Prometheus 6

Frank Paynter of Listics got pointed by Charles Follymacher to my post pointing out how wrong the statistics are in an essay from Phillip Jackson of The Black Star Project are (though Villager affirmed the essay, it was not his original work).

I've known of the Black Star Project for quite a while now. I assume they mean well but the errors in that essay are something of an organizing principle for them. The rhetoric in the email is damaging on several levels. I need to respond to such no matter the source or their intent.

I do recognize intent when it's obvious...hence the title of this little essay. I'm giving Mr. Paynter the immunization from blame for the extent of this post that I gave Villager for the extent of the previous one, as I explain my issues with his post.

Charles’ link points to data that are subject to interpretation and that Prometheus 6 calls bullshit. The growth of a healthy black middle class is happening at the same time as incarceration rates for young black males are through the roof. The source essay from the Electronic Village that Prometheus 6 analyzes may have some factual errors, and it may perpetuate some myths.

My problem here: MAY HAVE factual errors? MAY perpetuate some myths?

Take a stand. Does it, or does it not, contain factual errors? Does it, or does it not, perpetuate some myths? And is it ever acceptable to promote factual errors and myths?

No. And allowing it lets you "get beyond" the issues without correcting them, thereby allowing one to reach conclusion you would never, ever reach when considering the whole truth.

But the last part of the essay is an imprecation for us to help each other, for black people to help get the young men in the community a hand up in terms of educational success.

It is not. It's a call for Black people to do it all. Read that essay and find an "us" that includes anyone else. Agreeing is not supporting...especially when what you agree with is wrong. Having pointed out the errors in the last post, I will not repeat myself.

I could pick these lists apart some from my own biases, but in general don’t they outline a solid programmatic response to a real problem? Even if the numbers in the essay are wrong, the assumptions skewed, the facts remain that a lot of children in working class black homes face problems that end in jails, institutions, or death.

No, It. Does. NOT. It represents the same set of assumptions, we've been dealing with since (but not before!) the War of Northern Aggression.

The masquerade began over a hundred years ago. Shortly after the end of slavery, sociologists and demographers began presenting research on black failure and struggle as "indisputable" proof of black inferiority. One of the first studies was released in 1896, when the leading race-relations demographer of the period, Frederick L. Hoffman, analyzed census data showing that blacks were doing worse than whites in mortality, health, employment, education and crime. The problem was not racism, he argued, but "race traits and tendencies."

To him, the civil rights acts of the 1860s and 1870s had leveled the playing field. Blacks should be left to compete against whites on their own and face the inevitable. The black man, he wrote, "has usually but one avenue out of his dilemma -- the road to prison or to an early grave."

At the same time, when explaining rising rates of crime, suicide and mental-health problems among whites, Hoffman blamed industrialization and the strains of "modern life." He called for a reordering of the nation's economic priorities. Hoffman's study coincided with -- and provided justification for -- the Supreme Court's notorious Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which legalized segregation.

As segregation took hold, there was a powerful need to minimize the role of racism as a factor in explaining racial disparities. The "Cosby" role at the start of Jim Crow was first played by Booker T. Washington. Counseling blacks to conquer their inferiority, he repudiated civil rights activism in favor of self-help and moral regeneration.

Many whites loved Washington, and his ideas were echoed by liberal social scientists such as the psychologist G. Stanley Hall, who instructed black people to stop sympathizing "with their own criminals" and "accept without whining patheticism and corroding self-pity [their] present situation, prejudice and all."

But when Hall turned his focus on whites, his research on adolescent psychology directly influenced national efforts to protect them from the ravages of industrial capitalism. Drawing on his work, the child-welfare activist Jane Addams established Hull House in Chicago at first to help immigrant families adjust to American life, and later to save thousands of Chicago's white youth from lives of crime, violence and drug abuse attributed to "modern city conditions." But black children were not generally welcome at Hull House. Addams claimed that similar problems among black youth were due to the race's "belated" moral development, manifested in poor parenting and a lack of "social restraint."

And again an "if".

Even if the numbers in the essay are wrong, the assumptions skewed

Consider this: "The numbers are wrong, the assumptions skewed, but it's right." You know damn well you wouldn't accept that when dealing with any issue that impacts you personally.

Would you? Could you write this response while admitting the underlying assertions are factually wrong? And what kind of understandng of the situation would you have if you acknowledged the error instead of brushing past it?

Let’s keep our eye on the progress we’re making, like the latest Supreme court decision, and like the successful emergence of a solid self sustaining healthy black middle class, but let’s not count the battle won until it’s over.

No one has counted the battle won. What I'm saying is we're fighting the wrong battle.

What we need is accuracy.

Please consider these simple goals that can lead to solutions for fixing the problems of young Black men:
Short term

1. Teach all Black boys to read at grade level by the third grade and to embrace education.

The Black community uniformly worships education. You can not get stronger support for education than Black people have right now. Our complaint has always been a lack of institutional support for educating Black folks. Now, if THAT is your issue, fine. But this is not that issue. This is saying the two parents, both of whom must work (you're not stressing the upper-middle class, you know that) are failing if they don't do what the schools are supposed to.

And do NOT get me started about cheating to keep the property values high.

‘K-12 Education in the U.S. Economy’ Links School Capacity to State Financial Outlook

This new report suggests that increasing statewide revenue to support quality public education is an alternative to cutting this support to prevent tax increases. Additionally, learn how school quality impacts a region’s labor market, property values, and economic vitality.

The whole property values thing is at the root of residential segregation and underfunding of the resulting segregated schools.

2. Provide positive role models for Black boys.

We got no role models? They're not good enough?

What does this do besides put more weight on Black men?

3. Create a stable home environment for Black boys that includes contact with their fathers.

As the mainstream, with none of the disadvantages we have, falls apart. How realistic is that?

4. Ensure that Black boys have a strong spiritual base.

Again, how realistic is it to expect this to impact, say, the next point?

5. Control the negative media influences on Black boys.

Is this something Black people control? NO.

6. Teach Black boys to respect all girls and women.

Seriously, this needs doing regardless of the race of the boys.

Long term

1. Invest as much money in educating Black boys as in locking up Black men.

HUH? HOW ABOUT YOU STOP LOCKING UP BLACK MEN? You know what this reminds me of?

On October 5, 2007, Tanner argued that photo identification requirements for voting cause problems for the elderly. However, he argued that such requirements do not disenfranchise minority voters because "Our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do; they die first." Video of Tanner's comments are here.

That's what.

2. Help connect Black boys to a positive vision of themselves in the future.

3. Create high expectations and help Black boys live into those high expectations.

4. Build a positive peer culture for Black boys.

5. Teach Black boys self-discipline, culture and history.

6. Teach Black boys and the communities in which they live to embrace education and life-long learning.

I'm starting to get a headache here, so I'll sum up these with one comment.

The Black community uniformly worships education. You can not get stronger support for education than Black people have right now.

And assuming you accept this list you have to ask: how did Black boys get the vision of themselves they have now? How do you undo that? How did Black boys lose those high expectations? How do we undo that? How did Black boys fall into a negative peer culture? How do you undo that?

No. This essay is wrong, wrong, wrong.