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Discussion Topic: Black Men: Another Study |
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1 tawhid |
03-21-2006 @ 1:06 PM |
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Published on Monday, March 20, 2006 by the New York Times
Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn
by Erik Eckholm
BALTIMORE — Black men in the United States face a far more dire situation than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, a flurry of new scholarly studies warn, and it has worsened in recent years even as an economic boom and a welfare overhaul have brought gains to black women and other groups.
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.
Especially in the country's inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates have declined.
Although the problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint a more extensive and sobering picture of the challenges they face.
"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," said Ronald B. Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of "Black Males Left Behind" (Urban Institute Press, 2006).
"Over the last two decades, the economy did great," Mr. 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 when it comes to determining the scope of joblessness. For example, official unemployment rates can be misleading because they do not include those not seeking work or incarcerated.
"If you look at the numbers, the 1990's was a bad decade for young black men, even though it had the best labor market in 30 years," said Harry J. Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and co-author, with Peter Edelman and Paul Offner, of "Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men" (Urban Institute Press, 2006).
In response to the worsening situation for young black men, a growing number of programs are placing as much importance on teaching life skills — like parenting, conflict resolution and character building — as they are on teaching job skills.
These were among the recent findings:
* The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.
* Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990's and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20's who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30's, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.
* In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.
None of the litany of problems that young black men face was news to a group of men from the airless neighborhoods of Baltimore who recently described their experiences.
One of them, Curtis E. Brannon, told a story so commonplace it hardly bears notice here. He quit school in 10th grade to sell drugs, fathered four children with three mothers, and spent several stretches in jail for drug possession, parole violations and other crimes.
"I was with the street life, but now I feel like I've got to get myself together," Mr. Brannon said recently in the row-house flat he shares with his girlfriend and four children. "You get tired of incarceration."
Mr. Brannon, 28, said he planned to look for work, perhaps as a mover, and he noted optimistically that he had not been locked up in six months.
A group of men, including Mr. Brannon, gathered at the Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development, one of several private agencies trying to help men build character along with workplace skills.
The clients readily admit to their own bad choices but say they also fight a pervasive sense of hopelessness.
"It hurts to get that boot in the face all the time," said Steve Diggs, 34. "I've had a lot of charges but only a few convictions," he said of his criminal record.
Mr. Diggs is now trying to strike out on his own, developing a party space for rentals, but he needs help with business skills.
"I don't understand," said William Baker, 47. "If a man wants to change, why won't society give him a chance to prove he's a changed person?" Mr. Baker has a lot of record to overcome, he admits, not least his recent 15-year stay in the state penitentiary for armed robbery.
Mr. Baker led a visitor down the Pennsylvania Avenue strip he wants to escape — past idlers, addicts and hustlers, storefront churches and fortresslike liquor stores — and described a life that seemed inevitable.
He sold marijuana for his parents, he said, left school in the sixth grade and later dealt heroin and cocaine. He was for decades addicted to heroin, he said, easily keeping the habit during three terms in prison. But during his last long stay, he also studied hard to get a G.E.D. and an associate's degree.
Now out for 18 months, Mr. Baker is living in a home for recovering drug addicts. He is working a $10-an-hour warehouse job while he ponders how to make a living from his real passion, drawing and graphic arts.
"I don't want to be a criminal at 50," Mr. Baker said.
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. Scholars — and the young men themselves — agree that all of these issues must be addressed.
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, studies have shown, and progress has been slight in recent years. Federal data tend to understate dropout rates among the poor, in part because imprisoned youths are not counted.
Closer studies reveal that in inner cities across the country, more than half of all black men still do not finish high school, said Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of "Dropouts in America" (Harvard Education Press, 2004).
"We're pumping out boys with no honest alternative," Mr. Orfield said in an interview, "and of course their neighborhoods offer many other alternatives."
Dropout rates for Hispanic youths are as bad or worse but are not associated with nearly as much unemployment or crime, the data show.
