C.L.I.C.K. for Justice and Equality is an agent of communication alerting our social community of injustices and inequalities among the socially disadvantaged and disenfranchised individual. C.L.I.C.K. developed and created this website to assist the socially disenfranchised or disadvantaged individual in litigating their issues in Federal and State courts.

Friday, January 13, 2012

U.S. Condemns Marines Desecrating Dead Taliban

The National Memo
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Friday, January 13, 2012
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The Big Story
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has promised Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai a full investigation of an Internet video that purports to depict four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters -- a video both men condemned Thursday. "I have seen the footage, and I find the behavior depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Panetta's statement said. "Those found to have engaged in such conduct will be held accountable to the fullest extent." READ MORE
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My Front Pages, By Joe Conason
When Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney aren't attacking each other for "vulture capitalism" and "bitter envy," they often deliver sonorous warnings that the Obama administration is driving us toward national insolvency -- that we will soon face the same fate as Greece or Italy. But the Republican candidates never mention a fundamental cause of the fiscal crises in Greece and Italy when proffering false comparisons with the United States: the impressive levels of tax evasion and underground economic activity in those crippled economies.

In fact if anybody is pushing the United States toward fiscal disaster, it is Republicans in Congress who insist on slashing the budget of the Internal Revenue Service. Tax evasion -- rampant among the one percent, by the way, both here and in Europe -- costs the Treasury around $400 billion a year, or more than one-sixth of the $2.3 trillion that the IRS collected in 2011. READ MORE
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Featured Column: Jeff Madrick
The annual convention of economists and other social scientists is always difficult to get a handle on. It is large and unwieldy, with hundreds of panels and forums. I was in Chicago for this year's pageant, and despite its many different moving parts, one thing rarely changes: Economists' conclusions remain almost completely predictable. READ MORE
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Supervillains
The blockbuster sequel to one of 2008's most successful movies is about to collide with the blockbuster sequel to one of 2008's least successful presidential campaigns. Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises," the final movie in his Batman trilogy, will hit theaters on July 19 -- and if Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination, he may well be dogged by uncomfortable comparisons between his business record and Nolan's script. For starters, the movie's clinically brutal villain is named "Bane," which sounds exactly like the hyper-efficient cost-cutting private equity firm that Romney founded. READ MORE
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Featured Column: Connie Schultz
We all have heard the admonishment that polite people never discuss politics or religion at the dinner table. Forgive me, but that sounds like a big part of the problem right now in America. READ MORE
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Featured Column: Jonathan Weil
There's a simple explanation for why the world's zombie banks remain so reluctant to write off worthless assets and tap the equity markets for fresh capital. They don't want to end up like the Italian bank UniCredit SpA. It seems no good deed goes unpunished when it comes to lenders besieged by Europe's debt crisis. A little bit of candor about the true state of a company's finances can hurt a lot. READ MORE
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Bain Capital
"When Mitt Romney Came To Town," the harsh Romney-bashing film funded by the pro-Newt Gingrich Super PAC Winning Our Future, can now be seen online. Watching nearly half an hour of non-stop attacks on Romney's record as a Bain Capital corporate raider may be challenging, so The National Memo has spared you the time by compiling a list of recurring themes and significant figures from the ad: READ MORE
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Friday's Daily Brief


President Colbert?
Friday, January 13, 2012
POLITICS
Obama Seeks Greater Power To Shrink The Federal Government
POLITICS
Romney's Gain In National GOP Polls: Why It Matters
WORLD
U.S. Embassy Warns Of Possible Terrorist Attack In Bangkok
GREEN
Toxic Secret: Navy Letter Hints At Camp Lejeune Water Contamination Cover-Up
SMALL BUSINESS
Why Wall Street Bankers Are Fleeing To Main Street
BLOG POSTS
Harvey Weinstein: What Britain's Iron Lady Could Teach Today's Timid Politicians
In today's world of tightly controlled public relations, is there any way to be other than safe? I always find myself rooting for people who stand up for what they believe in, and it always gives me a great charge to see it happen.
Rev. Jesse Jackson: The New South Is Legacy of Martin Luther King
It is fitting that we celebrate Dr. King's birthday the week before the first Southern primary. Republicans still tout Reagan's vision, but it was King, not Reagan or Thurmond who forged the New South.
Christopher Hitchens: The Iron Lady's Sex Appeal
In this lost essay by the late Christopher Hitchens he reveals his penchant for right-wing women. It is a brilliant, perfect jewel of an essay on politics and sexuality by a great writer.
Caitlin Crosby: The Giving Keys
It started in a New York motel. The key to my room was old and rusted. And I immediately loved it. So I 'permanently borrowed' it, put it on a chain, and slipped it over my neck.
Dr. Franklin Ruehl, Ph.D.: 13 Intriguing Friday the 13th Factoids!
The fear of Friday is skeviphobia, the fear of the number 13 is triskaidekaphobia, and the fear of Friday the 13th is paraskevidekatriaphobia (aka friggatriskaidekaphobia).
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See Red Tails -- The Great American Film; Celebrate Dr. King's Life by Seeing Pray The Devil Back To Hell; America Has Lost A Generation of Black Boys; 95 Cities Have Signed On To Mentor Black Boys in January and February 2012

