The P.O.S.H. Life (Pursuit of Strength & Health)

Warning: Chauncey is about to get sarcastic.

So, the sound track for the segment on Black Men should have been Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues”. Ya’ll know the line: “Makes me wanna Holla throw up both my hands, yeah! make me wanna throw up my hands.” I felt from the division of the issues that Black men was not going to fair well. Wednesday night: Black Women and Family, how nice of them to link Black women and family together in one night.

Baby Jesus knows we can’t spend too much time on Black women and surely we can’t be expected to pull much from the Black family in about an hour; but the Black man. Heck yeah, give him all night to pick out prison stats, college enrollment stats, absentee father stats, high school drop out stats, fatherless boys stats, hmmm oh yeah, drug use and drug career stats. Let me crunch the stats, hmm, 2a + (1-3) - 7(b) - 12 (4 + 8- ab + bc = lawd jayzus.

Warning: Chauncey is about to get serious.

It is quite a task to try to put content under the title of “ Black in America.” I think O’Brien did a great job of talking to a wide range of people and some of the stories were truly touching. She did a reasonable job of incorporating the negative things because America need to see that side of reality. However, I do think some form of balance should have been used along with more substantial discussions about solutions.

The one thing that I thought could really just be gone forever and I wouldn’t shed a tear was that poet dude. I love arts and a major supporter of it, but the spoken word brother was killing me. He was annoying because he seemed to take away from the seriousness of the presentation. .

This episode was more depressing for me than the previous one because it just reminded me of all of the problems that face our community. We were presented (once again) with the crack epidemic, criminality, lack of job opportunities, discrimination, prison and on and on. So many young black men become resigned to a fate that they are doomed to a life of crime, violence and drugs. Many of them will die in prison.

Good stuff CNN.

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I was watching CNN's Black in America tonight. Several things were disturbing to me in this documentary. However the most glaring, due to my writings for P.O.S.H., was the health disparity experienced by Blacks in America. There are several things I came to realize regarding African- Americans and being healthy like our white counter-parts. We are fighting a war with few foot-soldiers. Health is probably the topic we as a community are least educated about. We also tend to gloss over the topic and often times are not a part of the solution.

How do we close the gap? I watched a woman during the program speaking about her trip to find a tomato in Harlem taking an hour. One whole hour for produce!! This is inconceivable in my world.
Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is a vicious cycle for numerous reasons. Large grocery stores will not service the black community for various reasons from crime, lower income patrons, and lower revenue for the food chain. The lack of large chain grocery stores leads to smaller stores supplying food to our communities. Which equals mark up. If produce is expensive for me, imagine how expensive it is in the inner community. These small stores only stock non perishable goods where they can see return on their inventory. Produce, fruits and vegetables spoil, especially if no one is there to buy them.

Here in Las Vegas an initiative was taken to bring a major grocery store to the inner city. One will open in the heart of North Las Vegas in the next few weeks, bringing healthy food to the community.

Lack of education. Many of you reading this blog have given P.O.S.H. e-high fives and kudos for providing you information about health and fitness that you were not aware of before. We are all products of our environments. The reality is the Black environment is not one of health whether you are rich or poor. Imagine the health education disparity in our urban hubs if YOU are unaware of how to live a healthy life. Most Blacks have no idea that it takes good eating habits and exercise to live longer and be healthy.

Exercise- you and I can go to the gym. Most of you reading this post have a gym membership and don't use it. There are no gyms in the inner city. But there are community centers. I was at a North Las Vegas community center this weekend for a health fair. Treadmills sat empty, weight machines were quiet. However, the community center by my house is cracking 24/7 in a white neighborhood. You have to sign a list and can only use a machine for 20 minutes. This problem is two fold. Black people are unaware of the importance of exercise to sustain a healthy life and many people are unaware of programs, facilities, and plans to live healthy lives.

What do we do?

Step 1. Educate yourself. By reading P.O.S.H. you are taking a stand. So keep going and keep learning!! Take what you read here and expound on it!!
Step 2. Implement what you learn. Don't just read about it be about it!
Step 3. Be a testament. Pass your knowledge on to your friends and family. Force those around you to see the benefits of healthy living. The thing I have realized is the more weight I lose and the more healthy I become, it shows!! People are interested in my secret and I am more than happy to give it. You would be surprised how little we know about this topic.

If we are able to pass on our knowledge things in our community will change. Its all about supply and demand. If we demand produce, stores must supply these goods. If we demand gyms or exercise facilities like the YMCA or community centers, they must be built! If we are silent ....we remain statistics.

We all know it takes a village. But the journey begins with you.

What are your thoughts about this topic and how will you participate in changing health in the Black community? How did you feel we were portrayed in the CNN documentary? Read More......