The Black Divide

By Michael E. Ross
Reporter
MSNBC
Updated: 2:36 a.m. ET April 7, 2006


Michael E. Ross
Reporter
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At a time when the U.S. economy is on the upswing and more people are finding work, young African American men are falling further behind.

That’s the grim portrait painted by three new and forthcoming books by scholars at Columbia, Georgetown and Princeton universities. The picture isn't new, but the depths of its despair and pathology are...

OK, so there I am growing up in the 80's as a young black male, reading stories about the odds (50%) of going to prison or dying before I am 30, thinking...what makes me so different than so many other black males. The answer was...nothing. Time, relationships and circumstance ultimately decides everyones fate. In the back of my mind though, the thought persisted that clearly there are some pitfalls that being black presented. Seems they still persist.

I feel sorry for any young black male reading the MSNBC article thinking what I thought...of course, due the drop out rates, etc- it's a leap of faith for me to say reading...but then, what else would they be doing at MSNBC anyways? I guess it's not those guys I should be overly concerned about, but the others that believe that the black man reading MSNBC is less black than they are...read into that what you will.

I don't really know what to write about this article, but I suppose that over the weekend, something more coherent will come out of me.