In last week's post on Non-Urban Dictates and other B.S. I attempted to correct some commonly regurgitated misinformation. This weekend, watching more Jena 6 recaps, and other random crap on cable news, I heard the following saying about 400 times.
"There are more black men in jail than college."
It was spouted by Jesse Jackson, DL Hughley, and countless white commentators when discussing the societal ills of black America, post-Jena Six.
For the umpteenth time, can we please correct this misconception.
There are NOT more black men in jail than college!!!!!
There are NOT more black men in jail than college!!!!!
There are NOT more black men in jail than college!!!!!
There are NOT more black men in jail than college!!!!!
There are NOT more black men in jail than college!!!!!
Period. Just check the stats.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' publication "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2000" does indeed estimate 791,600 African Americans in prison or jail at that time. However, the figures for African-American college enrollment, derived from the National Center for Education Statistics, look very different from the figures issued by the Census Bureau, which are used in the official government "data book," the Statistical Abstract. Those figures show a total of 804,000 African-American males over the age of 17 enrolled in college in October 2000.If you don't believe the statistics (and I wouldn't blame you, this being the gubb'ment and all), go dig them up for yourself. The 2005 statistics, quoted in this article confirm that the trend continues today, but I can't find any reliable data to back this up.
Even if there were more black men behind bars than in college, you have to really think about the numbers. Just how old is your typical college student? I know some folks continue education later in life, and many are in graduate schools well into their 30's, but typically people attend college between the ages of 18-24. Prison? Not so much? You can catch a charge at damn near any point in your life. So, comparing a relatively small sample (18-24) versus a large one (16-Infinity) is misleading anyway. Stats 101 would tell you this.
How did this silly rumor get spread in the first place? Maybe it's just another Grand Hu$tle by The Man to make us think less of ourselves. Maybe this was true at some point in the past. Or, just maybe, it's yet another example of how we as a people don't bother fact checking or confirming the source of things we hear before we regurgitate them on to the next person. Heck, some people probably think Tupac is still alive. Is there no hope for us!!?
Let's start celebrating the good things about our people, specifically black men, who pretty much get a knee to the groin by society (and themselves) every day.
And the next time you hear somebody rattle off that B.S., be sure to correct them.
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It's hard to be excited when those numbers are so close. How many Asian men are in college vs. jail?
There is not much to celebrate about black men, when as a group, they are silent about Dunbar Village.
Maybe that statistic is wrong, but I am pretty sure there are more black men tied up in the penal/judicial system (probation,etc) than there are in the education system. And that statistic probably is a bit off, but for that college-aged group (17-24), the numbers, in my opinion, are not far apart enough for me to celebrate anything other than the fact that I had a little girl.
You can tell a lot about society by looking at their prison population. America has the worst. The only way out of this is either, decriminalization, harm reduction or legalization. Apparently criminalization DOES NOT work. If you vote to solve the problem there are only 3 candidates that would solve this mess and none of them seem to have a chance of getting elected. Dr. Ron Paul, Sen. Mike Gravel or Sen. Dennis Kuchinik
If this is true, then internationally known black leaders such as Jackson and Sharpton and as well as black community leaders should focus on crimes committed by black males. No wonder so many of us tense up and become afraid when we see a young black male come into a convenience store or walking down the street. Every night on my local news it is the same thing, black male killed another black male or robbed and killed an innocent person. It's madness and what is going on in the black communities? Blacks will never have total equality until the violence STOPS. I am not a racist but it is clear as ever that the the young black male is one of our biggest threats.
