Kapitol Hill

Stop The Madness

For the past three weeks -- with one more weekend to go, American college basketball fans and those who just happen to fill out one of those pesky brackets for the office pool have been transfixed on the television watching teams like UCLA and the Cinderella team of the season, George Mason who pulled off a remarkable feat by advancing to the tournament's final four teams.

But while the fans of these games seem to be the winner in it all and eventually one of the final teams will be crowned the champion of the 2006 National College Athletic Association basketball season, the players in the end -- particularly the African-American student-athletes-- may end up the real losers.

Overall the graduation rate for the 250 Division I schools which are eligible for "March Madness" is 40 percent.  Individual schools have made significant improvement since the NCAA started keeping this data ten years ago and that should be applauded; but, for the most part the overall rate has stayed consistent and low.

This is  worrisome when you look at the overall rate in non-athletes is  at 65 percent but becomes even more troubling and even disturbing when you break it down racially.  In a University of Utah study it was shown that African-American athletes at these elite sport schools graduate at below 30 percent.

So while these students may make millions for their universities, so many of these young men leave without a safety net yet alone a degree even though they may cut down the nets in Indianapolis.  If this is the fate of those who get the opportunity to go to college, spend a few semesters in a classroom and talk to professors and peers with aspirations for more, it should come as no surprise that those who don't even step foot on a campus fare even worse.

New studies, by experts at Ivy League Institutions like  Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, show a huge pool of poorly educated black men are becoming  more disconnected from the mainstream society, and to a far greater degree than white or Hispanic men.

To be more precise the major study concluded:

* The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990's. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20's were jobless - that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20's were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.

* Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990's and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20's who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30's, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.

* In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.

All of these probably come as no surprise to those in the African-American community who see these statistics in real-life as young men huddle on the corners or begging on subway trains.  To many, the reaction to such alarming facts is, "now tell me something I don't know."

To be honest, academics and social advocates have been preaching the demise of the black male for decades.  But it's not the extinction that should worry us, it's the marginalization.

We cannot allow an entire section of American society to be, as Ralph Ellison described, "Invisible."  Nor can we treat the problem that way, as well -- Sweeping it under the rug doesn't make it disappear, it only creates a lump in the carpet.

Eventually, someone will trip over it and when we do,it will be a thud heard  and felt throughout society.  A victory on the basketball court takes a team effort.  And in light of the obstacles facing the African-American community,  to win the victory of  society's survival, it's going to take a full court press.

Kapitol Hill publishes a new commentary every week.  Please feel free to leave a comment and don't forget to check back next week for a new installment.

Tipping the Scale

When looking over the list of those who have died unjustly by the hands of racists during the height of the Civil Rights movement names such as Emmett Till and Medgar Evers definitely come to mind.  Both crimes were senseless and without reason or a residue of logic.  Till's murder was even more horrific because unlike Evers, he had no clue as a young teen from Chicago what dangerous might overshadow him in Jim Crow territory.  He was the purest symbol of an innocent victim.  In hindsight while we will never understand the why he had to die at the hands of ill-meaning adults -- we can certainly comprehend the culture which created their hatred -- after all it was 1954.

In 2005 a family living outside of Tampa, Florida is equating the death of their 14 year old son to the murder of Till.  While that may simply be hyperbole -- the angst of their frustration and sorrow is no less.  Martin Anderson, who by all accounts and all statistical probabilities was heading toward a troubled period, died while in the custody of juvenile guards at a boot camp for boys.  He had already been before a judge twice and one final violation sentenced him to 14 months doing hard disciplinary work and exercise.

Anderson died less than 24 hours after arriving to the camp.  A video tape released by the authorities in Florida showed him being kneed, punched and dragged to the ground by no more than four officers.  The official statement suggested he was becoming unruly and did not respond to command to continue the mandatory laps around the facility.  The medical examiner reported the official cause of death as complications from sickle cell  trait.  However, after an exhumation and review of the body has concluded that initial report was flawed and a different medical examiner now says Anderson could not have died from anything close to a blood disorder but for now has refused to suggest the manhandling by the officers had anything to do with the death.  It's safe to say Anderson's mother believes otherwise.

