The election of the first black US president offered hope to millions of African Americans across the country. But have four years of an Obama presidency seen positive change for black communities in the US' inner cities? Fault Lines' Sebastian Walker spends time with those on the front lines of the failed drug war to understand some fundamental dynamics of race, poverty, incarceration and economic truths in the US in an election year.
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Tampilkan postingan dengan label Black Men. Tampilkan semua postingan
Rabu, 22 Agustus 2012
Senin, 04 Juni 2012
Foundation Work Helps to Reverse Social Plights, Perception of Black Men and Boys
Foundation Work Helps to Reverse Social Plights, Perception of Black Men and Boys
by Kimberly N. Alleyne | America’s Wire
WASHINGTON—Concerned about the plight of African-American men and boys, several philanthropic organizations have launched initiatives to improve opportunities for them to succeed. Some programs address the structural bias that leaves these men more likely to be incarcerated, jobless and disproportionately affected by other social disadvantages.
One of every 15 African-American men is in a U.S. prison or jail compared with one of every 36 Hispanic men and one of every 106 white men. Moreover, scores of African-American men are affected by chronic unemployment, lack of education, poverty and poor health outcomes.
Organizations such as Open Society Foundations, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Mitchell Kapor Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and local and regional foundations are working to assist African-American males.
Shawn Dove, campaign manager for the Campaign for Black Male Achievement sponsored by Open Society Foundations, recalls that media stories about the plight of black men in 2006 spurred discussion on how the foundation could engage.
“I thought, ‘How can we, a foundation that supports open society values, and believes in a democratic society, as a foundation, not be at the forefront of these issues?’ ”he says.“When we launched, there was not an equivalent on a national level.”
The program began in June 2008 and was to be a three-year campaign. But 18 months in, Dove says, George Soros, chairman of Open Society Foundations, and its board were impressed by the work, expanded the budget and agreed to make it ongoing. Since 2008, it has spent $29.6 million funding 94 organizations working on educational equity, strengthening family structures and increasing work opportunities. Grantees are in Chicago, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Philadelphia,New Orleans and Jackson, Miss.
“We are responding to long-term systemic and structural barriers facing the African-American community, specifically black men and boys,” Dove says. “An adequate response is not a three-year or five-year commitment. An adequate response is generational commitment so that direct services and policy advocacy are bridged.”
Dove maintains that to adequately address challenges faced by African-American men,“we need an endowed social corporation that can focus on these issues for the long haul.”
The W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s work in this regard dates to the early 1990s when it launched a Men and Boys of Color initiative that included grants and creation of opportunities for black males. For more than 20 years, Kellogg has been in the forefront in supporting initiatives such as Community Voices, which started the nation’s first health clinic for men in Baltimore, addressed flaws in local juvenile justice systems and assisted ex-convicts in re-entering communities in numerous cities.
“Both explicit and unconscious bias affects young men and boys of color in particular, denying them equal opportunities to succeed in their communities,says Dr. Gail C. Christopher, Kellogg’s vice president for program strategy. “At the Kellogg Foundation, a critical objective for our racial healing and racial equity strategy seeks to remove structural and implicit barriers that limit their success. Achieving and sustaining racial equity requires strong systems of accountability, and as importantly, success requires uprooting a belief system of racial hierarchy.”
Last September, Kellogg sponsored “Too Important to Fail,”Tavis Smiley’s PBS report on health and education disparities among African-American boys. The foundation also funded a University of North Carolina project, the Promoting Academic Success initiative, which worked with families, schools and communities to improve academic achievement of African-American and Latino children in Lansing, Mich., and Polk County, Fla.
Under its America Healing Initiative, the foundation funds many organizations, such as the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, that engage in efforts to address the challenges faced by black males. One grantee, the Opportunity Agenda, recently released a report on perceptions of black males in the media. The report seeks to educate media makers, educators and others on how negative images of black communities perpetuate negative stereotypes.
A significant part of the challenge is improving educational opportunities for African-American men.With its College Bound Brotherhood program established five years ago, the Mitchell Kapor Foundation helps black youths and men achieve success by equipping them to pursue a college education. Based in San Francisco, the program provides grants to community-based organizations offering college preparedness programs in the Bay Area.
Justin Davis, the foundation’s program coordinator, says it has awarded more than $1 million to organizations.“We also offer an online database, which is a free directory that lists college readiness programs in the San Francisco Bay area community,” he said. “It helps students, parents and teachers.”
The program hosts an annual graduation celebration at which college-bound high school graduates are lauded for their achievements.“This year, we are celebrating 150 young black men who are enrolling in college this fall,” Davis says. “This is the only event like it in the Bay Area. Last year, it was standing room only. One of the most powerful images was seeing a stage full of young black men who are going to college. It’s a great thing to see.”
The programs are making an impact.
Jordan Johnson, 17, is heading to Morehouse College next fall largely because of his participation in the Young Scholars Program, one 15 organizations that the Kapor Foundation supports through grants from College Bound Brotherhood. Johnson says the program changed his perspective about college.
The Young Scholars Program offers college preparatory and leadership development, plus tutoring, mentoring, cultural enrichment and scholarship assistance. Over the past 10 years, its students have attended colleges and universities such as Texas Southern, Fisk, Cornell and Yale.
“I got involved in the Young Scholars Program my junior year,” Johnson says. “Before I got involved, I thought I was going to a junior college or a two-year college. I didn’t have the professional, social or academic skills to go to a four-year college.”
But the program changed his aspirations. He plans to study business management.“I didn’t think I was going to Morehouse because my GPA is 2.67,” he says, “but the Young Scholars Program gave me hope. I have been accepted to 17 colleges. I have not received any rejections.”
Another organization, Foundation for the Mid South, works to address poverty in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi, a region whose 30 percent poverty rate is the nation’s highest. Based in Jackson, Miss., the organization focuses on education, health and wellness, wealth building and community development. The Kellogg Foundation is among funders of its work.
