Prison Bound “There are more black men in prison than college”
647k
1 in 3 black men between the ages of 18 and 24 were enrolled in an institution of higher education according to a 2014 census by the U.S. Nation Center of Educational Statistics.
164k
1.45m
Today there are approximately 600,000 more black men in college than in jail.
At a 2007 NAACP forum, thenpresidential candidate Barack Obama said, “We have more work to do when more young black men languish in prison than attend colleges and universities across America.”
JPI has yet to acknowledge that today the enrollment of black males in college is drastically different from when it published “Cellblocks or Classrooms.” If we replicated JPI’s analysis by downloading enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Post‐Secondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we would find a 108.5 percent jump in black male college enrollment from 2001 to 2011. The raw numbers show that enrollment of black males increased from 693,044 in 2001 to 1,445,194 in 2011. Importantly, black male representation in higher education is proportional to black male representation in the adult population. However, lack of adequate guidance and academic rigor in high schools has resulted in black males being underrepresented at competitive universities like Rutgers and
Today there are approximately 600,000 more black men in college than in jail, and the best research evidence suggests that the line was never true to begin with. The dubious origins, widespread use and harmful effects of what is arguably the most frequently quoted statistic about black men in the U.S. More than 10 years ago, the Justice Policy Institute released the report “Cellblocks or Classrooms.” While the report should have been a wake-up call to policymakers, one line resonated and echoed more than any other: “Nearly a third more African-American men are incarcerated than in higher education.”
824k
overrepresented at community colleges and online universities. Consider this: If all 1,127,170 black males who were enrolled in undergraduate programs in 2010 eventually graduated, the total number of black males with college degrees would increase by 71 percent, nearly achieving parity with white males. However, we will not sufficiently support black male college students -- nor college-bound students -- if we simply keep perpetuating the myth that juxtaposes their needs with those of black males inside of United States criminal-justice system.
Cellblocks or Classrooms ? The “Black men in prison� myth was often used by policymakers, community organizers and leaders with the best of intentions. However, because it is a falsehood it has proven to be harmful to communities of color.
It paints a negative picture of Black male academic achievement and feeds into the stereotype that Black males are predisposed to crime and violence.
The Sperm Dono “Black fathers abandon their children” We’ve all heard it! Too many black fathers have abandoned their children, allowing them to be raised by the streets like feral cats. They don’t learn morals, and they don’t learn values—so naturally police have to shoot them down like rabid, foaming dogs. Even when they’re unarmed. Even when they have their backs turned and are simply running away. Well, someone—the Centers for Disease Control—actually went to trouble of checking just how involved in their lives all fathers are, whether or not they are married to the mother of their children or live with them. What
they found was that, in reality, black fathers are actually more attentive to their children than other fathers generally are. Considering the fact that “black fatherhood” is a phrase that is almost always accompanied by the word “crisis” in U.S. society, it’s understandable that the CDC’s results seem innovative. But in reality, the new data builds upon years of research that’s concluded that hands-on parenting is similar among dads of all races.
We’ve all heard it!
or “Black Fatherhood” Is a phrase often accompanied by the word “crisis” in the U.S.
Born This Way “The urban child is a super-predator”
They are the kinds of kids that are called “super predators”...no conscience, no empathy. 1 in 3 black males born since 1991 will go to prison at some point in their life. This is often supported by a study by Dr. Thomas P. Bonczar. Dr. Bonczar was only referring to black males born in 2001. They were 2 years old when he predicted it. They are 12 years old now. So far, they are far from the “super predators” we forecasted them to be. Theunderlying assertion is that black kids are more violent and unlawful than other minorties and the general public. influential criminologists in the 1990s issued predictions of a coming wave of “superpredators”: “radically impulsive, brutally remorseless” “elementary school youngsters who pack guns instead of lunches” and “have absolutely no respect for human life.”
Much of this frightening imagery was racially coded.
WE HAVE TO BRING THEM TO HEEL Hilary Clinton refers to urban youth. She suggests that rather than trying to understand how poverty and social exclusion may have led children to make certain choices, it is more important to first “bring them to heel.�
radically impulsive brutally remorseless" elementary school youngsters who pack guns instead of lunches"
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