Crisis Among U.S. Black Men
 

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=7784192

New Studies Point to Crisis Among U.S. Black Men
Wed Mar 2, 2005 08:18 AM ET

By Alan Elsner
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A batch of new studies suggesting that black males in the United States are falling ever further behind other groups in health, education and employment has ignited a debate within the black community about who is to blame and what can be done.

"There's a major discussion within the community about what we need to do about black males," said Peter Groff, a Colorado state senator and director of the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver.

Traditionally, many black leaders have blamed the legacy of slavery, institutional racism and poverty for the problems faced by blacks in general and men in particular.

But comedian Bill Cosby rejected that approach in two provocative speeches last summer, in which he called on fellow blacks to stop blaming society for their troubles and start looking at themselves.

Attacking urban "hip hop" culture and the collapse of the two-parent family, Cosby challenged those within the black community who opposed "washing their dirty laundry in public."

"Your dirty laundry gets out of school at 2:30 every day, it's cursing and calling each other nigger as they're walking up and down the street. They think they're hip. They can't read; they can't write. They're laughing and giggling, and they're going nowhere," Cosby said.

Cosby's words were welcomed by many senior black figures, including civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and Kweisi Mfume, then-director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Others, like Groff, take a more nuanced approach that still blames the legacy of racism and poverty for the crisis along with the low expectations many people have for young black men, failures of the education system, a lack of male role models and the "anti-intellectualism" fostered by black street culture.

Whatever the causes, the latest figures paint a bleak picture. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in December that 51 percent of all HIV diagnoses were among blacks, who make up less than 13 percent of the population.

Read the rest at the link above

-Rudey

I am unsure what you want the Black folks in American to say... We have had this drilled into our heads since...

I dunno what I think about this report?

I think that full on integration brainwashed the minds of most Black folks in the 1970's that they lost they dayum minds and all that was fought for during Civil Rights before MLK was shot... That's my opinion...

My parents are PRIME examples of that... Highly educated, end of Vietnam, had a small child (me) and made the hard decision to either purchase a house in a predominantly Black neighborhood in 1970 for twice as much as what they had, rather than a newly constructed house in the suburbs of Southern California... And back in that day, many Black folks without education dared not enter into these "new constructions" because they were NOT meant for "US"--and that was BLATANT in California before the nondiscrimination laws in housing were passed...

A few others families like mine did the same... Highly educated parents, well to do in careers (i.e. doctors, lawyers, dentists, engineers, etc.), that purchased newly constructed homes in predominantly white areas...

And the children reared in this environment... Alienated from EVERYBODY--both Black AND White... There were no teacher's that were sensitive to the needs of ethnically diversed student population... They were down right racist... I experienced that first hand... Fortunately (and unfortunately) my brother did not experience that because my mother made sure that would not happen to him... And I am talking about some major bullshit that a teacher should NEVER do to a child... EVER... Meaning, FCUKING with the child's chances to succeed at learning the material... I.e. giving poor grades when the work merited a high grade just because "I" was "bussed in" (an ASSumption made by a silly biatch teacher)... Think how an 8 year old interprets those actions and what is done to her psychology when she has little expectation to do better--like what's the point? And then think about the level of intelligence of her parents and how they would NOT let that happen--if only they knew...

The folks the article discusses are some of those of the "Black Bougeousie" that are incarcerated...

I can count on MY hands how many of my friends that were reared similarly to me that DID NOT make it out of the dregs of ghetto-fabulous impoverished mentality life--like drugs, thugs, jail time, etc... Much like the PWT in trailer parks... But this is NOT suppose to HAPPEN to the Black Bougie's... We are the one's that are suppose to "take over the world"!!! That is what the Civil Right's folks keep exclaiming...

And how old is Uncle Jesse now?

The ONLY Black folks that make sense of their situation are the one aggressively pursuing their heritage identity similar to that of WEB DuBois and Kwame Ture... That is why Nkrumah and Jomo Kenyatta were very intrigued with the actions of these two individuals and the intelligesia they displayed. But even that is getting mocked by those who are abased with supremacy...

So THAT in my opinion is part of issue... And these kinds of discussion (spelled: rhetoric) keep rolling on and on when the group is ONLY African American... At least that has been my experience...

That's a huge part of the problem.

I don't want them to say anything.

I posted this because I read it and thought someone else might not read it and want to read it. That's all. I didn't ask you to confer with Jesse Jackson and son on how to respond or anything.

