One week ago, I waited with much anticipation for the opportunity to “pass the torch” to my eldest son as he began his college career as a third-generation Morehouse Man. Thirty-four years ago my father passed the torch to me when he sent me off to Morehouse. His farewell advice to me was simple: “…make me proud, study hard, have fun, but don’t bring shame on the family name…”
I gave my son that same advice that day.
As I drove away from the Morehouse campus at 7 p.m. on Aug. 1, little did I know my son would soon be introduced to the harsh realities of urban life. At 9:09 pm, I received a disturbing phone call from Isaac telling me he had been robbed at gunpoint.
This was a wake-up call that shook me to my core. As a father, I am thankful and relieved that my son’s life was spared. I am also angry and dismayed at the cowardly, callous actions of the perpetrators. I’m not naïve. I know these crimes happen every day in our city. And I know this event drew attention from the media because I’m a public servant; a public servant who has been tackling this issue since I took office, but now with renewed purpose.
Given the dire national statistics, I am concerned about the future of African-American males in our community. Too many African-American boys drop out of high school, too many are in prison, and too many commit violent crimes upon others.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice, 844,600 African American males were in jail or prison in 2010, representing 40.2 percent of the incarcerated population, even though African-Americans males make up only 13.6 percent of the U.S. population.
Gun homicide is the leading cause of death among African-American teens. In 2012, the Children’s Defense Fund reported that “Young black males die from gun violence at a rate 2.5 times higher than Latino males, and eight times higher than white males.”
The status of African-American males in education is even more sobering. The Schott Foundation for Public Education reports that only 52 percent of African-American males who entered ninth grade in the 2006-07 school year graduated in four years.
I attended the Morehouse College commencement ceremony this past May, where President Obama said that there is “no longer any room for excuses for this generation of African-American men, and it is time for their generation to step up professionally and in their personal lives…”
I have heard the president's clarion call loud and clear. From this day forward, I will change the dialogue of what others are doing to our communities, and focus on what we can do to change the pathological self-destructive behavior that is occurring within our own communities.
Within the next few weeks, I am launching three new initiatives; the Smart Justice Coordinating Council, a Juvenile Justice Summit and a University Presidents’ Roundtable on campus security. I hope you will join with me and support these efforts. In the end, we must each hear the call. We must respond and ask ourselves, “What will we do?”
