Cool title for an insightful op-ed.
It invokes an image of a race consuming its own. Referring to yet another incident involving black rapper thugs killing, shooting, and stabbing each other, Anthony Beal writes:
On its face, the record party incident is but the latest act in a seemingly unending stream of black-on-black violence in a hip-hop community so saturated with glamorized aggression that many feel it barely rates as news at all. Viewed through the racist eye, events of this nature serves only to lend credence to the notion that blacks deserve none of the rights and freedoms that our ancestors struggled and died to earn for us, because our race is inherently incapable of civility. Examined in broader context, they speak to the current state of the African-American psyche in a culture unmatched at pandering to its lowest common denominator…
Consider that self-destruction is mass-marketed to the African-American youth community more than to any other demographic. Those reading this whose first impulse is to disagree are invited to revisit the malt liquor advertising wars of the early 1990′s, a time when it seemed that getting a “forty” (a forty-ounce bottle of cheaply-produced beer of a higher than usual alcohol content) into the hand of every African-American male in our country was imperative. Popularized by hiphop artists through advertising and rap lyrics, its consumption was aggressively marketed to impressionable black youth as an indication of masculine virility. Long-term social impact and health detriments notwithstanding, there was money to be made, and our sons and brothers were there for the fleecing.
If American blacks, as a group, don’t start: 1) marrying before they have children, 2) stigmatizing illegitimacy as they once did, 3) ostracizing immorality and decadency, 4) holding themselves accountable for their children’s low educational achievement, 5) shunning criminality, and 6) resisting the “racism” hustle — moral decay, social pathologies, underachievement, and other ills will define the “black community.”
And thug culture will be the perverse crown jewel sitting at the top.
Addendum: It’s important to note that I’m advocating responsibility for individuals and responsibility within families. Without a return to strong and intact families, the tasks ahead will be extremely difficult to accomplish.
Black people do not need another propped-up, opportunistic so-called leader helping them do anything. I believe blacks as a group have the intellectual, spiritual and cultural knowledge they need to dig out of this hole. It requires policing our own and holding one another accountable for our actions, not listening to some stump speech from a puffed-up peacock. So please don’t comment on this thread about leaders for the black community, especially if you’re white. 