It is unclear whether anyone will be charged with Anderson's death but obviously a ward of the state dying in the hands of the state deserves some justice.  But, from the latest disturbing news on the fairness of justice in Florida it is hard to say if that is what will happen in this case.

A coalition of lawyers' groups representing minorities and women are calling for Broward County judges to undergo sensitivity training after it was concluded they lack the empathy desired to be fair and impartial with black and Hispanic defendants.

At a meeting with  Broward Chief Judge Dale Ross representatives cited  one case in which Circuit Judge Lawrence Korda insisted that a battered wife seeking a restraining order speak in English instead of her native Spanish and even denied her the right to have a translator present.

This was just a host of incidents in which judges clearly showed if not bias, illustrated they have no patience for defendant who cannot speak the language.

Chief Judge Ross has indicated he will take the groups concerns under consideration and will even ask Florida's legislature to fund the classes.

It seems odd that those who are placed in positions to judge people on the content of the evidence and not the color of their skin or ethnicity would need to undergo special classes for them to recognize everyone is equal under tha law.

Well just have to wait and see if the training makes a difference and probably have even more patience to find out if elected politicians even believe funding such an endeavor is worth the tax payers dollars.

But while that debate rages on the Anderson family waits, as well.  They're less concerned with whether black and brown defendants get justice in Florida's courts .  They just hope someone ends up before a judge for the black and blue bruises left on their son's body.

Kapitol Hill publishes a new commentary every week.  Feel free to leave a comment and don't forget to check back next week for a new installment.

We Wear The Mask -- Literally

Many students of African-American literature base the premise  of influence ofnthe genre on the first  written forum utilized by newly freed and soon to be freed slaves, which somehow learned not only how to read but write.  The slave narrative was much more than a detailed transcription of the peculiar experience of the slave institution.  It was in essence a method by which slaves wanted to tell -- or better yet, scream to the world they were living creatures who lived and breathed and grieved and had sorrow.  It was their experiment in humanity.

It was this need to express humanity, which lead to the further development of African-American literature.  Most important of these was the vehicle of poetry.  One of the most profound poets of this new age forum was Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  In many of his poems, Dunbar tried to capture the struggle of newly freed slaves and the growing tension of being African and American at the same time.

His most provocative poem was "We Wear the Mask."  In it's verses, Dunbar illustrated the conflict of integrating into a society, which by all accounts didn't wish Blacks to be apart.  He ends by saying:

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
    To thee from tortured souls arise.
    We sing, but oh the clay is vile
    Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
    But let the world dream otherwise,
            We wear the mask!

The torture of wearing the mask continues to resonate today.  The mask gives African-Americans the ability to travel the roads of mainstream America, while holding tight to their roots.

In a strange new twist of that sorrowful fate, a new reality show, "Black.White" has tried to turn that philosophy on its head by allowing not only a family of African-Americans but a White family as well to literally put on a mask.

Simply, for a few hours the Black family puts on Hollywood make-up to become white and the White family transforms into a black . 

It is the producers' of reality televisions way of hitting the issues of race full on with a semi truck.  However, what this show does is reduce race relations into entertainment and to those who deal with the struggles of equality every day -- race relations is no laughing matter.

The major problem with "Black.White" is it seems to suggest a walk in someone else's shoes -- albeit for a couple of hours -- will make someone understand the woes of another.  It misleads the public in its misnomer that race is something purely based upon skin color.

The injustices of race -- and the perspectives one has because of their race are built not through the commonality of pigmentation -- it is about life experiences and institutional pigeon-holds that date back long before most of us were born.

It is humorous to watch the black father, Brian, get so peeved at the fact no one seems to recognize the racism of a vanilla coke.  On the other-hand we seem to get annoyed that the White father, Bruno has reduced racism to the least common denominator of being called a "nigger."

Being an African-American, I know racial issues are much more complicated than racist slurs and not always as easily indicated as a white woman refusing to look me in the eye.