Matthew Caston, a communications fellow at Foundation for the Mid South, asserts that to be successful, more African-American men require better education. For instance, the foundation’s data show that two of three boys of color cannot read at grade level by third grade and that 19.1 percent of black males are unemployed, compared with 8 percent of white males.
“We have found that education is the biggest determinant of success in the areas of incarceration, health and earning. People who are more educated are healthier and have better jobs,” Caston says, adding that reading scores are the biggest determinant for high school graduation and employment. “Males of color in our region are at the bottom in reading scores.”
The foundation is working to improve education and economic outcomes for youths of color by assisting parents and civic, community and government leaders in improving the educational system and launching a public awareness campaign about its shortfalls.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Black Male Engagement (BME) Challenge takes a different approach.
Pronounced “be me,”BME piloted programs in Detroit and Philadelphia last year,and its primary mission is to highlight actively engaged black men in those cities. BME is also funded in part by the Open Society Foundation’s Campaign for Black Male Achievement.
“There are many initiatives that show that black men are disengaged, absent or a threat to their communities, but our working assumption is there is nothing to fix about black males,” says Trabian Shorters, vice president/communities program at the Knight Foundation and BME’s spearhead. “BME is not about fixing black males. Black men are assets to their communities, and we are working to respond to the many of them who are engaged and how to get more black males engaged.”
Under the program, African-American men in Detroit and Philadelphia were asked to submit video testimony showing how they strengthen their communities. The 2,083 videos received told many stories about personal journeys that included men helping veterans returning to their community and introducing children to dance instead of street life .The storytellers were invited to apply for grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to further their community work.
“So many regular guys go unsung,” Shorters says. “They don’t do this work for a pat on the back, but it is nice to affirm what they do.”BME has awarded $443,000 in grants “to 443 regular, everyday guys,” he adds.
Shorters says everyone knows “good guys” who are not part of the dreadful statistics. “I hope that BME creates a network of these kinds of guys, regular guys,” he says. “We want to make it so that if your cousin Joe is a good guy, doing something great for his community, that he can plug into the network and meet other guys like him and find resources to support his work.”
Though many foundations focus their attention on systemic and structural barriers affecting African-American males, the whole “village” carries the burden of success.
“This is our unfinished business,” Dove says. “This is not black America’s unfinished business. It is America’s unfinished business.”
***
America’s Wire is an independent, nonprofit news service run by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and funded by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Our stories can be republished free of charge by newspapers, websites and other media sources. For more information, visit www.americaswire.org or contact Michael K. Frisby at mike@frisbyassociates.com.
Selasa, 08 Mei 2012
From the Digital Crate: of (Black) Men and Song (ver. 1.0)
From the Digital Crate: of (Black) Men and Song (ver. 1.0)
by Mark Anthony Neal | NewBlackMan
Listening to Andy Bey is like dreaming about what you’ve never been. And perhaps this is what fueled Bey in the first place—the opportunity to imagine in sound, in phrase, and in melody a world yet to be inhabited by those singers male and black. It is all too easy to suggest that a vocalist like Bey might have been listening to Bobby Blue Bland, Solomon Burke or even Ira Tucker—as they all were—but there’s something about Bey’s delivery that suggest something more original and dare I say substantive—at least on the level of style. Bey is one of a kind—something you could only conjure in a dream, really.
***
I often think about this notion of originality. A colleague of mine, Richard J. Powell, an art historian of some stature, has suggested that no artist is influenced (inspired maybe?), but it’s all about an active appropriation of something else(s) in route to something of their own. Ok, so Sinatra had Billie Holiday in his head and Marvin Gaye had Sinatra in his (“…in the wee small hours of the morning…) and Ronald Isley and Bobby Womack—peers and contemporaries of Sam Cooke—no doubt recalibrated because of Cooke (like Ms. Dinah did for Aretha and Nancy Wilson), though Cooke himself found the road to Damascus trying to sound like R. H. Harris? And nobody would say that any of these folk weren’t American originals, so that’s not my point.
But sometimes there is simply little that can qualify or quantify talents that just seem to drop from space. Either these singular forces change the whole endeavor—like James on-the-One or Ms. Billie’s subdued, though still sublime field moans—or they go unrecognized simply because there’s little logic behind their very presence. And indeed there are any number of women folk who I’m thinking of here—Linda Jones, Betty Davis, and Bettye LaVette to name a few, but I’m also thinking about men folk like Donald Smith, Terry Callier, Jon Lucien, (even) Will Downing and of course Bey, who are almost always an afterthought when we talk about the those singers male and black, who have been charged with moving mountains and parting seas with just the turning of phrase (call it black music’s Moses complex).
***
I dream men like Dwight Trible—these singers black, these singers men—even as they tug at those baritone and tenor strings that so embody the very idea of some pristine, immaculate dark masculinity. Their willingness to explore the full range of their expressiveness—emotiveness gone awry—simply undermines the comfort that the deepness of their voices presupposes. And it’s not like this is a new phenomenon—figures like Jimmy Scott, Ronnie Dyson, Eddie Kendricks, and Rahsaan Patterson are standard bearers of sort for this thing, but because they live(d) in a register up-above, it has always been easy to dismiss their presence—and their art—as being less than something fully masculine (as if there was such a thing). And this is where men like Trible and Jose James (like Bey and Johnny Hartman) force us to re-imagine our investments in masculinities that don’t bend and don’t break..
Dwight Trible—who can make you cry—has filled a void left by the great Leon Thomas (the only vocalist other than the late Phyllis Hyman to successfully match wits with saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders). A mainstay of the Build An Ark (let it rain, let rain) collective and Trible even has a foot in the hip-hop world via his work with The Life Force Trio (something like Archie Shepp unleashed on a Primo soundscape). But to understand Trible is to acknowledge those he’s…ahem…appropriated.
When asked about his “influences” Trible responds “Do you know Linda Jones?... She opened up the spirit and let it all out, you know I mean, Oh God she was something special and if you listen to a record by her, you’ll probably hear her influences on me in there.” And of course the notion that Trible was “influenced” by Jones, belies the fact that Linda Jones is one of those obscure geniuses that one would have to actively seek out; Linda Jones doesn’t just fall out of the sky into your lap.
