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 ...
I think that is the crux of the issue: the total destruction of the black family in this country. Bill Cosby and others who have spoken out about this need to keep speaking out about it.
BTW, again, I was talking about some black families, not all. And, BTW, I agree with the rest of your post, too.
After all of the analysis is over, the end result will be the same, it's everything and everybodys fault but their own.
Well, it might not be so "peachy" with you if and when you ever become a crime victim of one of these black male drop outs, not that I am wishing that on you.
Actually, the article quotes some older black men who see things differently now, and realize they themselves made some very poor choices.
But, it's too bad that wisdom is not filtering down to the younger black men on their way to fathering a kid out of wedlock or dropping out of school or joining a gang.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
One word
Liberia
I wont be living in a crime infested sewer, so I wont worry about those that wish to.
Color has nothing to do with their life choices, the blacks that live around here are no different than anyone else.
There are people of all skin tones living around my area, none live like that.
The ironic thing is, black males are more influential on popular culture than any other "ethnic" group. Has been this way since the days of the Cakewalk.
There are thousands of blacks who do sing about positive and uplifting things. The problem is that people seem to prefer pimps, ho's and gangsta's. It's just pearls before swine. They'd rather have Jerry Springer than Shakespeare.
I'm not saying blacks speak that way. I've known a lot of people that happen to be black and none of them speak like they are from the inner city. It just struck me that for a change the "black kids" on this TV show tonight were extremely well spoken. I liked seeing that for a change instead of the bad characterization of blacks on TV that seems to be the norm.
No need to worry, an islamic fanatic will probably beat the young black buck to the target.
I think it is pronounced "seemsane".
Reply to post 25 & 26: When blacks start hanging out on street corners looking for work rather than selling dope and whores, I'd say they may have taken their first step on the proverbial journey of a thousand miles, out of the abyss.
My father never graduated from high school, and is not the intellectual type at all, but he has AMBITION.
While holding down a full time job driving a truck delivering dairy products, he started a lawn maintenance/landscaping business. He then invested some of his profit in a retail motorcycle business which went under. He then took a loan out on his modest 3 bedroom home and invested in an apartment complex. Then in more rental homes. Then the California real estate market went through the roof. Today he is retired and worth millions.
Of course, I'll never see a dime of it, but that is a story I'll keep to myself.
I went to a Catholic grade school that became mostly black by time I graduated. All the boys went to high school and several of them to the highly rated Catholic military school in town. As far as I was able to keep up with them, they all finished high school at least. This would have been in the early 70s.
I'd guess that most, but not all, of these boys were from 2 parent families. Some single mothers sent their boys to Catholic school so they would be disciplined, and in high school, around strong male teachers.
The fact that there's no dad doesn't mean that you have to commit crimes. I never subscribed to the theory that poverty = criminality. Is it just the absence of fathers from the home that has caused this decline in behavior? Due to war and other factors, men have been absent from homes since the beginning of time and we haven't had these problems. I wish I had an answer. It is sad to see so many black men waste their lives when many black women are making it.
Yet, if a black man from Africa gets legal status here and they thrive in America with good jobs or their own business.
The bottom line is there is a lot of problems with that culture in this country.
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