State of the Black Male
 

This article was featured in todays Houston Chronicle, I know much of this as an inner city public school teacher but the numbers are still alarming especially the unemployment rates of the dropouts compared to Hispanics and Whites. I really sometimes wonder as en educator is there any way to reverse this dire trend. Thoughts?

March 20, 2006, 12:10AM
Alarm sounded on the plight of black men in U.S.
They are falling further behind in employment and education, new studies show

By ERIK ECKHOLM
New York Times

BALTIMORE - The plight of U.S. black men is far more dire than is portrayed by employment and education statistics, a flurry of new studies warn, and it has kept worsening even as an economic boom and welfare reforms brought gains to black women and many other groups.

New studies by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions show that the huge pool of poorly educated black males is becoming ever more disconnected from the mainstream society and to a far greater degree than white or Hispanic males.

Especially in the inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates decline. The new data paint an alarming picture of ravaged lives and, the scholars say, of a deepening national calamity that has received too little attention.

"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," said Ronald Mincy, a professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of Black Males Left Behind. "Over the last two decades, the economy did great," Mincy said, "and low-skilled women, helped by public policy, latched onto it. But young black men were falling farther back."

Many of the new studies go beyond the traditional approaches to looking at the plight of black men, especially in determining unemployment. Official unemployment rates can be misleading, because they do not include those not seeking work or incarcerated.

"If you look at the numbers, the 1990s was a bad decade for young black men, even though it had the best labor market in 30 years," said Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and a coauthor of Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men.

•The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990s. In 2000, 65 percent of high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white dropouts and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.
•In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30s, six in 10 black men who have dropped out of school have spent time in prison.
•In the inner cities, more than half of all black men never finish high school.

Yeah I'm feeling this article. This guy who lives across the street from my grandmother always helps her, shovels the snow, cuts the grass, walks her to the store etc. So one day (we're around the same age) I'm over there and he asks me if I know anyone that's hiring.

Sidenote: Nana lives in the hood.

At the time I was working in a federal building, but I told him I was unsure of my job b/c they were talking about laying us off. So after I tell him this he says, "oh well I can get a job there b/c I don't have a record." I was like :confused: I guess b/c it's not the first thing I would have thought to say to someone...but anyways..I told him that I'd look for a job for him. I didn't really want to finish the conversation because I wasn't sure if he had finished high school, is doing the gang stuff, narcotic stuff, etc. I didn't want to go there.

On my way home I called Nana and told her to ask him to send me his resume so I could see what experience he had. She told me that he probably doesn't have one, and that he probably doesn't have a computer and that he probably hadn't finished school. Even though I knew it was coming I just had to ask :(

I saw him again yesterday and gave him the number to the temp service I'm going through, but afterwards I realized that they request ppl to send a RESUME so they can get an idea of the experience you have. I asked him if he ever goes out to look for jobs, he said "yeah around the block." Then I said well how often do you go downtown to look for jobs and he said "sometimes when I feel like catching the bus." SIGH....The sad thing is I really don't think he knows what he's missing out on b/c he never leaves the block. He doesn't know that he needs to learn to type, have a resume, actually get out there and be on the grind looking for a job, get some business type clothes, he just doesn't know. And if he keeps running with the people that I think he is he's never gonna learn, they have no ambitions but hanging on the corner everyday.

My thing is, I really want to help him but I need to first help myself. I honestly don't have the time to sit down with him, help him fix up a resume, teach him how to type...and it really makes me sad. I think a lot of us know that we need to get into the community and sit some of these hard-headed youths down and teach them what they need to know but just "don't have the time" or whatever the reason may be. :( But I DO know OTHER people are sitting them down and teaching them how to lie, cheat and steal which is why they are ending up the way they are.

I know in Chicago we just lost a couple more black youths to jail and the cemetery because, in two unrelated incidents, two young girls were shot with stray bullets by random drive by shootings. The first was b/c some guy had a problem with another guy and I think his ex-girlfriend. Whatever the case, the little girl went looking out the window to see what was going on and ended up getting shot while she was getting ready for school. The other girl was celebrating her birthday in her aunt's house when some guys came down the block shooting randomly. :( Both girls were in elementary school.

Sorry this post was so long but all of this is just crazy to me.

I live in Chicago too. It's just a sad state for black men here. My AA male co worker and I were talking about this today. He said he gets tired of AA males and their tunnel vision. He is tired of the asking for handouts. You want a job, but you want it to come to you while you sit at home or hang on the block. There is nothing on the block. What's wrong with a job hunt, getting up and looking.

