HEALING THE SOUL OF BLACK MEN IN AMERICA

photo of black elegance of miriam chemmoss

A BLACK WOMAN'S SMILE by Ty Gray-El 

Do women understand how much depth is required of a man to listen to your poem, A BLACK WOMAN'S SMILE ? For a man to embrace the depth of these words do Black women need to care about the difficulty we have facing this poem of yours? Black women respond to this poem out of relief. As a release being validated by a man, and other reasons not obvious at first glance this poem has medicinal value. Women embrace this poem outside of the realm of what men fully grasp. Men, black men and white men, hear things in this narration they cannot process within themselves or share between the various aspects of themselves, or with other men with true clarity. That being said sharing, beyond applause and cheering, with women on the raised subjects within BLACK WOMAN’S SMILE, is out of the question. Ain’t gonna happen for too many black men, and precious few white men. It is too much.

I’ve seen some of the comments from white men, and they tend towards fear. But Black men are from another mother. Black American manhood, like our white male cousins, shrouds itself in secrets, and regrets, and we, Black men, tend to wear them as a rough exterior, or a show of force, strength, and a manly presence. In retrospect, I notice how few men respond to this subject, and the subjects raised by your poem, Ty, with the sensibility that resonates with Black Women’s sensibilities, and their sense of Womanhood. Because your words conjure up our culpability, and our guilt we flinch behind cheers, and praise of the poem. Stirring painful reflections without a sacred process will not change men into the men their families need, and their women need. Most men can only cheer, and applaud to cover, by sound, the truths stirred, the memories evoked of actions and beliefs seen in new light sparked by your poem.

There are spiritual responsibilities not being met, and from this poem it is clear that introspection is required to be a tool, a guide towards the actions strong and wise enough to led us towards the Spiritual Responsibilities we have as men, and as men for our women. We cannot listen to this poem without thinking of our hands blooded by a belief-system we hold against the very nature of the womb we come from and the wombs we seek as men. The poem you have been given is the old conjurer-woman in the tradition of conjuring up the powers of being, the powers of Ancestors, and movement of Spirits that agitate for the strength to see ourselves, and what we truly believe.

This poem is about what we have done to our women; what we have believed and felt. This is Truth telling! In the deepest sense this is the spiritual work required of us as a people. That white man has no hand in this work until we mature enough to bring him in to add his piece, his medicine. ~Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories, 2009

photo of a black elegant & mature Danica