The Living Water, Trible’s grand opus (to date), is at once a tribute to the giants whose wells he replenishes from—Coltrane, Malcolm, Wayne Shorter, Abbey Lincoln, Freddie Hubbard, and the aforementioned Andy Bey—but also a measure of an art that literally flows, taking with it elements of all it comes in contact with.
As such it’s difficult to listen to Trible’s breathtaking reimagining of Bey’s “Celestial Blues” and not feel as though the full weight of this culture and this music (“this” as a signifier of “that” which we still struggle to adequately qualify and quantify as the force of blackness—a black hole if you will, which gives life and light) is coming through in every phrase and every note. And yet, this gets us back to this notion of originality—and thinking that perhaps artistic originality is ultimately about the willingness of an artist to speak back to that which she so thoroughly takes from.
***
Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five books including the forthcoming Looking For Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities (New York University Press). He is professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University and the host of the Weekly Webcast Left of Black. Follow him on Twitter @NewBlackMan.
***
Mark Anthony Neal is the author of five books including the forthcoming Looking For Leroy: (Il)Legible Black Masculinities (New York University Press). He is professor of Black Popular Culture in the Department of African & African-American Studies at Duke University and the host of the Weekly Webcast Left of Black. Follow him on Twitter @NewBlackMan.
Minggu, 15 April 2012
Black Men, Mental Health and Mentoring on the April 16th Left of Black
Black Men, Mental Health and Mentoring on the April 16th Left of Black
Host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype by Wizdom Powell, professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at the Gillings School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Neal and Professor Powell discuss her article “Taking It Like a Man: Masculine Role Norms as Moderators of the Racial Discrimination–Depressive Symptoms Association Among African-American Men,” recently published in the American Journal of Public Health. In the article Professor Powell details the connections between Black male mental health issues and increased health care disparities.
Later, Neal is joined, also via Skype, by Dr. Micah Gilmer, specialist in applied research and social enterprise, and a Senior Partner at Frontline Solutions—a social change organization and Joe Branch, former associate brand manager for Nike and the Senior Manager of Global Marketing Partnerships for the NBA, and founding partner of UWANTGAME Ventures. UWANTGAME and Frontline Solutions have collaborated on GameBreakers, a nationwide effort to transform youth via Sports and mentoring. GameBreakers launched its first event in New Orleans at HBCU Dillard University during the Final Four Weekend.
***
Left of Black airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on the Ustream channel: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/left-of-black. Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitter conversation with Neal and featured guests while the show airs using hash tags #LeftofBlack or #dukelive.
Left of Blackis recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University.
***
Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack
Follow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackMan
Follow Wizdom Powell on Twitter: @Wizdomisms
Follow Micah Gilmer on Twitter: @Micah_Gilmer
Follow Joe Branch on Twitter: @joeb_uwg
Follow Frontline Solutions on Twitter: @helping_change
Follow UWantGame on Twitter: @UWantGame
###
Rabu, 22 Februari 2012
“The African American Man in the Age of Obama” | Panel Discussion with Byron Hurt and Mark Anthony Neal at Hue-Man Books | Feb 23rd
Thursday, February 23rd, 6:00 p.m.
New York, NY: Hue-Man Bookstore
Hue-Man Bookstore welcomes editor Joanne Griffith of the new book Redefining Black Power: Reflections on the State of Black America, and guests discussing “The African American Man in the Age of Obama.”
Guests include Byron Hurt, filmmaker and director of Soul Food Junkies and Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes and Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African & African-American Studies at Duke University.
Hue-Man Bookstore and Café is located at 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd., New York, NY 10027. For more information, please call 212-665-7400.
Rabu, 05 Oktober 2011
Pink Ribbons, Black Bruises
Pink Ribbons, Black Bruises
by Mark Anthony Neal | NewBlackMan
October is both Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well as Domestic Abuse Awareness Month and, on the surface, the two seem to have little in common except concern for the quality of women's lives. Most men understand that breast cancer and domestic violence represent forms of crisis in the lives of black women, but I'd like to suggest that our dismissive attitude towards women's health care issues represent a form of abuse itself.
According to the Chicago Foundation for Women "violence against women and girls is a cradle-to-grave epidemic." The Institute on Domestic Violence in the African-American Community at the University of Minnesotafound that black women were 30 percent more likely to be subject to domestic violence than white women and 250 percent more likely to be the subject of such violence than men. Additionally, black women account for more than 20 percent of the homicides associated with domestic violence despite only representing 8 percent of the national population.
Thankfully, there is now a generation of men, including activists and educators like Jackson Katz, Quentin Walcott, director of the CONNECT's Community Empowerment Program in New York, Ulester Douglass of Men Stopping Violence in Georgia and filmmaker Byron Hurt who are providing leadership in getting men of all races to understand their complicity in violence against women. It is still a struggle to get men to speak out against violence against women, but the aforementioned men represent tremendous growth in that regard.
Thanks to organizations like Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the foundation behind the pink ribbons and wrist bands so prominently featured during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, society is beginning to grapple with the disproportionate effect of the disease on black women, who, while less likely to get the disease than their white peers, are far more likely to die from it. Indeed it is heartening to see professional sports leagues like the NFL and Major League Baseball contribute to awareness efforts.
There are lots of reasons for the discrepancies between black and white women, but I'd like to highlight the roles that black women play as caretakers and nurturers in our communities. Also, black women are seemingly more willing to address the high incidence of hypertension and prostate disease among black men, often at the expense of addressing their own health issues.
Ironically, few black men seem to take the same interest in black women's health concerns, or their own health issues for that matter. Men have been socialized to think of diseases like breast cancer, fibroids and osteoporosis, as simply examples of "women's diseases." Some men are likely to dismiss diseases that disproportionately affect women, because they were told as boys that it was "mommy's time of the month," distancing them from women's health issues. Nevertheless, black men must take greater responsibility in increasing their awareness of diseases that afflict their mothers, sisters, daughters, wives and friends.
