appalling crisis for black males discussed in In These Times

[bobbieinok]

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“Why are more than 50 percent of African-American males between the ages of 16 and 22 out of work and not in school? Why are 87 percent of juvenile parolees African-American males? Why are 60 percent of adult parolees African-American males? Why have only 38 percent of black males graduated from Chicago high schools since 1995, while 62 percent have dropped out?” Most of those numbers pertain to Illinois and Chicago, but also echo the stats of other urban centers.

Earlier this year, the Community Service Society of New York released a report, “A Crisis in Black Male Employment,” that found only 51.8 percent of black men between the ages of 16 through 64 were employed from 2000 to 2003.

But issues of criminal justice are perhaps the most troublesome aspects of this crisis. According to Justice Department figures, 12.9 percent of black males ages 25-29 were in prison or jail; for white men in the same age group the number is 1.6 percent. These racially disparate incarceration rates influence public perception of black men and debilitate other aspects of black community life.

The corrections complex occupies too much space in African-American culture and long has exerted disproportionate influence on the lives of young black people. Long lists of statistics detail the depths of this crisis, but just one—the U.S. Justice Department projects that 32 percent of African-American men born in 2001 will spend time in prison—is enough to reveal its debilitating effects.

A flurry of research is unearthing the interlocking dimensions of this crisis. A study by Becky Pettit of the University of Washington and Bruce Western of Princeton University found that “fully 60 percent of African-American male high-school dropouts born between 1965 and 1969 had been incarcerated by the time they reached their early 30s.” (See, “Prison in the Cards,” Page 8)

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http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/the_best_and_worst_of_times/