Responsibility and Rights

67% of all people between the ages of  15 - 24 yrs of age with reported cases  sexually transmitted Chlamydia infections are African American.

25% of all African American males report having sexual intercourse by their 13th birthday.

Dr. Diane Straub, Associate Professor, University of South Florida, reporting on most recent statistics on sexual activity in teens and young adults.

When I was a child, there was immense pride and shame within the African American community in which I was raised.  My mother was an officer in the NAACP and the Urban league.  She taught us to advocate for our rights, our voice, and our seat at the proverbial table.  I can remember also the shame that we would own when someone else, African American would do something less than honorable.  It was a different time, and dare I say, a different culture.

In the 1970's, it seemed to be all about rights.  We took responsibility for our actions (almost to a point of pathology) in order to prove to others, and ourselves, that we deserved the rights we were rallying in for.  Interestingly, the entire neighborhood seemed to be keeping us accountable for our character and it was always tied to sense of demonstrating our worthiness for the rights our parents were demanding.

Today, I was listening to a speaker at American Academy of Pediatrics Adolescent Review course, and she shared the statistics I listed at the beginning of the blog.  I have heard the sad state of affairs in regards to early sexual activities and the high incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STI) in the African American community for sometime.  More over, my pediatric practices have witnessed the tragic consequences of said behavior.  Case after case of incredibly promiscuous behavior that is seen as the norm.  There is no sense of shame, no community outrage, no alarm, just a mix of an apathetic acceptance and deliberate denial of our behavior.  

I know that there are systematic things at work such as grinding poverty, economic injustice, and discrimination.  However, Its time that African Americans  fight for responsibilities like we used to fight for right.  Wholeness comes when we are able to redeem our mind, bodies, souls, and relationships.    This does not come from a program or a specific benefit, but a wholesale change in the cultural norms, which is defined by community and codified by culture.

Dr. Straub reported studies that showed that authoratative parenting where parents demonstrate firm boundaries, limits, and expectations significantly reduces early sexual activity.  Simple activities such as tracking our children, have amazing abilities to help encourage sexual wholeness.  These are community interventions.

I have been praying about what my community can do to help change culture.  No more blaming, no more stalling.  Just organizing and communicating a new sense of expectation, a new sense of responsibility, and new sense of wholeness.

Daring to make a difference,

God bless,

Pastor M Traylor