If you look beyond recent headlines about race in America, here is a surprising truth: Most black men in America are doing just fine. Most black men are not poor, most black men will not be incarcerated, most black men are gainfully employed, and most black men will marry
(The National Review)
(The National Review)
“Why haven’t I heard this before?” asked Stephan Moore, a 49-year-old African-American father from Oklahoma City, after hearing one of us lecture this month. “I’m so glad I brought my teenage son. He hasn’t heard this message about black men.”
Moore’s surprise is understandable. In the wake of Trayvon Martin, Ferguson, and Baltimore, the national conversation about black men has tended to focus on the bad news about black men. In launching My Brother’s Keeper, his initiative to help black and Latino men in the wake of the Trayvon Martin verdict, President Obama outlined the challenges confronting minority men: They face a “higher chance [of ending] up in the criminal-justice system, and a far higher chance [of becoming] the victim of a violent crime. Fewer young black and Latino men participate in the labor force compared to young white men. And all of this translates into higher unemployment rates and poverty rates as adults.”
The president is not wrong, as minority men are doing relatively worse than white men. But framing the issue this way can blind us to another reality: Most black men in America are doing just fine, as we noted recently in The Atlantic. As Stephan Moore shows us, the good news has fallen by the wayside in the recent conversation about black men.
Read the full article HERE
Read the full article HERE