African-American Men: Endangered?

(02/14/06 -- DURHAM) (WTVD) -- They are stark images on the evening news - - a young black man, shot dead or wounded. The suspects are also young black men. It's a painful reality for too many families.

Durham Mayor Bill Bell reflects on how times have changed.

"Well, when I was growing up, you had your little fistfights, but you didn't have any guns," Bell said. "You didn't have access to drugs, marijuana. You didn't see all the stuff that's going on TV and the violence."

Jeff Chang, a hip-hop historian, says some of those changes have been blamed on the music genre.

"That's something that I think a lot of folks, at one point, wanted to blame on hip-hop," he said.

Some groups use rap artist 50 Cent as an example of how violence is promoted through hip-hop. One group says the artist's latest movie, "Get Rich or Died Tryin'" makes gun violence look appealing to young black men.

"These are images that actually correspond to long-held stereotypes," Chang said.

He says some of the music reflects the frustration of economically disenfranchised young men.

"There's no longer a sense that youth are redeemable or you can rehabilitate them," Chang said. "It's all about this sort of 'round 'em up and throw 'em away.'"

Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University professor of black popular culture, says many young men have lost the tools of negotiation.

"I think we have a generation of young men, many of whom don't understand the idea or the importance of negotiation," Neal said. "That it does not always have to end with someone losing the fight."

But too many lose much more, including their lives or their freedom. A study by the Washington-based Sentencing Project reveals this shocking statistic: Nearly one-third of America's black men in their 20s are now locked up, on probation or on parole.

"There are jobs that they can't get because of their records," NCCU law professor Irv Joyner says. "There's family ties destroyed. There's economic incentives, no longer there, and the ability to recover from that is minimal."

Joyner adds, "I think we have to get serious about passing on a sense of value in the life of black folks, in the life of black men - - particularly young black boys and black people in general - - that says, 'You have to do whatever you can that respects who we are as human beings. That respects our humanity.'"

All experts admit that to solve the problem, it must first be tackled at home.

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