Life keeps getting worse for black men in U.S.
Life keeps getting worse for black men in U.S.
By Erik Eckholm Copyright by The New York Times
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2006
BALTIMORE The plight of black men in the United States is far more dire 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 brought gains to black women and many other groups.
Focusing on the life patterns of young men, the new studies by specialists at Columbia, Princeton and Harvard universities and other institutions show that the huge pool of poorly educated black males is becoming more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than white or Hispanic men.
Especially in American inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legitimate work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime declines.
Although the deep problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint the most alarming picture yet of ravaged lives and a deepening national calamity that scholars say has received too little attention.
"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," said Ronald Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia and editor of a new book, "Black Males Left Behind."
"Over the last two decades, the economy did great," 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 in determining the scope of unemployment. For example, official unemployment rates can be misleading because they fail to include those not seeking work or incarcerated.
"If you look at the numbers, the 1990s was a bad decade for young black men, even though it had the best labor market in 30 years," said Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and co-author, with Peter Edelman and Paul Offner, of "Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men."
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 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 1990s. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless - unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated.
By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white dropouts and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.
Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20s were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.
Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990s and reached historic highs in the last few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30s, 6 in 10 black men who dropped out of school have 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.
Curtis Brannon, 28, quit school in 10th grade to sell drugs, fathered four children with three women 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," he said the other day in the row-house flat he shares with his girlfriend and four children. "You get tired of incarceration."
Brannon said he planned to look for work, perhaps as a mover, and he noted optimistically that he had not been locked up for six months.
A group of men, including Brannon, gathered at the Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development, one of a number of private agencies that are trying to help men build character along with workplace skills.
William Baker, 47, has a lot to overcome, he admits, not least his recently ended 15-year stay in the state penitentiary for armed robbery.
He sold marijuana for his parents, he said, left school in the sixth grade and later dealt heroin and cocaine.
Since leaving prison 18 months ago, he has lived in a home for recovering drug addicts and has started 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," Baker said.
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 these intertwined issues must be addressed.
Joseph Jones, director of the Baltimore fatherhood and work skills center, puts the breakdown of families at the core.
"Many of these men grew up fatherless, and they never had good role models," said Jones, who himself 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. U.S. 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 young black men still do not finish high school, said Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of "Dropouts in America."
"We're pumping out boys with no honest alternative," Orfield said in an interview, "and of course their neighborhoods offer many other alternatives."
By Erik Eckholm Copyright by The New York Times
TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2006
BALTIMORE The plight of black men in the United States is far more dire 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 brought gains to black women and many other groups.
Focusing on the life patterns of young men, the new studies by specialists at Columbia, Princeton and Harvard universities and other institutions show that the huge pool of poorly educated black males is becoming more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than white or Hispanic men.
Especially in American inner cities, the studies show, finishing high school is the exception, legitimate work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime declines.
Although the deep problems afflicting poor black men have been known for decades, the new data paint the most alarming picture yet of ravaged lives and a deepening national calamity that scholars say has received too little attention.
"There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore," said Ronald Mincy, professor of social work at Columbia and editor of a new book, "Black Males Left Behind."
"Over the last two decades, the economy did great," 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 in determining the scope of unemployment. For example, official unemployment rates can be misleading because they fail to include those not seeking work or incarcerated.
"If you look at the numbers, the 1990s was a bad decade for young black men, even though it had the best labor market in 30 years," said Harry Holzer, an economist at Georgetown University and co-author, with Peter Edelman and Paul Offner, of "Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men."
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 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 1990s. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20s were jobless - unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated.
By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white dropouts and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts.
Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20s were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.
Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990s and reached historic highs in the last few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30s, 6 in 10 black men who dropped out of school have 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.
Curtis Brannon, 28, quit school in 10th grade to sell drugs, fathered four children with three women 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," he said the other day in the row-house flat he shares with his girlfriend and four children. "You get tired of incarceration."
Brannon said he planned to look for work, perhaps as a mover, and he noted optimistically that he had not been locked up for six months.
A group of men, including Brannon, gathered at the Center for Fathers, Families and Workforce Development, one of a number of private agencies that are trying to help men build character along with workplace skills.
William Baker, 47, has a lot to overcome, he admits, not least his recently ended 15-year stay in the state penitentiary for armed robbery.
He sold marijuana for his parents, he said, left school in the sixth grade and later dealt heroin and cocaine.
Since leaving prison 18 months ago, he has lived in a home for recovering drug addicts and has started 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," Baker said.
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 these intertwined issues must be addressed.
Joseph Jones, director of the Baltimore fatherhood and work skills center, puts the breakdown of families at the core.
"Many of these men grew up fatherless, and they never had good role models," said Jones, who himself 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. U.S. 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 young black men still do not finish high school, said Gary Orfield, an education expert at Harvard and editor of "Dropouts in America."
"We're pumping out boys with no honest alternative," Orfield said in an interview, "and of course their neighborhoods offer many other alternatives."
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