by Ifama Jackson
Though I am not a "religious" person. I have found a lot of truth stated from religious leaders. In my quest to understand the duty of a man and the Black Man in particular, I am always reminded of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

In an article in the "Muhammad Speaks" newspaper in 1971 in the writing entitled "The Black Man’s Duty," The Honorable Elijah Muhammad stated that: "THE DUTY of the Black Man is to do something for his Black self and Black kind. THE DUTY of the BLACK MAN IS self-preservation.

"EVERY LIFE that is created on the planet earth has a duty. It is bound to this duty, by nature, to do something for self.

"THE ONCE slave Black Man in America--enslaved by the White people, his White slave master and enemy, made the Black Man a subject and keeps him a subject by depriving the Black Man of the knowledge of self and the doing for self.

"These are the two most hated things, which the White man hates to have come to the Black Man--the freedom to DO something for Black self and the freedom to THINK for his Black self.

"He hates for the Black Man to be a visionary for his Black self. He hates for the Black Man to control ideas that will produce recognizable constructive plans and doing for Black self.

"We are just entering into a day and time that we should have had 100 years ago."

As women we must understand the fear that was put in him by his captors and nurtured by our fear for his life, retarded him.

Yes, we feared for their lives but even though that time has past in part, we are still doing the same behavior, not "allowing" (and this has a lot to do with submission--which isn’t in itself a negative thing contrary to what we have been told) MEN to lead in a world lead by MEN.

Due to our circumstances the "role" of man in the European mind could not be accomplished by the enslaved African, or later by the newly "freed" Black man.

Black men and Black women equally worked in the fields; bore the lash and carried assignments given to us by our captors, regardless of gender. We didn’t and still shouldn’t have questions to our equality to one another, or our VALUE.

We were equal in our enslavement and we are equal now. What is different is our ROLE in a "society." I think we should quantify what a "role" is. Simply it is something we do; it is not the total of who we ARE.

Naturally, men and women have roles based on their physical being. Physically men are stronger and more aggressive.

Now I know some of you are going to say that there are some physically strong women out there, but I think the strengths are different.

For instance, even though a woman could lift 150 pounds, it is a different lift then it would be if a man did it. We have internal organs that men do not have and these organs are affected by what we do.

As a woman, I couldn’t continually keep bench pressing 150 pounds and it not affect my capability to bear children. But men can.

Think about it. Our men must understand as well that as Africans we did not view the role of the man as the European does and it goes against our nature for them to do so.

I am going to close this out with this. You know, for all the hoopla in the feminist/womanist movement, you will not "ever" find in writing, song, or poem a White woman, Asian women, Latina woman, Native American woman, saying that she doesn’t need a her man. At least, I haven’t, have you? Show and Prove if you have!!

Nor will you see coined in a phrase "the strong White woman," "the strong Asian woman," "the strong Latina woman" or the "strong Native American woman."

On the other hand WE, Black women, wear it on T-shirts, write poems about it, books about it, sing songs about it, etc.

These actions infer that our men are weak and send an unspoken and sometimes yelled message that we don’t need our men.

It emasculates OUR men and then WE blame them for being weak. We are doing it, of course through the psychological manipulation of those in power (White men and women--don’t you forget about HER, their FIRST teacher) and the implementation of a system that was used to replace him as the bread winner in a society that says the bread winner is the head of the household.

Even with the manipulation and implementation of this system WE still fed into it, hook, line and sinker. Our frustration of being unprotected and our ignorance to the GAME, in a society ruled by MEN, allowed us to latch on to and feed into the further destruction of the ability of our men to STEP TO OTHER MEN!!!

The male and female have the responsibility to Defend, Protect and Provide for the group. But it is my knowledge that wars instigated by MEN must be retaliated against under the leadership of MEN (we know some Sisters are gonna want to fight and who CAN fight). BUT STILL, IT MUST BE LED BY MEN AGAINST MEN. I know that our problems are solvable but the BLACK MAN MUST STEP UP.