| Five Major American Cities Have Less than 50% of Black Male Residents 16 to 64 Years Old Working Detroit - 43.0%, Buffalo - 43.9%, Milwaukee - 44.7% Cleveland - 47.7%, and Chicago - 48.3% | | | Employment rate for black males in Milwaukee only 45 percent January 24, 2012 MILWAUKEE - Only about 45-percent of working age black men in Metro Milwaukee had jobs in 2010. That's according to a study of census data by UW-Milwaukee. A report released yesterday showed that the area's black male employment was 53-percent just before the 2008 recession hit. And in 1970, almost three-of-every-four black males age 16-to-64 had jobs - just 12-percentage points less than white men. Now, that racial gap is almost 33-percent, the largest in the country. And only Buffalo and Detroit had lower percentages of black males working than Milwaukee in 2010. Marc Levine, head of the UWM Center for Economic Development, says the region has had a long, steady decline in manufacturing jobs over the last four decades. Also, the UW report blames what it calls "mass incarceration." It said around five-thousand working-age black males a year have been jailed or imprisoned in Milwaukee over the last decade - including a growing number of non-violent drug offenders. The report also blames inadequate transportation from the city to the suburbs, where factories have done better than in the city in recent years. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Percentage of Black working-age (16-64) males employed in forty selected cities: - Detroit 43.0%
- Buffalo 43.9%
- Milwaukee 44.7%
- Cleveland 47.7%
- Chicago 48.3%
- St. Louis 51.3%
- Philadelphia 51.7%
- Phoenix 52.0%
- Indianapolis 52.6%
- Cincinnati 52.6%
- Richmond 52.7%
- Memphis 53.2%
- Pittsburgh 53.3%
- Hartford 53.3%
- San Francisco 53.3%
- Miami 53.4%
- New Orleans 53.5%
- Oakland 53.8%
- Omaha 53.8%
- Las Vegas 54.2%
- Birmingham 54.3%
- Newark 54.5%
- Columbus 54.7%
- Jacksonville 54.8%
- Los Angeles 54.8%
- Kansas City 55.1%
- Seattle 56.3%
- Charlotte 56.5%
- San Diego 57.1%
- Portland 57.4%
- New York 57.4%
- Baltimore 57.5%
- Houston 58.3%
- Nashville 58.4%
- Denver 58.8%
- Atlanta 59.0%
- Minneapolis 59.3%
- Boston 59.7%
- Dallas 61.0%
- Washington, D.C. 66.6%
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| Only 10% of all African-American teens are working in Illinois with only only 7.4% of low-income African-American teens employed. Employment statistics just as bad as great depression or worse for African American teens! | | | Job search not working for vast majority of teens Black, low-income youths struggling the most, with employment rate at historic depths By Corilyn Shropshire and Cheryl V. Jackson January 24, 2012 Anjelica Pickett, 17, has been searching for a job for about a year. Despite making as many as five applications in a day during that time, Pickett, now a freshman at Truman College, said she's scored only one interview, with a grocery store. But that didn't pan out. "It's kind of stressful,'' she said. "Growing up has been kind of hard. And getting everyday things like soap and stuff that people get everyday has been hard. I don't have like a billion aunts and uncles to ask for things."
Pickett's story isn't atypical in Chicago, where only 16 percent of teens held a job in 2010. Nationwide, for those between 16 to 19, the employment rate has plummeted in the last decade, falling to 26 percent in 2011from 45 percent a decade earlier, according to a study that will be released Tuesday by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Boston's Northeastern University. And in Illinois, teen employment was just under 50 percent 10 years ago. In 2011, it was 27.5 percent. The dismal numbers have prompted calls by youth advocates for more dollars for youth employment programs. "Job-training and placement funding will help to reverse the deteriorating pictures over the past decade for African-American, Hispanic and low-income youth in particular," said Jack Wuest, executive director of the Alternative Schools Network, a Chicago-based, nonprofit education advocacy group that commissioned the study. On Tuesday, Wuest, other policy leaders and education and youth advocates will gather at a forum at the Chicago Urban League to drum up support for the Pathways Back to Work Act, federal legislation that would provide $5 billion in training and employment programs for youth and unemployed and low-income adults. "You could only classify this in one way: It's a massive depression in the labor market for teens," said Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies, the author of the study. Teens 16 to 19 have been hurt more than any other age group in the labor market, said Sum. The younger you are, the more adversely you've been affected by the recession and other developments in the labor market, he said. The job hunt is especially tough for teens who are African-American, Latino and poor. For low-income and African-American teens, the employment rate during the past decade hit an all-time low: Just 10 percent of African-American teenagers are working, and the number dips to 7.4 percent for those who come from low-income families. Chicago's Latino teens fared slightly better, with 19 percent working; the rate for those from low-income families declined to 14.2. "That's what we consider to be the great social disaster," said Sum. "If you are black and/or low income, you run the greatest risk of not working at all." In Illinois, white, middle-class teens are more likely to be employed, at 38 percent, than their black and Hispanic counterparts. When they do