-Rudey

Which part, specifically?

I mean this as "is it more the legacy of racism, or the myriad effects listed in the second half of the statement?"

And I mean this earnestly - honestly, I'm curious as to how people divvy up the issues, because while it's obviously a convergence of many things, it's interesting to think of the levels of items that should be addressed (and not just by the black community).

On Bill Cosby's comments only - I think that's a broad generalization of problems facing the youth of ALL backgrounds and beliefs today, not specifically targeted at the black community. I took it in as a disdain for the failing systems, not individuals.

Since the latter portion of the statement represents phenomena that are derivatives of the legacy of slavery and the initial ideology that led to the initiation and justification of slavery in the first place, I mean that they are all related and each should be studied for its own relationship to the problems of today as well as the entire group of issues being studied as a whole.

Like Phasad1913 said: It is both that cannot be divided up and addressed and in my opinion, by those outside of the Black community--including those like Bill Cosby...

Many Black folks have a "enslavement" mentality... That they deserve less because someone told them so... And it is a never-ending cycle of poverty and violence... What can be done about it... Well, I think there have been a few folks that tried and lost their lives trying to change it... But we don't need another "savior"...

Life is more global now with many different cultures adding their personas into the mix of life in America. Basically, the old negro slave days are being squelched out onto the back burner and forgotten, until something violent happens... Then, "oh, now we need to address this issue" becomes the mantra for some time... Think LA riots in 1992... Has anything changed? Really?

Maybe collectively, we cannot make it as a group anymore... Maybe we should just live our lives to the best of our abilities... But from where I currently reside, I see A LOT of poverty and most of those faces look like me... Then when I go home in the suburbs, aside from my husband's face, none of them favor my features... I did not make the conscious decision to live where I currently live--that is my husband's house, he had it before he met me, before we were married...

However, there is a balance that must be struck from folks that are just like me, and sometimes, I just want to all out give up the fight--everyday is a constant battle... There is only so much the body can block out and remove the stress...

Being a disparage group of color in the United States is a very stressful and mentally taxing...

At this point I would blame the War on Drugs and the mindset it creates in the country.

Thats if I had to pick one major thing.

i agree with this.

We can excel with all the training we have for our chosen careers. However, what do you do when you have to go shopping for those "appropriate shoes" for a "ritual" and they cost over $100, and some stoopid little heifer, sticks her nose up at you thinking you are some "ghetto mama" with fiddy kids that would be better at Pay Less rather than Salon Shoes at Neiman's, Saks, Bloomingdales or Nordstroms?

Constant dosages of that are lethal and cause head injury...

Speak to her manager, write a letter to the regional manager and to the corporate office, and send them a photocopy of the receipt from a store where I did buy the shoes so that they can see the huge sale (and commission) they missed out on.

Yes, people can treat you as if you have no class, but there is always an appropriate action and system of redress you can take. In situations like the one you cited, they can only beat you if you let them.

I remember once a woman in my office was convinced that this salesperson at a store near our company treated her badly because of her color. She told the story at lunch one day when we were all out together.

We all laughed, because this salesperson was just a sourpuss bitch. When several of us told her we would not shop there because of this bitch, she was really taken aback. But so were some of us. We had never had to go through those mental "gymnastics" and since this lady was so accustomed to it, it sort of knocked her back too.

We all learned something that day.

I'm not black, but it strikes me as condescending (I'm speaking generally, I don't think that Rudey was being so) to constantly treat black Americans as a monolithic group. Even if the experience of slavery had a binding effect, that bond seems to be constructed, and not natural due to the sheer numbers and diversity of people.

In the post Great Society era, it looks to me like there are now at least two black Americas. LBJ's programs did wonders to advance two-thirds of African-Americans, and it did wonders to institutionalize the poverty on the bottom third.

That's an interesting viewpoint.

I wish I had more time to objectively (as much as possible) study that era with regard to social construction. To the extent that I have been able to study it, I feel that I have a good grasp on the premises underlying much of the current status of segments of this society (trying not to say black America in light of Phi Psi's mention of monolithic grouping), but there are some gaps in my theory of the evolution of America's social relationships.

Hopefully, I will have more time at some point, maybe after I finish this hellish first year of law school, to research more on this. Many of my views come from my family, elderly black people I have interacted with (whose regergetations of history often are more reliable than the history books and sociological reports), and what I have learned thus far in school. I want more information from, I guess studies that have been conducted by real professionals on these topics. We'll see.

But, yeah, good point.