The question is not how did the Black man in America get into this condition, where his status has become the mockery of the world? The question is, how does he get out of it and reclaim the dignity of his rightful role as the origin from which all human life sprang forth?

The Lord�s prayer starts like this: "Our Father which art in heaven." And that�s where the Black man must start if he is to correct his condition.

The mind of the Black man must look heavenward, not necessarily into the sky dreaming of some metaphysical land of milk and honey where angels with wings fly peacefully. Black men must elevate their thinking, as the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has stressed, into the thinking of God, Himself.

God is a righteous god. The Black man must seek to become righteous. God is a producer. The Black man must become productive. God loves. The Black man must seek to demonstrate love, particularly for himself.

The Black man cannot continue to blame white people for his condition, although Blacks must never forget the diabolical role whites played and must continue to fight for reparations that are justly due. But, this is the year 2001 and the slavery Blacks suffer today is a mental one. Mental slavery is the most damaging form of slavery because in this state the Black man doesn�t realize he is a slave.

Black men must claim his children, just as God claims us as His. Too many of our young males reflect the condition of their environment, terrorizing their community while trying to demonstrate a misguided manhood. Whether or not the young Black males in your communities are your biological sons, Black men must increase their presence in the lives of these youths and become mentors for those who don�t have fathers present.

Black male youth suffer for the lack of proper examples in their lives of real manhood.

Black men must respect and protect the Black woman, the mother of the child that she must teach to grow up to respect the father. There is no greater treasure than a woman who produces a family for a man and instills love in the children for the father. But she will only do this if she feels that kind of love herself for the father.

Black men need to earn the love and trust of Black women, who suffer tremendously as a result of the Black man�s condition.

During the Million Man March, convened Oct. 16, 1995 by Min. Farrakhan, across the nation tears flowed from the eyes of Black women because the day touched a place in the hearts of many of them that had not been touched in a long time�� a place where there dwells a love and hope for the emergence of a righteous, strong and dedicated Black man to take a stand and claim his place in this society and the world.

Black men don�t need the social scientists of this world to regurgitate explanations of the Black condition, all the while offering solutions that have not and will not work. The Black community as a whole must remember that the goal of this society is not to elevate Black men, but to keep them down. Ultimately, it�s about power and who will rule.

No, Black men don�t need the science of this world to correct their condition. They only need the help of God and a desire to do something for themselves, their wives and their children.

And it all starts with a good father.