For example, some studies have shown that 80 percent of all black women suffer from some form of fibroid disease, yet most black men are oblivious to the effects of the disease. Could you imagine a disease that afflicted 80 percent of black men that black women would be largely ignorant of?
In many ways our willing ignorance about black women's health issues represents a form of abuse. As healthcare issues remain critical to black America, it is incumbent on black men to get serious about finding out about the diseases that affect the women and men in our communities.
Selasa, 12 Juli 2011
Work-in-Progress | Close Ties: Tying On A New Tradition (film)
Close Ties: Tying On A New Tradition
A Documentary project in New Orleans, LA by Park Triangle Productions
Close Ties: Tying on a New Tradition provides an intimate look at a rites of passage ceremony that connects teenage boys with male role models. The "Tie Tying ceremony" held at New Orleans barbershop, "Mr. Chill's First Class Cuts", was created by Dr. Andre Perry and Wilbert “Chill” Wilson as a way to strengthen communities struggling with crime, poverty and alarming high school drop out rates. Cultural traditions have been the cornerstone of African American communities for centuries. Close Ties examines the impact of this new tradition and shows us how tying a necktie --- an act associated with men who embody professionalism and prestige --- can inspire high school boys to commit to a life of achievement and success.
During the event, the boys participate in a tie-tying demonstration, where role models from around the city instruct the youngsters on how to create distinguishing knots with their neckwear. Each of the boys also receives the opportunity to get professional grooming with a haircut and a shoe-shine. The final component of the event is one-on-one mentorship that each student receives from a male role model from the community. The youth participating in this tie-tying ceremony are boys selected from several schools in New Orleans.
Close Ties documents the mentors and the youth during and after the ceremony, where we see the men encourage and support the boys’ academic and career endeavors. The development of these mentoring relationships creates a lasting impact, one felt by students, parents, teachers and the community as a whole.
Find Out More @ Kickstarter
Senin, 27 Juni 2011
Tony Cox: Helping Black Men Raise Failing Grades
Tell Me More w/Michel Martin | NPR
Helping Black Men Raise Failing Grades
by Tony Cox
Some thoughts about school and the struggles black kids face. Lots of folks with lots of experience have lots of opinions about what to do to better educate young African-American males. Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates recently offered yet another glimpse into the issue, suggesting in a piece for the website The Root that the need is dire, which of course it is.
But for many of us in education — and to my mind that includes parents, family and friends — the problem is more than knowing what's needed. It's knowing how to get it done and make it work, how to get young African-American men not only interested but engaged in learning, and enjoying rather than dreading the journey. That requires a lot of commitment from them and from us, and there are no shortcuts.
Besides my work here at NPR, I am a tenured professor in broadcast journalism at California State University, Los Angeles. I primarily teach writing, and it troubles me to no end to see young black men struggle in my classes because they can't or don't see the value of an education and the effort required to obtain one. Records show black male students badly lagging in their graduation rates from colleges and universities. When we see them on campus, they often dress differently, speak differently, have different expectations, and in the classroom can sometimes be difficult to reach.
Senin, 16 Mei 2011
Complex-ED: The Secret Relationship Between the Music and Prison Industries.
A film by Real Talk Media featuring Professor Jared Ball
Rabu, 16 Maret 2011
There’s No Crying In Basketball?
There’s No Crying In Basketball?
What The Heat’s Tears Say About Masculinity & Emotion
by Jamilah Lemieux
I don’t follow sports much, but my beau is a hoops fanatic. I decided that, better than to be a ‘basketball widow’ this season, I might as well learn to appreciate the game and watch along with him from time to time. Between him, his friends and the interesting folks that I follow on Twitter, I’ve heard a lot about Miami Heat player Chris Bosh. More than people speak about his abilities on the court, they mention his tendency to cry after games and his recent remarks about the importance of “man hugs”. I don’t think you need two guesses to figure out what kind of response that’s gotten him from the young brothers out here.
Le sigh.
I understand that the idea of a grown man crying publicly and advocating for man-on-man affectionate touch makes many people uncomfortable, but I think that’s sad. Men–Black men in particular–aren’t typically granted the space to be emotional or affectionate. They aren’t allowed to express their feelings in the ways that women are. How many times have you heard even very young boys told to stop crying and “man up”? In a particularly tragic incident last year, a Long Island man beat his 17-month old son to death in a failed attempt to get him to ‘toughen up’.
I’ve often heard activist and writer Kevin Powell discuss the misnomer that men simply aren’t as emotional as women; since they aren’t given the freedom to cry or speak at length about their feelings, they often times express them through yelling or violence. I’m inclined to agree. While I do understand that there may be some inherent differences between the sexes (and no universal pattern of behavior that defines either of them), it seems apparent that we dehumanizing our men with the expectation that they remain ‘hard’ at all times.
Read the Full Essay @ Clutch Magazine
What The Heat’s Tears Say About Masculinity & Emotion
by Jamilah Lemieux
I don’t follow sports much, but my beau is a hoops fanatic. I decided that, better than to be a ‘basketball widow’ this season, I might as well learn to appreciate the game and watch along with him from time to time. Between him, his friends and the interesting folks that I follow on Twitter, I’ve heard a lot about Miami Heat player Chris Bosh. More than people speak about his abilities on the court, they mention his tendency to cry after games and his recent remarks about the importance of “man hugs”. I don’t think you need two guesses to figure out what kind of response that’s gotten him from the young brothers out here.
Le sigh.
I understand that the idea of a grown man crying publicly and advocating for man-on-man affectionate touch makes many people uncomfortable, but I think that’s sad. Men–Black men in particular–aren’t typically granted the space to be emotional or affectionate. They aren’t allowed to express their feelings in the ways that women are. How many times have you heard even very young boys told to stop crying and “man up”? In a particularly tragic incident last year, a Long Island man beat his 17-month old son to death in a failed attempt to get him to ‘toughen up’.
