Men by their nature are territorial.   In being territorial men in their minds will create boundaries between their territory and the outside world.   In a man’s natural state everything inside the boundary is good and everything outside is bad.   Now a man’s boundary can range from simply his personal space which is roughly three feet away from his body to joining with other men to create a boundary which extends over entire continents.   I want to talk more about the later.

Throughout history men have joined with other men in order create boundaries based on the whole group.   These groups include sports teams, street gangs, religious orders, secret societies, and warrior clans.   Some of the well-known groups of men who have done this are the Samurai of Japan, the Nazis of Germany, the Jesuits, the Mau Mau and the Israeli Mossad.   These men came together and created boundaries based on strict codes.   These men were able to accomplish famous and infamous works based on their boundaries.  So why am I talking about this?

On social media there has always been much talk about Black Men coming to together to form productive networks, a culture, communities.   When men come together to accomplish something it’s not a social gathering where men throw out ideas, talk big things, and nothing gets accomplished.    If any group of Black men are serious about creating anything concrete they have to first come together to create a boundary to bind them together.

See one of the mistakes many Black men have made in trying to create movement, culture, or community, is that the boundaries have been weak or ill-defined.   If the boundaries are weak anyone can penetrate and disrupt the movement.  Indeed it’s why many movements initiated by Black men have failed.  If they had succeeded the Black community would look vastly different.

So the first thing any group of men must do is create a code to define the boundary of the movement or society.  The Japanese Samurai had a definite code which governed who was in their group and who was not.   Their code defined how they interacted with those people who were within their boundary and those who were not.   Anyone couldn’t be a Samurai.   This is the case with warrior clans in any society.  Even in modern times, a street gang is a boundary based on certain codes.

Once the code is created there must be a part of the code which controls the entry of men into the boundary.   For example, sports teams are boundaries.   A man must try out for the team.   If he doesn’t have what it takes he is simply cut.   A true boundary doesn’t give participation trophies.  Black men in creating a movement cannot allow someone to simply say they are part of the movement.   They have require that a man wanting to enter into the boundary perform some type of task in order gain admittance.   In this way, the man demonstrates his seriousness and also his willingness to promote the aims of the group.

In addition to part of the code allowing for entry into the boundary there must be a part of the code that punishes negative behavior.   Too many movements by Black men have been sabotaged not so much by traitorous individuals but because these traitorous individuals didn’t face any repercussions for their actions.  A part of the code has to tell a man that there are consequences for violating the boundary.   If there are no consequences for negative actions then that boundary is weak and ineffective.

In seeking real power Black men have to first establish their own personal boundary.  They have to enforce that boundary even to the point of violent action.   Then those men must join in a collective with other men of similar values.   It is the joining together of these in a boundary created and enforced by a strong code that enables them to accomplish anything humanly possible.