According to a recent interview heard on NPR (National Public Radio) “More than one in three kids served by Big Brothers are African-American, but only 15 percent of its volunteers are black, and just a third of those are men.” Here is an excerpt of a press release put out by both ESSENCE Magazine and Big Brothers/Big Sisters last year.
“The shortage of adult caring male mentors, particularly African American men, is a threat to our communities,†said Judy Vredenburgh, president and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, the largest youth mentoring organization in the country. “We need to break the cycle of violence our young people see in their lives and help them fulfill the promise and possibilities they so rightly deserve. (source)
Below is a post I did not too long ago on adoptions:
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Ever consider adoption?
From Wikipedia:
” The desire for parents to adopt children of the same race is the cause of some controversy within the United States, especially in the African-American community. There are more Caucasian families seeking to adopt than there are minority families; conversely, there are more minority children available for adoption. This disparity often results in a lower cost to adopt children from ethnic minorities – usually through special adoption grants rather than fee discrimination. Critics claim this cost disparity implies that minority babies are of less value than white ones. This situation is morally difficult because the adoptive families see adoption as a great benefit to trans-racially adopted children, while some minorities see it as an assault on their culture. In 2004, 26 percent of African-American children adopted from foster care were adopted trans-racially. Government agencies have varied over time in their willingness to facilitate trans-racial adoptions. “Since 1994, white prospective parents have filed, and largely won, more than two dozen discrimination lawsuits, according to state and federal court records.”There is also a great need to place these children; in 2004 more than 45,000 African-American children were waiting to be adopted from foster care.” (source)
From achildswaiting.com. These are young men who are NOT in the prison system but could end up there.
“We are thankful to our families and appreciate their commitment. Unfortunately, the placement statistic do not accurately reflect the children still waiting. There are currently 150,000 children waiting for a home in the United States alone. Of those children, 85% are African American, 60% are boys, many are over the age of 8 yrs, and most have siblings.” (source)
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Yes I am fully aware that there are other organizations out there that are addressing this issue (I feature them often on this site), but the sad truth here is that it is not enough. Let me put it to you this way–how many times have you heard of studies, read websites, books, heard radio programs that present the issue of Black men in prison as if all of them have been jailed unfairly? Yes there are cases out there where this is true, but what of the majority of cases where it isn’t?
My point here is that it is a lot easier to talk about and deal with such issues when it appears that WE are victimized by White folks than issues where we as a community have dropped the ball. Mainstream media does a story of a Black man who has been released from prison after 20 years of so of being falsely accused, much of the Black blogosphere and OUR own news media is abuzz with “I told you so’s”. Black kids who are left without a mentor or an adoptive family in very high numbers, the argument usually turns to “We are too poor to take on such responsibility”.
For those of you who are rolling your eyes and sighing at this point due to this “lecture”, I offer no apologies. I know what it is like to feel overwhelmed in an organization geared towards helping these type of children where you are one of the very few Black men. While our women have faithfully answered this call for years, we as men in many cases have been sparse in our response.
“You are focusing too much on the negative”, “Why don’t you just talk about the positive things we are doing?”
Again, while I do regularly talk about such things here, our kids have continued to be in the majority of those who are without a mentor and/or a family who adopted them for whatever reason. These are kids who could very well end up in prison if we do not intervene with the same enthusiasm we have when one of them have been “victimized” by “the system”. It has happened in the past and it continues to happen.
Something to think about.
