On March 3 there was a program hosted by Couture Production, Essence of Praise, and Ladies of Excellence called For Colored Girls. This program, like many other ones, focused on the many trials and tribulations of black women on this campus.

The program consisted of singing, dancing, and personal testimonies of black women who had been beaten, abused, or cast to the side by society. Although the program was very uplifting, it much like many other events hosted on this campus, leads me to ask, “Does anyone on this campus care about the issues educated black males face?”

By no means am I attempting to take away from the struggles of black women. However, I do find it hard to understand why black women want men to understand their problems, and the things they go through, and rarely ask, or even care to ask, what things do black men go through.

With there being such a small number of black males in college, I assure you, the struggles we face are just as bad as yours.  Too often on this campus I think we forget that outside of this campus, black men are not the hottest things on the market.

With thousands of black men in prison, black men all over the country struggling to find jobs after college, and an overwhelming number of black men dying at the hands of gang violence, it amazes me that people find the struggles of black men easy. We feel the same pain as black women.

Black men suffer from AIDS, cancer, mental abuse, fatherless homes, physical abuse, drug abuse, and every other pain imaginable. From personal experience I can testify to that.

This life is not easy by any stretch of the imagination. Everyone has a story that is worth telling. However, every time I hear the sad sad story of another black woman I wonder how many black men around the globe have stories that will never be told.

I assume as men we are to remain silent about our pain. The pain of black men, especially educated black men, is rarely told.

The world may see people like Barack Obama, Martin Luther King, and Denzel Washington and see that the possibilities are endless. However, we rarely see the road it took many of these men to get to this point. We never see the many times these men cried at night in their private corner just because life as an educated black man in America is not all it is cracked up to be.

It is a blessing to make it through any situation; however, I think many people take the issues of black men very lightly. There are no “Diary of a Mad Black Man” movies.

I’ve never seen a movie that describes the troubles of “For Colored Guys.”  

With the exception of Higher Learning, I cannot think of too many movies or stories that reflect on the struggles of young educated black men. I love to hear about the struggles of black women, but after a while it becomes repetitive.

Where are the stories, plays, events, movies, books, etc. about black men? Is it too much for the world to tell our story too?

I want to hear the story of the 20-year-old single black father who is trying to handle being a real man and a college student at the same time. I wouldn’t mind going to the movies to see a story about a 35 year old black man who went back to school just to better help the community he grew up in.

Why not tell the story of a black man whom his father raised because his mother walked out on the family. Maybe my suggestions suck, but I think the story of the educated black man needs to be told.

With their being such a small supply of us, I believe it is essential for the world to know that we do exist, and we face the same problems that everyone else does.

Our education does not make us an exception to anything. The cops still harass us, we still struggle to find a good black woman, and we still try to show the generation who follows what is right and what is wrong. However, if the stories of educated black men are continuously ignored, then maybe we will continue to fade away.

• TRUMAINE MCCASKILL