Missing Calling in Baltimore: "Sheila Dixon and the Women Saviors"

Too bad the news out of Baltimore is not good. Its first elected female Mayor, who happens to be African American, has been found guilty on embezzlement charges. It was a charge amongst several others, but the others were dropped, and there is still one that is coming up.

To say the least, the guilty charge handed out by a jury of her peers (Most African Americans) were on a petty act of stealing a petty $500 in gift certificates. But the legal consensus seems to be that its not 'how much' but on the principle that it was taken illegally.

What does this has to do with 'women saviors'? Well it depends on the context that you are coming from.

Let's take a second to explore the backdrop in a city that is about 65% African American. For the most part, it is comprised of a minority within a minority which are African American men who have qualitatively and quantitatively failed--miserably--thanks to an indifferent system. They've fallen, not necessarily due exclusively to any fault of their own. Baltimore is a city with a racist past whose racial effects are playing a latent visit on Black men (And, by extension, Black women). It's a past that has been festively developing a foundation for perpetuating racial oppression as the years evolve.

Racism can claim a great victory there in Baltimore as the historical groundwork of it's massive oppression is potently manifested in Baltimore's black society today. It's conundrum of distress that many do not (or cannot) escape. The word often used (or not used) to help describe the negative and prolific effects of a ingrained malfunction like racism is systemic. This systemic reality playing itself out in Baltimore shouldn't be seen as freak show, i.e., only in Baltimore, but it should be rightly perceived as a microcosm of a deeper national (if not international) disorder.

A good definition of systemic can be described as something that becomes a part of the ordinary fabric of society even if it is oppressive and racist.

Getting back to the 'women saviors', most Black women have failed to recognize their role in attempting to blunt the harsh effects of a society that is drenched in the stench of years of historical oppression where they where the co-victims (and still are). For sure,they have been systemically pitted against their own men.

Currently, Baltimore has a black woman as an Attorney General who authoritatively presides within a penal culture where probably 70% of the prisoners are black men. The penal culture doesn't just imprison someone behind 4 physical walls, but it's a process that includes other processes, like probation, drugs, and a plethora pictures that depict powerlessness, with the ultimate goal of binding the spirit of her and her black man. Hence, the majority of black men in Baltimore are in a penal culture, with little escape except to become an onlooker (the system supplies that too) or just become a wanderer. While one may argue and point to cases of black men being materialistically successful and having titles and high positions, etc., and then point to a church erected on every corner with black men with titles of Bishops, Doctors an Arch this and that, they are missing the point.

If Sheila Dixon is forced to relinquish her elected position as the Mayor (Which seems all but inevitable), well another black woman is waiting in line. She, too has presided as a an attorney working knowingly (or should know) in a penal culture where the situation for her Black men in Baltimore are dire. So as an attorney, if she didn't do anything to rectify the plight, then what in the hell will she do (If ever a proposal comes about) if she ascends to Mayor. Black women, as I am portending in this article, have a special calling there in Baltimore. But, will the call ever be answered. Will Black women continue to be the front person for a systemically racist society for placing more black men in prison for things non-child support, or will they be able to see a cause and effect and thus be able to spearhead real liberation of the black family? Probably not.

Let's say that his name is John Doe. John, a friend of mine, recently was sent to prison for non-child support. He was sentenced to 7 years. Now that in itself should prove a point. The system says it cares about the child. Please. Anyway, how can John be able to pay any child support during the 7 years that he is imprisoned. For sure, after that 7 years, he will become 7 years more in the hole. Go figure.

Many have boasted about how powerful elected black women are in Baltimore. Well, it may be just a cliche. Historically, Black people have been used by a white male society to pull down their own. Once the deed is done (Or, not done), or once they don't have any need for you, you become dispensable.

Once black women understand that the indispensability of their black men means their own indispensability, then they will be able to sense a divine calling'--a call to play a more proactive role in the salvation of their black men.

If they can't do that, then their little junket in a high public office or a powerful position is simply folly.

Not until both black women and men understand how they are intertwined in their journeys on earth, then observers will always see that people are going up in the world, and then coming back down, as planned.

Dixon's situation is not an aberration. It is a systemic pattern of black people delusion about filling a public office, but, at the same time, being powerless to change anything except for what they are allowed to change. The sad story is that Ms. Dixon has been bought as so many blacks have by the attraction of materialism. In that attraction, they have failed their calling as black women. And, the fundamental joke for this one is that it was for a mere $500 worth of gift cards. Gee whiz!