No, not at all. In our community and culture; family ain’t the children your father or birth, family is anyone who you are responsible for and anyone who is responsible for you.
In the housing project where I grew up I had all kinds of Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, and way too many Cousins to count. In the Hood when I’d introduce my Cousin Ricky, no one would say “dats yo momma’s friends son, he ain’t no kin to you.” That would be crazy. That’s way my cousin. We all rode together.
I know after Integration many Blacks adopted the Western notion of Family and Nuclear Family; but not all of us.
I know women who’ve never given birth but are responsible for teaching and rearing more children than women who’ve birthed 5 or more children.
I have 4 official mothers that I answer to; my Mother, my Grandmother, my Great Aunt, and my big Sister, then my Grandmothers best friend, and my mothers best friend, my homies mothers, the mean old lady that owned the local candy store; depending on the time and location, there were many mothers in the hood for me when I needed one, or didn’t think I needed one and really did.
So if a Black person is truly down with Black Power then they got family, and they are responsible for the youth, it matter not if they birth or father children or not. They got family, it don’t matter if they share blood or not.
In the Black Power struggle, we all family, so you can’t be down for Black Power and not have family, that’s automatic family, or it ain’t Black Power.
We need to rebult the “We All Family” value system and networks that were weakened by Integration. Then we’d see the futility of trying to shame Blacks who don’t want to have “their own children,” and accept that we all are responsible for each other and each others children.
