Analicia Stevens
8/24/13
Eng 4
Even Odds Response
I think it is great that the Oakland high school created the African American male achievement program which helps help young men stay out of trouble and to stay focused on their studies to graduate and make it out. This program is helping these young men to prepare for the real world by applying for jobs and colleges keeping them busy and hard at work. Instead of telling their students have a nice day it is be safe and be careful. It is a constant struggle for young African American men to survive the streets of Oakland let alone survive school without being swallowed up by the negativity that surrounds them. Mr. Robinson didn’t look at his class as a regular high school classroom but as a manhood development and uses his self as an example of what they can be and how he came from the same situation and background as them. I like how this is a district plan for five years to challenge the statistics placed on African American men and to teardown or break those negative statistics and replace them with new ones that create a better view for African American men that they can make it out and become something other than what they are labeled as or “know for”. A program that shows young boys how to become young men, by breaking down stereotypes and statistics. These teachers are dedicated to show the students that there are other things besides violence, negativity and becoming a statistic. Most people would give up on young African American men and just think that their community is incompetent and full of ignorant minds. But for the young men who are trying to make something out of themselves and move on and teach others I commend them. It is unfair for any young man to have their whole future right and front of them and have it be taken from them in a second. Also the fact that the graduation rate and death rate of young African American men are the same number. It is up to us as a African American community and to the young men to ensure that they are well prepared for college and everyday life. It is up to us and them to make sure that we create contradictions to these negative stereotypes and statistics by continuing educating and preparing our young men for a positive outlook on life and manhood for which they can better themselves and others.
