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too many times. Honestly, had it not been my beloved relative, I likely would not have blinked at the
news. When something hits home, however, it has a way of changing you forever.

Unfortunately, there are millions of black men in America locked up. Some are guilty, while others
are not. This is why I was particularly interested in Lisa Ling's OWN Network show
Our America this
week, because it focused on the mass incarceration of black men.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, non-Hispanic blacks comprised 39.4 percent of
the total prison and jail population in 2009, with an imprisonment rate that was six times higher than
white males and almost three times higher than Hispanic males.  A Bureau of Justice Statistics special
report found that over 1.7 million children had a parent locked up in 2008, most often, their father--
four in 10 of which were black. This is an epidemic. Countless studies show that black male
incarceration has much to do with the systemic cycle of poverty, crime, increasing school dropout
rates, and future incarceration in African American communities across the country.

Sadly, even after black men pay their debt to society and are released from prison, the worst is not
over. Most have trouble finding work and getting back on their feet again, in some cases, leading
them right back to the destructive habits that got them locked up in the first place. This is has to stop.
We need to pray for our communities, help mold young black boys and mentor young black male
teens. Stress the importance of education and create programs  geared toward molding our kids while
they're still young.

According to
The Washington Post, during a recent visit to Australia President Barack Obama said,
“A lot of poor children don’t get the support that they need when they’re very young, so by the time
they get to grammar school, they’re already behind. They don’t know their numbers, people haven’t
read to them, et cetera. So working with programs that are geared to young people -- or very young
children, when they’re toddlers and infants, to give them a head start, that’s pretty important. We’re
focusing a lot on math and science education, where I think we’ve fallen behind.”

Starting young is where it's at. Proverbs 22:6 confirms that training our children when they're young
is the key to future success.

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November 21, 2011
EEWMAGAZINE.COM
My brother gets released from prison next
year. He got locked up 10 years ago after
getting caught up in the middle of a major drug
bust. At the time, his daughter, my niece Bree,
was just 8 months old and the entire family was
devastated! Although I was particularly
distraught over the incarceration of my
brother, I had seen this scenario play out one
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Black Men Incarcerated: An Epidemic
OWN Network's Lisa Ling, host of "Our America" explores the unique
complexities of the large black male prison population
By Evelyn Davis
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