When we blame Black women for our failure to be seen as “real men” in a White racist society we only show ourselves to be immature. Our mothers, our sisters, our aunts, our girlfriends, our wives, and nieces are not our enemy.
Leonetta Sanders, principal of Harper High School, recently spoke with WBEZ about the toll widespread violence is taking on Black Youth in Chicago. 27 of her current and former students have been shot; 8 killed in the past 13 months. This is an EPIDEMIC.
What is it about mankind that loves to make difference the most important aspect in social interactions? Why, even when our humanity tells us that we are the same, do we insist on proving the existence of inferiority? It makes me angry. This anger was sparked due to a new endeavor I am about to […]
At 28 years-old, Irving is the first black person, the first Jamaican person, and the youngest person to ever fly around the world on a solo flight. Irving suffered multiple obstacles in his quest to make that dream a reality. But he never gave up.
Every week, the Black Youth Project collects the top news stories about black youth from across the country. Click here to check out our archive of weekly news round-ups, and check back every Monday for a new roundup of headlines about young black America.
June 23 marked the 40th anniversary of Title IX. And although its impact is clear, black women and girls have not benefited in the ways that white women have. What can be done so that more black women and girls can feel the impact of Title IX?
Today a historic Supreme Court ruling banned mandatory life sentences for children convicted of homicide. The ruling affirms that young offenders should be given “a meaningful opportunity to show they have rehabilitated themselves and are appropriate candidates for release.”
According to a new Gallup poll, confidence in America’s public school system as hit an all-time low. Only 29 percent of respondents expressed a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in public education. How can fix this broken system?
According to The National Home Education Research Institute, more African American parents are choosing to homeschool their children. Is this the antidote to the public school crisis? Can homeschooling positively impact black youth?
The most sobering moment in Paul Beatty’s satirical novel, The White Boy Shuffle (1996) occurs just before the L.A. Riots are about to begin. The book’s protagonist, Gunnar Kaufman and his best friend Nicholas Scoby are on their way home from a strangely long basketball practice. During their walk, Gunnar immediately senses something different happening in his […]
The summer is arriving with teenagers and young adults scrambling to find the little money available in the job market. If you’re like my brother, you’ve probably come to the conclusion that there are no more jobs in the “real” world. This old way of making money, of conforming to what jobs are available simply […]
Commencement yesterday was filled with encouraging speeches reminding my senior class that “commencement” is the beginning, not the end, and graduating is simply a marker that we have received and collected the tools we will need to move forward. The rhetoric of speakers, and of casual conversations on any graduation day is generally one of […]
