I"m not going to get into a pissing match about the statistics. I'm speaking, based on personal experience.
Let's get back to the original point: you refuse to accept that popular culture is responsible for the lagging of black students today. I don't accept the notion that because numbers were lower historically that it is reflected today.
Today it is accepted, thanks to the poverty pimps (as well as to popular culture), to use excuses as a reason not to go to school and excel. The best way, IMO, to address this problem is to work to eliminate and marginalize the negative influences that cause this.