Submitted by Dianne Baskin

Education/Family

  • In Chicago, only three out of 100 Black boys earn a college degree by age 25.
  • According to the 2011 NAEP, only 10% of 8th-grade Black males in America read at a proficient level.
  • In 2010 in Illinois, only 47% of Black males graduated from high school, 59% of Latino males and 81% of White males
  • Nationally, just 22 % of Black males who began at a four-year college graduated within six years.
  • Nationally, the average 17-year-old Black student has the reading and math scores of the average 14- year-old White student.
  • While Black students comprise 45% of the Chicago’s school population, they are 74% of all suspensions.
  • 70% to 72% of Black children are born out of wedlock.

Employment/Economics

  • In Illinois, 47% of all non-institutionalized Black men do not have a job.
  • In New York City in 2003, only 51.8% of Black men ages 16 to 64 were employed vs. 75.7% of White men and 65.7% of Latino men.
  • Nationally, at comparable educational levels, Black men earn 67% of what White men earn.
  • White males with a high-school diploma are just as likely to have a job and tend to earn just as much as Black males with college degrees.
  • Black male teenagers in Chicago between 16 and 19 years old had a 92% unemployment rate, 88% in Illinois and 83% in the U.S.
  • 53% of Black men aged 25 to 34 are either unemployed or earn too little to lift a family of four from poverty.
  • Nationally, 72% of Black high-school dropouts are unemployed.
  • Black America lost between $72 billion and $96 billion in the recent mortgage fiasco.
  • The median net worth of a Black family in America is $28,500 vs. $265,000 for a White family.
  • White men with prison records receive more offers for entry-level jobs in New York City than Black men with identical records (and White men are offered jobs just as often – if not more so – than Black men who have never been arrested).
  • Black men with an Africanized sounding name were 50% less likely to receive a job interview than those with Anglicized sounding names with the exact same credentials.

Incarceration/Crime:

  • Murders of Black males between the ages of 14- and 17-years old rose by 40% between 2000 and 2007.  During the same period, murders committed by Black males between the ages of 14- and 17-years old also rose by 38%.
  • Between 1997 and 2008, 49% of Black males were arrested by age 23.
  • In 2001, the chances of going to prison were highest among Black males (32.2%) and Hispanic males (17.2%) and lowest among White males (5.9%).
  • Blacks account for only 12% of the U.S. population, but 44% of all prisoners in the United States.
  • Blacks, who comprise only 12% of the population and account for about 13% of drug users, constitute 35% of all arrests for drug possession, 55% of all convictions on those charges, and 74% of all those sentenced to prison for possession.
  • One in three Black men will go to jail in their lifetime.
  • One in nine Black men between the ages of 20- to 34-years old is incarcerated and one in 15 Black men over 18-years old is incarcerated.
  • 1.46 million Black men out of a total voting population of 10.4 million have lost their right to vote because of felony convictions in America.
  • Blacks in Chicago are 10 times more likely to be shot by police than Whites. 
These statistics were compiled from various sources by The Black Star Project.  Please become a member of the Black Star Project to receive a list of the sources for this information calling us at 773.285.9600, emailing us at blackstar1000@ameritech.net or visiting our website at www.blackstarproject.org.
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If so, please support The Black Star Project by becoming a dues-paying member. The Black Star Project is a 501(c)3 organization and your contribution is deductible to the extent allowable by law.

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Freedom is not free! Those who control the education of our children control the future of our race!

Sincerely,  

Phillip Jackson

Executive Director

The Black Star Project

phone – 773.285.9600

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Has the U.S. Education System Become the Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction for Black Boys?
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2011 Reading Levels of 8th-Grade 

Black Males from the Lowest-Performing 

Large American School Districts* 

City\Percentage of 8th-Grade Black Males Proficient in Reading*

Milwaukee – 3% 
Cleveland – 3% 
Detroit – 5% 
Washington (D.C.) – 6% 
San Diego – 7% 
Dallas – 7% 
Baltimore City – 7% 
Chicago – 9% 
Jefferson County, (KY) – 9% 
Atlanta – 9% 
Los Angeles – 9% 
Philadelphia – 9% 
Austin – 9% 
Houston – 9% 
Hillsborough County (FL) – 9% 

Boston – 10%

Miami-Dade – 11%

Charlotte – 12%

New York City – 13% 

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* Source: Minority Students and Public Education by Dr. Michael Holzman. This information was extracted from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for 2011.

By CCNM

I have functioned as a Business and Media Consultant over the past sixteen years and spent many years developing my capacity to function in our ever evolving use of technology, communication, education and training.