Scholars Look for Winning Strategies for Young Black Men
Diverse Education Online
July 17, 2006
This reported on the July 14, 2006 Pipeline Forum: It describes “ A panel of high-profile academics, activists and political leaders gathered in New York on Friday to tackle what they called the most pressing issue facing African Americans in the post-civil rights era: the plight of the Black male”.
Charles J. Ogeltree, who teaches and directs the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard University’s Law Scholl, was quoted as saying: “I’m on a move to save African American boys, said Ogeltree, who is one on the country’s most prominent legal scholars. “If we don’t save them, the ideas of families, personal responsibility, jobs, education, just won’t happen.”
The article noted that “ more than 1,000 people – mostly educators government officials and community leaders – gathered in a large auditorium overlooking the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan to strategize on what the nation’s response should be to such a vexing problem.” The statistics of Black male incarceration and high school drop out rates are alarming. In Chicago, for example, 45 percent of African American men between the ages of 20 and 24 are unemployed. Only 18 percent of Black men in Chicago have earned a college degree. The numbers are similar in other major urban areas throughout the country.
Also mentioned was Dr John H. McWhorter who was quoted as saying” There needs to be a natural effort to reengage these young men. We need to do less talking about the causes and focus on practical solutions. We need to help people who need help.”
Theodore M. Shaw, the director-counsel and president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, attacked organizations and government agencies that have attempted in recent years to shut down academic and social service programs that cater exclusively to young Black males. Former Baltimore Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke, who serves as dean of Howard University’s Law School, said that African Americans should pull their resources together to support organizations that focus exclusively on providing services that will steer African American youngsters in the right direction.
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