Men in Action: Recap by Kofi Jeffries

TACOMA, WA – A hundred and twenty-five black men assembled Saturday morning to discuss the crisis of misguided youths of color.

The October 27, 2007 meeting at Evergreen State College had a surprise turnout. Over a breakfast of coffee and bagels, college students, entrepreneurs, educators, and even budding politicians debated and opined on the state of black education, health care, and economics.

Dr. Arte Young, President of the Evergreen Tacoma Campus, welcomed the men – as well as the seven females present who played supportive roles – to the campus, followed by a few pressing words from Wayne Williams, board chair of the Tacoma Urban League.

This author then presented a brief Power Point on the crisis on young men of color in America, which addressed the National and State Achievement Gap crisis, linked national firearm statistics to youth violence, and displayed a number of disparaging truths about the black incarceration rate.

“We’re in [an unstable] time frame,” Brother Anthony of Tacoma’s Fish House Cafe said when asked of his opinion on African-American males. “The biggest trick being used against us is to divide and conquer. We resist this by uniting together. Our unity is described by becoming men in action.”

Assembled groups, consisting of concerned youths in the Tacoma Community to its concerned leaders, were then offered a chance to discuss the aforementioned topics and begin to draft a few solutions of their own.

Across the board, there was a strong emphasis on what was missing in the community. Hypertension was mentioned several times as a major health concern, with many asking for greater educational emphasis to be placed on nutrition in public schools. Others feared that the dropout rates and ‘pushout’ rates – a term for removing at-risk youth out of the system - were beginning to coincide.
“There is a lack of black male representation in the public school system,” one man was quoted as saying. “We must begin to educate [our own] about our African history and perspectives.” Many in the audience seemed to agree.

The breakfast was a collaboration between Tacoma Urban League and Message Magazine.