I’ve often heard activist and writer Kevin Powell discuss the misnomer that men simply aren’t as emotional as women; since they aren’t given the freedom to cry or speak at length about their feelings, they often times express them through yelling or violence. I’m inclined to agree. While I do understand that there may be some inherent differences between the sexes (and no universal pattern of behavior that defines either of them), it seems apparent that we dehumanizing our men with the expectation that they remain ‘hard’ at all times.
Read the Full Essay @ Clutch Magazine
Selasa, 04 Januari 2011
Waldo Johnson Explores Ideas Surrounding Plight Of Black Men
Q & A: Social Scientist Explores Ideas Surrounding Plight Of Black Men
by The Atlanta Post
Dr. Waldo Johnson, a social scientist at The University of Chicago, has put together a book that he hopes will gets us closer to understanding the plight of Black men, whose trials and tribulations are yet to be fully explored in academia. His book, Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health and Social Policy, integrates the perspective of several Black scholars and, hence, integrates both a professional and personal insight into “what’s hurting and helping young Black men.” We spoke to Dr. Johnson to learn more about this important work.
What inspired you to write this book and collaborate with others on this project?
The book is the result of a research conference that I hosted at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago in May, 2005. Earlier drafts of several of the chapters contained in the book were presented as conference papers at the conference. At the encouragement of my dean, I decided to organize the research presentations and invited several other scholars to contribute research papers to form the edited volume.
Because the focus of the conference was social work responses to African American males across the life course, I invited social work and other social science scholars whose research examines the various social statuses and well-being indicators represented in the volume. As a fatherhood research scholar, I realized that my capability to address all of these issues and social statuses was limited. I also sought to identify new and emerging scholars, many of whom were junior research faculty, as contributors to the volume because my early research efforts were supported by mid-career and senior scholars.
I recognized that the younger scholars would either bring fresh perspectives to persistent issues and problems that plague African American males or would be addressing emerging issues and identifying human and social capital among African American males for solving problems.
Obviously you’re familiar with your subject matter but what would you say was the most most surprising finding, for you, that came from this book?
I am broadly familiar with the various issues and problems that are addressed in the edited volume. I have addressed a number of these issues in my own research. The most surprising findings are not simply the approach that individual contributors take in conducting this scholarship contained in the volume but also their personal motivation for doing so. For example, my earlier research which focused on unwed fatherhood among low income African American males emerged as a result of my prior social work practitioner career engaged in adolescent pregnancy prevention programming aimed at high school and young adult African American males.
As a social work practitioner and subsequently as a social work researcher, I came to recognize that the lack of strong paternal and son relationships contributed significantly to the escalation of intergenerational adolescent and young adult fatherhood among those in my studies. As an African American male growing up in Americus, Georgia located in the state’s southwestern region, I enjoyed a strong, positive relationship with my own father. My interest in examining the growing phenomenon of unwed and nonresident fatherhood among low-income African American males emerged as I began to consider how profoundly different my life course might have been under such circumstances.
However, like many of the contributors to this edited volume, I recognize the fragility of our respective social statuses and how as African American males, many of us have been touched personally or indirectly by many of the issues and problems examined in this volume. Recently, I participated in a social science research scholars network meeting focused on masculinity and the wellbeing of African American males in which one of the speakers asked those in the audience to stand if they knew someone personally who is or have been incarcerated. In a room of approximately fifty early and mid-career African American research scholars, all holding at least a doctoral degree and many on faculties at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities, less than ten persons remained seated. I dare say that incarceration does not impact the lives of our peer colleagues in this manner. The increasing pervasiveness of such issues and problems among African American males heightens the urgency that we as African American social science researchers share in seeking viable solutions.
Read the Full Interview @ The Atlanta Post
by The Atlanta Post
Dr. Waldo Johnson, a social scientist at The University of Chicago, has put together a book that he hopes will gets us closer to understanding the plight of Black men, whose trials and tribulations are yet to be fully explored in academia. His book, Social Work with African American Males: Health, Mental Health and Social Policy, integrates the perspective of several Black scholars and, hence, integrates both a professional and personal insight into “what’s hurting and helping young Black men.” We spoke to Dr. Johnson to learn more about this important work.
What inspired you to write this book and collaborate with others on this project?
The book is the result of a research conference that I hosted at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago in May, 2005. Earlier drafts of several of the chapters contained in the book were presented as conference papers at the conference. At the encouragement of my dean, I decided to organize the research presentations and invited several other scholars to contribute research papers to form the edited volume.
Because the focus of the conference was social work responses to African American males across the life course, I invited social work and other social science scholars whose research examines the various social statuses and well-being indicators represented in the volume. As a fatherhood research scholar, I realized that my capability to address all of these issues and social statuses was limited. I also sought to identify new and emerging scholars, many of whom were junior research faculty, as contributors to the volume because my early research efforts were supported by mid-career and senior scholars.
I recognized that the younger scholars would either bring fresh perspectives to persistent issues and problems that plague African American males or would be addressing emerging issues and identifying human and social capital among African American males for solving problems.
Obviously you’re familiar with your subject matter but what would you say was the most most surprising finding, for you, that came from this book?
I am broadly familiar with the various issues and problems that are addressed in the edited volume. I have addressed a number of these issues in my own research. The most surprising findings are not simply the approach that individual contributors take in conducting this scholarship contained in the volume but also their personal motivation for doing so. For example, my earlier research which focused on unwed fatherhood among low income African American males emerged as a result of my prior social work practitioner career engaged in adolescent pregnancy prevention programming aimed at high school and young adult African American males.
As a social work practitioner and subsequently as a social work researcher, I came to recognize that the lack of strong paternal and son relationships contributed significantly to the escalation of intergenerational adolescent and young adult fatherhood among those in my studies. As an African American male growing up in Americus, Georgia located in the state’s southwestern region, I enjoyed a strong, positive relationship with my own father. My interest in examining the growing phenomenon of unwed and nonresident fatherhood among low-income African American males emerged as I began to consider how profoundly different my life course might have been under such circumstances.