Wow....791,000 and 804000! Statistically, that's not that much of a difference. Unfortunately, given our community's history of blaming other people for our own self created non-sense and social pariahs, the splinter of gap between these numbers will continue to dwindle. Education has never been a real priority for black men in my generation, (21-35 y.o.), and with our short attention spans and aversion to being "deemed" white, it will never be. Somewhere along the way, we been successful in glamourizing life in squalor-lined projects, having multiple kids with multiple low self- esteemed women, and hating and killing each other on a routine basis. Our kids go to school in dirty clothes, without breakfast, and are embarrassingly unprepared for the world outside. Throughout our history here in America, the black family (if you wish to call it that) has been dogged by the dark secrets of black men and their need to "spread" themselves all around. If you think about it, all of our problems spiral out from this dark slimy secret that no one wants to talk about. So anyone who thinks someone like Jesse Jackson represents their best interests as a young black person is miserably mistakened. What kind of example does he set for me? Absolutely no kind!
Speaking of the Jena-6: while I think its commendable that the black community banded together to march for equality, we shouldnt be so quick to run to the rescue of someone who has a previous arrest record. Alternately, maybe we should try to help this young kid as his strangely absent father doesn't seem to be interested in doing so.
When Italians immigrated to America, they would hire, and help other Italians out of the getto. The Irish did the same, help out another Irishman get a foothold in society. Yet AA tend to only help themselves, lots of Mike Vicks and OJ's, there isnt the trend to hel others. Rap music only promotes violence, degredation and unatainable wealth. This isnt 100% of course, people are still people, but the trends are pretty clear.
It really burns me up when people compare us to other "ethnic" groups. As if the Irish and the Italians have suffered one tenth of one percent as much as we have. ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!?!? Ignorance must be bliss.
As for the other anonynous post, dude, you have really expressed a lot of self-hate. Yes, things are certainly bleek in our community but you don't have to be so d@mn defeatist about it! Take AverageBro's advice, stop complaining and DO SOMETHING!!
Someone here hit the nail on the head--that which most afflicts us is black men's utter refusal to keep it in their pants. Jesse cheated on his wife as did Sharpton. These "ministers" represent this issue in a nutshell. By cheating on their wives they represent the lack of fidelity that threatens our families. Black men cheat with impunity. It is our culture. Look at Essence glorifying the depraved cheater that is Sean Combs, providing us with a role model for the new, wealthy black family. This man refuses to wed, has many children with several women and Essence celebrates his "love" for one of his baba mamas. How does this relate to black men jail? Well, without a father (because he's moved on to his next conquest) and a mother who has been conquered / abused, the child is not being raised by two whole adults. This cuts across class.
Someone here hit the nail on the head--that which most afflicts us is black men's utter refusal to keep it in their pants. Jesse cheated on his wife as did Sharpton. These "ministers" represent this issue in a nutshell. By cheating on their wives they represent the lack of fidelity that threatens our families. Black men cheat with impunity. It is our culture. Look at Essence glorifying the depraved cheater that is Sean Combs, providing us with a role model for the new, wealthy black family. This man refuses to wed, has many children with several women and Essence celebrates his "love" for one of his baba mamas. How does this relate to black men jail? Well, without a father (because he's moved on to his next conquest) and a mother who has been conquered / abused, the child is not being raised by two whole adults. This cuts across class.
Let me start by asking you this, if you put a person in a position of no hope, to be governed by a system pretending to give hope, then release them back into a community without hope, then when they commit another criminal act how could you have hoped for anything different? Too often in this country our rhetoric has not been matched by our actions. We have speeches that sound good and garner loud applause, but then we go back into the same old mode of thinking and acting. This has been especially true of our actions in the area of criminal justice. People say all the right things pertaining to rehabilitation, transformation, and redemption. However when it comes time to put these words into action prisoners and their families are often left alone wondering what happened. Upon release from prison every ex-offender should be given unlimited opportunities to make the most of themselves. The mere imparting of each offenders Individual Treatment Program(I.T.P), without adequate resources while incarcerated, is not very beneficial, but rather a serious hindrance. The simple truth is that while offenders find themselves chasing GEDs and outdated vocations, the offender, at the same time, is not being prepared to function successfully in this technological age which has begun. So, upon release, it becomes very evident to the offender that he/she has lost ground in accomplishing just the basics in life. Ninety-five percent of people incarcerated in the United States, at one point or another, are going to be released into free society. These people may end up being your neighbors or go to your church. They will be eating at the same places you do and may, if they are fortunate, end up working the same job. I’m pointing these things out because it has become popular in the United States to condemn these men after they have paid their debt to society. Once you have been convicted of a crime, incarceration is the punishment. Why then are they subject to punishment during and after incarceration. The rhetoric people speak of course says something totally different. Everyone claims to want to help prisoners reintegrate into society and everyone seems to have a program. Everyone claims to be on the side of redemption and rehabilitation, but is that the truth? Sadly, here in the United States, it is not.