find work, young people typically are confined to fewer sectors, including low-wage retail, fast-food and arts and entertainment jobs, Sum said. "You'll rarely see a teenager working at a bank," he said. Jobs are an important stepping stone for young people as they become adults, ensuring that they gain valuable social skills as well as strengthening the entire community fabric,said Alternative School Network's Wuest. Moreover, teens whose parents are unemployed often have additional challenges entering the workforce because they are less likely to know about creating a resume, completing job applications and conducting interviews, said Marty McConnell, director of resource development at Alternatives Inc. of Chicago, a youth development agency. "If your parents aren't working, they may not know how to help you with that sort of stuff," she said. |
| See One of the Top Theatrical Shows in America, "The Jackie Wilson Story" Limited Free Admission for Black Star Members Only | | | See The Fantastic Jackie Wilson Story at Black Ensemble Theater Cultural Center Tickets 4450 N. Clark St Chicago, Illinois Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Limited Free Tickets Available for Black Star Members Only! Please call 773.285.9600 for tickets or more information.  | | Kevin Roston, Jr. as Jackie Wilson. |
"The Jackie Wilson Story" having been a huge success first opening in 2000 and with a national tour in 2002 which culminated at the famous Apollo Theater in New York, is the perfect production to open this legendary season. Written & Directed by Jackie Taylor, this promises to be a bigger and better production with a few star studded surprises. Click Here to see and listen to a sample of what is in store at this fantastic play! |
| Special Education and Black Boys The five stages of the Abdullah-Johnson theory of Black Male Alienation are 1) Miseducation, 2) Psychotropic Medication, 3) Mass Incarceration, 4) Frustration/Irritation, and 5) Extermination | | | The Psycho-Academic War Against Black Boys "DRUGS & JAILS WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS" See and Hear Brother Dr. Umar Abdullah-Johnson  | | Umar Abdullah-Johnson (center left) |
in Chicago presenting on the PSYCHO-ACADEMIC WAR AGAINST BLACK BOYS
6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 The Black Star Project 3509 South King Drive
Chicago, Illinois
Free and Open To the Public Call 773.285.9600 for more information Presenting on the PSYCHO-ACADEMIC WAR AGAINST BLACK BOYS
Registration, Refreshments and Q & A Reception
4:00PM to 4:30 PM
Coping w/Disruptive Behaviors & Mental Illnesses:
Social and Emotional RtI Workshop
4:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Thursday, January 26, 2011 South Loop Hotel, 2600 S. State Street Chicago, Illinois COSTS:
Dr. Umar Johnson and next 4 workshops UPFRONT = (16 CEUs/CPDUs)
Full $75, Student/Retiree $40, Non-member $150
Dr. Umar Johnson ONLY at the door
Full $30, Student/Retiree $15, Nonmember $60 July 21, 2010 By Umar R. Abdullah-Johnson The professional nomenclature has now become household words. Children as young as six can now speak of "Ritalin," and "ADHD" with stunning efficiency of what these words mean. Teachers and principals are telling single-parent mothers that their sons need "CYCLERT" and "ADDERALL." Special education children are telling their instructors that they cannot be suspended from school for more than ten days because they have an "IEP." Teenage boys are blaming their behavior on "I didn't have my pill today." As soon as children begin to show signs of a learning challenge parents are racing off to the schools begging for psycho-educational evaluations believing that their children have "learning disabilities" although they have just began to learn. Collectively, we have created a monster that is wreaking havoc upon Black boys in America the explication of which is central towards a correct understanding of the underachievement and socio-economic marginalization of Black men in the United States. The Umar Abdullah-Johnson Theory of Black Male Alienation posits that a five-stage cycle of institutional repression exists that has effectively sent more black men to jail than it has to college. Any attempt to reverse this war against America's most misunderstood population begins with a firm analysis of the process and it's origins in boyhood. Americans, including Blacks, have become so desensitized to the pain of Black boys and so expectant of their failures that their pain is often overlooked and their achievements treated like occasional glitches in a system that has successfully made Black boys a permanent underclass in this country. The five stages of the Abdullah-Johnson theory of Black Male Alienation are 1) Miseducation, 2) Psychotropic Medication, 3) Mass Incarceration, 4) Frustration/Irritation, and 5) Extermination. It is the job of all Black institutions, parents, elected officials, clergymen and leaders to fight to keep our young men from falling into any of these aforementioned stages. Nearly every Black man in America has already been through one of these stages or is at-risk for being sucked into one at this very minute. This brief article cannot properly address the historical underpinnings of each stage in this vicious cycle but rather it seeks to draw everyone's attention to seven (7) facts regarding life as a Black boy in America. - FACT #1: Black boys are turned off from public education based upon the treatment they receive by a primarily White female teacher population beginning in kindergarten and intensifying by middle school.