However, like many of the contributors to this edited volume, I recognize the fragility of our respective social statuses and how as African American males, many of us have been touched personally or indirectly by many of the issues and problems examined in this volume. Recently, I participated in a social science research scholars network meeting focused on masculinity and the wellbeing of African American males in which one of the speakers asked those in the audience to stand if they knew someone personally who is or have been incarcerated. In a room of approximately fifty early and mid-career African American research scholars, all holding at least a doctoral degree and many on faculties at some of the nation’s top colleges and universities, less than ten persons remained seated. I dare say that incarceration does not impact the lives of our peer colleagues in this manner. The increasing pervasiveness of such issues and problems among African American males heightens the urgency that we as African American social science researchers share in seeking viable solutions.
Read the Full Interview @ The Atlanta Post
Kamis, 04 November 2010
Selasa, 26 Oktober 2010
Barbershop Outreach Boosts Blood Pressure Control in Black Men
from MedPage Today
Barbershop Outreach Boosts Blood Pressure Control in Black Men
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Hypertensive black men who got health education and monitoring along with a haircut from their barbers were able to achieve better blood pressure control, according to data from a two-year randomized intervention study.
The study, involving more than 1,000 men who patronized 17 black-owned barbershops in Dallas County, Texas, from March 2006 to December 2008, found that almost 10% more of them achieved predefined blood pressure levels with free monitoring and encouragement for physician follow-up compared with those who received only educational pamphlets.
The nonblinded barbershop intervention resulted in a trend toward lower systolic blood pressure, reflected in an absolute difference of 2.5 mm Hg compared with the control group, reported Ronald G. Victor, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues.
The results suggest an intriguing public health opportunity, Victor and colleagues concluded in an article published online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
"The data add to an emerging literature on the effectiveness of community health workers in the care of people with hypertension," the researchers wrote in conclusion.
"Contemporary barbers constitute a unique workforce of community health workers whose historical predecessors were barber-surgeons," they added.
An estimated 70% of hypertensive black men have blood pressure that exceeds recommended levels (Hypertension 2008; 52: 818-827). The CDC has assigned priority status to the development of novel hypertension outreach programs to deliver messages that resonate with black men, the authors wrote in the introduction to their findings.
Traditionally, black churches have partnered with the medical community as conduits of medical outreach, but fewer black men attend church than do black women, the authors noted. Black-owned barbershops have special appeal for community-based interventions because of their status as a cultural institution that draws a large and loyal male clientele, providing a comfortable discussion forum for numerous issues -- including healthcare.
Barbershop-based hypertension outreach programs have become increasingly common, wrote Victor and co-authors. Whether the programs improve hypertension control among black men has remained unclear, however.
The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the potential for barbershop outreach programs to effect better blood pressure control among hypertensive black men. All black male patrons of the 17 Dallas County barbershops were offered baseline blood pressure screening for hypertension.
Screening criteria included self-reported use of prescription blood pressure medication, a blood pressure higher than 135/85 mm Hg for men without self-reported diabetes, or a pressure greater than 130/80 mm Hg for diabetics, the investigators explained.
After the baseline period, barbershops were randomized to distribute pamphlets about hypertension as a control group or to act as an intervention group, where barbers continually offered blood pressure checks to all male customers and dispensed sex-specific messages about blood pressure control.
The barbers in the intervention group discussed blood pressure control and encouraged their customers to seek follow-up evaluation from physicians. Messages also were conveyed through the use of wall posters showing actual barbershop customers involved in hypertension treatment-seeking behaviors.
Hypertensive black men identified through screening received identical treatment prior to randomization of the barbershops.
The nine barbershops were randomized to the intervention, involving 539 patrons with confirmed hypertension. The eight barbershops assigned to the control group had a total of 483 patrons with confirmed hypertension.
The evaluation period lasted 10 months, and the primary outcome was the proportion of customers in each group who achieved blood pressure control of <135/85 mm Hg (<130/80 mm Hg for diabetic men). At baseline, 69% of the men were being treated for hypertension, and 38% of the men had blood pressure at the defined control level. At the end of the study, the proportion of barbershop patrons with blood pressure control increased in both groups: 19.9% in intervention group and 11.1% in the control group (P<0.001). However, the intervention group had significantly greater improvement from baseline compared with the control group (P=0.03).
The authors noted several important limitations to the study. For one thing, not all barbers participated fully, and not all patrons agreed to have their BP monitored and be referred for physician follow-up. Because study sites were confined to a single county, the results cannot be generalized to other areas. Additionally, because the barbershops' clientele were predominately middle income, "the intervention had limited ability to reach very low-income individuals who will require other types of intervention," the authors wrote.
They stressed that the study "provided a snapshot of BP improvement at a point in time and does not demonstrate whether the outcomes are sustainable, particularly because financial incentives were paid to barbers for conducting the intervention and to patrons for following their advice in seeking medical attention."
Additionally, because hypertensive patrons chose their individual physicians, data could not be collected on increased antihypertensive treatment costs associated with the intervention.
But "the results of this study provide the first evidence for the effectiveness of a barber-based intervention for controlling hypertension in black men and indicate that more research is needed to develop a highly effective and sustainable intervention model prior to large-scale program implementation," the authors wrote in their discussion.
By Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Hypertensive black men who got health education and monitoring along with a haircut from their barbers were able to achieve better blood pressure control, according to data from a two-year randomized intervention study.
The study, involving more than 1,000 men who patronized 17 black-owned barbershops in Dallas County, Texas, from March 2006 to December 2008, found that almost 10% more of them achieved predefined blood pressure levels with free monitoring and encouragement for physician follow-up compared with those who received only educational pamphlets.
The nonblinded barbershop intervention resulted in a trend toward lower systolic blood pressure, reflected in an absolute difference of 2.5 mm Hg compared with the control group, reported Ronald G. Victor, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues.
The results suggest an intriguing public health opportunity, Victor and colleagues concluded in an article published online in Archives of Internal Medicine.
