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Page 15
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Locked Up, Shut Out and Left Behind
Creating
opportunities
for black men
by
M arc H . M orial
As the Trayvon M ar­
tin trial and record high
sum m er tem peratures
add their heat to the
unemployment and eco­
nomic woes plaguing
B lack A m erica, we
thought it would be a good time to take stock
of the one group that more than most contin­
ues to be locked up, shut out and left behind
— African American men.
This topic is too big and too complicated
to cover in one essay. But it is not too big or
complicated to solve with the necessary re­
sources, commitment and partnerships. So
we will continue our discussion of the issues,
along with the creation of solutions, in future
columns.
Today, we simply want to provide an
overview and begin to point to some an­
swers. A good place to start is the recent
Newsweek cover story, “The Fight for Black
Men,” by former Obama White House advi­
sor Joshua Dubois.
Like the National Urban League, Dubois
understands that the solution to the under­
employment and over-incarceration of Afri­
can American men must begin with changing
our perception of who they are and investing
in their potential through job opportunities,
quality education and economic develop­
ment.
These have been the building blocks of
footing with the rest of us.
Disproportionate arrests and unequal sen­
tencing have had a devastating impact in
black communities. African American men
are six times more likely to be incarcerated
than whites. More African Americans are in
prison or on probation today than were en­
slaved in 1850.
As o f2004, more black men were
denied the right to vote because o f a
criminal record than in 1870, when the
Fifteenth Amendment was ratified, giving
blacks the right to vote.
-Joshua Dubois, former directorofPresidentObama’sOfficeofFaith-Based Initiatives
appearance o f great racial progress” and
thus have “closed our eyes to the millions
who have been locked up, locked out and
relegated to second-class citizen status.”
But our focus must extend beyond talking
about the problems.
That is why the National Urban League
has been a leading voice in challenging
Washington to develop a comprehensive
urban agenda. It is also why we recently
announced our $100 million Jobs Rebuild
America campaign designed to address the
nation s employment and education crisis.
This effort includes our Urban Youth
Empowerment Program, which offers job train­
ing, education and other wrap-around ser­
vices to prepare out-of-school and adjudi­
cated youth for the world of work, as well as
our Training for Work-Adult Re-entry pro­
gram, which targets convicted adults in Work
Release Programs and provides them with
supportive services, education and training
opportunities, mentoring, and job readiness
and placement support.
We must create more opportunities for
black men who have been locked up or left
out. As we celebrate the momentous anni­
versaries of our civil rights struggle, let’s
remember, there can be no celebration with­
out continuation. We cannot afford to stop
now.
the great American middle class and repre­
The economic consequences have been
sent the surest path to responsible adult­ just as bad. This year’s Urban League State
hood and stronger communities. So why of Black America report found that the aver­
haven’t we done this for African American age unemployment rate for black men in 2012
men?
was 15 percent compared with just 7.4 per­
The reasons are many but one stands out. cent for white men. Black men earn only 72
As described by Michelle Alexander in her cents for every dollar earned by white men.
best-selling 2010 book, The New Jim Crow,
Because of the civil rights advances of the
the intentional mass incarceration of young past 50 years and the election of Barack
black men has created what she calls a “per­ Obama as President, in the words o f Michelle
Marc H. Morial is president and chief
manent under-caste” that may never be able Alexander, we may have been “lulled to sleep
executive officer o f the National Urban
to escape the past and compete on equal by the rhetoric of color blindness and the
League.
■I
Pentagon Finally Gets Realistic about Syria
The case for
non-violent
resolutions
by T om
H . H astings
Finally, the Penta­
gon is getting a bit real­
istic about Syria and
possible U.S. interven­
tion with a report of
options laid out by let­
ter from the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Gen. M artin E.
Dempsey to Carl Levin of the Senate
Armed Forces Committee, and the
chiefs warn about expense, loss,
and blowback.
The Cold War was a time of proxy
w ars, show casing the relative
strengths and weaknesses of the
arms produced by the two super­
powers, fought in other people's
countries. Indeed, except for Hun­
gary in 1956, no war was fought on
the soil of white people the whole
time, an indication of the deep cyni­
cism of both sides.
The U.S. always had better big
weapons and the Soviets had the
daily weapon of choice, the AK-47.
Soviet tanks were only good for gents who behead, execute, blow
McCain that if he keeps up with that sador) and also set total fear in
rolling over friendlies in the W ar­ up civilian markets, torture, and in
apoplectic visage, one of these days Assad's heart and made him image
saw Pact and their nukes were big the most ghastly extreme case, a
it's going to become his permanent Qaddaffi, bin Laden and Saddam
and dumb, but their AKs were the Syrian rebel leader i s shown carving look-oops! Too late.
Hussein. That made him totally com­
gold standard for violent insurgency. the heart out a government soldier
The sad truth is that the nonvio­ mit to clinging to power by all means,
Most of the world is less excited and eating it. Those are the fighters lent revolution was stolen from the
including the ones that he uses so
about being crash test dum­ Republicans in Congress want to Syrian people, who started their
devastatingly on his own people.
mies for the U.S. and Russia support and many Democrats actu­ Arab Spring just as nonviolently as
Sun Tzu said build a golden
now adays, although Syria ally join this bloodthirsty insanity. did Egyptians, and very soon after.
bridge over which your enemy can
seems to be an exception.
But even though Congress — and When the U.S. intervened in Libya retreat. That golden bridge is built
Basher al-Assad spends his apparently President Obama to some that made the violent ones in Syria
by nonviolence plus negotiation,
entire allowance every week
what we just saw as millions of
on new shipments of Russian
people used social media to back up
war-making gear to use against his
successful Norwegian efforts to get
own people. The rebels get their
the United Arab Emirates to release
gear mostly from the U.S. through
Marte Deborah Dalelv, a woman
Qatar and Saudi Arabia, often also
from Norway who was raped and
via Turkey.
then jai led in Dubai for having extra­
Both sides fight dirty, ignore in­
marital sex! The Norwegian Prime
ternational rules of warfare, and yet
Minister was diplomatic and deli­
the kneejerk reaction of many hawks
cate and it all worked.
in the U.S. is to ship weapons to
In Norway, of course, conflict
a n y o n e fig h tin g the R u ssian
resolution and peace research ex­
weapon-wielders.
degree - have mostly forgotten assume they'd get U.S. military help perts consult with the highest lev­
Just because the U.S.-backed those lessons, some in the Penta­ too, so they picked up arms. The
els of government. In the U.S., we
mujahedeen in Afghanistan used gon seem to suddenly remember, nonviolent revolution was over­
listen only to the Joint Chiefs, so
their leftover weapons given to them especially as they see the sequester
whelmed and defeated in no small good thing they sober up on occa­
originally to fight the Soviets against shine a more realistic light on the
measure by this Libya Effect, and sion.
the U.S. later - hence the term formerly ilhmitable funding picture.
that is indeed an Obama decision
Tom H. Hastings is PeaceVoice
blowback -- let's forget that ever
The usual kneejerk kill-em-all-let- that resulted in lots of gratitude director and teaches in the Con­
happened and give more guns and God-sort-em-out crowd is attacking
from Libyans (you could tell by the flict Resolution program at Port­
rockets and ammunition to insur Dempsey. Will someone tell John
way they assassinated our ambas- land State University.
Both sides fight dirty, ignore
international rules o f warfare, and
yet the kneejerk reaction o f many
hawks in the U.S. is to ship weapons
to anyone fighting the Russian
weapon-wielders.