Young Black Males

Leading economic indicators suggest a recovery beneficial to incumbents in time for the '94 midterm election.Q. How do you reduce the number of young black males in Baltimore in trouble with the law? A. Better schools, more jobs, less dope.If teachers are striking, autumn cannot be far behind.The nutty hostility at the Republican National Convention was a bonanza for Democratic fund-raising. It is a little-known fact of political zoology that not all fat cats are male.

Astatewide task force has come up with a number of sensible recommendations to help make more young, black males achieve educational and, ultimately, social success. But considering that the work of a similar task force failed to gain traction a decade ago, it's clear that what will be needed to make these recommendations real is more political will, financial resources and - perhaps most important - a greater sense of urgency. Many young, black males in Maryland are doing fine, but too many others are not. And although some jurisdictions, such as Baltimore County, have done well in closing the school-achievement gap, the state as a whole has a long way to go. In 2003, the high school graduation rate for white males was 76 percent, compared with 53 percent for black males.

As sobering as the government's statistics are on the deaths by firearms of young black males, an expert on the topic in Baltimore says the situation will worsen if the epidemic isn't treated."

THE EMPLOYMENT rate among young black males is bad across America, but in Baltimore it's worse. Nationally, the rate over 20 years has fallen from 62 percent to 52 percent -- a 16 percent drop. In Baltimore, the rate has fallen from 60 percent to 38 percent -- a 37 percent plunge. These national statistics for out-of-school black males ages 16 to 24 who have no more than a high school diploma were reported by the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, in April. The Baltimore findings were provided to the Abell Foundation by a research assistant to the author of the report, Harry Holzer.

Aforthcoming study brings welcome good news in education, ranking Baltimore County as the best large school district in the nation in getting African-American males successfully through high school. Positive results were also shown in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. At a time when other national studies have lamented the declining plight of young black males, that some Maryland school districts have figured out a better way is encouraging. The challenge is to sustain the success.

BOSTON -- Despite the despair and sense of crisis around them, black men can take charge of their lives by coming to terms with who they are and finding strength and racial pride within themselves, according to speakers at a conference on the future of the black male.Presentations at yesterday's day-long conference, which drew about 300 people to Brandeis University, alternated between grim assessments of the crisis confronting black males and positive advice about beating the odds through self-knowledge and self-esteem, education and spiritual development.

To be a black male is to be always at war, and no flight to the county can save us, because even there we are met by the assumption of violence, by the specter of who we might turn on next."

The Harlem Park community has formed a coalition to push the neighborhood's application to become one of the "village centers" in Baltimore's $100 million empowerment zone program.Baltimore's proposal calls for dividing the empowerment zones into village centers of no more than 9,000 residents. In each center, one school would provide morning, evening and weekend educational, recreational and cultural activities.Delores Farmer, president of the new Coalition to Empower Harlem Park, said the village center designation could bring $6 million to lead revitalization efforts in the West Baltimore community.

Many people keep guns in their homes because they believe it makes them safer. But any number of studies, and the experience of one Baltimore County family last week, show that exactly the opposite is the case. Fifteen-year-old Michael D. Brooks Jr. would have been a sophomore at Lansdowne High School this fall, where he planned to try out for the football team and was looking forward to learning how to drive. But those dreams were cut short last Saturday when he was shot in the head and killed during a sleepover party with two other boys, aged 11 and 12, at a relative's house in Cherry Hill.

The day may come when I can go to the Maryland public high schools wrestling tournament and not notice the race of the place-winners. Unfortunately, that day has not yet arrived. How could it, with the debate about supposed black athletic superiority still raging?So there I sat in the stands at Western Maryland College in early March, enjoying some superb wrestling but noting that Ivan Hardnett and his twin brother, Brandyn -- of Gwynn Park High in Prince George's County -- were black, as was W. T. Aye of North County High in Anne Arundel County.