"The data add to an emerging literature on the effectiveness of community health workers in the care of people with hypertension," the researchers wrote in conclusion.
"Contemporary barbers constitute a unique workforce of community health workers whose historical predecessors were barber-surgeons," they added.
An estimated 70% of hypertensive black men have blood pressure that exceeds recommended levels (Hypertension 2008; 52: 818-827). The CDC has assigned priority status to the development of novel hypertension outreach programs to deliver messages that resonate with black men, the authors wrote in the introduction to their findings.
Traditionally, black churches have partnered with the medical community as conduits of medical outreach, but fewer black men attend church than do black women, the authors noted. Black-owned barbershops have special appeal for community-based interventions because of their status as a cultural institution that draws a large and loyal male clientele, providing a comfortable discussion forum for numerous issues -- including healthcare.
Barbershop-based hypertension outreach programs have become increasingly common, wrote Victor and co-authors. Whether the programs improve hypertension control among black men has remained unclear, however.
The authors conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the potential for barbershop outreach programs to effect better blood pressure control among hypertensive black men. All black male patrons of the 17 Dallas County barbershops were offered baseline blood pressure screening for hypertension.
Screening criteria included self-reported use of prescription blood pressure medication, a blood pressure higher than 135/85 mm Hg for men without self-reported diabetes, or a pressure greater than 130/80 mm Hg for diabetics, the investigators explained.
After the baseline period, barbershops were randomized to distribute pamphlets about hypertension as a control group or to act as an intervention group, where barbers continually offered blood pressure checks to all male customers and dispensed sex-specific messages about blood pressure control.
The barbers in the intervention group discussed blood pressure control and encouraged their customers to seek follow-up evaluation from physicians. Messages also were conveyed through the use of wall posters showing actual barbershop customers involved in hypertension treatment-seeking behaviors.
Hypertensive black men identified through screening received identical treatment prior to randomization of the barbershops.
The nine barbershops were randomized to the intervention, involving 539 patrons with confirmed hypertension. The eight barbershops assigned to the control group had a total of 483 patrons with confirmed hypertension.
The evaluation period lasted 10 months, and the primary outcome was the proportion of customers in each group who achieved blood pressure control of <135/85 mm Hg (<130/80 mm Hg for diabetic men). At baseline, 69% of the men were being treated for hypertension, and 38% of the men had blood pressure at the defined control level. At the end of the study, the proportion of barbershop patrons with blood pressure control increased in both groups: 19.9% in intervention group and 11.1% in the control group (P<0.001). However, the intervention group had significantly greater improvement from baseline compared with the control group (P=0.03).
The authors noted several important limitations to the study. For one thing, not all barbers participated fully, and not all patrons agreed to have their BP monitored and be referred for physician follow-up. Because study sites were confined to a single county, the results cannot be generalized to other areas. Additionally, because the barbershops' clientele were predominately middle income, "the intervention had limited ability to reach very low-income individuals who will require other types of intervention," the authors wrote.
They stressed that the study "provided a snapshot of BP improvement at a point in time and does not demonstrate whether the outcomes are sustainable, particularly because financial incentives were paid to barbers for conducting the intervention and to patrons for following their advice in seeking medical attention."
Additionally, because hypertensive patrons chose their individual physicians, data could not be collected on increased antihypertensive treatment costs associated with the intervention.
But "the results of this study provide the first evidence for the effectiveness of a barber-based intervention for controlling hypertension in black men and indicate that more research is needed to develop a highly effective and sustainable intervention model prior to large-scale program implementation," the authors wrote in their discussion.
Jumat, 15 Oktober 2010
The Million Man March 15 years later: A movement or a moment?
by Mychal Denzel Smith
It has since been romanticized, revered, criticized, satirized, and emulated, but 15 years ago the Million Man March represented for many an all too rare moment of solidarity among black men from across America. On October 16, 1995, the Million Man March, organized by Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, was held in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall, site of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The goal of the march was to call forth "a million sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to meet in Washington on a day of atonement."
The all-day affair featured performances and speeches from various community and national leaders, including Dick Gregory, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Rosa Parks, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, Marion Barry, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Cornel West, Dorothy Height, and Farrakhan himself. Each of the speakers stressed the call for a "day of atonement," a phrase that has since become a second name for the march, emphasizing the desire for black men to abandon destructive behaviors and re-dedicate themselves to being stalwarts and leaders in their communities.
This sentiment was eloquently echoed in the speech of then 14-year-old Ayinde Jean-Baptiste (who went on to become a community organizer and motivational speaker) who said at the time: "You must change today so that tomorrow may dare to be different, and when you have fought back, and regained your pride, when you have won some battles, when you are able to tell the stories of your heroism, when you can pass on to your young the tradition of struggle through examples of your having stood up for a better tomorrow."
At the culmination of the day's events, Farrakhan asked all those in attendance to join him in taking a pledge which included vows to "strive to love my brother as I love myself" and "never again use the 'b-word' to describe any female. But particularly my own black sister."
The day, for those men who partook in the march, was an electrifying experience. "There was just excitement in the air," David Hannah, a Vietnam veteran who attended after being persuaded to do so by a group of friends, says, "It was just amazing to see so many black guys coming together for a cause." "All the speakers were great," according to Hannah but it was "the one-on-one conversations" among the men in the crowd that allowed for sharing of stories and moments of bonding that stuck with him the most.
Marcus Smith, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, who was a second grader at the time of the march, recalls being impacted by the enormous outpouring and sheer number of attendees. "Even then I knew it was something special seeing all the people," Smith says, "Me, my brothers and our father got to see it together. It was a great moment to see as a child." For him, it was an event that showed what was possible for black people. "It was that moment of black solidarity that is rare in modern times," according to Smith who feels that the visual beauty of the march has had a lasting impact on him.
Read the Full Essay @ theGrio
It has since been romanticized, revered, criticized, satirized, and emulated, but 15 years ago the Million Man March represented for many an all too rare moment of solidarity among black men from across America. On October 16, 1995, the Million Man March, organized by Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, was held in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall, site of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The goal of the march was to call forth "a million sober, disciplined, committed, dedicated, inspired black men to meet in Washington on a day of atonement."
