DN Editorial: A call to save a generation

PRESIDENT Obama's speech announcing a new initiative called "My Brother's Keeper," to focus on the plight of young men of color, was a major moment, not only for the Obama presidency but, potentially, for the country.

Last week's speech was unusual for a number of reasons. While, of course, his daily presence as the leader of the free world can't be devoid of racial import, our black president has been cautious about using his platform to deal overtly with race; how cautious depends on how much you pay attention to Cornel West, who has routinely and brutally blasted Obama, at one point calling him a "Rockefeller Republican in blackface."

But also unusual was the very personal nature of Obama's comments, when he talked about being angry at not having a father around, and made some "bad choices," like getting high. It's hard to imagine any other president speaking so personally about an upbringing that was anything but exemplary. Bill Clinton was famous for saying, "I feel your pain," but Obama's narrative last week was, "I've lived your pain."

The pain he was talking about is the pain of growing up in America as a young man of color.

Maybe every society creates its demons, but American society seems particularly intent on identifying and demonizing "the other" . . . through time, that has included Catholics, Jews, gays, divorced people, unmarried women, women without children. But as society changed, so have many of those attitudes. What's unique about our demonization of black males is how permanent, how relentless it remains.

The most compelling evidence is found in the disproportionate incarceration rates of black males - blacks are jailed at six times the rate of whites. More young African-American males without a high-school diploma are behind bars than employed.

Hispanic males have not escaped this bias, either: They are incarcerated at nearly double the rate of whites.

The anti-drug policies of the past helped contribute to a mass lockup of 2.3 million Americans, almost half of whom are black. This is not just a tragedy for those lives in the present, but for the futures of those leaving jail who can't find a job, aren't allowed to vote or get benefits and are unable to provide for themselves and their families - including their sons.

Violence tells another truth: In Philadelphia, 85 percent of homicide victims are black, and more than 100 young black men younger than 24 are killed each year; hundreds more are shot.

Between 2007-10, 73 black children younger than 17 were killed in Philadelphia.

A truer picture of the situation is found not in just the parade of this data, but in how you react to those figures; for example, maybe you assume that all these prisoners are just getting what they deserve . . . that blacks are more likely to use drugs, and that explains their disproportionate numbers in prison rather than a biased criminal-justice system.

Maybe you can even understand how George Zimmerman was suspicious when he saw a young black man roaming the streets in a gated community.

Except the facts are these: African-Americans are sent to prison on drug offenses at 10 times the rates of whites, even though whites report using drugs at five times the rate of blacks. Author Michelle Alexander calls it "The New Jim Crow." The mass incarceration of African-Americans creates an impossible situation, where the high numbers of blacks in jails start cementing the idea that a higher number of them must be criminals.

This high prison rate fuels the biases and assumptions we all form, even if they aren't as extreme as Zimmerman's. But, imagine the obstacles this creates for a young man of color looking for how his life is likely to turn out by looking at those who came before him. Imagine a young man trying to figure out his value when so much of society says that value is negligible.

Fortunately, there are accomplished men of color who serve to disprove that. The president is one; locally, the mayor and many elected leaders, and countless men of accomplishment in the city also serve as role models. Mayor Nutter has spoken out about this issue for a while, and with fortunate timing, just released a report from a commission on young black males.

That commission is made up primarily of older black men who care about the younger generation, and know that they can play a powerful role in the lives of young men.

But the passion of both Obama and Nutter for improving the chances for young boys and men of color shouldn't just become a call to African-American and Hispanic males to reach out. This is a call to all of us. Until we can all look into the face of a young man of color and see promise and potential, until we feel compassion instead of fear and loathing, nothing will change.

This is a unique moment, where politics, history and the tragedies of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis combine to force us to admit our complicity in writing off millions of young lives. But it's a fragile moment; the stars may never be aligned like this again. If we fail this time, we may not get another chance, and generations of young lives will be wasted.

In the next month, the Daily News will convene a public conversation about this issue. If you want notices of the event, email us at menofcolor@phillynews.com.