I am all for the phrase, “if you do the crime, you do the time.” If you choose to break the law there is a penalty that must be paid. Whether it is paying a fine for speeding or going to prison for robbery, everyone pays for their crimes. This is called justice. The problem occurs for offenders when they get out of prison. Other than a GED most offenders study about things which have been or might be; but the offender learns very little to prepare them for reintegration back into society. Because every offender should have some form of education Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), offers an educational program. Many offenders receive their GED which is a very big accomplishment; however, the majority of the vocational courses offered are minor or of no use to the offender. Due to the length (6 months or less) and timing of the classes offenders attend, these classes cannot provide for all the experience and equipment needed to compete in society. These classes are merely to master a technique or skill already discarded or outdated by a society that has barred the hiring of ex-offenders in most of these professions anyway! What offenders are being taught does not bring their minds into harmony with life upon release as the ex-offender must face it. These men and women need the community to wrap their arms around them and show them the right way. They need the reassurance of society that they will be able to reintegrate and not have to pay for the rest of their lives. Too often the citizens of this great nation have interpreted their social responsibilities in the terms of helping the casualties of a sick society, yet they have done nothing to change the structures which cause these same casualties. When society closes itself off from those who are incarcerated or dismisses them on the basis of pre-conceptions, mistaken judgments, and prejudices, we make them suffer; but we as a nation suffer also. The reality is that from the second he is released, these men have the deck stacked against them. If you combine this with a society that has been taught to fear instead of embrace ex-offenders, then you have a recipe for recidivism. If the government doesn’t care and society doesn’t care, why pretend to want better from this segment of society? A lot of people wonder how offenders go to jail over and over and over. It’s because we have failed them that’s why. Everyone loses during the commission of a crime, the victim and the families of the victim, the defendant and his family, and all of society. To lift this person up would benefit everyone but it doesn’t happen. There is no greater joy for an individual than being able to provide for one’s self and family. We must understand that our criminal justice system caters to an individual’s need of obtaining a better education, job skills, or anything that will enable an individual to become an asset to society. However, what the system fails to realize is an individual’s need may be from within. If an individual is assisted in overcoming the negative aspects from their past (i.e. emotional scars, anger, hurt, disappointment, hatred, etc.), then this not only benefit their future but would also benefit society. The inmate would then be an asset to their families and communities. This would eliminate the need to resort to a life of crime just to survive. Most importantly, as a result of the transformation, their conditions would indeed create a desire to remain among free society never to return to jail again.
In conclusion, it is imperative that we start to move away from the incarceration as a rehabilitative model of criminal justice. It is not enough to assume that going to prison alone would make an individual repent from his criminal ways. In fact, it has been shown that prisons today do nothing but make better criminals. We should want better for the offenders and ourselves. W should want to have our communities free from crime and the best way to do that is to have better programs for offenders in “and” out of prison. Parole should be geared more toward assisting offenders rather than punishing them as a form of justice. Parole be of more service to the offenders and the community by training their officers better, having more available programs for offenders, and striving to develop better organization. Society needs to realize that not everyone who has gone to prison is a criminal, and in addition realize every criminal hasn’t been to prison. Many of these men just need good role models and guidance to help them transition to be productive citizens.
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