MINORITIES
...rust, anxiety and other mental and physical health problems…” (Blake et al 407). Therefore, the Titus 3 lack of work is causing the lives of African- Americans to spin out of control. For a time, there was a strong concentration of blacks in the same field of trade work. That trend has changed recently as more Blacks have been incorporated into the white-collar working world. Although those numbers are eerily close to, the minority minimums set by the companies to adhere to discrimination laws. Even with the subtle movement up in status the vast majority of Blacks, especially Black males are not working which leads to other problems. Subsequently the people who are affected by their lack of work and income begin to look for other means of obtaining capitol. This became a much easier in the eighties with the rise of the drug trade within urban America. The one drug in particular caused a mass rise in the crime rate during that time was crack/ cocaine. The trafficking of drugs in urban neighborhoods became a nationwide epidemic. Gangs began to take over this illegal industry with force. Guns also became a major factor in the equation because of the large amounts of money that was being made in the inner city drug trade. This was far easier then being developing a trade and finding work in the business world. “When the African-American male has no job and no income, he may become involved in street crimes that can lead to a lifelong career of crime and transitions in and out of prison” (Blake et al 408). Although this was not the desired path to take, in most cases there were not too many other options. Now that gangs were controlling the drug trade in the inner city, violence began to take over these impoverished communities. The stress and pain from not being able to sustain Titus 4 one carried over into the violence. It was an outlet for years of frustration. In addition, people had finally found a means of steady and plentiful income and were not going to have that taken away from them. It seemed that when there were more heavily concentrated numbers of African- Americans, there was more violence according to Blake and Darling. In fact, several statistics show that homicide among African-Americans has a higher rate in northern cities (Blake et al 408). In addition, black males are responsible for 55 percent of homicide arrests as well as 61 percent of all robbery arrests. In no way shape does this kind of environment allow for mass success among its inhabitants. This is a where children, the future of tomorrow are growing up. Where is the hope in these violent crime stricken communities? Who is there to guide these impressionable young minds? Where are the roll models? Without an adequate job, one cannot have the personal self-esteem it takes to lead a younger generation. The family structure has broken down in urban America. The lack of financial resources and advancement has created competition amongst the poor. Now African- Americans are fighting with one another in order to overcome the struggles they share, thus eliminating any sense of community. School’s Out The financial and weak community structure across urban America has affects in the more places than just the neighborhoods. Schools are affected as well causing black students to suffer. In Boston alone about a little less than half of the public high schools, either has lost or is on their way to losing their Titus 5 accreditation. This is not new in the city in 1994 the Mayor of Boston Thomas M. Menino chose a committee to investigate the problems in the public school system (The Boston Phoenix: November 20-27, 1997, Yvonne Abraham). This led to the creation of Pilot schools in the city. These schools were specialty schools that focused on an area such as health, art or the performing arts. These Pilot schools have done well thus far, but there only a few of them. What about the vast majority of students left in the city or the millions of students across the country that are being ill prepared to function coming from urban schools. The suburban schools that are predominantly white have an excellent education system for the most part. The evidence of how different the levels in education are can be seen in the numbers of black students in college versus the number of white students in college. It is common knowledge that there are far more whites than blacks in college, but the reason why is not entirely clear. “The black college student graduation rate has consistently run at a rate that is 20 percentage points below the graduation of white college students…”(Money and Higher Education Blacks Have a Steeper Hill to Climb: The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, No. 26 {Winter, 1999-2000}, 13). According to the Journal’s author this quote the reason for this is not what most “racial conservatives” (pp13) think. “… this discrepancy in graduation rates is caused by deficiencies in the character of young black people” (pp.13). What is being said is that the common opinions on these Titus 6 staggering figures is that black students just do not try hard enough in comparison to white students. That is simply not the case, it has already been established that quality of the elementary and secondary education between black students receive is far worse than that of white students. In addition to that, the neighborhoods where many of these black students are not conducive to any type of academic success. Therefore, in the numbers of the black students that do make it college, many may feel that it is an accomplishment in itself. The actual reason according to the article is the lack in financial resources among black students. The author states that 69% of the black students enrolled in college do not make it to graduation because the do not have the means to afford a college education. In addition to that number are the “… millions of young blacks who would be college bound fail to enter college because they are required to enter the work labor force in order to put bread on the table…” (pp13). While the author concedes that there whites who face economic hardships he also points out the fact that blacks ar...