DATA ON STATUS OF BLACK MEN 'ALARMING'

INDIANAPOLIS - Black men in Indiana are at a higher risk for AIDS,
unemployment, and ending up in prison, according to the Indiana Commission
on the Social Status of Black Males.

It released a 2000-2001 report last week with conclusions from statistics
that mirror many of the results the group has been tracking since it was
created in 1993.

"We have some standout individuals but as a group, wherever you look, there
is reason for alarm," said commission chairman Vernon Smith, a Democratic
state representative from Gary.

Last year, black men accounted for 42 percent of the prison population in
Indiana, while they represent only 7.9 percent of the state population.

While more whites are in prison over crimes against another person or
property, black men make up more of the drug and weapons cases.

The report recommends more involvement by the community and schools in the
nurturing of young black men.

The study found 17 percent of the kindergarten through grade 12 students
retained in 2000 were young black males.

At the same time, of the 63,945 public school teachers in Indiana, only 482
of them were black men.

"We have to do something about increasing the number of black men who are
teachers, so we have more role models, more mentors," said Stephen Jackson,
executive director of the Commission on the Social Status of Black Males.

Last year, the commission supported a bill that included streamlining the
process of giving an alternative teaching license to professionals who want
to teach in public schools, Jackson said.

This year the focus is legislation sponsored by Smith that would seal
juvenile conviction records for non-violent crimes.

"Young people don't have the wisdom we have as adults," Smith said.
"Oftentimes they are being used by adults to sell drugs and sell guns,
because the penalties are lower. What happens when they turn their life
around as an adult?"

The bill has a hearing scheduled for Monday in the House Human Affairs
committee.

The Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males hosted the
national conference in 2000 in Indianapolis and it is scheduled to host it
again in 2002.