With the shift from factory jobs, unskilled workers of all races have lost ground, but none more so than blacks. By 2004, 50 percent of black men in their 20's who lacked a college education were jobless, as were 72 percent of high school dropouts, according to data compiled by Bruce Western, a sociologist at Princeton and author of the forthcoming book "Punishment and Inequality in America" (Russell Sage Press). These are more than double the rates for white and Hispanic men.
Mr. Holzer of Georgetown and his co-authors cite two factors that have curbed black employment in particular.
First, the high rate of incarceration and attendant flood of former offenders into neighborhoods have become major impediments. Men with criminal records tend to be shunned by employers, and young blacks with clean records suffer by association, studies have found.
Arrests of black men climbed steeply during the crack epidemic of the 1980's, but since then the political shift toward harsher punishments, more than any trends in crime, has accounted for the continued growth in the prison population, Mr. Western said.
By their mid-30's, 30 percent of black men with no more than a high school education have served time in prison, and 60 percent of dropouts have, Mr. Western said.
Among black dropouts in their late 20's, more are in prison on a given day — 34 percent — than are working — 30 percent — according to an analysis of 2000 census data by Steven Raphael of the University of California, Berkeley.
The second special factor is related to an otherwise successful policy: the stricter enforcement of child support. Improved collection of money from absent fathers has been a pillar of welfare overhaul. But the system can leave young men feeling overwhelmed with debt and deter them from seeking legal work, since a large share of any earnings could be seized.
About half of all black men in their late 20's and early 30's who did not go to college are noncustodial fathers, according to Mr. Holzer. From the fathers' viewpoint, support obligations "amount to a tax on earnings," he said.
Some fathers give up, while others find casual work. "The work is sporadic, not the kind that leads to advancement or provides unemployment insurance," Mr. Holzer said. "It's nothing like having a real job."
The recent studies identified a range of government programs and experiments, especially education and training efforts like the Job Corps, that had shown success and could be scaled up.
Scholars call for intensive new efforts to give children a better start, including support for parents and extra schooling for children.
They call for teaching skills to prisoners and helping them re-enter society more productively, and for less automatic incarceration of minor offenders.
In a society where higher education is vital to economic success, Mr. Mincy of Columbia said, programs to help more men enter and succeed in college may hold promise. But he lamented the dearth of policies and resources to aid single men.
"We spent $50 billion in efforts that produced the turnaround for poor women," Mr. Mincy said. "We are not even beginning to think about the men's problem on similar orders of magnitude."
Copyright 2006 The New York Times Company
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| 2TallnTan |
03-21-2006 @ 2:07 PM |
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Tawhid,
Greetings!
Another great topic!
These stats are alarming but not surprising. In my opinion (as I have always preached) EDUCATION is the key to freedom.
In almost every sentence of your information it points back to a lack of education. I think the study hit the nail on the head with stating that many black men also need MORAL educations. If one is morally educated the rest will follow in my opinion.
Unfortunately, our some of our men have fallen short for at least the last 30-40 years in that they lack education, and seemed to embrace the street life. Now, these same men that made those choices are paying the price.
There is no doubt that racism has played a part in black men (and women) not being able to realize some of their dreams, however as you have often stated more black men should embark upon ways to employ himself. There will always be racism. We must find ways to get around it.
I have to place some blame on the family structure. Back in the day black women worked hard to be sure their children had an education. They scrubed floors, cleaned toilets, cleaned behind white folks slop, and made many sacrafices so their children could become educated.
If both parents were in the home both worked to insure that their children became educated. There are many doctors, laywers, teachers, and others that came from a poor working class black background where the PARENT took an active part in raising and educating their children. Parents/single mother and fathers need to turn things around right now. They need to be sure their young children are educated, so we can break out of this negative cycle.
Unfortunately, we will never be able to save most of those that have already been taken up in the system. Believe me I know because I have chaired too many programs with emphasis on opportunities for black males.
