European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Controversial Book enrage Many Black women the Blackman s guide to understanding the blackwoman1 by Karin d. Berry Baltimore evening Sun the Blackman s guide to understanding the Blackwomen puts the Black Man in misplace in control of the Black woman. If a woman Quot ignores the authority and superiority of the Blackman there is a penalty. When she. Becomes viciously insulting it is time for the Blackman to soundly slap her in the Mouth Quot the Book says. Quot moodiness fickleness or pettiness Quot Are Quot emotional personality traits Quot that Are Quot indigenous to the Black female gender Quot the Book says. Some men May like the Book women probably will hate it. That has been the typical response so far to the Book which has spurred controversy in the few cities where it is being sold in the United states. Quot i am not saying that the Black woman is totally responsible for every ailment in the Black Community or the Black Man. Please get that in there Quot Shahrazad Ali 41, author of Blackman s guide says emphatically Quot because i have some writers around the country who Are starting to say that. Quot what i said is that we As Black women Are 50 percent responsible for All of the problems in our Black communities. The Black Man is 50 percent responsible for Ali says that her Book examines Black women and that it is the first to give the Black Man a platform to air his grievances about the Black woman. Blackman s guide has angered Many Black women who believe that the Book attacks them and blames them solely for problems in the Community and in relationships with Black men. On the other hand some Black men counter it reveals the frustrations that they have with Black women. Quot its a heavy Issue Quot Ali says. Quot some people Are having a very violent reaction to this Book around the country. We have had Book burnings in new York. We be had some Sisters organize and threatening to Boycott the Book in Chicago. We had almost a fistfight in Cincinnati. A sister called a brother out about the Book a cause he said it was right Quot it. The Book is being sold in Only a few cities such As Philadelphia los Angeles Cincinnati new York Chicago and Washington and was just published in March by civilized publications in Philadelphia which Ali founded. But its notoriety has been spread by word of Mouth and by Ali who has appeared in talk shows and panel discussions on a publicity tour. One. Philadelphia talk show Host a Black woman has refused to allow Ali on her show. Despite its limited distribution mostly at smaller bookstores in Black communities the Book which costs $10, is Selling Well. As of june 22, some 193,000 copies were sold according to Aliquot see this Book is Only about personal development and self examination. As i said All Black women Are not guilty of everything in the Book Quot Ali says Quot but every Black woman is in the Book. If she says she s not she s scoffs at the traditional image of Black women As Quot the Backbone of the Black she says that through creating that image Quot the White Power Structure Quot is Quot implying to us and to Pur children that our Man Don t have no spine and. His woman has to go out ahead of him. And that s just not True about our Ali says that benefits such As Quot Job opportunities education training welfare and. ,. Food Stamps medical care free housing Quot were Only Given to Black women. Because women adhere to standards set by Whites they have expectations that Black men can t possibly meet and in accordance with a system Quot where he has been totally disenfranchised Quot she explains Ali said that the Book is based on interviews with "379 Black men who Are either married going with or dating White women and probably Over a thousand other people Black men Black couples individuals. Also from studying the children and watching them checking them out in churches in different scenarios and a variety of places. I just studied us As a however this research is no cited in Blackman s guide. She said it took about three years to write the drugs homicide prison the plight of too Many Black men in America by Isabel Wilkerson new York times Ronald Taylor a Black sociologist at the University of Connecticut went Back to the old neighbourhood in Hartford the other Day for the first time in years and was jolted by the sight of Young men hanging out and Selling drugs on once familiar streets Quot i was frightened Quot he said. Quot and i was embarrassed. That i was frightened. These men Are my own people and i Don t recognize recent studies show that the situation is even bleaker than the one that Shook Taylor. It is a situation that inner City residents know All too Well the United states is rapidly losing much of a generation of Young Black men to drugs homicide and prison. Black men Are several times More Likely to be victims of homicide than any other demographic group and they finish last in virtually every socioeconomic category from the High school dropout rate to unemployment. A study in february found