Wes Moore: Salon Interview IIII

Both you and the other Wes Moore make some bad decisions - at one point he tries to stab somebody - because you are unwilling to lose face. Do you think the culture of machismo among many young black men is part of the problem?

I think there is a larger problem in terms of understanding what manhood is. We have so many families in so many situations where people don't have men in the home, so they don't know what manhood really means. There are so many women across the country who have the extraordinary burden of raising their children on their own. My mom said, ¨I can try to teach you how to be a good human being, but I can never teach you how to be a man.¨

We need to have a stronger system of support in order for that to change. Seeing so many kids feeling so alone and looking for acceptance, if we're not willing to show these kids a larger sense of community, those guys in the gangs will. One of the great things about this book was creating ties with organizations across the country doing work with communities and kids that are largely forgotten about.

Another new memoir, Thomas Chatterton Williams' "Losing My Cool," argues that hip-hop has a toxic effect on the black community. Do you think that's true?

When a lot of kids listen to music and look at movies, they can't tell the difference between fact and fiction. But I think it's as difficult to throw a blanket over hip-hop, as it is over any musical genre. I think it has a clear responsibility as far as the level of influence it has. I've listened to it since its inception. It was a burgeoning musical genre in the Bronx when I was growing up, and it has grown with me. It's like other musical genres - some is fantastic, and some is not.

Source: http://www.salon.com/2010/05/09/wes_moore_interview/