These facts are very sad indeed, and instead of our focusing (so much) on what was done to us we should use that time to find solutions or the masses will miss the boat.
In fact, as I have stated before, too many of us are still at the dock when everyone else is at the airport!
Blessings!
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| 3thinker |
03-21-2006 @ 5:28 PM |
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tawhid
There is nothing really new here, except the updated stats on umemployment. Nevertheless, Eric Eckholm is dwelling on a problem that needs to be addressed. Every black male in this country knows all about the high unemployment and incarceration rates of young black males. Eckholm has very astutely covered much territory in presenting the problems that young black men face in the inner city.
Many of us would say, however, that he should also be talking about “the War on Black Men,” because that is what it comes down to – society’s worsening attitude toward black males.
The “economic boom” that he talks about has not really reached the inner cities, where black men and women are struggling to make ends meet in the richest country in the world.
quote:
Many of the new studies go beyond the traditional approaches to looking at the plight of black men, especially when it comes to determining the scope of joblessness. For example, official unemployment rates can be misleading because they do not include those not seeking work or incarcerated.
I would also add that official unemployment rates also do not include statistics on the racist attitudes that employers have when black men respond to their job offers! You need to be a black man living in Amerikkka to understand how disgusting it is to do an entrenched job search, virtually expending all one’s hope and energy, only to be denied because of the color of his skin!
The average white man will knock on perhaps no more than five doors, or respond to no more than five employment ads before he finds work. Not so for the average black man! I cannot over-emphasize this aspect of the job search! Speaking from experience, I can state that often the average black man trying to find work will knock on a dozen or more doors before he gets a “yes” or a”maybe”, or is granted an interview!
Such is the plight of racism in Amerikkka!
quote:
None of the litany of problems that young black men face was news to a group of men from the airless neighborhoods of Baltimore who recently described their experiences.
Since I grew up in Baltimore and was a reporter there for a daily newspaper there some years back I am familiar with the atmosphere of high unemployment, drugs and the desperation that he paints in areas like Pennsylvania Avenue.
quote:
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. Scholars — and the young men themselves — agree that all of these issues must be addressed.
I am happy that he mentioned “the subculture that glorifies swagger over work,” because it is a veritable fact that this subculture emphasizing hip-hop, careless, uneducated speech and a playa lifestyle, is also to blame for luring black males away from doorways to civil behavior, such as those in the educational system.
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| 4Kobena |
03-21-2006 @ 6:16 PM |
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Perhaps I can share something which worked for me:
When I started dating, my grandmother for some strange reason (perhaps because I am the eldest) gave me a set of rules when I started dating. I loved her dearly and had much respect for everything she said. She was like the wise woman of the family. These were her basic rules (not her specific words, but I’ll do my best):
1. Do never disrespect a woman by hitting or using foul language.
2. When you’ve taken a girl from her mother to turn her into a woman, that woman must be the woman you keep for the rest of your life. Make sure you know who you’re dating. Treat that special woman with the greatest respect and honor her. Never be the one who breaks the relationship. What she’ll be giving you is very special.
3. When you get her pregnant, you should realize that you are then responsible for both the child and your woman till you die. Give them the family that your grandfathers gave to your mother and your fathers give to you and your little brother.
Things didn’t workout perfectly.. the virgin princess left me for a white Venezuelan stripper. I started screwing everything with legs but when it came to parenthood… I’ll never ever neglect my boy what my family gave to me.
Kobena.
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| 5dawilliams |
03-22-2006 @ 6:47 PM |
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tawhid
This study comes as no surprise to me. This is why I say young Blacks will face a dire future with the influx of aliens legal and illegal coming into the country. They have been deemed expendable. In fact the whole Black community has been deemed expendable.
Life Aint No Joke
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| 6RoyRogers |
03-22-2006 @ 7:08 PM |
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But the fact remains is that WE Black Men should improve ourselves DESPITE some study. It is really DUMB to listen to the ENEMY tell us who and what we are.