that More College age Black men a nearly one in four a Are in prison or on parole than Are in College. Alarmed by numbers like that Taylor and about 200 other scholars ministers and Community workers from across the country gathered for a conference to Exchange research and ideas on the problems of Black men in America and to Lay the groundwork for an organization dedicated to research and advocacy work for Black men. While this was billed As the first such nationwide gathering a flurry of Ether meetings on the topic in manorial Irto graphic raid on a heroin a shooting gallery Quot in . Recent months has brought together hundreds of people in places like Harlem where a conference at the Apollo theater was carried live on a Black radio station in new York and Atlanta where Morehouse College a leading Black menus College last Spring created both a research Institute and scholarly journal on the subject. At its National convention in los Angeles recently the National association for the advancement of coloured people conducted a workshop called Quot the endangered Black Quot Black men Are coming together and when they talk about the problems yes it s very personal Quot said or Alvin Poussart a psychiatrist a Harvard medical school and a consultant to the National conference Here Quot this is a social movement to Deal with social ills it has gotten More and More moment urn As the Book and that she researched it for about live years the Book like Ali. Pulls no punches. Black women s characteristics Are scrutinized from childhood to adulthood through dating marriage and family there Are chapters on education career sex Quot her attitudes Quot and the other woman All Are designed to explain As press material from civilized publications says Quot How unknowingly contribute to the discontent of the Black Blackman a guide emphasizes the woman s place As wife and Mother and the Man s place As the head of the family. Among the 23 signs of a woman who might make a Good wife. Quot she is attentive and a Good listener Quot she is not a flagrant spender and almost manages her Money. Quot she will take instructions on some things without being combative Quot however Ali says that she does t necessarily see marriage As the Ideal relationship but that Quot i think that a couple should be mated Ali said she Hopes the Book will Quot give the Black Man some Equality with his woman will help to raise his esteem and certainly it will allow us As Black women to recognize How we have been used As a too against our she said that a male Reader should use the Book for self examination Quot because the Book is about what he has allowed to happen to his woman and his mate. And then he is Able to look around and see what changes he needs to try and make in his life himself his women and his As for the female Reader Ali says Quot Black women who read the Book Are Able to throw off All of those ideas that have made us become almost ashamed to say that we want a Man. Quot the actual fact is that every woman wants a Man but some of us have had. So Many unpleasant experiences with them that we be become frightened and withdrawn from trying to be with a Man Quot she says she is also planning to write the Blackwomen s guide to understanding the Blackman but it won t be. Published until 1993, she says. Quot i m not going to flood the whole Community with All of this information at one time. You All would kill each statistics have gotten Black scholars Many of whom have spent their careers studying the topic individually said they found themselves frustrated and overwhelmed As they discussed the twin plagues of crack dealing and Black on Black crime that have ravaged so Many inner City neighbourhoods in recent years. Quot its hard for even the Black Community to Taylor said Quot us outside our experiences. We know How to Deal with poverty oppression and discrimination but the world seems to have changed rather dramatically. People Are trying to figure out what the hell to do. Quot a principal reason for the conference was to create a Clearinghouse for the study of the nation s 14 million Black males. Conferees envisioning an advocacy and research organization that would shape Public policy and sponsor annual symposiums named the new group the National coalition of african american men arid chose As its provisional chairman or. Richard majors a psychologist at Harvard medical school and one of the conference organizers outlining or. Coalition s Mission majors said. Quot there is a lot of ignorance myths and stereotypes about Black men the Bottom line is not Only educating the Public but empowering and improving the lives of Black men Quot women a distinct run Horsly at the conference said they were drawn to the sessions out of tear for their loved ones and a shared sense of vulnerability. Quot if a Black Ryan is in prison on the Street Corner or dead from drugs we re victims Loo Quot said or clone Akbar who a sociologist and consultant at Morehouse Quot we re without husbands Brothers and sons Quot Friday August 10, 1990 the stars and stripes a Page 17
