Young Black Males

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.

If an identifiable group of students is having a hard time keeping up in school, is it fair to single those kids out for special help? It's a dilemma that many school systems, including some in Maryland, are facing when it comes to African-American boys, who are often on the low end of the achievement gap. In Ossining, N.Y., the school district is using mentoring and other targeted interventions that have also been recommended by a Maryland task force...

There are only two reasons I can think of for the ridiculous editorial in today's Sun regarding illegal immigrants ("Illegal immigrant disconnect," Sept. 8). Either The Sun is trying to stir up controversy or the editorial staff is completely oblivious to the issues caused by illegal immigrants. So the Pew study mentions that the unemployment rate is higher for illegals than the national average of 9.5 percent. That's just great. It means we have well over 1 million unemployed illegal immigrants in this country.

Young black men in our communities are falling into a deep hole - a hole filled with crime, unemployment and despair. They are falling so far, and so fast, that extricating many of them might well be impossible. And yet, for their sakes and ours, we must try. Our personal lives and our many years spent as a Circuit Court judge and college professor, respectively, have caused us to question the destiny of the black community - particularly that of the black male. In December 2004 we independently published articles in a book titled The State of Black Baltimore.

Baltimore saw fewer killings last year than any other in the past two decades, but data released this week show the city's homicide rate ranked the highest among the nation's cities with a population of more than 500,000. Despite recording its lowest number of killings in 20 years, Baltimore experienced 37 homicides per 100,000 residents last year, ahead of Detroit, which had 34 per 100,000 residents, according to data compiled by the FBI. While the District of Columbia was not included in FBI data, it appears to rank third, with about 31 killings per 100,000 residents.

There is little doubt that a new political mood is sweeping the nation.For the first time in a long while, the dialogue on important issues has taken on a more honest tone. Whether the talk is about crime, free trade or health care, the public is getting some straight scoop for a change.I don't necessarily credit the politicians for this. I suspect they're motivated by the same things that have always motivated them, which is whatever will get them re-elected. Instead, it's the voters from coast to coast who are demanding that their representatives cut to the chase or get out of the way.Some of this refreshing honesty blew through Howard County last week, when Del. Elijah Cummings spoke at Wilde Lake High School on the crisis that confronts the African-American male.

Go see ''Boyz N the Hood.'' See it because it's a good movie.It deserves the rave reviews it received when it opened in theaters across the country last month. I liked it so much I went back and saw it again.The story follows three black boys growing up in the violent world of a Los Angeles ghetto. Ricky is the star halfback on his high school team. He has a chance to go to college on a football scholarship if he scores above 700 on his college boards -- and if he survives.Ricky's half-brother, ''Doughboy,'' doesn't have exceptional athletic ability.

Men may work from dusk to dawn, but women's work is never done. Remember that old nursery rhyme? Growing up prior to the women's liberation movement, you knew exactly what "women's work" meant. Today, there's really no such thing.A recent study of census data by the Program for Applied Research at Queens College shows women have dramatically increased their percentage of jobs traditionally held by men. But there has been no similarly large movement of men to take jobs traditionally held by women.

Washington -- There is an old story about a cat who jumped onto a hot stove once and found the experience to be so profoundly unpleasant that he never jumped on a hot stove again. Of course, he never jumped on a cold stove, either.Ruth Jandrucko of Miami, who was mugged in a parking lot in 1986, can identify with that cat. Ever since she was mugged, the pTC 65-year-old woman says she panics at the sight of black men.She's not alone. As a black man who has had the experience of being passed over by taxis, seeing women wait for the next elevator rather than get on alone with me or seeing people suddenly lock their car doors at a red light when they see me standing on the nearby corner, I know she's not alone.

A recent article by staff writer Lan Nguyen reported on the preponderance of school suspensions given black students, particularly males. Nationally, black students were suspended in 1992 at three times the rate of whites. In Maryland, the gap was sometimes wider: In Harford and Howard counties, black students were suspended almost five times as often as non-blacks; in Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties, blacks were punished at least twice as often.The good news: Educators have recognized a problem that needs to be addressed.