By:  Tommy “Tj” Sotomayor

As I got ready to turn in, my heart was warmed when I saw a story that came across my desk about a group of young men who dared defy the social norm of thug attire that most black young men feel forced to don not only by white society but mostly by their own people!  We not live in a social climate that if you look anything less than a guy who is about to rob a convenient store then you will be called soft or other names I dare not put in print!

The story below is proof that when you think outside the box, you can then create your own! Way to go brothers.. Make sure you watch their video!

Now these brothers look good and that there is no denying but look at the confidence they have with each other. Oddly enough it reminds me of how angry the brothers were over the NBA asking them to dress up but what did we do as black men?  We turned the nice dressy look into a fashion as well.  Understand black men and boys, everything we touch turns to gold!  Yes, we made saggin a fashion, clothes backwards a fashion.  Pretty much, anything the black man does, the world will do so whats next?

Black boys looks suave and going to school feeling high class while in class!  This should be the wave of the future because so a man thinketh so is he and these brother dont feel violent in this gear. They dont feel disinfranchised in these clothes.  Nope, they feel like they belong!  I will surely go and visit this school ASAP!  Now I am not just saying this because I am an old man because I myself used to wear suits to the club as a young man after I got my first job because It felt good to go to work with it and later on I got my younger brother and his friends doing it so I know from experience how clothing can change the mood and attitudes of those who wear them..

Brother we are doing right and looking right, I am not telling you what to do or who to do but dont lower yourself for anyone.  When have you seen a group of our counterparts trying to show how they can look great in large numbers and not have tattoos and show off their back sides?  I just ask because well, it would be nice to see the black girls come out like this too!

Besides, when is the last time you saw a stree fight between guys in suits?? LOL!~T.S.

This is an inspiring story of a few teens who got tired of constantly seeing the negative stereotypes that the media has a habit of attributing to young, black males so they decided to do something about it! Check it out below…

Black male students at Illinois’ Central and Centennial High School put together “Suit & Tie in the 217″ to offer a counter-narrative for young black men. For Black History Month, they released a video of students dressed to the nines with the messages “we are not gangsters and thugs,” “we are employees and volunteers,” “we are scholars” and “we are athletes.”

“The negative stories told daily in the media and in our culture about our young African-American men tend to ignore their successes and don’t tell the full story about how young Black men are becoming leaders within our community schools,” said Central High counselor Tiffany Gholson, who worked with the students on the effort. “In this video, our students reclaim the narrative of who they are and inspire other students to follow in their footsteps.” – Via NewsOne

Props to these teens for taking the initiative to combat all the negative images of young, black males that we are flooded with daily by replacing it with some more positive images! Keep up the good work fellas!