Posted on 03/19/2006 9:12:59 PM PST by summer
BALTIMORE Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics,...
Focusing more closely than ever on the life patterns of young black men, the new studies, by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions, show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming ever more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men.
...These were among the recent findings:
¶The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly...dropouts....
¶Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990's and reached historic highs in the past few years....
¶In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.
...According to census data, there are about five million black men ages 20 to 39 in the United States.
Terrible schools, absent parents, racism, the decline in blue collar jobs and a subculture that glorifies swagger over work have all been cited as causes of the deepening ruin of black youths. ..
Joseph T. Jones, director of the fatherhood and work skills center here, puts the breakdown of families at the core.
"Many of these men grew up fatherless, and they never had good role models," said Mr. Jones, who overcame addiction and prison time. "No one around them knows how to navigate the mainstream society."...
All the negative trends are associated with poor schooling...
...Among black dropouts in their late 20's, more are in prison on a given day 34 percent than are working 30 percent ......
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The problem is that so few actually make it, yet way too many believe that they are going to be either a b-ball star or rapper, or pimp.
I see many mexicans and dominicans who are going into the trades and doing very well for themselves and shun the whole pimp mentality.
Its really sad in fact.
It's not cool to get an education.
It's not cool to get a legit job.
It's not cool to speak the language of corporate America.
It's not cool to be a responsible parent......
I could go on and on.....
I am never surprised when I hear that a prominant older black person went to Catholic school, at least for grade school. Expectations were high for all kids in the class, at least back in the 40's, 50's and 60's.
. you are ignoring the statistics that point to the fact, that most black men end up dropping out or never attend higher education.
Stop blaming society and start blaming an MTV rap culture that promotes gangster rappers shooting each other form moving cars and glorifies stealing and selling drugs instead of honest work. The issue is not about employment statistics or we would be looking at a list of black men out of work. What we see is black men in prison, committing crimes or failing to finish and graduate from high school.
This is more about a failure in the culture of the black man to provide adequate role models and decent conservative moral values.
They're just 'keepin' it real.'
Withou realizing it (IMHO), you hit on the crux of this and many of the economic problems of Americans today. It is a problem, that for some reason, neither Fed nor state leaders are willing to address. That problem is the 'underground economy'.
Thanks to Lyndon'w GREAT SOCIETY....which essentially destroyed most black families.
I live in Iowa where we have a large influx of blacks from Chicago. I work with many black women from this area and they are fine employees pulling double shifts, really trying to make a better life.
downside..all of them and I mean ALL of them have boyfriends/husbands who do not work which is why they must pull the double shifts. Only three of the men even care for the children while the woman works. The other women actualy pay babysitters so their "man" can go hang out!!
Whitey's fault - always has been, always will be.
Sorry, my post was meant for taxed2death's #63.
Please see my #69. I meant it for you.
Need more coffee.
BTTT
Here's a solution for the people in this situation:
1. Finish high school
2. Do not have children before the age of 20
3. Do not have children before you get married
These points (hope I got them right) were developed by someone else - cannot remember his name. But they will keep anyone out of poverty, essentially. And probably out of prison.
Exactly RIGHT...I have seen this attitude in a local high school, and it affects other kids who come from good homes.
True, but black men who make it big as rappers, actors and professional athletes are a miniscule percentage of the black male population. Off the top of my head I'd say there are about 15 million or so black men in this country. How many superstar rappers, actors and pro-athletes? Maybe 1000? Not a positive career outlook if you ask me.
How many superstar black rappers, actors and pro-athletes?
If these Universities really were interested in finding the answer to this problem, they would would do a study of family and working life of black prior to the 1960s then compare it today. Prior to the 1960s, the rate of birth out of wedlock for blacks and whites were similar. There was a thriving black middle class in many of the big cities.
The Civil Right laws of the 1960s were correct, and long over due, but they had some unintended consequences.
If you are driving along a lonely road, and you are coming up to an intersection with a stop sign but you can see both left and right for miles, and there is no traffic coming, do you stop?
Most do. Why? Because we obey laws and rules even when no one is watching. How do we get like that? Simple, we were taught from a young age. First by our families, right and wrong behaviour, then in school, and later in life.
There are many laws, and many social rules that we obey without even thinking about it. We were "programmed" to do certain things.
But what happens when we do not receives such feed back from our family, and later society. What happens when we discover we can act out with little or no consequences?
Without self restraint, which is a virtue that is taught, we are not born with it, quite the contrary, it is our instinct to do what pleases us.
Along with the Civil Rights movement came a companion, the idea that every action by a white person towards a black was racist in nature. The unintended consequences of this movement was that any critism of a black person by a white person made the white person a racist. Not wishing to be labeled a racist, critism was muted, and then ended.
This was soon expanded so that any negative act against a black was percieved as rascist. It has gotten to the point today that whites can not even discuss the issues of blacks in America without being labeled racist.
And so the problems between Blacks and Whites can not be resolved because there is only one safe mode of dialog, and that a one way conversation, blacks towards white.
If we can not have an open and public discussion, if misdeeds or bad behaviour can not be pointed out, then there is no hope for a solution.
The advise I would have for a young black man in America today is the same I would give to a young white (yellow, red, green or purple) man, it is the same and not based on color.
1. Stay in school
2. Learn to speak well
3. Learn to read and write english
4. The golden rule (treat others as you wish to be treated)
5. Be willing to do any job you can get, work hard, and you will be rewarded
6. Wait until you are married to have children
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