- FACT #2: Black boys are referred for learning disability and special education support programs intentionally to remove them from the general student population due to routine behavior problems thusly preparing them for a life of marginalization and prison.
- FACT #3: Black boys are sent to detention centers and juvenile delinquent programs which interrupts their schooling and encourages school drop-out especially in states where returning to public school after such a placement is illegal.
- FACT #4: Prisons are being used as concentration camps for Black men to be detained since the society-at-large is not interested in hiring these men by equipping them with decent livable wage jobs.
- FACT #5: American society is more responsible than any Black man for the destabilization of the Black family by stealing fathers away from sons and thusly removing role models and over-burdening Black women with the dual role of both working for and raising their children without any paternal assistance.
- FACT #6: The war on drugs has been a war on Black men and has served to destroy the Black community and strip it of its most valuable resource, its men.
- FACT #7: Black boys are more likely to be put on dangerous psychiatric medications for emotional problems while White boys are more likely to receive valuable psychotherapy for the causes of their behavior problems, which come with no side effects.
This information has been written to serve as a warning to the Black community, and all of America, to stop institutionalizing and brain drugging our sons. They are normal children and can be successful like other youth, and will respond to love and proper treatment like anyone else. To this end, I am offering free psycho-educational workshops for parents and community organizations to train them on how to protect their sons from premature and unnecessary labeling, drugging and illegal discipline practices that take place everyday in our public and charter schools. The training will highlight five areas of practice: a) special education law and procedure, b) school discipline law and procedure, c) disruptive behavior disorders and psychiatric medicine, d) effective behavioral modification strategies for Black boys and e) the history of Black boys in public education. Umar R. Abdullah-Johnson is a nationally certified school psychologist & kinsman to Frederick Douglass. He is also the founder of the National Movement to Save Black Boys (NMSBB). He can be reached at (215) 989-9858 or umarabdullahjohnson@yahoo.com. If you are interested in hosting this free training, anywhere in the U.S., please do not hesitate to contact him. |
| In Oakland, California, Black Males Students Wish for Safe Way To School | | | State hearings explore health of minority males By Bernice Yeung January 20, 2012 When it's 17-year-old Eric Gant's turn to testify today at an Oakland legislative hearing on the health and welfare of California's minority men and boys, he will ask for a safe way to get to school. "Students deserve a safe path to school, like an adult wants a safe path to work," Gant, who is African American, told California Watch. "A safe pathway is so that you can walk down the street and nothing would happen, so you can get an education and make it home OK." An outgoing and ambitious teen, Gant rattles off a few examples where he or students he knows have been targets of theft or violence on their way to school. "You think about it all day," he said of the threats. "You think about it the whole school year, maybe." He added that Oakland students need a safe place to do their homework Gant's experience hints at one of the concerns that youth advocates have for this population: overlooked trauma related to violence in their neighborhoods. Nationally, Latino boys and young men are more than four times as likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder [PDF] as whites. African American boys are 2.5 times as likely. Today's hearing is being convened by the Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color in California. Assemblyman Sandré Swanson, D-Oakland, said he formed the committee to examine the adverse conditions that some black, Latino and Asian boys experience and their effects on state resources and agencies. It also will look at the connections among issues like health, foster care, truancy, school dropouts, unemployment and incarceration. "We are being holistic in what we are trying to do here," he said. Youth advocates say the needs of this group must be addressed for the overall benefit of the state. "If you have a segment of the population that is consistently failing and consistently incarcerated and marginalized and excluded, you can't have a state population that is thriving," said Marc Philpart, a senior associate with PolicyLink, which is coordinating a network of statewide nonprofits and researchers on the topic. "The good thing about the select committee is that it's an institutional mechanism for getting greater attention on the policy side of these particular issues, because there's no way that we can service our way out of these problems." African American and Latino boys have higher odds of not having access to health care and experience higher rates of poverty, homicides and incarceration than their white counterparts, according to a 2009 statewide study [PDF] produced by the RAND Corp. The RAND study documented various health and welfare concerns related to unemployment and incarceration among California's minority men and boys. A 2010 national report [PDF] on the same topics found that, among other things, "when it comes to health and other outcomes, the odds for boys and men of color are more than two times worse" than for their white counterparts. "There's a lot of qualitative data on how young boys of color are faring emotionally," said Cassandra