OPENING MONOLOGUE

So I gotta do this opening dialogue saturday night, to sort of set the stage on camera (and memorized) for the premise behind our discussion. 12 guys getting ready to, in the words of my sister in law "get some shit started"...so typed up a few thoughts this morning. and it goes a little something like this:

Welcome to the round table. Welcome to “what Black Men think”

You all have been collectively gathered here to forum for one singular purpose. To give voice to the voiceless, to provide a stage for the stage less, to let your opinions be heard. So what is it that I mean by that? In my experience, YOU are not represented anywhere in the mainstream. The typical stereotypes are do not apply here, and because of this you’ve been silenced, squelched, and muffled for too long.

I need to point out, it is my expectations that this project we have come together for, will probably never see the light of day, so if you’re expecting fame and possibly fortune, don’t get your hopes up!

None of us, are selling drugs, rappers, locked up, woman beating, or on the down-low, so Hollywood, the Media and the entertainment world are not interested in YOU. This project won’t make the Sundance film festival

All of us are pretty much prepared to look in the camera and confront the challenges we have faced with the modern era black woman, and because they are not interested in your assessment, you’ll be shunned, discounted and most definitely persecuted. You will not be invited to make an appearance on OPRAH.

And because you represent the hope for the future of our community, the old guard, the established and anointed powers that dictate the rhetoric and group think directices, they will undermine you every step of the way. You be labeled sell-outs, uncle-toms. Misogynists, confused, woman haters and a whole host of ad hominem attacks that will never really address the core problem we speak too. JESSE JACKSON won’t be giving you a congratulatory call.

THE PREMISE:

1968 – 2 important events converged on the black community, liberating, empowering, but more importantly entrusting today’s black woman with a responsibility never seen by a black woman in the history of the world.

The civil rights movement and the 2nd wave of the women’s liberation movement. 2 magnanimous forces, propelling today’s black woman to what?

THE RESULTS:
As we all sit here today, US Census bureau, DHHS, the CDC and the congressional black caucus, and a host of other organizations report this:
7 of 10 native born black children are born out-of-wedlock. And guess who fault it is. You, you, you you.
There are no good black men out there, all of them are locked up, most of them are on drugs, and I quote “8 out of 10 of them are gay or bi-sexual”, all of YOU are intimidated by a college educated woman who makes more money than you. All of the brunt of the responsibility for this abomination rests solely at your feet.

One generation ago a woman who gave birth to a child in this fashion, while she was supported in her struggles, earned a red badge. And it wasn’t a red badge of courage, it more closely resembled a scarlet letter. In the world we live in today, this unacceptable behavior is not only the norm; it is the dominant purveying thought. And it is a classless statistic, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, ghetto, bougeey, Black women are having children outside of marriage, and society is telling them it’s OK.

THE CHARGE:
Be it willing or unwilling, today’s black women, (and I’m not saying all) is aiding and abetting the genocide of our race, and has the support of social services, the criminal justice system, the media with no responsibility or repercussions. They glorify each other for their struggles. All at the expense of the black man, and we ain’t taking this no more.

My grandmother use to say “a closed eye ain’t always sleep” well we’ve grown tired of your ways, we know your attitudes, we know your self righteous indignation, we know you. And it’s time someone said something.

Tonight we’ll explore you, the challenges of dealing with you. And if you’re offended, if you’re angry, if you turn it off good, it means we’ve touched a nerve.

GREATEST STAR WARS QUOTE:
Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering…if you’re in a tizzy right now, what is it that you fear. If you attacking right now, why are you angry.

SYNOPSIS
Again I want to reiterate, this path we are getting ready to walk down is tumultuous at best, dangerous to say the least but someone has got to do it.

They went first                  They got the credit
Claudette colvin               Rosa Parks
Gabriel Prosser               Nat Turner
Fred Shuttlesworth          Martin Luther King, Jr.
Joseph Rainey                 Adam Clayton Powell
Ralph J. Bunche              Toni Morrison

It is typical that we hold up who we want to hold up. Treasure who we want to treasure. Idolize who we want to be idols, but typically the person who goes first never gets credit for being first. This is going to be a thankless job.

Welcome to “what Black Men Think” So who wants to go first?