Too Important To Fail by Tavis Smiley

Tavis Smiley has written a very rich nonfiction book. It's fully documented with fine organizations and universities like Howard University which have decided that our young men are "Too Important To Fail." Every page left me wanting to pull back time and reach for my Black sons or other young Black men to make sure they know the importance of their presence on this earth. Without the young black male growing and thriving like a strong tree our society will hasten to failure. All of us must come together and aid the young males who come often come from troubled backgrounds. Their roots, their origins, are not their fault. They were put wherever that place might be whether New York, Chicago, Washington D.C. or a small rural town which no one has heard of in Georgia, Alabama or Mississippi or Indiana to grow to become a person who will make our society better. The Black males not just the White males are meant to become school teachers, scientists, doctors, musicians, artists, mathematicians and computer wizards. They are definitely capable, but first all feet have to be removed from their heads stamping them before they can sway with the wind and dance to their tune of success..

These young men want to learn, but society sees a stereotype. Society does not see young Black men hungering for a career like any other boy. These boys should not be judged before they are taught. Parents must see themselves as partners with the schools. Schoolteachers must love and want to nurture these Black males. They are not the thief, murderer or hoodlum they saw on a television show or on the elevator. They must see the child as one of the innocent ones who is poverty stricken because there isn't a job or enough food for breakfast and dinner. They must  glean from their minds the idea that only the rich, white boys are worthy to learn, have the intelligence to learn a poem, write an equation and finally graduate from level to level on into college.

Tavis Smiley uses his own words as well as the quotes from well known and thoroughtly educated people in their field to get across the point that we must not allow any boy in our society to waste away in a jail cell. Another reason it is so hard for these boys is because when this book was written 83% of the school teachers were white. A Black male could go all the way through elementary school before seeing and being taught by a Black man. There weren't and probably are not now many males who go into teaching. I am sure more Black men would choose this career if they knew about the problems faced by Black boys in the educational system. The white teacher see the Black boy not as an achiever but as a statistic.These statistics are hidden like a needle in a haystack. Not many of us in the community truly know what is happening in the school system.

Tavis Smiley has written a difficult subject with empathy and simplicity. I felt so afraid it would be too hard for me to understand. From the first page I was captured by the necessity to look after these young Black boys. It is a book I would keep on the shelf to go back to again and again. It is a book which will never grow old. The advice is wise and as necessary as breakfast is to children every morning before school. On the positive side it surprised me to read the names of all the organizations available, and who are willing to help in this dire and huge situation which has gone unnoticed or cared about for so long. By the way, Special Education is not the answer. I must say thank you to Tavis Smiley for writing such an informative book.tavistalks, twittertavissmiley