A tragic crisis of enormous magnitude is facing black boys and men in America.

[ensho]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/opinion/21herbert.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Too Long Ignored


Parental neglect, racial discrimination and an orgy of self-destructive behavior have left an extraordinary portion of the black male population in an ever-deepening pit of social and economic degradation.

-snip-

The astronomical jobless rates for black men in inner-city neighborhoods are both mind-boggling and heartbreaking. There are many areas where virtually no one has a legitimate job.

-snip-

Homicide is the leading cause of death for young black men, with the murderous wounds in most cases inflicted by other young black men.

This is a cancer that has been allowed to metastasize for decades. Not only is it not being treated, most people don’t even want to talk about it. In virtually every facet of life in the United States, black people — and especially black boys and men — are coming up short. White families are typically five times as wealthy as black families. More than a third of all black children are growing up in poverty. In Ohio, according to the National Center for Children in Poverty, the percentage is more than half.

-snip-

Terrible injustices have been visited on black people in the United States, but there is never a good reason to collaborate in one’s own destruction. Blacks in America have a long and proud history of overcoming hardship and injustice. It’s time to do it again.
-----------------------------


I can remember in the 60s 70s? when the black community had all kinds of after school/summer programs
to help the kids learn self respect.

'its time to do it again'

[Bigmack]

1. It's a conveyor belt into the dumpster....

Black kid grows up in a neighborhood with no jobs... legit jobs, that is. Drug dealing and the like are the only jobs available. He gets popped for one of those offenses.

Now... no chance for a regular job, even if one opened up. He stays with plan A until he gets busted for a felony. Then he can't vote, can't get any kind of job, and we house and feed him to the tune of $30K a year.

His fault? Sure, I guess so, but.....

I have a plan.

Hire the kid for $20K a year, take him out of the neighborhood and put him to clearing trails in the mountains, or clearing along levees, or any other needed infrastructure job that will:
A) keep him out of the neighborhood
B) keep him tired
C) give him some kind of structure in his life
D) give him enough money to send home
E) give him some kind of work ethic... even if it's how to fuck off on the job and look like he's working

Don't try to thank me for thinking up this brilliant plan. FDR already did it with the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Shit... we'd be better off just paying the kid to stay home and stay out of trouble. If we paid him $30 K a year if he stayed clean, it would be a bargain for society compared to the cost of policing, prosecuting, and incarcerating him.

[ensho]

2. kick

nt

[lunatica]

3. This is how the cycle of poverty works

It's not a 'black' issue. It's a poverty and oppression issue.

edited for spelling

[ensho]

5. true, but this thread zeros in on black boys and men

I've said before here on DU that teenage boys of whatever color are in terrible shape. and are being left to muddle through on their own.

[Bigmack]

6. I'm enough of a tinfoil hat guy...

to think the Powers That Be are especially anxious to disenfranchise blacks, since those that vote tend to vote Democratic.

It also provides the PTB with a convenient boogyman. "Elect us and we'll protect you from the blacks (or Moslems, Jews, Mexicans, space aliens, spaghetti monsters, etc)!"

[Recursion]

12. Then why are crime rates falling and graduation rates rising?

Along with teen volunteerism, which is rising also. The only category of crime in which today's teenagers exceed their predecessors is theft of items worth more than $100, which can pretty much entirely be explained by the existence of iPods.

I know we all have a deep-seated need to believe the youth of today are in crisis, but it just isn't so, really. And as appalling as these figures are, they've been moving in the right direction for 15 years.

[Greyhound]

23. Are you black? n/t

[Recursion]

26. Troll

I am of mixed race, and generally pass. Who the fuck cares? Especially since the post I was replying to was talking about "teens of all races".

[Donald Ian Rankin]

17. I'm not sure that "it's not a black issue" is a helpful response.

Obviously, it depends what you mean by "it", but I think that there are issues which are specific to black American culture above and beyond the univeral issues of poverty.

[southmost]

10. bingo!

that is what it gonna take, so we don't experience the problems Mexico is faced with

[Roon]

39. We have job corps today

When I was in job corps in 1985, there were a lot of people who was sent there by a judge. It works!

[Bigmack]

42. The Repubs and corporate Dems are gonna kill it.. nt

[Roon]

45. Not surprised eom

[laylah]

43. +1000 n/t

[Freetradesucks]

46. Really? Bad idea.

Take a kid out of his home, away from his family, pay him basically minimum wage ($9.62/hr) to do hard manual labor for the government. That is not somewhat racist and counterproductive to him achieving success how??!!!

That boils down to,"he will never amount to anything anyway, and will eventually end up in jail costing us a lot more, so let's get some good use out of that strong back and save a few bucks to boot".

Appalling, and I am shocked that anyone has agreed with you.


"Keep him tired". REALLY? HONESTLY? AM I ON STORMFRONT??

[seabeyond]

4. i agree, so much. thanks for posting. nt

[tourivers83]

7. 28 percent high school graduation rate.

"There is never a good reason to collaborate in one’s own destruction." This article speaks truth.

[red red red]

8. Thank you for posting...

it is way past time to explore this issue and the Dem's are the ones to do it. The pug's could care less and, in fact, would not mind keeping the cycle going. I like the suggestion of paying them to work on infrastructure jobs - would help with the jobs, getting the job done and help with the crime rate! Then the young people could/would hold their heads high with their accomplishments.

[Common Sense Party]

9. "orgy of self-destructive behavior "?? Sounds like blaming the victim, no?