So, F--- the study. I will do good all on my own. Studies are only as good as the goof-ups who allow others to write their life & their future.
Always tuned into reality.
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| 7dawilliams |
03-22-2006 @ 7:39 PM |
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R/R
Spoken like a true Texan !
Life Aint No Joke
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| 8TallnTan |
03-22-2006 @ 10:34 PM |
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If more black men would stand up and come together as a whole, and take interest in young black men I think things can turn around to a more positive outcome.
If black men would mentor to at least one young-man ages from about 2-25 years old, I wonder what the stats would be 5-10 years from now?
The day-care centers don't have black male teachers, not enough community centers have black men volunteers. There are not enough positive black male role models that work directly with young people.Black men should be giving their time to the boys that are being raised by the single mothers. You do not have to date her, but just mentor to her son. By doing so you can help to prepare him for the challenges they'll face with academics, dating, relationship with his mother, career decisions, making wise decisions in general, and lastly, showing them how to be quality partners and fathers when they marry.
Also, please think about becoming a Big brother to a young man. You can help to shape a mind, and help young black boys to become men!
Black men must step up!
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| 9tawhid |
03-23-2006 @ 8:31 AM |
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That's where it's at. What CAN black men do? Indeed the facts of the study are not new. But is racism new?
Education: Yes, but we absolutely need black men in these public schools even if to volunteer. There needs to be a reason for young people to go to these "joints". They need A LOT of help to be and stay focused. Let's get the big brothers and mentors right into the schools and afterschool programs and try to ward off some of the problems before they start. Here in NYC the Mayor has made a total mess of the public school system. Took it from bad to worse. These young boys (and girls) are literally in the "wild" with no support. You don't need a PHD to help in whatever way you can.
Employment: Black men have never had high numbers in the offices of corporate America. This is not new. While everyone can't "have a business" - everyone can have a skill, a vocation (licensed or not) that is needed right in their own community. We have mechanics - that we use - who have no "license". Same with plumbers. Brotha hooked up our boiler for half of what the Italian wanted and we haven't had a problem since. My cousin installed a friends' kitchen cabinets - beautiful. Is he a "certified" carpenter? No. Learn to DO something?
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| 10TallnTan |
03-23-2006 @ 11:04 AM |
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This is Earl Graves input/research for solutions towards the loss of potential income to the black community.Once again it highlights the lack of education.
The Plight of the African American Male
BLACK ENTERPRISE is searching for solutions...share yours
“One of the most alarming trends threatening the economic stability and wealth-building capacity of African Americans is the declining presence of black men on our nation’s college campuses,” wrote BLACK ENTERPRISE Chairman and Publisher Earl G. Graves Sr. in the January 2006 issue of BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine.
"The result of this trend is as disturbing as it is predictable," he wrote. "The price we pay as African Americans is enormous—measured in everything from unemployment and poverty to rates of incarceration—and amounts to a significant and unacceptable diminution in our capacity to build sustainable wealth."
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing information and tools to help African Americans build wealth and live better lives, this year’s BLACK ENTERPRISE Board of Economists will examine the lost potential of African American males. We hope to analyze the cost of high unemployment, underemployment, high prison rates and the loss of potential income among African American males to the United States and the black community.
You can participate in this potentially historic dialogue by taking this brief survey. Click here:
http://www.blackenterprise.com/ExclusivesekOpen.asp?id=1565
This is one of the most important issues affecting the African American community today.
Let us include your voice.
Blessings!
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| 11jaywrags |
03-23-2006 @ 1:40 PM |
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Single parent homes are a problem.
Prison population. Once you have a felony , society makes things harder.
Gangs and black on black crime.
Pursuit of easy money through crime.
Racism in the media is bias toward Blacks.
Illegal immigration. Employers hire illegals instead on black teenagers for low wage jobs.