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When George Lucas, director and producer of Star Wars, cannot get a film about Black American war heros produced, financed and distributed without paying his own money, what does that say about America?  This movie will inspired generations of young Black boys, help America appreciate young Black men and improve race relations in America!  Don't miss it!
As a matter of principle, every Black American and every American should see "Red Tails" in its first week at the box office beginning Friday, January 20, 2012.  This movie is not just about war...it is about history and it is about the future of America!  Take your family!  Take your church!  Take your school!  Take your block club!  Take your homeless shelter or your halfway house.  This is a great American story!  Are we great Americans? 
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Click Here to hear George Lucas tell why no one would finance or distribute this movie from one of the world's most renown movie directors.
 
Click Here to see a trailer of Red Tails!!!
Celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Life by Praying The Devil Back To Hell  
Join us on Monday, January 16, 2012, 6:30 pm at 3509 South King Drive in Chicago to "Pray The Devil Back To Hell!!! If the women of Liberia can end violence by praying and acting, so can we!  We must pray and we must act, now!!!
On Good Friday in 1963, 53 blacks, led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., marched into downtown Birmingham to protest the existing segregation laws. All were arrested.
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 Join us for the film -
Pray The Devil Back to Hell! 
on
Monday, January 16, 2012
Film: 6:30 pm 
Discussion and Prayer: 7:30 pm
at 
The Black Star Project
3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B
Chicago, Illinois
$5.00 for members - $10:00 for non-members.  Please call 773.285.9600 to RSVP your seat.
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Being sick and tired of being sick and tired of youth violence in America is not enough!  You must pray and you must act. On Monday, January 16, 2012, the men and women of Chicago will gather to see the powerful movement and documentary of women that brought peace to war torn Liberia, Pray The Devil Back To Hell.  And the men and women of Chicago will work to pray the devil of violence and despair that is in Chicago back to Hell! Join them. 
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Men and women across America can join this movement to Pray the Devil (of violence) Back to Hell in your city or town by calling 773.285.9600.  Click Here to view a trailer of the documentary.  Those who have attended previous showings of this documentary will be admitted free. Click Here for a story about crime rates in Chicago.
Join Black American and African Lion Mothers and Fathers Who Plan, Organize and Fight to Educate their Children.
Join Us for a Meeting of "Lion Mothers and Fathers"
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There are some Black American, African and Caribbean parents who will do anything to educate and protect their children. Anything! And in fact, they know that this is the only way that their children will ever be successfully educated in America.  We call those Black American, African and Caribbean parents, "Lion Mothers and Fathers".  They are like Chinese "Tiger Mothers" but they are African American or of African descent.  They believe in hard work, uncompromising excellence and rigor!
 
Join
Lion Mothers and Fathers
 on
Saturday, January 14, 2012
1:15 pm  
at
The Black Star Project
3509 South King Drive, Suite 2B
Chicago, Illinois 60653
  • If you do not believe that you are the most important person in your child's educational life, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you think that your child's school will give a great education to your child without your participation, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you do not understand that your child educational success is related to the educational success of every child around your child, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you believe that government is capable of delivering a high-quality education for your child, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you are not ready to spend substantial time during the day and the evening at your child's school, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you are not ready to learn new skills and information for the sake of educating your child, this meeting is not for you.
  • If you are not ready to put much of the responsibility for your child's education on you, your child, your family and your community, this meeting is not for you.
Otherwise, welcome to the meeting!
 
