Young Black Men in Jeopardy
By Jill Nelson The
statistics concerning young brothers' chances in this
society are shocking. Jill Nelson has some thoughts on
what Black Americans, can do to help.
Just a few weeks after "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"
won the Oscar for Best Song and started a much needed
discussion about values, identity, and cultural
representation in Black communities across the country,
on March 20 The New York Times ran a story on its front
page headlined, " Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies
Warn." |
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That article, too, is
generating plenty of debate. (Also check out this link
to additional Black voices--scroll down toward the
bottom of the page--and Kevin Powell's editorial, "
Black and Male in America.") |
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It's difficult not to see a disturbing and dangerous symmetry between a
popular culture that celebrates violence, misogyny, irresponsibility,
and gangsterism and the current status--or lack thereof--of too many
young Black men.
According to studies by experts at universities such as Harvard,
Columbia, and Princeton, enormous numbers of Black men who drop out of
high school are disconnected, perhaps permanently, from the world of
work. They represent an ever expanding underclass of
men who do not work, who move in and out of the prison-industrial
complex, who prey on the Black community either through
criminal activity or chronic dependence, and who father new generations
of children whom they are unable or
unwilling to care for.
And while the statistics are bad enough--6 in 10 Black men in their
mid-30s who are high school dropouts have been incarcerated; half of
Black men in cities do not finish high school; and in 2004, 72 percent
of Black male high school dropouts were jobless--the impact
that these negative role models have on the values that form families
and sustain communities is equally profound.
What's shocking isn't that young Black men are doing badly; it is the
stark numbers and overwhelming details that these studies
provide. Poor communities are rapidly turning into wastelands in which
Black men as workers, fathers, and active, contributing members
are virtually absent. These neighborhoods are de facto prisons from
which--without education, motivation, or a work ethic--escape is
virtually impossible.
Too many young Black men never had any male role models themselves--no
examples of men who finished school, worked hard,
supported their families, struggled to make wise choices, and adhered to
a value system that sustained them and their communities.
Gone, it seems, are the elders who helped set community standards--the
educated working men who supported their families and invested in their
communities, and whose examples inspired young boys to do as well or
better.
Thirty years ago, the delusion among many poor, unskilled, uneducated
young Black men was that their skills on the basketball
court would make education obsolete and transport them into the NBA.
Today this same group also dreams of striking it rich in the world of
hip-hop--a world in which all you have to know is how to rhyme; forget
about reading, writing, singing, or playing an instrument. Yet like
those young men with basketball dreams, the number of hip-hop hopefuls
who will make it is minuscule. Would that they dreamed instead of
becoming strong, hardworking, supportive men, as well as loving fathers,
husbands, and sons.
The crisis affecting Black men also affects Black women, of course, and
too often we are left to make it alone. Sadly, many of us
collude in our own exploitation and victimization. We confuse sex with
love and have children, not because we desire them, but because of
carelessness or in a futile effort to lock down the baby daddy. In the
end we are without partners, and our children without fathers.
An equally important factor in this process is the deterioration not
only of communally held values that nurture and celebrate
education, hard work, and responsible parenting, but also of the
community-based institutions that fight for government programs,
funding, and responsibility. In place of those values and institutions,
we have the opiate of popular culture and the self-destructive
bravado of hip-hop.
As Black women and members of Black communities, let's not simply talk
about the sad state of too many of our youth--let's take action!
It's a matter of self-preservation. We can start with these simple
steps:
1. Practice tough love. As parents, relatives, and friends, we need to
set standards for young people and stick to them, even when
it's inconvenient.
2. Speak to young people on the street. Simply saying good morning
forces a connection and builds community.
3. Hold not only young people but also yourself responsible for
antisocial behavior. No more littering, spitting on the sidewalk,
yelling,
and cursing. Refrain from doing it yourself, and politely request that
others do the same.
4. Contact a relative, friend, or organization in your community and
volunteer to work with a young person preparing to take the
GED exam.
5. Find an organization and volunteer to mentor a young man or woman.
6. Give a box of condoms to a young man and a young woman and explain
the importance of both safe sex and of not having children
before they finish their education. Encourage young women to use a
second form of birth control, for additional protection
against pregnancy, and explain that "love" isn't defined as having
unprotected sex or anyone's baby.
7. Check out some of the people, organizations, and books listed under
the Related Links below. All of them are focusing on problems
that affect young Black men.
Are the biggest challenges that young Black men face cultural--as in the
glorification of thug imagery and the breakdown of
our own values--or socioeconomic, such as discrimination and
institutional racism? What else can we, as Black women,
do to help our young men find a place in society?
[Center
Stage Magazine
] |
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