NUMBERS OF BLACK MALES IN JAILS MUST BE REDUCED

The Numbers Aren't New, But They're Disturbing Just The Same

Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, recently
talked to members of the William Monroe Trotter Group, the nation's leading
organization of black columnists, about the worsening plight of black males.

The Statistics Gnaw Like Heartburn

One in every three black men faces being imprisoned at some point in their
lives. Right now, one out of every seven black males aged 25 to 29 is in
jail. And, according to the National Association of Blacks in Criminal
Justice, 29 percent of black males born this year can expect to spend some
time in state or federal prison.

To the shortsighted, those numbers may portend justice. But to those like
Morial who know better, they foreshadow a crisis in black communities.

"It's a very, very bad problem," Morial told us at our annual gathering at
the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center in Nashville. "Thirteen states
have more African-American males in prison than in college."

"If we don't confront this issue now, all we're creating is recidivism."

For his part, Morial said the Urban League is forming a national commission
on African-American males to look at the problem. He admits that while the
process will be slow, he hopes that it will enable them to come up with a
long-term solution.

I Hope So, Too

But I fear the challenge of keeping black men out of jails and prisons is
more daunting now than it has ever been before. That's because in years
past, the notion of them doing something that could land them in jail or
prison was seen as fringe activity fueled by desperation.

Today, for far too many black men, the specter of incarceration has become
absorbed into the culture.

This Has Happened For Many Reasons

Since the drug war kicked into full gear in the 1980s, police have focused
on black neighborhoods where they are more likely to arrest a black man for
a minor drug offense than they are to arrest a white suburbanite -- even
though blacks and whites use drugs at the same rate. On top of that, the
majority of black males who are incarcerated do longer time for minor,
non-violent crimes because mandatory minimum sentencing laws make it tough
for judges to balance mercy with justice.

That predicament has fueled a prison population explosion so unprecedented
that it even prompted conservative Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to
call for the repeal of mandatory minimum laws. Even he can see, from his
high place, that sending a kid to prison for a minor drug possession charge
almost always doesn't lead to that kid's rehabilitation as much as it makes
him broken and bitter.

And that's the attitude that many black males bring back to their
communities. It's an attitude that becomes even more hardened when their
record makes it tough for them to find employment or housing; when it
effectively prevents them from rejoining society after they've done their time.

So what they do is hone a new reality out of their incarceration
experiences -- one that winds up being played out on the streets of
struggling communities. With no jobs and no prospects, many black males
become ripe for recruitment by drug dealers and others looking for a few
good thugs.

That reality is becoming harder to counteract since it is being glamorized
by gangsta rap and the thug life; by record labels named Death Row and by
fads like pulling their boxers atop their pants -- one that was spawned by
prisoners who didn't have belts to hold up their pants.

Jailhouse chic is hip because it becomes all they know. And it hurts the
black communities they ultimately return to because it causes too many
black males to have more faith in their capacity to destroy than to create.

That Shouldn't Be

"Too many of our young black males believe that manhood is defined by the
ability to injure or damage another man rather than helping another man,"
Morial said. "Too much homicide, too many guns ..."

Of course, anyone who commits murder, rape or any other heinous offense
ought to be punished. But the heavy-handed application of justice for minor
crimes has had, at least for black males, the unintended effect of
sexing-up criminal culture instead of discouraging it.

But That Can Change

Change can begin by investing more money in and attention toward
rehabilitation; in the tools that can nurture the idea in black males that
they can be contributors rather than detractors. Here in Jacksonville,
Circuit Judge Karen Cole is trying to do just that by forming a committee
to address illiteracy in juvenile offenders -- a problem that usually
exacerbates criminal behavior.

Here's another wild suggestion. Inner-city schools can also get in on the
act by doing, say, a "Nerd's Week," in which the most studious, most
responsible black males are spotlighted. In fact, Reynaldo Glover, the
chairman of the board of historically-black Fisk University and one of the
people who addressed our group, said he believes that if being literate and
educated can be made to be as sexy as being able to dunk a basketball or
cut a rap song, then the black males who are embracing that thug life would
change.

They Have To

Not just for their own sake, but for the sake of those who want their young
black males to be part of the lifeblood, rather than the demise, of their
communities.