The Black Male: Misinformed or Misunderstood?

August 25, 2011 by Dr. Rodney Smith

For the past twenty to thirty years, the plight of the African American male has been widely discussed and oftentimes fiercely debated by public officials, intellectuals and laypersons alike. The African American male’s plummeting educational, social and economic status has been at the center of these discussions. Their disproportionate representation in America’s penal and criminal justice system, their unemployment and under-employment rates, their homicide rates as perpetrators and victims and the fact that they are at the bottom of virtually every academic indicator has many believing that they are simply academically inferior and incapable of doing well in school and beyond.

If anyone believes that bullying doesn’t take it’s toll on families, schools, and society take a look at the statistics below. Read through to the end and notice the cost for companies in dealing with this problem on the job. Who is paying for all of this? School districts now how to budget for bullying programs.

That’s tax dollars that get spent just trying to make sure that people are treated with respect. Something we all should do freely, without the imposition of consequences.

New York Times:  August 30, 2011 By Winnie Hu

Under a new state law in New Jersey, lunch-line bullies in the East Hanover schools can be reported to the police by their classmates this fall through anonymous tips to the Crimestoppers hot line.

In Elizabeth, children, including kindergartners, will spend six class periods learning, among other things, the difference between telling and tattling.
And at,North Hunterson School students will be told that there is no such thing as an innocent bystander when it comes to bullying: if they see it, they have a responsibility to try to stop it.

But while many parents and educators welcome the efforts to curb bullying both on campus and online, some superintendents and school board members across New Jersey say the new law, which takes effect Sept. 1, reaches much too far, and complain that they have been given no additional resources to meet its mandates.

Florida A&M University has dismissed four students for their role in the alleged hazing death of FAMU drum major Robert Champioin, according to a memo obtained by ABCNews.com. And now a second hazing victim has come forward, telling WFTV she was rushed to the emergency room 11 days before Champion's death.

Champion, a 26-year-old member of Florida A&M's "Marching 100" band, collapsed and died on a bus parked outside an Orlando, Fla., hotel after a football game Nov. 19. The school has fired the band director and suspended all performance and engagements of any bands and ensembles, including the "Marching 100." Champion's family plans to sue the school and possibly the school's recently fired b