Jenice Armstrong | Bright promise snuffed out

SINCE the beginning of the year, Philadelphia's murder toll has steadily ticked upward at roughly the rate of one person a day.

The vast majority of the more than 100 victims killed have been young African-American males, most thought to have been shot down by other young black men.

For 20-something black males, an estimated one in eight is incarcerated, according to the Sentencing Project. The research group also estimates that "one of every three black males born today can expect to go to prison if current trends continue."

That's why the loss of Ryan Clark feels even more devastating. He was among the first slain Monday at Virginia Tech, reportedly when he went to aid a female dorm resident. His killer, Cho Seung-Hui, shot 32 people to death before committing suicide.

During his short life, Clark represented the best and the brightest.

Even though he was majoring in three subjects - English, psychology and biology - the 22-year-old senior maintained a 4.0 grade-point average. Clark could have played college sports, but instead he signed on with his school's marching band because he loved music. Bob Marley and Korn were favorites.

He was interested in a career in cognitive neuroscience and was aiming to get his Ph.D. Clark was weeks away from earning his undergraduate degree.

Although I never met the young man whose friends called him "Stack," it's clear from their recollections that had he lived, he would have done something special with his life.

What's ironic is that at a time when it's easy to get the impression that young black men are an endangered species, here was one who not only avoided the typical stumbling blocks, but also became a standout both academically and socially. He defied all the negative stereotypes. Since he's gone, one can only speculate about what his contributions to society might have been.

"How do we feel as the African-American community to lose someone who was so promising and who was on the right path?" asked Penn adjunct professor Chad Dion Lassiter, who's with the Black Men at Penn group.

"There's a devaluation of black life from American society. A lot of black males internalize this devaluation and they, themselves, become desensitized to what a life is. It just becomes easy to take a life . . . We have the gentleman [Clark] in Blacksburg who valued life and he lost his life," Lassiter added. "It was a shame." *

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