Black Star relates that 67 percent of black children are born out of wedlock; that only 7 percent of black 8th-graders perform math at grade level; that only 45 percent of black men graduate from high school in the U.S.; and that just 22 percent of black males who began at four-year colleges graduated within six years.
Probably the greatest challenge and sadness is the fact that homicide is the leading cause of death for black males ages 15-34 and that suicide is the third leading cause of death for black males in that age range.
I share these sad facts not because I hate my own race but rather because the first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is a problem.
Even as black males break barriers in politics and set records in sports, the world for many black American men and young men in 2015 is an isolated, disconnected and disturbing world.
These realities make it even more urgent that the black community not stand by in silence and accept mediocrity as the norm in its schools, be they public, public charter or voucher. Because only improved performance in the educational realm will reverse the economic calamity occurring in our community. The reasons for these disparities are many, and improved education will not solve them all but it will impact many.