Then this afternoon on WGCI, this random individual was talking about how it is hard to find a job out here and that with the state of AA women, they have now taken over all the jobs. My co-worker (AA female) and I just looked at each other and laughed. I get tired of the excuses. Don't put all the blame on the AA women.

Why don't you have a job? Do you have a record, need skill improvement, need a resume, etc? Well there are organizations that can help you with that. Hell, that is what I do for a living. I see sistas out here doing their thing and he is right, AA female are our here in force because we have to take care of the family, kids, etc and many of them want more then what they have. I know PLENTY who are going to school because without a degree, you cannot make a decent wage and they are starting to see that.

I could go on and on, but I have to stop.

At least college is an option for those you have mentioned. What about those who are dropping out? What about those who are in special education (most cases of drop outs), not obtaining a diploma, but a certificate which says..."David attended school through his 21st birthday"? :rolleyes:

A colleague and I were discussing this today, as we are in the midst of statewide testing. In the classes today are the products of the "children having children" generation. These students have not had the necessary guidance, because their parent(s) haven't been properly nurtured or guided. Fortunately, for most of the student's counterparts, they have something to fall on if they drop out or receive a high school diploma. Unfortunately, for our males, they do not.


What is the answer? I don't know. I do know that the crisis among our black males is not getting better. Education is NOT important to most. It is not an option as a means of success. It is not valued in their home. Their idea of success is being able to hustle for a quick cent. This quick fix leads to the statistics which were mentioned in the first post.

Oh, Af Am females are slowly following the males. Parents need to start PARENTING their children AND they need to become ACCOUNTABLE... going back to the basics...children need their fathers, NOT BABY DADDYs! These kids are SOOOOOOO angry that it is unreal! Then, you will find that the parents are angry as well. The cycle seems to never end.

BTW, UpPinkies I sent you a PM (unrelated to this topic) :D

As an AA male, I believe this is all related to generational curses as well as modern day slavery. I believe that there are many black males, much like myself, that would fit WEB Dubious's talented tenth. However, unlike the theory he came up with, we are not doing our job to help educate and free our enslaved bretheren. I am in the education business (high school), and I have had many of my AA male students tell me that the path I took to "success" is too long. They are needing instant gratification. We, as AA men have been conditioned to believe that if we are not repopulating society, then we are failing as individuals. Once we plant a few seeds here and there, it then becomes necessary for us to make a quick buck to buy our kids the newest Jordans or Mellos. We are only repeating a cycle of poverty and jail time. As a 29 yr. old man, I had to learn to be a man from other people. We do not have enough positive men acting as role models for those who do not have one. It is a sad situation that I see no quick solution.

There was an article in yesterday's Charlotte Observer on the same lines as what you posted, Wonderful.

Title of Article: Black males struggle despite local efforts

As a boy, Deon Steele loved taking trips to the movies and to Carowinds with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

But on Monday, as the 25-year-old stood outside a Mecklenburg courtroom, he described himself as a high school dropout and former drug dealer whose most marketable skill is wiring car stereos in his yard.

If the plight of America's most troubled black men is worsening, as a recent New York Times story suggests, interviews Monday with young men like Steele and charities trying to help them
show things are also bleak in Charlotte and in North Carolina.

As of Jan. 31, there were 36,428 inmates in the N.C. Department of Correction; 20,166 were black men.

Unemployment in North Carolina for black men stands at 10 percent, compared to 4 percent for white men, according to 2005 figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In Mecklenburg County, census data show 15 percent of black families live below the poverty level, compared to 5 percent of white families.

"It's just hard out here," Steele said as he waited to face a judge on a probation violation charge. "Ain't no jobs, police messing with you all the time ... We don't have anything to do, and that leads to other things."

It doesn't have to be that way, one Big Brothers Big Sisters official said. Sondra Hines, a vice president with the nonprofit, noted that it helps more than 1,800 children, and most who participate stay out of trouble and improve their grades.
She suggested Steele and young men like him need to check their own choices. Sondra Hines is a Soror.:)

"The same energy that they put into a life of crime, they could put that energy into bettering themselves," she said. "You can't succeed by sitting back and complaining about what could have been or should have been."

Still, the studies, detailed in a story the Observer published on its front page Monday, sketch a depressing picture of life for black men in America.

