| Richard Johnson and Dee Spiller had everything. They | | | | only needs to turn on the radio or television to hear |
| were star defensive backs for Eisenhower High | | | | young Black entertainers celebrating a life of drugs and |
| School in Houston and on their way to play collegiate | | | | crime. It seems as if Black men earn more respect in |
| football at Baylor University. They led their high school | | | | the African American community if they spend four |
| team to the Texas State 5A semifinals in 1993, and | | | | years in prison, rather than four years at an institution |
| seemed headed for greatness. | | | | of higher learning. |
| Unfortunately, they made the same mistake that many | | | | Scholars attribute this trend to the lack of education |
| young Black males make, tempted by the allure of | | | | amongst Black males, which disconnects them from |
| street life and eventually graduating to a life of crime. | | | | mainstream society. |
| Johnson and Spiller, along with two teammates, | | | | Despite the fact that crime has rapidly declined in |
| committed several kick door robberies in the Houston | | | | urban areas, incarceration rates for African Americans |
| area which eventually led to their arrest at Eisenhower | | | | have increased. |
| High School on a warm spring day in 1994. | | | | More troubling is the fact that among Black dropouts in |
| The two lost their full scholarships to Baylor and | | | | their late 20s, more are in prison-34 percent-than are |
| ultimately lost their future as well. They fell into the trap | | | | working-30 percent, according to analysis of 2000 |
| of being a young Black male with a criminal record, no | | | | census data by Steven Raphael of the University of |
| educational skills, and no hope for the future. | | | | California at Berkeley. |
| "Many of these men grew up in fatherless homes, and | | | | Although the statistics are alarming, there are remedies |
| they never had good role models. No one around them | | | | that can fix this epidemic plaguing the African |
| knows how to navigate the mainstream society," said | | | | American community. |
| Joseph T. Jones, director of the fatherhood and works | | | | It is time for African American men to accept |
| skills center in New York City. | | | | responsibility for their own actions. Yes, African |
| The recent statistics are astonishing. According to data | | | | Americans have arguably endured more hardships and |
| compiled by scholars at such Ivy League institutions as | | | | obstacles than any other ethnic group in this country, |
| Columbia, Harvard and Princeton, 50 percent of Black | | | | but it is up to each individual to decide which path they |
| men in their 20s without college degrees were | | | | take in life. |
| unemployed, and 72 percent of high school dropouts | | | | It is time for African Americans to put down the drugs |
| were jobless in 2004. | | | | and guns and pick up the textbooks. The notion that |
| Furthermore, 16 percent of African American men in | | | | Blacks are "acting White" if they strive for excellence |
| their 20s who did not attend college were incarcerated | | | | in the classroom or corporate boardroom must be |
| in 1995. By 2001, that number ballooned to 21 percent. In | | | | abandoned immediately, and African Americans must |
| addition, by the time Black men reach their 30s, 60 | | | | embrace positive role models from the Black |
| percent of those who dropped out of school would | | | | community. |
| have spent time in the penitentiary. | | | | Entertainers who glorify violence in their music and |
| Black men are at a crossroads. The question is what | | | | movies need to become better role models to the |
| the cause of these alarming statistics is and what | | | | millions of children who worship their every word. |
| remedies will reverse this trend? | | | | African American men must assume responsibility and |
| The lack of working Black men is in sharp contrast to | | | | take care of their children. Successful African |
| Black women who have taken advantage of | | | | Americans must mentor at-risk youth who have no |
| economic and social gains to find suitable employment. | | | | father figures in their life. |
| "Over the last two decades, the economy did great | | | | Lastly, African American must wake up and realize |
| and low-skilled women, helped by public policy, latched | | | | they are more than just criminals and thugs as the |
| onto it. But young Black men were falling farther back," | | | | mainstream media portrays them. African American |
| said Ronald B. Mincey, professor of social work at | | | | men need to be aware that their ancestors were |
| Columbia University. | | | | royalty in Africa, and that same regal blood still flows |
| This phenomenon can be attributed to the glorification | | | | through their veins today. |
| of the prison culture in mainstream entertainment. One | | | | |