Outsourcing on manufacturing jobs to the underdeveloped World.
We have many problems, some within our control and some out of our control.
Salaam
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| 12thinker |
03-23-2006 @ 1:54 PM |
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quote:
Outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to the underdeveloped World
jaywrags, this, coupled with the overwhelming influx of Mexicans, is one of the biggest problems.
Only the big-wig, fat cats get fatter. It all started with NAFTA back in 1992. Since then, things have gotten much worse. Minorities could always depend on low or high-paying jobs in the manufacturing sector.
I just learned that much of the work in my field-word processing - is being outsourced to India. The law firms I am told are e-mailing their documents to India and having computer literate individuals format the documents at low wage scales, something like $1.00 per hour as compared to the $18-$20 per hour they would have to pay here.
These devils can only make things worse as long as Bush is in the white house.
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| 13jaywrags |
03-23-2006 @ 6:11 PM |
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thinker
Both the dems and repubs both let corporations send jobs overseas. This is a big problem for Blacks.
When I was growing up in the 80's you could quit high school and get a decent job in the textile mills in Georgia. Now they have moved overseas. The young dudes who graduate high school still can't find decent jobs, you need to go to college or trade school now.
The politicians claim the illegals only do work Americans don't want. That's a lie. The illegals are doing jobs that the undereducated Americans used to do when they were in need of other income. The illegals are doing landscaping, construction, farm work, house cleaning, restaurant work, etc., these are all things Blacks did in the past and still would do on an emergency basis. But these jobs are being filled by illegals now.
I heard on the news someone say,"Communist will sell the capitalist the rope they will hang themselves with".
Salaam
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| 14Kobena |
03-23-2006 @ 6:59 PM |
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Would an enthnic economy (black-economy) be a good idea?
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| 15AASojourn |
03-23-2006 @ 8:25 PM |
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Kobena et al
The title of this topic speaks volumes. I have a sneaky feeling
that we've been missing something. What I say may seem to be
off topic but I think it's a humongous part of what's been said
already on this page.
Black Men!!!!!!!!
Are catching hell all over the world. Those in the homeland,
aren't much better off than the rest of us. I say not much,
because they are still the custodians of the motherland, and all
her treasures and that is really an enviable position.
I believe in my heart of hearts that the key is Africa.
Asians have Asia
Euros have Europe
We in the African diaspora are like dysfunctional children of a
dysfunctional parent. I believe a healing has to happen, all
through the diaspora on many levels at a time, if we're ever
going to rise to our proper place on this rock.
As bad off as any of us think we are, we are going to have to
muster up the moxy to rally around the motherland in order to
insure our own survival. Personally I'm basing what I say here on
my own instincts, rather than intellect but still it feels right.
Straightforward communication throughout the diaspora and the
knowledge of our history, recent and ancient, hold the clues to
extracting ourselves from this mess we're in.
We must keep ourselves in the know, as to what's happening
throughout the African diaspora until the big picture comes
clear. If we don't do this, it'll be like trying to find our way
across the U.S. with a map of New Jersey.
AASojourn
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| 16thinker |
03-24-2006 @ 3:27 AM |
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quote:
The illegals are doing jobs that the undereducated Americans used to do when they were in need of other income. The illegals are doing landscaping, construction, farm work, house cleaning, restaurant work, etc., these are all things Blacks did in the past and still would do on an emergency basis. But these jobs are being filled by illegals now.
jaywrags, these were almost the same words I posted on this website several years ago, almost word for word.
I lived in Georgia all of 2004 and saw your comment in action. Mexicans were doing the landscaping and cleanup jobs in the predominantly-black apartment complex that I lived in, whereas a decade earlier blacks did the work.
Clinton started this mess back in 1992 with NAFTA and Bush picked up the torch and changed the name of the game. The rules are basically the same--outsource the jobs overseas and pay lower wages, and allow the illegals from Mexico easier entry, while pretending to do otherwise.
