appalling crisis for black males discussed in In These Times

[bobbieinok]

....


“Why are more than 50 percent of African-American males between the ages of 16 and 22 out of work and not in school? Why are 87 percent of juvenile parolees African-American males? Why are 60 percent of adult parolees African-American males? Why have only 38 percent of black males graduated from Chicago high schools since 1995, while 62 percent have dropped out?” Most of those numbers pertain to Illinois and Chicago, but also echo the stats of other urban centers.

Earlier this year, the Community Service Society of New York released a report, “A Crisis in Black Male Employment,” that found only 51.8 percent of black men between the ages of 16 through 64 were employed from 2000 to 2003.

But issues of criminal justice are perhaps the most troublesome aspects of this crisis. According to Justice Department figures, 12.9 percent of black males ages 25-29 were in prison or jail; for white men in the same age group the number is 1.6 percent. These racially disparate incarceration rates influence public perception of black men and debilitate other aspects of black community life.

The corrections complex occupies too much space in African-American culture and long has exerted disproportionate influence on the lives of young black people. Long lists of statistics detail the depths of this crisis, but just one—the U.S. Justice Department projects that 32 percent of African-American men born in 2001 will spend time in prison—is enough to reveal its debilitating effects.

A flurry of research is unearthing the interlocking dimensions of this crisis. A study by Becky Pettit of the University of Washington and Bruce Western of Princeton University found that “fully 60 percent of African-American male high-school dropouts born between 1965 and 1969 had been incarcerated by the time they reached their early 30s.” (See, “Prison in the Cards,” Page 8)

more....


http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/the_best_and_worst_of_times/

[Tim4319]

1. This is a shame!

And at the rate things are going now, those statistics are only going to get worse.

[Mandate My Ass]

2. Those are appalling stats

Institutionalized racism should become as discredited a term and practice as Jim Crowe and apartheid because it's just as egregious and does as much damage.

And yes, we need to see more people of color in government because until that happens, this problem will most likely not go away.

[Laughing Mirror]

3. Yes, it is a crisis situation, and Yes, things are getting worse

for those at the bottom, and even for some of those who thought they were getting ahead.

What will John Kerry and John Edwards do about this? What will they do about the alarming Iraq-like levels of unemployment, the under education and all over poverty, the trip from the streets to the cell block and back again? Why do they talk so much about the middle class? What do they have to say about a whole underclass who might like a shot at being part of that great worthy middle class too? What is their message to them and what will they do for them?

[GOPFighter]

4. There is NO excuse for this!

I don't have the answer to this, but I know we MUST do whatever it takes to reverse this. This a national disgrace. We are all responsible for this. Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives, church leaders and leaders of the African-American community. It does no good to point fingers, we've got to find solutions and it can't wait. No Child Left Behind? How about a whole generation of African-American children left behind? (and probably native American children and Hispanic children, and poor rural white children). Disgraceful!

:nuke:

[Laura_B_manslaughter]

5. It's the hypocritical War on Drugs

Only drug criminals that belong in prison are drunk drivers since they are killers and maimers. But drunk driving is a white man's crime so we're told it's no big deal while blacks get locked up for mere possession of illegal drugs.

Start throwing these deadly DUIs in prison and white america would change its tune on the WOD.

[bobbieinok]

6. kick

[Yupster]

7. If I could magically change one statistic,

it would be that over 2/3rds of A-A children are born to single mothers.

There are whole neighborhoods in cities where there aren't any married males.

Kids growing up without fathers leads to poverty, and problems on the streets, especially if everyone else in the neighborhood is in the same situation.

I wish I had a way to change this situation, but I don't think there's a whole lot anyone can do as long as 2/3rds of the children are born to single mothers.

If the single mothers were professors or movie stars, it would be another thing, but they aren't. They are young, poor and under-educated, and it's a recipe for disaster that is repeated over and over every day.

[CaTeacher]

8. I have two words for you--

jury nullification.

As African American males are more likely to be prosecuted, taken to trial, sent to prison, denied parole, and given the death penalty--it is obvious that there is racism inherent in the system.

HYPOTHETICALLY: If I was to serve on a jury--I could possibly take the standard of reasonable DOUBT very very seriously---and if there is any POSSIBLE doubt that I could have--I could feel justified in refusing to convict.

I am not recommending this except hypothetically, but it would be a viable non-violent way to protest a system that is stacked against African American males.

[theboss]

11. Having worked on criminal cases.....

The problem with that strategy is you are likely to set a lot of guilty (and in some cases dangerous) people free. The abuse in the system is not that black men are wrongly imprisoned. I would say that 99 percent of those convicted are guilty as sin. The problem is that so many are committing crimes in the first place.

Now, should so many people be going to prison for minor drug charges? Of course not. The problem is that way too many low-level criminals go to jail where they learn to be big-time criminals.

[nightperson]

9. Kicking this

with the Bob Herbert article mentioned in it. I don't have any quick answers off the top of my head, but I thought people should be reminded that the numbers are wild:

A new study of black male employment trends has come up with the following extremely depressing finding: "By 2002, one of every four black men in the U.S. was idle all year long. This idleness rate was twice as high as that of white and Hispanic males."

It's possible the rate of idleness is even higher, said the lead author of the study, Andrew Sum, who is director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

"That was a conservative count," he said. The study did not consider homeless men or those in jail or prison. It is believed that up to 10 percent of the black male population under age 40 is incarcerated...

Things fall apart when 25 percent of the male population is jobless. (This does not even begin to address the very serious problems of underemployment, such as part-time or temporary jobs, and extremely low-wage work.) Men in a permanent state of joblessness are in no position to take on the roles of husband and father. Marriage? Forget about it. Child support? Ditto.

Another reason we might want to concentrate less on the affairs of so many other countries. How hurtin' can this one get? A crude example that comes to my mind is: remember how quickly Wolfowitz fled Iraq, not to mention how unsafe Bush felt? Well, how safe do you think they'd feel if you plopped them down in the "wrong" American inner city neighborhood, especially at the "wrong" hour?

We're a huge country. Holland is about the size of Maine, Israel is smaller than Jersey. We have plenty on our plate right here, and are we so sure we have much to export in the way of "values" these days? We have enough "weapons searches" to take care of at American schools!

On edit: I think this ties in to one of the original schisms between the paleocons and the neocons, i.e. immigration. The neocons accuse the paleos of being rustic racists, but the neos are awfully comfortable with looking the other way regarding "low wage, eager beaver" (my interpretation of the neocon view, sorry if it's crude) illegal immigration while basically accepting that a large percentage of actual U.S. citizens (i.e. lots of African-Americans) are unemployed and "unemployable, you can't get good help anymore, etc...". :shrug: Just throwing out thoughts, I don't have any quick answers, but shouldn't this take the place of reportage on some celeb's personal problems?

[ulysses]

10. as a society

we have, by and large, abandoned black men. The kids know it, too - it's in the faces of my students.