According to the 2007 National Urban League Equality Index, although many black men are doing well, glaring economic and other gaps continue to exist between them and their white counterparts. Because of its devastating and far-reaching ramifications, the status of the black male is the most serious economic and civil rights challenge we face today. The 2007 State of Black America report takes up this challenge with a fresh and in-depth look at the current conditions facing the Black male. Based on this research and analysis by some of America's best minds, the National Urban League presents several targeted and comprehensive recommendations designed to eliminate the equality gaps and empower all Black Americans, male and female.
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Established in 1910, The Urban League is the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to empowering African Americans to enter the economic and social mainstream. The mission of the Urban League movement is to enable African Americans to secure economic self-reliance, parity, power and civil rights. Today, the National Urban League spearheads the non-partisan efforts of more than 100 local affiliates 35 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services to more than 2 million people nationwide through programs, advocacy and research.
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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
WAKE UP PEOPLE - DO SOMETHING!!!,
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This review is from: The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male (Paperback)
THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA takes up the challenges facing the African American community, provides the startling statistics while giving suggestions for improvement. Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama eloquently acknowledges the problems that the African American community faces while pledging to embark on the journey of solutions with all concerned. The National Urban League provides readers with a detailed easy-to-read dissection of the Equality Index. This index complies data from economics, health, education, social justice and civic engagement.
The essays are eye-opening and poignant focusing on the Black male, college completion, foster care, affirmative action and much more. Some of today's leading scholars offer insight in the following areas: Cradle to Prison Pipeline, Breaking the Hip Hop Hold and Universal Fatherhood. The prescription for change includes universal early childhood education, changing the current public school models, offering 2nd chances to ex-offenders and high school drop outs, reinforcing the idea that education pays and restoring the Federal summer job program. The book closes with a section honoring those influential African Americans that recently left to be with the Lord, profiling the authors of the text, and detailing a history of the National Urban League. THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA is a must read for everyone interested in changing the current course American has taken. The statistics will leave you asking why didn't I know that and will empower you to take action. Even though the reading is scholarly in nature, the everyday reader will enjoy the flow of the book. You owe it to your family, your church, and your community to change one life at a time - start today! Deltareviewer Reviewing for Real Page Turners
8 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An Important Read.,
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This review is from: The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male (Paperback)
"America has done a disastrous thing, a thing which the war enterprise in Iraq will throw its shadow over our economic life for a generation. A thing which created a national embarrassment to the people of this great nation in the way our government responded to the before math and aftermath of hurricane Katrina".
-Unknown With the Equality Index, I would have liked to have seen other races besides whites stacked up in this picture also. This is not a white only country or world. I found the statistics in this book or report to be at times fractionary. The Social Justice gap desperately needs narrowing. Blacks need to stop killing each other. We are annihilating our own race. If we don't manage our race better we will experience the same social and financial tragedies as the Native American Indians. Due to shorter life expectancy, least educated, high incarceration levels, black men will divert black women to consider more bi-racial relationships. Blacks can increase leadership positions through Union hubs. Ted Kennedy's reintroducing of the Employee Free Choice Act continues to reaffirm that feat. Unions were fundamental in building America's middle class, and they have a vital role today in preserving the American dream for working families. Union wages are 30 percent higher than non-union wages. In 2005 alone, more than 30,000 workers were illegally fired or retaliated against for attempting to exercise their right to have a union in their workplace. Every 17 minutes, a worker is fired or punished in some illegal way for supporting a union. (I PROVIDED SOME ADDITIONAL DETAILS) THE SECOND CHANCE ACT: The House Bill (H.R. 1704 or 1593) focuses on four areas: Jobs, Housing, Substance abuse/Mental Health Treatment, and Families. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, expenditures on corrections alone are costing taxpayers over $44 billion a year. Carlie's Law needs to be amended to reflect minor's under the age of 18 not 16. Just to re-echo some statistics, there are roughly two million people in America's prisons and jails. That's more people proportionately than we would find in prison in China or in Russia or any other countries that we often talk about human rights violations. The facts are clear that meaningful reentry programs significantly diminish the chances that ex-offenders will return to prison. There are roughly three to five thousand inmates per 100,000 thousand population in our inner cities across America. The Second Chance Act is basically a program that can pay for itself. The community reentry program run by Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries of Ohio stands by their motto of that " people are more likely to act their way into a new way of thinking than think their way into a new way of acting". Provisions of Second Chance Act: There are over 3,200 jails throughout the United States. (That number far exceeds the amount of colleges and universities). According to the National Institute of Literacy, 70 percent of all prisoners function at the lowest literacy levels. Assuming appropriation of the authorized and estimated amounts, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 1704 or 1593 would cost about $400-$630 million over the 2007-2012 period. Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or receipts. In addition, the bill would authorize the appropriation of such sums as necessary over the 2007-2008 period for DOJ to make grants to state and local prosecutors to develop drug treatment programs for offenders that would serve as alternatives to imprisonment. H.R. 1704 or 1593 contains no intergovernmental mandates and also no new private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). Assuming the appropriation of authorized amounts, state, local, and tribal governments would receive about $250 million over the 2007-2011 period for prisoner programs. Quote from a sponsor of the Bill: "This is a bipartisan bill supported by over 90 cosponsors, including me and virtually all of the criminal justice advocates and organizations in the country, including law enforcement who work with or are familiar with the situation encountered by those leaving our prisons. The only criticism I have heard of this legislation is that it perhaps might not go far enough to fully address all of the problems of those facing problems reentering society from prisons. Now, I agree with that criticism, because it does not do everything that needs to be done, but it is an important first step". THE REENTRY ENHANCEMENT ACT (This bill is able to supplement Second Chance Act Bill): The Reentry Enhancement Act. That bill addresses many of the programs and issues touched by the Second Chance Act bill and goes even further by actually implementing many of the programs on a national level. Minority - owned businesses in urban areas are more likely to hire minority employees and reinvest in minority communities that can lead to the renewal of previously blighted areas more likely than non-minority owned businesses is a predominately-true statement. This report is not only equipped with provocative clarity but is also zeroed in to the times. Reading this report fosters an increased level of awareness. I would definitely support and look forward to future ones. This report is fit for any socially conscious color blind human being. Strong gentrification in housing continues to exist, in low and moderate-income neighborhoods, city subsections and entire towns on behalf of a growing phenom called eminent domain. It won't be long before the Latino culture separates itself from the commingling with the black culture. There is a total conflict of values. The values that these young men and women learn at home differ from the values learned at the schools. Some of these programs seem quite scripted and robotic. We as Black Americans need to realize that we do not simply exist; we need to always realize what our life will be, and what we will become in the next moment. Overall, this was a great educational read on an important subject.
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