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| 17tawhid |
03-24-2006 @ 8:16 AM |
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Seems to me black folk need to get a whole lot bigger in our thinking. Unfortunately most of us don't even know what NAFTA is. We let the "big boys" handle these very important global issues that seem beyond our bounds and when we feel the "effects" we don't even know who to blame.
Anyone working should be making- at least - minimum wage. The problem with the reconstruction of New Orleans is not that Mexicans are doing the gutting. It's that the wage laws have been usurped and rather than keep that in the fore - the real issue is buried while we scrap with "illegals". Here in NYC, many of the car washes are manned by illegal Africans. Should I fight with the Africans or the Jews who are paying them $2 an hour? Many of the Chinese restaurants have $3 an hour Mexicans frying chicken and fish that BLACK people are buying. Should I fight the Chinese, Mexicans, or Blacks?
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| 18tawhid |
03-24-2006 @ 8:31 AM |
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One of the biggest problems toward survival for black men - and thus the whole community - is lack of unity. And I'm not talking about some "we are the world" b.s. I'm talking about groups of black men who play ball together, play cards together, go to strip joints together - using that same energy and resource to do more productive things. It's damn near impossible for individual brothers to survive this jungle. It's got to be group efforts, at the least. If 4 brothers are struggling to pay a grand of rent apiece--can somebody suggest perhaps buying a small building? Other men do it.
AASOJOURN
If indeed Africans were the "custodians" of the land the existing problems would not be. Africa is resource rich and yet the poverty is rampant for the simple fact that Africans are not the custodians of the land. The new President of Liberia was here this week skinning and grinning with Bush - saying how American assistance and military backing is needed. What a crock!!! Liberia has 80% unemployment while Firestone has the rights to just about all of it's rubber land and any other resources found on that land! Who is challenging that "contract"? The men in Liberia will have to do the same thing that men here have to do: Challenge the unfair "contracts". Make your presence known. Let it be known that you understand national and international politics and how they affect us a black people.
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| 19sl8 |
03-24-2006 @ 9:19 AM |
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who conducted the study?
who analysed the results?
who was quick to print the alleged findings?
and who brought this to light?
black men????.....i dont think so
so as rr said....phuck the study the times and the white establishment.....tellin me about me...like im a friggin mooks
ok massa whu aye ga do ageen...ok massa im tryin
puleeeeeeeze
in truth, SL8
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| 20AASojourn |
03-24-2006 @ 11:25 AM |
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tawhid
We are not too far apart, in what we're saying.
By custodians I mean they are physically in Africa occupying the
land. They are present, and that they still have access to many
aspects of our collective historical culture, eroded though they
may be, that may in the future prove to be invaluable in our
understanding of ourselves as members of the diaspora.
There still remain at least remnants of languages and customs
and art and other things that I don't know about, not being an
historian or anthropologist. These are the treasures I'm talking
about.
Moneywise, I believe we are in a better position to help them
than vice versa. As much as we complain and feel sorry for
ourselves here, we are comparatively rich. I believe a lot of Black
people around the world feel resentful and disappointed in our
performance because they expect so much more of us.
In the meatime THE MAN is trying as hard and as fast as he can
to eliminate both our and their advantages. We need to become
aware of that ASAP and do what we have to do.
Liberians are probably not your best example since they are first
cousins of ours. They come right out of the same slavery system
that we do. If you keep that in mind, you may find more
similarities than with some other Africans.
AASojourn
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| 21tawhid |
03-24-2006 @ 12:04 PM |
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AASORJOURN - we're not in disagreement. But my main point about Liberia, unfortunately, is the same for most African countries be it an American or European corporation. Control of the resources is key. Along that same line - this is why I encourage black men to learn skills that are NEEDED within the community. Start businesses that are NEEDED in the community. Because whatever money resources we have can't go anywhere but OUT of our community if we are not providing for our needs.
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