L. Joubert, director of the Central California Children's Institute, who has researched minority youth. "It suggests that they are under a lot of stress and are exposed to a lot of trauma because their neighborhoods are unsafe, they face a lot of life challenges, their parents are having difficulties, or their friends are being murdered. It's a whole host of things." Community organizations and academics in Fresno, Oakland and Los Angeles also are examining these issues. In Fresno, researchers confirmed many of the RAND findings. They also found that black and Latino boys had higher rates of emergency room visits for asthma and sexually transmitted diseases than whites. Nearly 45 percent of Fresno County's HIV cases are among Latino men, compared with 32 percent among whites and 3 percent among Asians. Only half of Fresno's African American boys and 60 percent of Latino boys had a stable source of health care. Joubert of the Central California Children's Institute said these statistics can be partially explained by poverty and a lack of awareness of health issues in Fresno. "A greater appreciation for how and where you live, and the resources in your community that are there or not there, or the dangers in your community and the role of place in health would help," said Joubert, who conducted the Fresno study. Oakland health, safety and other demographic data culled by the Urban Strategies Council found that African Americans were most likely to be victims of homicide and had the highest mortality rate, at 962 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with a countywide rate of 630 deaths per 100,000. Thirty-two percent of African American men had high blood pressure, compared with 26 percent for all males, and 31 percent were obese, compared with 19 percent overall. The Los Angeles report has not yet been released. Today's hearing in Oakland is one in a series that will be held across the state; similar events will be held in Los Angeles on March 2, Fresno on April 13 and Sacramento on Aug. 3. Swanson said the hearings will help legislators generate new policy ideas. Those under consideration are support for school-based health clinics and an examination of the relationship between truancy and incarceration. Gant, the Oakland student, decided to bring his safe pathways to school idea to legislators after he participated in an event for youth and community members Saturday at the Oakland Museum of California in preparation for the hearing today. Students at last week's event said they were concerned with gangs and police brutality; they also worry that there are "no grocery stores in the 'hood" and that there "are not many safe places where you can just hang out." Gant participates in a number of youth organizations, including a leadership program through Kids First Oakland, and he said he thought that the research showing that minority boys and men had poorer health "could be true," but he thought it had more to do with money and resources. One of his personal mottos is "rich will thrive" because "money has a lot of power in the world, and the rich will survive and strive," he said. "It depends on your circumstances and what you can afford," he said. "My mom, she tries to make healthy food, but I have friends who only eat ramen and McDonald's. It depends on what your job is, what your money situation is, or if you have five people living in one home and they're only making $48,000 a year. You can only do so much." |
| As many/most Black children in American schools are failing academically, the only way to successfully educate them is with the support and actions of their parents, families and communities. The only question not answered is, "Will Black people take control of the education of their children?" | | | We have 15 free Saturday Universities operating in and around Chicago and south suburbs. Please call 773.285.9600 to register your child for free academic enhancement or for more information about Saturday University. We need teachers and tutors for our sites. Please call 773.285.9600 to volunteer. |
| The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan Speaks to College Students About Education, Black People and the Future | | at Chicago State University
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
6:00 pm (Doors Open at 5:00 pm)
Jacoby Dickens Center
9500 South on King Drive
Chicago, Illinois  Colleges and Universities Invited:
Art Institute of Chicago
Aurora University
Benedictine University
Bradley University
Chicago State University
City Colleges or Chicago
Columbia College
Concordia University
DePaul University
DeVry University
Dominican University
East/West University
Eastern Illinois University
Elmhurst College
Governors State University
Illinois Institute of Technology
Illinois State University
Illinois Wesleyan University
Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (NEIU)
Lake Forest College
Loyola University Chicago
National-Louis University
Northeastern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University
North Park University
Northwestern University
Robert Morris College
Roosevelt University
Saint Xavier University
Southern Illinois University - Carbondale
Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville
University of Chicago
University of Illinois Champaign Urbana
University of Illinois Chicago
University of Illinois Springfield
Western Illinois University |
| Congratulations!!! YOU have made Red Tails the number 2 box office success in the nation!!! When George Lucas, director and producer of Star Wars, cannot get a film about Black American war heroes 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 ending Friday, January 27, 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? 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. |
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