The bottom line is "Black.White" does an injustice to those who truly wish society can move beyond race and see each individual for the content of their character.

Richard Wright, once wrote of his book, "Black Boy" that he was totally disappointed in its effect.  It was, as he put it, a novel a banker's daughter could feel comfortable reading.  In other-words, to truly have a sincere, honest, advancing conversation about race-- it should not be a discussion of comfort.  We should squirm in our seats and feel a lump in our chests because race and racism are not sugar coated pills to be taken with a glass of water.

Unfortunately, the only thing about "Black.White" that makes us squirm, is the fact it is on for an entire hour.

Kapitol Hill publishes a new commentary every week.  Please feel free to leave a comment and don't forget to check back for a new installment.

Still Separate... But Unequal?

In the list of deaths we'll mark this week... Dana Reeve, Kirby Puckett, Gordon Parks we will probably skim past the passing of Anne Braden.  Braden was a white woman who in the 1950s recognized the importance of home ownership and particularly the goal of African-Americans to own a home -- and did something about it.

In 1954, Braden and her husband, Carl, bought a home in southwestern Jefferson County for a black World War II veteran and his family. The black family was spurned when attempting to purchase the home. The Bradens used the family's money to purchase the house, then deeded it over to them.   A few weeks later, the house was bombed, but no one was injured.

The efforts of Anne Braden probably won't be recorded in the greater good of the civil rights movement.  It seems to fall short of the great feats of the March on Selma, the March on Washington or the Montgomery Bus Boycott.  Yet, her belief in the idea of once disenfranchised minorities having a piece of the "American Dream"  cannot be questioned and should be commended.  In her mind, living separately was in no means living equally.

Which is why later this Spring, some will mark the weeks the Freedom Riders spent traveling the South to desegregate restaurants, lunch counters and all other public venues such as bathrooms.

It was on the night of May 4, 1961 that a group of young college students decided enough inequality was enough.  The first Freedom Riders were members of the Nashville Student Group, a local group of students who had successfully desegregated the lunch counters and movie theaters in that city. Emboldened by their victory, the Freedom Riders decided to introduce their strategies of non-violence throughout the South in order to directly challenge the region’s Jim Crow laws.

Forty-five years later, we eat, sleep and drink in the same space and most of us don't give a second or even first thought about the integrated culture we now socialize in.

So how do we explain a small diner in Georgia.  These days, blacks are welcome to sit wherever they want at the Carterville, Georgia 4 Way Lunch. But  many older African Americans  still shy away the front section -- a section four decades ago was reserved only for "Whites Only."

In an Associated Press article about the diner, The older blacks at the 4 Way were described as  admirers of the civil rights movement, but most still prefer eating in the former Jim Crow section.

The article said, quote "They don't go up front, they say, because they simply feel more comfortable in the back. They mention that blacks have been sitting on those three stools as long as anyone can remember, trading gossip and cutting up."

Cutting up is exactly what some said of the new members of the Oscar Fraternity.  Three 6 Mafia took home the  Academy Award for "Best Original Song" and has been the tradition they performed -- in pure Southern flava -- gold teeth and all.

Some suggested it was an embarrassment -- but I have to disagree.  On Sunday they became not just insider hip-hop-crunk artists -- they became an aspiration and inspiration to those who dream.  Jon Stewart who hosted the Oscars quipped, "Why is Three 6 Mafia the most excited to be here?"

While he was probably expecting his comment to be taken humorously -- it would be foolish to not see the seriousness of the truth behind the smirk -- those artists were truly amazed at their feat -- just as Hattie McDaniels probably was when she won Best Supporting Actress in the 1930s for her role as Mammie in "Gone With the Wind."

The one thing Three 6 Mafia and those Blacks who sit in the back of the Georgia diner have in common is they aren't trying to be anything but true to themselves --  that is what we all should try and do -- and how can anyone be mad at that? 

NOTE: Coming this week: SPECIAL EDITION: Black. White: The Reality Show

Kapitol Hill publishes a new commentary each week.  Feel free to leave a comment and check back next week for a new installment.