American schools are systematically slaughtering the minds and spirits Black boys. Chicago is not alone with only 9% of 8th-grade Black boys reading proficiently. Louisville, Atlanta, Houston, Austin, Philadelphia and Los Angeles share Chicago’s ignominy with 9% of 8th-grade Black boys reading proficiently. Unbelievably, some cities are worse including Baltimore, Dallas and San Diego, 7%; Washington D.C., 6%, Detroit, 5%, and Milwaukee and Cleveland, 3%. In America, only 10% of 8th-grade Black boys read proficiently. This failure to educate Black men and boys is America’s unspoken shame.
Nearly 150 years since slavery ended in America, Black America must accept the reality that no help is coming to transform the plight of young Black men and boys! If our young men are to be saved, it will be because the Black community saves them. If our young men are taught to read, it will be because we teach them to read. If our Black boys develop into strong, positive, productive, globally competent Black men, it will be because Black America makes it happen. And we should expect no help from foundations like MacArthur.
the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s, Black men and boys were lynched in America with ropes and trees. Now they are lynched with schools and prisons, but the results are still the same.
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