A few day ago, I was at an event with other publishers of the Black Publishers Association in Oakland, and one of the authors, a black male, made an observation I thought about and saw as significant. His comment was this: "Black men don't read books."

Of the many people purchasing our books, he and I observed that they were all females; no males; not even a male browser or two. So by the next day I had developed signs provoking thought and a bit of friction on the subject. Our signed asked, "Do Black men read Books?"

From that provocation, we got into a discussion with one man, and he bought two books; another man claimed that he is the reader in his family and his wife enjoys being read to by him; one female was outraged at the thought that someone would ask such a question; still another woman observed that her husband reads too much, and she hates reading--poor fellow.

Whereas these were opinions voiced, our sign forked no real lightning on this matter that Black males do not read. Yes, it is a general statement that could apply to all, but it has room for exclusions. Second, it comes from one who has standing to make it: a Black male with an afrocentric perspective and who is a Black publisher.

While this observation may be argued by some, it is without equivocation that Black men do not read enough books! We observed Black male after Black male blithely passing by our display in their own self-assuredness, toying, as one blind man to another about things they could not see but unperturbed by their condition.

This failure to read by a certain class of Black males is quite disturbing for a number of reasons: first, any man or person who fails to read probably has no insight into life, and without insight, he has no foresight for the future, and without foresight, such a person will not regard hindsight as of any value. This man cannot guide a family and position his children for anything but failure; furthermore, this person cannot properly guide and control his own life.

Second, a person cannot properly learn if he merely listens to himself and the limitations of his own experiences. His experiences, regardless of how vast, are not to be compared with the experiences of the ages found in reading. That is precisely what reading brings to a person: multitudes of experience and know-how a person could never get in his/her single life time.

The sad soul who thinks that reading is just the exploration of someone else's ideas, and he has his own, is a fool and has never engaged himself in the life of the mind and does not even know what that life is. He is living in the flesh with all it vast limitations; he thinks he is alive, but he is the walking dead who is concerned about things that are peculiar to the dead.

Years ago, when the Black Muslims were headed by Elijah Mohammed, his followers would walk along the streets of America selling their newspapers, saying they were raising the dead Black man of America. They were correct in many aspects, for if one fails to read, he is surely dead. And whereas one dear Black woman was outraged that someone would say such a thing about Black males, "I dare they say such a thing!" she needs to assess the truth of this matter coming from Afrocentric teachers concerned for the Black male.

The United Negro College Fund has this expression: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." And in that everyone knows they are correct, yet there are too many Black male minds being lost through a failure to develop them through the reading process. There are, indeed, too many Black males out flexing the muscles of the body, but allowing the muscle of the mind to atrophy. They may be physically muscular, but the most important muscle is often overlooked by many Black men.

Any man can beget a child in a female, but not any man can be a father. A father is a guide to a family, and there are critical periods of child-raising that children go through, especially Black male children, and they need a strong, intelligent father to guide them at those times. Brawn is not enough; brains are required; modeling behavior is required; wise precepts are required; and reading is required for sensibility as a father and as a human being.

And don't be deceived, street wisdom is no wisdom at all, other than to the weak and beggarly brothers of this nation who refuse to read, yet deceive themselves into thinking that sexual and physical prowess is enough to get them through life.

I will admit that this problem is not peculiar to Black men: white males, Asian males, and Hispanic males often refuse to read as well. But my concern here is the Black male's failure and the significance of that failure to read on them and Black people generally.

The male is the warrior class of Black and all people, and when our warriors won't read, the battle will go sorely for us. Black men who refuse to read actually stereotype all Black men as being dunces; furthermore, they cripple themselves into a certain feeble-mindedness, and will probably die, having left nothing on this earth except a reputation of scandalous dollybird hunting and many children as evidence of their focus in life. And the children whom they leave will be left with nothing, except alone. How tragic an epitaph; how sad a life.