Jobless and untouchable

An unpopular truth

[Reprinted from Issues & Views May 3, 2004]

After citing the popular and "correct" reasons given for the high unemployment rate among young black males -- poor education, broken homes, past prison records -- columnist Earl Ofari Hutchinson, in "Are Young Black Males America's Job Untouchables?," claims that there's much more to the story:

There's another reason for the endemic joblessness that black leaders are loath to admit. While it's true that many employers refuse to hire them because of racial fear and ignorance, it's equally true that many young blacks feed that fear and ignorance by their own actions. The urban riots of the 1990s reinforced white fears that all young black males are inherent drive-by shooters, gang bangers, drug dealers, are lazy, have foul attitudes, are chronic underachievers, and eternal menaces to society. When some young blacks turned to gangs, guns and drugs and terrorized their communities, that seemed to confirm their worst fears.

The explosion of gangsta rap and the spate of Hollywood violence themed ghetto films have convinced even more Americans that the thug lifestyle is the black lifestyle. They have ghastly visions of the boys-in-the-hoods heading for their neighborhoods next. No matter whether a young black is a Rhodes scholar, National Science medal winner or junior achievement candidate, they could be tagged as a gangster.

In the past few years, a rogue's list of rappers have been assaulted, murdered, or run afoul of the law. They revel in the bad actor lifestyle and play hard on the Us versus Them volcanic rage of many young blacks. They reap a king's ransom from exploiting the violent, outlaw image of black life. Many young black men reinforce the damaging racial stereotypes by aping and exulting the thuggish bluster and behavior of gangster rappers. This further confirms the lurking suspicion among some employers that all young blacks must be criminal and derelict, and that it's risky business to hire them.

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