Conducted by Ivy League experts, the studies show that in the inner cities, many black men don't finish high school, can't find work and are locked behind bars.

Those problems aren't new. But the experts say they are growing worse.

Read the rest HERE

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The plight is sad, but it is not just Black males. It is the BLACK FAMILY as a whole that is in trouble. We have our priorities backwards and pass that on to our kids. Instead of being in the clubs shaking our collective azzes, we need to be at Borders and reading to our kids among many other things.

KAPPAtivating,
Do you think that more rites of passages programs from our fraternities would help or is that too short a time period? Would a Big Brother kind of program help?

SC

I'd actually posted this article on a listserv I'm on. And I also don't have answers -- I am not a parent of a black male child or an educator. What makes me sad is that we have too many men who are just unfit for marriage and stable family formation. I admit to having bias because I was raised in a household where my Dad was present.

There are no easy answers here. Those of us trying to make a difference -- personally, and in the lives of those we can influence -- have to continue fighting the good fight and hope that help comes.

This is not an overnight solution. One of out Philanthropies, Kappa League, works just to do that. However, we (as the collective NPHC) are going to have to change one mind at a time. I tell my kids all the time that success is achievable. With Kappa League, we make them mentor at the Boys and Girls Club, so they can see the importance of giving back to other kids who look like them and come from the same block as them.

very interesting..
 

this part of your post struck me because one of the things that my husband and i work on consistently is to eliminate the generational curses that have plagued our families. my husband is an anomoly in his family in that he is one of the few that hasnt been caught up in the system and started his family the 'traditional' way. i think that if those of us commit to ending the generational curses that is one step ahead of the game.

this problem is going to persist if we continue to feel powerless. @ms sweetness, by the mere fact that you are telling this guy something new, you may be planting a seed in his mind. if you know of places that offer keyboarding classes, like a community college, maybe the next time you see him you can give him the latest catalog. i know in my area the local community colleges send out class schedules for continuing education and they offer alot of basic soft ware classes, ged and keyboarding just to name a few.

i feel that as frustrating as it is, we shouldnt give up on our men. to just simply say that our men need to "get it together" is not enough. the problem is many of them are stuck; just like many of our girls are stuck--getting pregnant, laying down with anyone because they lack self-worth, self-love and have been told that they are nothing. if we just take one person and do something--whether its give an encouraging word, give them a ride down to the employment office or offer to take them to register for a class it is a start.

the most important thing is that we have to try because no one else is going to do it.

Since I am no longer in carcerated I umostly date black women. There is a large supply of quality black women and a small supply of quality black men so the price of my stock goes.

In agreement
I too grew up in a household with my father and when I look around, finding a potential partner/mate/husband is very difficult. We need more than a rites of passage program, we need a program that addresses all the needs of that particular person/family etc. What we need to do is teach those who already have kids parenting skills. Not just males, but females too.

So I have heard that the military no longer takes folks who are high school dropouts. They use to a longtime ago. But then there are issues with that.

However, there is something that has to be said about the "military way", it does wonders for cleaning up the behavior and focus our wayward young men... Maybe the little guy who was "hot wiring" cars can be a very good "electronics technician". Then the G.I. Bill gives some benefits--even if Bush cuts a lot of that. Still there is something to be said of the stability of what the military provides that normal course of actions fail...

We can be as philosophical all we want, hoping for that "talented 10th" and intellectualism we desire. And there is something to be said that for the waywardism of youthful anger, resentment, hurt and exuberance can be harnessed for the vocational education to at least be able to live subsistiantely--i.e. being able to get basic food, clothing, shelter--without the legal system, volunteeringly and willingly.

We need to admit that some in our society are out-of-control and there isn't much we can do with them at a certain age but be strict regimented life less glorified than what their prophets--spelled=profits are telling them, like Fiddy Pennies, or 3 Six Mafia... Since that's what these children want to be when they grow up... These are their options.

So NO, they aren't going to get off their duff and get a job, get a resume and be a contributing member to society. We all know why that is and the reasons behind it. But there is a way to circumvent the problem besides mass sterilization and genocide, which is already occurring--and that is providing regimented structure that a military/vocational education does provide.

Maybe I am wrong in my opinion, but most guys I know who have done duty are doing pretty good or better than what they started from...

And I must say that if my father in law who had 2 sons, was not in the military, those boys of his would be buckwild... Like for ever letter of a curse word they would say, they'd have to do 10 push ups... That the military way...