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We will plan strategies and programs to help Black and African children and students become globally competent.  Lion parents do not ask others to educate and protect their cubs/children, nor do they ask for permission to educate their own children.  If they did, their children would be destroyed.  Lions are responsible for educating their children.  No one else!  
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This is what people should see when they stop Black and African children from being properly educated.
 
Bring a Chapter of Black Star Lion Parents to your city by calling 773.285.9600. Click Here to learn about Chinese Tiger Mothers.
Chicago Mentors Black Young Black Men
With crime raging, schools failing, children fatherless, streets violent, those who want to help Black boys and young Black men can joins us
for
Chicago Mentors Young Black Men
Saturday, January 14, 2012
The Black Star Project, Suite 2B
3509 South king Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60653
3:00 pm
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Faith-Based Organizations, Fraternities and Sororities, Affinity Organizations, Veterans Associations, Educators, Masons, Government Workers, Private Business Employees, Not For Profits, Block Clubs, Community-Based Organizations and others are welcome to join us for this meeting of assignments.
America Has Lost Several Generations Of Black Boys with No Plan to Save the Next
"Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys."
 
America Has Lost A Generation Of Black Boys
 
     There is no longer a need for dire predictions, hand-wringing, or apprehension about losing a generation of black boys. It is too late. In education, employment, economics, incarceration, health, housing, and parenting, we have lost a generation of young black men. The question that remains is will we lose the next two or three generations, or possibly every generation of black boys hereafter to the streets, negative media, gangs, drugs, poor education, unemployment, father absence, crime, violence and death.
     Most young black men in the United States don't graduate from high school. Only 35% of black male students graduated from high school in Chicago and only 26% in New York City, according to a 2006 report by The Schott Foundation for Public Education. Only a few black boys who finish high school actually attend college, and of those few black boys who enter college, nationally, only 22% of them finish college. 
     Young black male students have the worst grades, the lowest test scores, and the highest dropout rates of all students in the country. When these young black men don't succeed in school, they are much more likely to succeed in the nation's criminal justice and penitentiary system. And it was discovered recently that even when a young black man graduates from a U.S. college, there is a good chance that he is from Africa, the Caribbean or Europe, and not the United States.
     Black men in prison in America have become as American as apple pie. There are more black men in prisons and jails in the United States (about 1.1 million) than there are black men incarcerated in the rest of the world combined. This criminalization process now starts in elementary schools with black male children as young as six and seven years old being arrested in staggering numbers according to a 2005 report, Education on Lockdown by the Advancement Project. 
     The rest of the world is watching and following the lead of America. Other countries including England, Canada, Jamaica, Brazil and South Africa are adopting American social policies that encourage the incarceration and destruction of young black men. This is leading to a world-wide catastrophe. But still, there is no adequate response from the American or global black community.
     Worst of all is the passivity, neglect and disengagement of the black community concerning the future of our black boys. We do little while the future lives of black boys are being destroyed in record numbers. The schools that black boys attend prepare them with skills that will make them obsolete before, and if, they graduate. In a strange and perverse way, the black community, itself, has started to wage a kind of war against young black men and has become part of this destructive process. 
     Who are young black women going to marry? Who is going to build and maintain the economies of black communities? Who is going to anchor strong families in the black community? Who will young black boys emulate as they grow into men? Where is the outrage of the black community at the destruction of its black boys? Where are the plans and the supportive actions to change this? Is this the beginning of the end of the black people in America? 
     The list of those who have failed young black men includes our government, our foundations, our schools, our media, our black churches, our black leaders, and even our parents. Ironically, experts say that the solutions to the problems of young black men are simple and relatively inexpensive, but they may not be easy, practical or popular. It is not that we lack solutions as much as it is that we lack the will to implement these solutions to save black boys. It seems that government is willing to pay billions of dollars to lock up young black men, rather than the millions it would take to prepare them to become viable contributors and valued members of our society.
 
     Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young black men:
Short term
1) Teach all black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education. 2) Provide positive role models for black boys.
3) Create a stable home environment for black boys that includes contact with their fathers.
4) Ensure that black boys have a strong spiritual base.
5) Control the negative media influences on black boys.
6) Teach black boys to respect all girls and women.
Long term
1) Invest as much money in educating black boys as in locking up black men.
2) Help connect black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.
3) Create high expectations and help black boys live into those high expectations.
4) Build a positive peer culture for black boys.
5) Teach black boys self-discipline, culture and history.
6) Teach black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning. 
Phillip Jackson
Executive Director of the Black Star Project
Chicago, Il.
blackstar1000@ameritech.net, 773.285.9600
With just 5 more cities, the Black Male Achievement Movement will have recruited Black men in 100 cities to mentor Black boys and young Black men during January and February 2012. 95 cities have already signed up. If your city is not on the list, why not? 
Join with strong, positive Black men from around the country and the world working for Black Male Achievement.
Join the
Black Male Achievement Movement 
during January and February 2012, as we mentor tens of thousands of Black boys and young men across America. 
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Black men under the control of a Department of Corrections.
The The difference between this...
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Young Black men at Urban Prep Academy of Chicago.
  and this is YOU!  Become a mentor of young Black men and boys! 
 
To become one of the the Servant Leaders in your city planning and directing this effort, please call 773.285.9600. We will provide you with an organizing kit that will help you step-by-step to create, manage or support an outstanding mentoring program in your city.  We will also provide technical assistance and ongoing support. Schools, faith-based organizations, fraternities, Masonic organizations, veterans associations, community-based organizations, affinity organizations, military service personnel, social service agencies, companies and corporations will participate in this effort.  Most mentoring events will occur on January 31, 2012.  The last event will occur on February 29, 2012.  Please see cities that are expected to participate as of January 11, 2012:   
 
  1. Albany, New York
  2. Atlanta Georgia
  3. Aurora, Colorado
  4. Baltimore, Maryland
  5. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
  6. Blandensburg, Maryland
  7. Boston, Massachusetts
  8. Buffalo, New York
  9. Carbondale, Illinois 
  10. Chicago, Illinois - South Side
  11. Chicago, Illinois - West Side 
  12. Chicago, Illinois - South Suburbs
  13. Cincinnati, Ohio
  14. Colorado Springs, Colorado
  15. Dallas, Texas
  16. Danbury, Connecticut
  17. Danville, Illinois
  18. Delray Beach, Florida
  19. Detroit, Michigan
  20. Denver, Colorado
  21. Dolton, Illinois
  22. Durham, North Carolina
  23. East Chicago, Indiana
  24. East Orange, New Jersey
  25. Englewood, Colorado
  26. Flint, Michigan
  27. Flossmoor, Illinois
  28. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  29. Fredricksberg, Virginia
  30. Gary, Indiana
  31. Gilbert, Arizona
  32. Hammond, Indiana
  33. Hartford, Connecticut
  34. Harvey, Illinois
  35. Hillside, Illinois
  36. Houston, Texas
  37. Indianapolis, Indiana 
  38. Irvington, New Jersey
  39. Jackson, Mississippi
  40. Kansas City, Missouri
  41. Kenesaw, Georgia
  42. Lenoir, North Carolina
  43. Lexington, Kentucky
  44. Lithonia, Michigan
  45. Los Angeles, California
  46. Louisville, Kentucky
  47. Macon, Georgia
  48. Manassas, Virginia
  49. Matteson, Illinois
  50. Mentor, Ohio
  51. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
  52. Minneapolis, Minnesota
  53. Munster, Indiana 
  54. Nashville, Tennessee
  55. New Orleans, Louisiana
  56. New York City, New York - Manhattan
  57. New York City, New York - The Bronx
  58. New York City, New York - Brooklyn
  59. New York City, New York - Queens
  60. New York City, New York - Long Island
  61. New York City, New York - Harlem
  62. Newark, New Jersey
  63. Oakland, California
  64. Oak Park, Illinois
  65. Omaha, Nebraska
  66. Palmdale, California
  67. Peoria, Illinois 
  68. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
  69. Phoenix, Arizona
  70. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  71. Richmond, California
  72. Richmond, Virginia
  73. Riverdale, Illinois
  74. San Bernardino, California
  75. San Francisco, California
  76. Santan Valley, AZ
  77. Seattle, Washington
  78. Shelbyville, Indiana 
  79. Southaven, Mississippi
  80. Spotsylvania County, Virginia
  81. St. Louis, Missouri
  82. St. Paul, Minnesota
  83. St. Petersburg, Florida
  84. Tampa, Florida
  85. Thomasville, Georgia
  86. Toledo, Ohio
  87. Tougaloo, Mississippi
  88. Tshwane, Botswana
  89. Tuscaloosa, Alabama 
  90. University Park, Illinois
  91. Vicksburg, Mississippi 
  92. Washington, D.C.
  93. Waukegan, Illinois
  94. White Plains, New York
  95. Yazoo City, Mississippi  
 
