Reconsidering the 'crisis' of the black male in America.

• Date: 22 June 1997
• Author: Noguera, Pedro A.
• Published date: 22 June 1997
• Author: Noguera, Pedro A.

In recent years, terms such as crisis, at-risk, marginal, and endangered have been used with increasing regularity to describe the plight and condition of black males. Though the origins of this terminology are distinctly North American (U.S.) (Taylor-Gibbs, 1988; Kunjufu, 1985; Anderson, E., 1990), in Britain, Canada, and increasingly, throughout the Anglophone Caribbean, expressions of this kind have begun to find their way into the popular culture and, increasingly, into the vernacular of social science (Miller, 1986; Small, 1994).

The rationale for using such stark and ominous descriptions of conditions facing black males is provided by a broad array of social and economic indicators, all of which point to the undeniable fact that large numbers of individuals who fall within these two social categories, black and male, are in deep trouble. While acknowledging the extreme nature of the many problems disproportionately confronting black males, this article seeks to interrogate the validity of this particular formulation and to posit an alternative strategy for understanding the set of phenomena in question.

Three questions will be employed to guide this analysis and to generate an alternative interpretation of the social phenomenon under study. First, why are race and gender treated as salient to the understanding of the various complex issues and problems confronting individuals who happen to be black and male? That is, to what extent does a racialized and genderized conception of the problem exaggerate the importance of these factors and negate the significance of others?

Second, if we accept the argument that many black males are experiencing severe economic and social hardships and have become increasingly marginal to their families, communities, the labor market, and social institutions, how do we explain the relative prominence and high visibility of black males in public life? In the United States several major politicians, a number of highly visible entertainers and celebrities, and individuals with wealth and status are black and male. Does the notoriety of such individuals suggest that some black males may be immune from the crisis? If so, which ones, and what might this tell us about the nature of the problem?

Finally, if the black male is in a state of crisis, what does this mean for black women? Have black women also been affected by this crisis or have the hardships facing black males resulted in improved social and economic status for black women? Does the crisis afflicting certain black males imply that patriarchy as a cultural system and the norms and values associated with it are in decline among black Americans? Or is it that the troubles facing black males are of a different order and perhaps even more severe than those facing black women? Or, could it be that the problems confronting black males are merely symptoms of broader problems confronting black people or poor people generally? If so, why does it appear as though the troubles confronting black males are overshadowing those facing black females?

I will attempt to answer these questions in the pages ahead and, in so doing, suggest another way of interpreting this and related phenomena.

Evidence of the "Crisis"

The most obvious problem with the notion of a crisis confronting black males has to do with the term "crisis." First, the term implies a deviation from a more stable norm. It suggests a period of temporary urgency, or even a short-term emergency, and not a prolonged and persistent degenerative condition. Second, the term also suggests that a better and more secure period preceded the present condition, and that once the crisis is over, conditions will return to the former state, which, even if not ideal, was clearly superior to the way things are at the moment.

For males of African descent in the U.S., there is no evidence to indicate that present conditions are temporary, or that by some means presently unknown, they will eventually improve. As will be shown, not only are the problems that particularly afflict black males persistent, but all signs also indicate escalating rather than declining severity. Moreover, while data from various sources suggest that conditions for black males may indeed be growing worse, the deterioration is, of course, measured in relation to prior conditions that most observers agree have been bad for a very long time. For example, although unemployment rates for black males in the U.S. are higher now than they were 30 years ago (Wilson, A., 1992), the fact that black males were almost exclusively restricted to the lowest paying and most menial jobs at that time, and that more have now entered professional and managerial positions, suggests at the minimum that measuring real or actual progress is difficult, at least on the basis of some relatively objective criteria.

Yet, it would be at best untruthful, and at worst a cruel game of sophistry, to pretend that many individuals who are both black and male are not experiencing problems of an extreme and severe nature at rates vastly disproportionate to their numbers in the U.S. population. In the U.S., the preponderance of evidence is mind numbing. In the labor market, black males earn on average 73% of the income earned by white males (Watson and Smitherman, 1996). In professional and managerial positions, black males are vastly underrepresented, and in some fields (e.g., many high-tech and science-related jobs), are almost entirely absent (National Research Council, 1989). Numerous studies indicate that despite the existence of laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, black males are widely regarded as less desirable employees and therefore substantially less likely to be hired in most jobs (Massey and Denton, 1993; Hacker, 1992; Feagin and Sikes, 1994). At the aggregate level, it continues to be the case that a black male with a four-year college degree earns less than the average white male possessing only a high school diploma (Hacker, 1992).

Health indicators for black males reveal similar hardships. For the last 10 years, black males have been the only group within the U.S. population to record a declining life expectancy (Spivak, Prothrow-Stith, and Hausman, 1988). The homicide rate for black males ages 15 to 24 is seven to eight times higher than that of white males in the same age group (Roper, 1991), and since 1980, the suicide rate for this age group has also surpassed the white male rate (West, 1993; National Research Council, 1989). Black males are also at greater risk of substance abuse, of dying during infancy, or of dying prematurely due to heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and AIDS.

Finally, where blacks generally, and males in particular, once saw education as the most viable path to social mobility, it now increasingly serves as a primary agent for reproducing their marginality. In most urban areas, 20 to 30% of black males drop out of school before graduation (Taylor-Gibbs, 1988). Black males are four times more likely than white males to be suspended or expelled from school, and nine times more likely to be placed in special education classes (Meier, Stewart, and England, 1989). From 1973 to 1977, there was a steady increase in black male enrollment in college, from 39 to 48% of all high school graduates (equaling the rate for whites). However, since 1977 there has been a sharp and continuous decline in black male college enrollment (National Research Council, 1989). Moreover, at colleges and universities throughout the U.S., fewer than 40% of those admitted to college graduate within six years. For growing numbers of black males, prison rather than college is a more probable destination during adolescence and young adulthood. In 1995, one out of every three black males (versus one out of 10 white males) between the ages of 18 and 30 were either incarcerated or in some way ensnared by the criminal justice system (Noguera, 1995). In California, the percentage recently increased to 40% (San Francisco Examiner, February 18, 1996).

Given this evidence, if we concede that severe problems for many individuals who are both black and male exist, can or should we conclude that these problems are primarily caused by or somehow related to the race and gender of those individuals who experience them? That is, to what extent can one assume that black males are being targeted for various forms of victimization as part of a larger assault or even conspiracy against them? Or, could it be that there is another lens through which these social issues can be understood and studied? If so, why have we become so preoccupied with measuring social problems in terms of race and gender rather than by some other criteria?

Responding to the Black Male Problem

As awareness of the acute nature of the problems facing young black males has grown, an array of innovative educational programs aimed at preventing hardships and addressing the particular needs of black males has been initiated. This includes various mentoring and job-training programs that match youth with adult role models (McPartland and Nettles, 1991), rites-of-passage programs aimed at socializing and preparing young males for manhood, fatherhood, and community responsibility (Watson and Smitherman, 1996), and the creation of all-black, all-male schools that have been perhaps the most radical and controversial of all (Leake and Leake, 1992). The common theme underlying each of these initiatives is an assumption that the needs of black males can best be served through efforts specific ally targeted at them, even if it may require isolating them in order to apply the intervention (Ampim, 1993; Myers, 1988). Often this assumption is combined with the belief that adult black males are the most appropriate persons to provide the services and support needed by black male youth (Hale, 1982).

Yet, regardless of how benevolent or well intentioned these efforts may seem, history...