The all-day affair featured performances and speeches from various community and national leaders, including Dick Gregory, Rev. Benjamin Chavis, Rosa Parks, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, Marion Barry, Dr. Betty Shabazz, Cornel West, Dorothy Height, and Farrakhan himself. Each of the speakers stressed the call for a "day of atonement," a phrase that has since become a second name for the march, emphasizing the desire for black men to abandon destructive behaviors and re-dedicate themselves to being stalwarts and leaders in their communities.
This sentiment was eloquently echoed in the speech of then 14-year-old Ayinde Jean-Baptiste (who went on to become a community organizer and motivational speaker) who said at the time: "You must change today so that tomorrow may dare to be different, and when you have fought back, and regained your pride, when you have won some battles, when you are able to tell the stories of your heroism, when you can pass on to your young the tradition of struggle through examples of your having stood up for a better tomorrow."
At the culmination of the day's events, Farrakhan asked all those in attendance to join him in taking a pledge which included vows to "strive to love my brother as I love myself" and "never again use the 'b-word' to describe any female. But particularly my own black sister."
The day, for those men who partook in the march, was an electrifying experience. "There was just excitement in the air," David Hannah, a Vietnam veteran who attended after being persuaded to do so by a group of friends, says, "It was just amazing to see so many black guys coming together for a cause." "All the speakers were great," according to Hannah but it was "the one-on-one conversations" among the men in the crowd that allowed for sharing of stories and moments of bonding that stuck with him the most.
Marcus Smith, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, who was a second grader at the time of the march, recalls being impacted by the enormous outpouring and sheer number of attendees. "Even then I knew it was something special seeing all the people," Smith says, "Me, my brothers and our father got to see it together. It was a great moment to see as a child." For him, it was an event that showed what was possible for black people. "It was that moment of black solidarity that is rare in modern times," according to Smith who feels that the visual beauty of the march has had a lasting impact on him.
Read the Full Essay @ theGrio
Jumat, 08 Oktober 2010
The Black Man's Code of Conduct
The Black Man's Code of Conduct
by Mychal Denzel Smith | TheLoop21
I was in New York City recently and had a chance to sit down and soak up the wisdom of a man I truly admire, Professor R. L’Heureux Lewis of City College New York. Professor Lewis has done a lot of work to highlight and address the concept of black male privilege, and I wanted to talk to him and gain insight on the types of things that need to be done to get our community moving forward on redefining black masculinity and promoting new models of black manhood.
When I arrived at his office, Professor Lewis was with a student and needed to step out for a bit, but told me to go in, take a seat, and introduce myself to the student. I walked in, took a seat, nodded, said “what’s going on, bruh?”, and then basked in the silence. Upon Professor Lewis’ return, he queried as to what I and the other young man had learned about each other; neither of us could produce an answer. We had been sitting in the same space for nearly two minutes, and didn’t even know each other’s names.
I’ve long been aware of the tension that often characterizes the interpersonal relationships of black men. I can remember as a teenager many fights starting between brothers because one looked at the other the “wrong way.” Walking past other black men in any public space, I’d consciously avoid eye or accidental physical contact, an affront of the worst kind, lest I be forced to defend myself against a group of brothers much larger and angrier than myself. I was lucky, I could typically talk my way out of these situations.
Not everyone is that fortunate.
I can’t say what exactly is the source of this tension and mistrust among black men, as it can differ for everyone, but it is fed by our collective insecurities and desire to protect our respective manhoods. There are brothers who have suffered physical or sexual abuse at the hands of another black man and now question the motives of every brother they see. There are brothers so fearful of their own sexuality, they project it onto others and wish attack. There are brothers who buy into the stereotypes that depict black men as naturally and viciously violent, either wanting to adopt that persona or protect themselves from it in others. No matter the process that birthed this mentality, it has manifested itself in a way that impedes the process of black men addressing one another with respect and love.
I say we permanently adopt the attitude we embrace when we notice that we are alone in a space occupied by a majority of white people.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
by Mychal Denzel Smith | TheLoop21
I was in New York City recently and had a chance to sit down and soak up the wisdom of a man I truly admire, Professor R. L’Heureux Lewis of City College New York. Professor Lewis has done a lot of work to highlight and address the concept of black male privilege, and I wanted to talk to him and gain insight on the types of things that need to be done to get our community moving forward on redefining black masculinity and promoting new models of black manhood.
When I arrived at his office, Professor Lewis was with a student and needed to step out for a bit, but told me to go in, take a seat, and introduce myself to the student. I walked in, took a seat, nodded, said “what’s going on, bruh?”, and then basked in the silence. Upon Professor Lewis’ return, he queried as to what I and the other young man had learned about each other; neither of us could produce an answer. We had been sitting in the same space for nearly two minutes, and didn’t even know each other’s names.
I’ve long been aware of the tension that often characterizes the interpersonal relationships of black men. I can remember as a teenager many fights starting between brothers because one looked at the other the “wrong way.” Walking past other black men in any public space, I’d consciously avoid eye or accidental physical contact, an affront of the worst kind, lest I be forced to defend myself against a group of brothers much larger and angrier than myself. I was lucky, I could typically talk my way out of these situations.
Not everyone is that fortunate.
I can’t say what exactly is the source of this tension and mistrust among black men, as it can differ for everyone, but it is fed by our collective insecurities and desire to protect our respective manhoods. There are brothers who have suffered physical or sexual abuse at the hands of another black man and now question the motives of every brother they see. There are brothers so fearful of their own sexuality, they project it onto others and wish attack. There are brothers who buy into the stereotypes that depict black men as naturally and viciously violent, either wanting to adopt that persona or protect themselves from it in others. No matter the process that birthed this mentality, it has manifested itself in a way that impedes the process of black men addressing one another with respect and love.
I say we permanently adopt the attitude we embrace when we notice that we are alone in a space occupied by a majority of white people.
Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21
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