Michael Mason Norman Ed.d.

Soul Rot: and the Life and Times of the Perfect Black Man Michael Mason Norman Ed.d.

This is the first of three books on the Perfect Black Man. The series title is Escaping The Box. The material covers several important topics connected with the education and future of Perfect Black Men in African-American communities. This is a timely and relevant book, especially as we enter a new era of retrenchment in funding for social services, community development, education and charities. It is also a critical examination of a major and comparatively neglected topic in African-American life. Soul Rot represents a three dimensional space for looking into the future of America, specifically from inside-out and then outside-in. The reader will not find a much sought after "one answer solution fits all" problems, that meets perennial challenges in American society. Instead, the author takes a set of overlapping, socially embedded "soft and hard" community educational practices, and rips them apart. He also engages "attitudes, mores, and myths" within African-American communities, that have, in his opinion, helped perpetuate the development, stereotypes and current status of the Perfect Black Man in American media and society. In summary, he asks readers to look into his or her soul and search for why the Perfect Black Man is "needed" in our American society? The author places special emphasis in discerning what value the PBM brings to African-American communities? Why is he needed in Black America and what roles does he serve in his place?