The Plight of Black Men

Louisville, KY – The plight of black men in the United States is far more dire than is portrayed by common employment and education statistics, 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.
The studies, by experts at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions, show that the huge pool of poorly educated black men is becoming ever more disconnected from mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than comparable white or Hispanic men. Especially in the country's inner cities, finishing high school is the exception, legal work is scarcer than ever and prison is almost routine, with incarceration rates climbing for blacks even as urban crime rates declined

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, the scholars say.
“There's something very different happening with young black men, and it's something we can no longer ignore,” said Ronald B. Mincy, a professor of social work at Columbia University and editor of “Black Males Left Behind.”

Many of the new studies go beyond the traditional approaches to looking at the issue. For example, official unemployment rates can be misleading because they do not include those not seeking work or incarcerated.
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.
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.

Among the 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 – that is, 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.

Incarceration rates reached historic highs in the past 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, six in 10 black men who have dropped out of school have done time.

In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.