| A people group is a part of a society that has some basic characteristics in common which cause it to feel a sense of oneness and set apart from other groups. It may be unified by language, religion, economic status, occupation, ethnic origin, geographic location, or social position" (Dalland 1985). The people group examined in this article are the street-oriented, young, urban Black males (YUB'M). The age range of this group is between thirteen and thirty. Indeed, the age range can extend downward. You often find younger people who, because of harsh life experiences or an unstable family structure, have been prematurely thrust into dealing with their environment on an adult level. And, of course, the age range can extend upward. It is not at all uncommon to find older adults who have extended their adolescence into middle age because they have been damaged by, and denied a place in, the dominant society. More often than not, "hurt creeps into Black children's eyes when they reach twelve or thirteen years of age and sense that they are trapped" (Time 1988a, 22). The Sodo-Culture of the YUB'M YUB'M are generally segregated in urban centers throughout the United States, primarily in the inner-city ghettos. These are, more often than not, poverty-ridden areas that are socially isolated from the societal mainstream. Those who dare to venture beyond these areas are often viewed with suspicion and are subject to anything from being studiously ignored, to being subjected to deliberate indignities, to community or police harassment, or even to physical harm. What is true geographically is, in a sense, also true educationally. Many YUB'M sense that educational advancement is an exercise in futility. In too many urban centers, schools are either "dreadful" or, at best, "mediocre," "barely supported by penurious budgets, neglected by parents and politicians, and beset by gang rumbles, drug trafficking, and other social illnesses" (Time 1988, 58). There are some instances where gang members have even militated against other young people going on with their education. "Allen Smith, 16, back in school after a year in a county juvenile camp and determined to go straight, is tormented by gang members from his Hoover Street neighborhood who pick on anyone who carries a textbook. Allen solves his problem by doing all of his studying at home. He will not be seen in public with a book" (Los Angeles Times 1988, 34). "It is estimated that as many as forty-four percent of all Black males can be classified as functional illiterates, that is unable to read or comprehend complex written material" (Staples 1987, 8). Half of our students in urban areas remain economically, socially, and civically unprepared, says a spokesman for the Carnegie Foundation (Time 1988, 58). The number of YUB'M who attend college has declined significantly over the past several years. The cost of higher education is prohibitive. The desire to begin making money as soon as possible after getting out of high school is also strong. But there is also a third, more sinister reason. That is the problem of racism. I have three close friends who have been attending three prestigious colleges in New York and New Jersey. All three have related the mental anguish they have experienced in facing the problems of racism on their campuses, the insensitivity of the faculty and the students, the indifference, and sometimes even the outright hostility. Sadly, one young man has decided not to go back. Unfortunately, by eliminating the possibility of academic achievement, the YUB'M automatically eliminates himself as a viable participant in an economic system that equates upward mobility with educational achievement. Generally speaking, in terms of economic status, the YUB'M may be described as members of the underclass. Douglas Glasgow, in his book, The Black Underclass, described them as "a permanently entrapped population of poor persons, unused and unwanted, accumulated in various parts of the country" (Glasgow 1981, 3). Unskilled and educationally handicapped, the YUB'M are either underemployed, unemployed, unemployable for any number of reasons, or self-employed. It is important to note that if they are self employed, that does not necessarily imply that they are involved in some sort of illegal self-employment. There is little indication of any letup in this pattern. The American economy continues to export industrial jobs to cheaper labor markets and then turns its attention to an information processing and a service-related economy at home. The result will be that the YUB'M will continue to get the shorter end of the stick. Robert Staples, a sociologist, comments, "The productive forces of U.S. capitalism are geared towards making products for profit, not social needs. The work that Black males could perform has a low priority among the leaders of industry" (Staples 1987, 8). Staples seriously questions whether or not Black men are obsolete in a modern economy even when they are functionally illiterate. He writes, "After all, many of the jobs they could perform have been exported to countries which will employ non-English-speaking people who may be functionally illiterate in their native language" (Staples 1987, 8). He then reveals the protectionist stance or mind set of the white, middle-class American society with this astute observation: "Under mature capitalism, the job most typically offered to uneducated and young Black males is that of the minimum wage security guard-an occupation that entails protecting the property and person of affluent whites from other Black males of the underclass. American society seems to have made the decision to spend 100 billion dollars a year more for protection against the underclass than to educate and provide them with jobs" (Staples 1987, 9). The YUB'M and the Culture of Poverty We find, then, a group of people economically shut out from the mainstream American economy in a systematized fashion by the dominant society. Sam Yette contends in his book, The Choice, that "it is Black men that are most vulnerable to the ravages of an unbridled and dying American capitalism" (Staples 1987, 3). We have here a people that are contained geographically, educationally disadvantaged, occupation-ally obsolete, and economically disenfranchised. It all adds up to what might be called a culture of poverty. Poverty is not just being poor but having a lack of options (Perkins 1982, 11). This lack of options has a profound impact upon the family structure in the Black community. Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, a consultant for The Cosby Show, says in an interview that many Black males are not in a position to get married. "A significant factor in all this is that so many young Black males are unemployed, between forty and fifty percent of them. No man who is in the situation of having no job and no money is anxious to undertake the responsibility of a wife and a family. The Black females who used to get married when they became pregnant are no longer doing so, because the Black males are not in a position to get married. And even when they are, some Black women don't want to marry them. The number of single parent, female households is increasing" (Poussaint 1987, 3). The lack of a father figure in the home means the lack of a positive, adult, male role model. This will foster moral and economic irresponsibility. The teenage pregnancy rate is going to rise. Young people will be turning to gangs and gang involvement as a sort of family substitute. And because of a lack of discipline, crime will be a problem. Many young people will be turning to drugs because of the escape that it offers.
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