[Recursion]

13. Way too many black teens and young adults are murdered

And it's almost invariably by another black teen or young adult (interracial crime is vanishingly rare). I think that's what he meant.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

21. Self destructive behaviors are part of the problem

Not to acknowledge that is as dishonest as blaming them for the entire problem

[Recursion]

29. And even if the self-destructive behaviors are the result of racism

They're still self-destructive. Sometimes you have to deal with the symptom as well as the cause.

[Recursion]

11. Except crime was worse during the 70s

and the last half of the 60s than it is now. That may not be where we want to go back to.

[LatteLibertine]

14. Locking

people up in the prison industrial complex is big business.

When many of our jobs were outsourced over seas by the greedy fuckers at the top in this nation it hit middle class and poor blue collar folks hard. Many of them were indeed in communities with a high minority population.

Laws are enforced in a very arbitrary manner in this nation. Poor or middle class guy gets caught out driving with weed on him = jail, child of a wealthy person gets caught out driving drunk and in the possession of weed, they get "escorted" home by the police. Same thing goes with sentencing. It's unbalanced.

I wish there were an easy fix to institutional racism, and there isn't.

[WinkyDink]

15. Not to mention taking away their right to VOTE FOREVER.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Catshrink]

18. According to the Secretary of Education

it's the teachers' fault that these kids are failing. Poverty, societal mindset, parental involvement, etc. play no part.

[Recursion]

27. BS

Arne has never said that.

[Chan790]

38. Arne's entire policy proposal would be absurd...

if it were not based around those presumptions.

"Race to the Top" by its' nature infers that the cause and solution is single-source and that source is failing educational models. There is nothing in his proposal to address other causes of educational non-attainment, in fact it wholesale ignores that there might be other causes at all.

[Recursion]

40. I see it as saying the only thing DoE can help with is failing educational models

It can't change families or neighborhoods; it can encourage change of educational models.

And note that "failing educational models" is very different from "all the teachers' fault"

[Odin2005]

19. The "War on Drugs" needs to end NOW.

[Mimosa]

20. There used to be jobs in urban areas which weren't fast food. n/t

[Recursion]

28. There still are

Most big cities create more "brain" jobs per year than their entire unemployed population. These are taken by (mostly white) people from the suburbs. Partly because we require a college degree for jobs that simply don't need a degree -- this is actually turning into what the college degree requirement was originally: a stand-in for asking for a certain socioeconomic class. But mostly because poor black males scare a lot of white people.

[Mimosa]

31. ^ TRUE! ^

Recursion you are so right:

"Partly because we require a college degree for jobs that simply don't need a degree -- this is actually turning into what the college degree requirement was originally: a stand-in for asking for a certain socioeconomic class."

This almost seems like a scheme to make a firmly delineated 'class structure' such as we in the US had never wanted.

I'm old enough to remember when apprenticeships and basic experience could get most people into non-technical jobs.

I hate seeing how the younger generation -especially minorities- are being deprived of opportunities.

[laylah]

44. I had better work

BEFORE I got my degree, at 50. I had worked for Lawyers, banks, stockbrokers, etc. Now, with my SW degree, which, btw, they changed the rules mid-stream, I am doing at home marketing research. There was a time when experience meant something. As I look back, I truly believe higher education, in some areas, is a damned scam. JMVHO.

[Greyhound]

22. Institutional racism brought this about and it was quite purposeful.

Just as it continues today, this is another of those utterly horrible statistics that, since they expose how intolerant, vindictive, and unenlightened we really are, is actively ignored.

When you look at the whole picture, about 1/2 of all black American males are in "the system", and once you're in you never get out.
:kick: & R

[CBR]

25. +1000 nt

[Recursion]

30. It's the sentencing "deal" that got made 20 years ago

Crime rates have dropped, and incarceration rates have risen horrifically. Unfortunately it's not clear to me what we can do about this.

[Mimosa]

33. Get rid of the insane war on drugs for a start

I'm not saying Meth and illegal Rx drug dealing ought to be legalised, but we really have to lighten up on the awr on drugs and stop turning kids into criminals. Marijuana legalisation (and taxing it for revenues) might be a good start.

Money spent on incarceration ought to be spent on education and treatment.

[Kurovski]

24. K&R. (nt)

[Joe Chi Minh]

32. K&R

[LWolf]

34. It's certainly time for something.

Parental neglect, racial discrimination, generational poverty and under-education...

It's time to invest in every community in the U.S., to narrow economic gaps until there are no hungry, neglected, demeaned communities left in the nation. That would address a large part of the problem.

"An orgy of self-destructive behavior..." If there were hope, if there were abundant opportunities to advance, would more turn away from that orgy, and embrace a better future?


A job for anyone who wants one. A living wage for every job. Support for anyone unable to support themselves. Clean, safe, affordable housing for all. Universal, single-payer, not-for-profit health care, including mental health services. Parent education. Universal, free, fully public pre-school through college or trade school. Every community with the resources to provide rich community programming and services for all.

Clean, safe communities. Why can't we focus on this at home, for our own citizens, instead of trying to develop other nations?

[tomp]

35. but, but...we have a progressive black president....

surely he has this covered, right?

[eridani]

36. More blanimg the victim. What about the prison industrial complex?

Arrests and convictions of black men are an order of magnitude higher for black men compared to the white majority for similar offenses. Why would a rational black man in those circumstances even bother to try to keep his nose clean with no jail time when a white man with a prison record will beat him out in a job interview?

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

37. K&R.

[Panaconda]

41. Nobody is talking about this

and when they do it is in the most limited of terms.

The problem is systemic so some of this discussion is really futile and undermines true economic justice as it devolves into the "personal responsibility" canard.