THE WARRIOR METHOD: A Program for Rearing Healthy Black Boys

Believing that " '[t]ranscending racism'... will never happen," Winbush, director of the Race Relations Institute at Fisk University, seeks to "discover what was left in Africa, and shape it to fit the needs of black boys" inadequately served by white child-rearing strategies. Winbush describes how rituals derived from the West African Poro Society (an elite, all-male religious society) were "replaced by ceremonies taken directly from American culture." He delineates four stages, paralleling the seasons, for raising a boy from conception into adulthood. At age five, boys are "inducted into a Young Warriors Council" based on the Poro Society. By 11, boys "should be reading five books per year, have a broad understanding of their legal rights, have a worldview of African life, and have a firm understanding of computers." Thirteen-year-olds undertake "a rites-of-passage week," including "a one-hour videotaped interview with an elder male in the community." Winbush's comprehensive, Afro-centric program partakes of the ceremonial—e.g., wearing "Kente cloth"—and the practical, such as investment lessons. Though highly organized—e.g., "Ten Commitments of the Warrior Method"—Winbush's book is a hodge-podge, ranging from bits about media stereotypes and an out-of-place focus on "the black male as sexual predator" to a passage about seat-belt use and stories about the instant success of his methods, as when he achieves a breakthrough with a classful of boys by addressing each as "nigga," driving home his point that it is a negative term. Winbush's serious research, deep cultural sensibilities and abiding wisdom are undermined somewhat by anecdotes and polemics. (Oct.)