel Iyeks, who has lived in underprivileged neighborhoods in New York, Atlanta, and Houston for more than thirty years, knows very well the struggles that young blacks face. In this candid look at Americas underlying racial problems, he examines the obstacles to success, including some that are self-imposed.

While he gives credit to black parents who tell their children they must work twice as hard as white children to be equally as successful, he challenges young blacks who focus instead on mastering the streetsas well as those blacks who have moved out of the ghettos and ignore the misfortunes of the underprivileged.

Its time for politicians, clergy members, black leaders, and black families to seek real solutions to problems and work together to solve The Perils of the Young Blacks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Jun 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781480819122

Daniel Iyeks

Daniel Iyeks was born into a traditional religion and culture, quite different from the European culture. He was raised by his father, a teacher, who established numerous schools and churches in many West African villages under the British colonial powers. Daniel Iyeks, a professional engineer, migrated to the United States in the seventies and obtained his BS and MS degrees from two American universities. Over the years, Daniel worked for various companies and organizations in Texas, New York, and Georgia.

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Copyright © 2015 Daniel Iyeks.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-1911-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1912-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943717

Archway Publishing rev. date: 06/09/2015

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 Parental Involvement

Chapter 2 Environmental Influence

Chapter 3 Black Culture

Chapter 4 Schools

Chapter 5 Higher Education

Chapter 6 Financial Management

Chapter 7 Life Choices

Chapter 8 Capitalism and Fairness

Chapter 9 Black-on-Black Destruction

Chapter 10 Discrimination and Racism

Chapter 11 Family Structures

References

Author Biography

PREFACE

I t is interesting to hear critics making comments on a Monday morning about how a quarterback should have played a football game despite the fact that they have never handled a ball or played the game. This analogy holds true for anyone trying to solve the problems that young blacks face without themselves being black.

To be accurate in this type of judgment, the critic has to be black, just like the author of this book is, to have grown up where most blacks did, to have attended schools that blacks attend, to raise black children, and to live with them twenty-four hours a day just as the author of this book has done for over fifty years.

Some young blacks are born into difficulties with little or nothing to eat or to hope for. Some move from shelter to shelter. It’s like they are starting a two-hundred–meter race from the starting point while their white counterparts start ten meters from the finish line.

The young black hopes to finish at least at the same time the white finishes. This is why most black parents tell their children that they have to work twice as hard and as long as white children to be equally as successful. The reasons for this situation are numerous and will be discussed in detail in this book. Most young blacks’ obstacles are there because of the system, racism, and greed, and a few have been placed by the blacks themselves. Even the few for which the blacks could be blamed may be attributed to a lack of early and adequate education for young blacks.

It is quite clear that many progressive blacks who have moved out of the ghetto and into the suburbs may resent the contents of this book, but it has been written to address the misfortunes confronting the underprivileged blacks. It is not for the other blacks who, because of pride, have refused to discuss them.

CHAPTER 1

Parental Involvement

Y oung chimpanzees emulate the behaviors of their parents. Human children do the same. For example, a young black child will emulate the behavior of his or her parents, as will a young white child.

The term education is usually defined as the knowledge and training gained from going to school or to college. But true education is usually obtained from parents; it is the training children get to survive in the environment in which they live. Many also think that to be literate is to be educated. This is not so, as can be shown in observing those who we in Western civilization think are primitive; they survive and manage their unindustrialized farming without knowing how to read or write. The slaves of the eighteenth century could not read or write but were efficient in their farming methods. Some of the family farmers of today are well versed and knowledgeable about faming and yet unable to read or write. Literacy does, however, enhance the ability to express oneself.

The unfortunate problem in black neighborhoods is that some young blacks who are having children are hardly educated, even when they are certified to be literate by the public schools. Some young blacks without parental attention and without goals or inspiration from their elders are forced to listen to self-made bullies and advisors in the streets who tell them that quick and easy going is the order of life. The critics will say that parents need not be educated to motivate their children because they are working hard daily to provide for their children. The dedication of the parents is great, but their know-how may not be enough.

These bullies or advisors—who often are less educated than the young blacks—declare the streets’ rules and the commandments for all to follow. After a young black has heard these voices for years, his thoughts become the same as those of his uneducated mentors, and he begins to act and follow the rules of the streets. In homes where educated parents, including farmers and blue-collar parents, discipline their children, the young black children are prevented from reaching the streets and listening to the street lords and barons. In most cases, the best way to educate children is to start teaching them early to listen to and to respect their parents. In such cases, the children are more likely to listen to their parents’ advice when they become adults.

The young blacks who master the streets believe that they have arrived and regard themselves as adults. While they are adults according to their ages, mentally they are still children without goals or focus. The lack of educated and literate parents has deprived these young blacks of the ability to focus and to achieve goals.

The strong, active street men gravitate to young women, or the young women gravitate to them because of their looks or their physical build. (This conclusion was reached after discussing the issue with young blacks on and off the streets.) These young men and women are physically adults, but they are unprepared for the challenges of the society in which they live. Many young blacks become sexually active without taking the necessary precautions and without the sexual education required to avoid contracting sexually transmitted diseases and causing pregnancies, which is common among all races. Some people preach abstinence before marriage. Such preaching will work with young blacks from educated homes when