This event was inspired by the life and life principles of Muhammad Ali (Rumble Young Man, Rumble!).  The Black Male Achievement Movement was born in Louisville, Kentucky in September 2011.  Guidance, support and encouragement for this movement is provided by Open Society Foundations' Campaign for Black Male Achievement.  The National CARES Mentoring Movement and Mentoring U.S.A have signed on as national supporters.  For more information, please call 773.285.9600.
 
Click Here to see the Fathers Incorporated PSA on mentoring. 
 
Click Here to see the Mentoring USA PSA on mentoring.
Join the Black Star Project's 
Million Fathers Club
for Men's College Basketball at Its Best!
Free for adults and elementary school students - $1.00 
 for high school students (payable by The Black Star Project per NCAA regulations)

University of Illinois at Chicago Flames vs
Loyola University Chicago Ramblers
on
 Saturday, January 14, 2012
The UIC Pavilion 
525 South Racine Avenue
(500 south and 1200 west)
Chicago, Illinois
 Game starts at 3:00 pm

Call Bruce Walker at 773.285.9600 to reserve your tickets.
In Pittsburgh, Fewer Black Men in Medical Schools
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Gateway Society seeks to reverse decline in black men entering medical school
Closing the gap
By Kate Luce Angell
Monday, January 09, 2012
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Since the civil rights era, the number of black physicians has been rising, with African-Americans now making up 4 percent of U.S. physicians overall.
 
But while this statistic keeps inching up, it conceals a troubling trend: The number of African-American men entering medical fields has been falling since it peaked in the early 1990s, and it continues to drop, both here in Pittsburgh and across the United States.
 
William Simmons, an anesthesiologist at UPMC Shadyside and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh medical school, said the decline is obvious.
 
"In a typical class at the University of Pittsburgh, we usually have 16 or 20 African-American students entering medical school, in a class of 150," he said. "This year, four of them are male."
Dr. Simmons sits on the university's advisory committee on diversity, but as of Jan. 1, he is also president of the Gateway Medical Society, a southwestern Pennsylvania organization whose mission includes bolstering the numbers of area black men in medical fields.
 
Founded in the late 1950s, Gateway is affiliated with the National Medical Association, which was founded in 1895, a time when African-American doctors were not allowed to join the American Medical Society and were barred from most medical schools.
 
Gateway's mission is to "Close the Gap," a phrase that points to a host of problems regarding the black community and health-related fields, including the dwindling number of male doctors.
 
"African-Americans have the highest incidence of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), of AIDS, the highest death rate of heart disease, of diabetes, of almost any kind of cancer," Dr. Simmons pointed out.
 
Access to medical care for minorities is often a problem, he added, with financial barriers and fewer physicians willing to service poor areas. Additional problems include cultural barriers, from reluctance to seek medical help to difficulty in communicating to physicians who may not understand the needs of minority patients.
 
Gateway sponsors a number of programs that seek to connect minority and underserved communities with health care and provide health-care education, including a yearly community symposium in the spring, a scholarship gala in the fall and a provider symposium that addresses specific medical issues of African-Americans.
 
In 2010, Gateway started the "Journey to Medicine" academic mentorship program to specifically address the shortage of male African-American physicians.
 
Fifteen African-American 6th-grade boys are chosen from public schools to attend regular educational activities. These teach skills from PowerPoint presentation and public speaking to suturing a cow heart and performing CPR on a medical manikin. Each boy is mentored throughout the program by a Gateway physician member, and the 15 progress through the program together.
 
The program receives financial support from the Heinz Foundation, as well as Highmark, the Pace Foundation, and the Allegheny County Medical Society. Gateway also works with area colleges and hospitals, so boys in the program have access to the University of Pittsburgh medical library system, science camps at Carnegie Mellon University and the Simulation, Teaching, and Academic Research Center (STAR) at West Penn Allegheny Health System.
 
Now in its second year, the plan is for the program to continue all the way through high school, providing SAT preparation and college application support.
 
