I have grown frustrated over the past few years regarding the lack of attention paid to inner city gun violence. The greatest mortality risk for a young black male growing up in the inner cities today is not at the hands of our police departments. This demographic is most likely to die at the hands of other young black men. In retrospect, most of these murderers lack any significant male role model in their lives. Hundreds of young black children have been gunned down in the city of Chicago alone over the past year, yet the death of Cecil the Lion and Michael Brown received more attention than all of these victims combined. For years, I assumed that the public’s apathy regarding this epidemic problem was simply due to the subtle soft racism of lowered expectations. However, I just recently realized that this persistent neglect by the mainstream media may be due to the lack of a catchy slogan for the cause. I think it is long past the time that we actually had one. I recommend that we use the slogan “Black Dads Matter.”
As a caring individual and a Clinical Social Worker, I totally agree!