Black Male Youths: The Sacrificial Lambs of Our American Community?

Let me start by saying, "I'm a white male and some will probably call me racist for bringing this to your attention." This, however, is not my motivation (racism). My motivation is to make you aware of the facts as horrible as they may seem, to educate, to effect change, to prevent incarceration and to break the cycle of poverty. With knowledge comes power, this is why I right this article today. Maybe someone will read this and become motivated to effect some changes of their own.

Here are the graduation statistics for my state, the state of Ohio, by race and gender:

Asian Males: 90.1%
White Males: 88.2%
Hispanic Males: 70.7%
Black Males: 64.4%

Asian Females: 94.8%
White Females: 91.4%
Hispanic Females: 77.7%
Black Females: 72.3%
(Columbus Dispatch)

Here are the graduation rates nationwide by race and ethnicity provided by www.urban.org:

"...When results are broken down by race and ethnicity, we find that more than 75 percent of White and Asian students completed high school with a diploma. By stark contrast, however, the same could be said for barely half of students from historically disadvantaged minority groups. Graduation rates for Black, American Indian, and Hispanic students were 50, 51, and 53 percent respectively. Male students complete high school at consistently lower levels than females. Graduation rates are also substantially lower for students educated in highly-segregated, socio-economically disadvantaged, and urban school systems. Strong regional disparities consistently emerge from the findings, as does a tremendous amount of variation in the performance of individual states..." (www.urban.org)

It is apparent that we (Ohioans) are a little better than the national average but it is still deplorable. That is why the article in Wednesdays Columbus Dispatch titled, "Low Grad Rates for Black Men Worrisome," focused my attention and left me with the need to write this article.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland realizes the problem the Black Male population is facing in our state. To demonstrate this he said, ..."The low graduation rates and lack of college contribute to black men having lower incomes and higher unemployment rates." He went on to say, "This is an issue that is with us, it's very real and it affects lives of young people in very tragic ways," noting that for many of these youths, the end of the road is prison. (Columbus Dispatch). When he makes the statement, "for many of these youths, the end of the road is prison," he knows of what he speaks. Governor Strickland used to work in the ODR&C and has vast knowledge and experience in this arena.

Governor Strickland is trying to address this issue in our state by appointing a commission aimed at closing the graduation gap that the Black Male community suffers from and has pledged to push $20 million through the state legislature to fund this program. Governor Strickland held a luncheon where he laid out his plans for change. At this luncheon it became apparent the Governors plan relies, very heavily, on volunteers. This program calls for the community to volunteer in the school systems to help these children with their special needs; in order to help them overcome the hurdles they face towards the goal of graduation.

One of the volunteers, Derrick Holmes, who attended the conference stated,

"...There will be no simple solution to the problem because each struggling student has different issues. Adults need to listen to those students if they hope to counter the forces that are keeping them from succeeding is school. "We do a great job of talking stuff up" said Holmes..." He wondered how long many of the conference attendees would stay personally involved with closing the achievement gap. " It becomes a commitment," Holmes said. "It makes no sense to have 1,500 people involved in an initiative, and then it becomes a social club and you only see 300 of them down the road." (Columbus Dispatch)

Another attendee Lykes stated,

"... (I) would like to see mentors in the schools teaching black students abut history, culture, and self discipline-messages being drowned out by the "hip-hop culture," which stresses making money now, illegally, he said..." (Columbus Dispatch)

I have mixed feelings about Gov. Strickland's approach. I think the issue runs deeper than just the "hip-hop culture," I think it falls back to the lack of basic family structure that is so prevalent in the lower income Black communities. Young girls having kids with no fathers to help and no tools to properly raise their children. These women see no way to get out of the cycle of poverty and anything else almost seems unnatural to them because they, and their mothers before them, have been living in this environment their whole lives. I think teaching these family units to help themselves would go further to rectify this problem. Solving this (family unit) dilemma, I feel, is the real challenge. However, I applaud any attempt made to rectify this (low graduation) crisis and I wish Strickland and the commission all the luck in the world. I also feel the Governor and, most especially, the volunteers should be commended. I would rather see money being spent in the school systems to educate these children and I feel it is a better use of tax dollars than incarceration. Let's hope and work so that the Black male population will no longer be the "Sacrificial Lambs" of our "American Community."