"And we don't want to lose them in college," said Anita Edwards, chair of Gateway's program committee and an internist at Century III Medical Associates in Pittsburgh. "As long as they stay with us, we'll stay with them."
 
"This is not a quick fix," conceded Jan Madison, Gateway's chair of fundraising and a specialist in pulmonary critical care with Pittsburgh Pulmonary Associates.
 
She acknowledged that the interrelated factors that influence the decline of black men in medicine are multiple and complex, but that all research seemed to indicate that an early start predicted better outcomes.
 
"We're hoping to catch them at a young age and fill that pipeline," she said.
 
On Dec. 17, the now 7th- and 8th-grade boys attended their final daylong program of the year at the Allegheny County Medical Society Building.
 
Each boy, in a shirt and tie, gave a presentation with a microphone, with subjects ranging from the dangers of steroids to pioneering African--American doctors to their favorite experiences in the program. Some had assembled PowerPoint presentations, others brought photos.
 
They then participated in a chemistry demonstration by graduate students from the chemistry department of Carnegie Mellon University. The level of the material was aimed at high school students, but the boys were rewarded for their attention by participating in experiments making rubber balls, soap and ice cream.
 
The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to medical presentations by Gateway physician members, advice on taking advantage of the Pittsburgh Promise, a program that gives college tuition help to students enrolled in city schools, information on academic internships, and an award ceremony.
 
Morris E. Turner Jr., the youth program coordinator, pointed out that despite the "graduation" ceremony, the boys in the program won't have much time off -- meetings begin again in January.
He also begins the recruitment process for new 6th-graders immediately.
 
"To get those 15, I interview more than 60 kids," he said, adding that they look for a 3.0 grade point average, but that strong math and science grades are more important. The initial candidates are recommended by school principals and science and math teachers. Each boy must have signed permission from a parent or guardian to participate.
 
Mr. Turner noted that he's seen dramatic improvements in the boys in the program.
 
"We've made so much progress in public speaking, and the excitement they show for the kinds of things we're teaching them is a welcome sight," he said.
 
All the boys' grade point averages have improved, with some even averaging 4.0, or straight As.
Jordan Rawls, an 8th-grader at Sterrett Middle School, has been with the program since the beginning and admits that at times it was difficult.
 
"At first, it was hard to present in front of people you didn't know, and it does involve more work," he said. "We do things two or three times a month."
 
But he's decided it's worth it, and said his future goals include becoming an anesthesiologist, like his mentor, Dr. Simmons.
 
Troy Thompson is in his first year with the program and is a 7th-grader at Sterrett. He finds presenting difficult too, especially since, as his mother, Khaleelah Glover, points out, he tends to be shy.
 
"As he's been given more responsibility, he's gotten more confident around his peers," she said.
She added that the Gateway program was important because it focused on a group of boys with different needs.
 
"A lot of programs out there are for 'at risk' young men, and those programs are needed," she said. "But these kids need to be rewarded too. They're doing well, and people recognize that."
 
Dr. Simmons said the Journey to Medicine program attempts to address some of the many reasons why so few African-American men become physicians.
 
"We need to tell these boys, 'It's OK to be smart, it's OK to do well in school,' " said Dr. Simmons, who pointed to stereotypes and a lack of exposure and role models as significant factors.
 
"Some of these boys haven't seen many African-Americans who are professionals or physicians," he said. "They can't imagine going to medical school, it's not part of their experience."
 
Dr. Edwards stressed the importance of quality education as another factor at work.
 
"A lot is just academics -- our young men are not prepared. A lot of avenues are closed to them, because of economics, because of attending public schools that may not be serving them," she said.
 
But she indicated that cultural factors may play a role, too.
 
"I don't think African-American boys get the financial and emotional support from families that females do," she said. "And I think a lot of parents still don't grasp the importance of education."
 
The problems were difficult, she said, but as physicians, the members of Gateway had little choice about getting involved.
 
"You either sit on the sidelines and say, 'I'll do nothing,' or you try to change it," said Dr. Edwards.
"Why do we need African-American doctors?" added Dr. Simmons. "Because they are more likely to serve minority and economically disadvantaged communities, they're more invested in improving the lives of African-American people. And if we keep losing boys the way we are, they'll all be left behind."
 
For more information on the Gateway Medical Society and its youth mentorship program, go to http://www.gatewaymedicalsociety.org/index.html