Violence is nothing new to our history and to our sojourn in this land. For many Afrikan-descended people in America, the experience of violence, in its various forms remains an everyday way of life. The mainstream press continues to ignore salient issues relative to violence within black communities. Society's institutions continue to bury their heads in the proverbial sand when it comes' to facing the challenge of looking at their role and the role of broader society in perpetuating, maintaining and sustaining criminality and violence within various black communities. This four part series will consider these and other difficult issues related to violence in our communities. From "prison to hip-hop," we will address the impact and possible solutions to violence within our communities with a special focus on the number one perpetrators and ultimate victims, black males. Let's start with a few statistics.

The leading cause of death for black males age 15-24 is homicide. These youth are more often murdered by each other for reasons that include street holdups, drug dealing, sexual jealousy, and gang fights. As far back as 1980, Hawkins (1986) reports that 44 percent of black victims were killed by black offenders. It is indeed tragic that the black male has a 1 in 21 chance of being murdered in his lifetime, compared to a 1 in 104 chance for the black female, a 1 in 131 chance for the white male and a 1 in 369 chance for the white female. It is interesting that although black males comprise only 6% of the total population of the United States, they account for over 34% of all murder victims. It is telling, that black males in Harlem have less of a chance of reaching the age of 65 than men in Bangladesh (Nobles, 1989; Lusane, I991). More young black males died from homicide in one year (1977) than in 10 years in Vietnam. These figures, although astounding, pale in comparison to incidents of assault and everyday physical violence, to say nothing of the level at which community members must live with the psycho-physical impact of threat from within and without. Such micro-assaults are systemically driven and are a part of the fabric of American society, as are systems of white American domination.

In the context of white American domination, there is no innocent black male, only black male criminals who have not yet been detected, apprehended or convicted. In this society black males are existentially guilty. Black youth, as a whole, are perceived as violent and prone to crime. This generalized perception of all black youth as antisocial is part of the victimization process, which serves as a source of frustration for black youth. What accounts for this perception is the pervasive racial bias in arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment, which is facilitated by media sensationalism (Lusane, 1991; Nobles, 1989). It is interesting that when black and white teenagers commit the same crime, the justice system (including the police and courts) is seven times more likely to charge black teenagers with a felony, then convict and sentence them.

The rate of incarceration for teens is 44 to 1 for blacks vs. whites (Stark, 1990). This results in over 25% of all young black males of a certain age bracket being either on parole, on probation, or incarcerated, compared to only 6% of young white males of the same age bracket (Washington Afro-American, 1990). Although the black population represents only 12% of the total U.S. population, it accounts for approximately 46% of the prison population.(46.5% of all arrests for violent crimes, 48% of all persons arrested for murder, 46.6% of all arrests for rape, 39.8% for assault, with figures in the inner cities higher.) Of the black prison population, black males account for 90%, of which 54% are below the age of 29 years (Nobles, 1989).

The disparity of such figures Indicate a pervasive bias in the justice system. Drug related behavior in some black communities add to the imbalance. The disparity between white youth and black youth referred to court for drug violations is discouraging. For example, between 1985 and 1986, court referrals for drug violations for white youth dropped by 6 percent. By direct contrast, court referrals for black youth increased by 42%.

The overrepresentation of black men in the prison system renders a staggering number of black males unavailable as fathers and family/community leaders. Prison involvement often renders such men unavailable for credible employment, advanced education, professional licensure, and community defense against discriminatory policies and practices. A recent study on the status of African-American Males in California noted that while comprising only 3.7% of the State's population, African-American males constituted 33.8% of the prison population and only 1.7 and 2.1 percent of the enrollments at the University of California and California State University respectively.

These statistics, although important, do not tell the complete story of violence in our community. It would be productive for us to understand the dynamic behind the statistics. To do this, we will take a look at black violence in the context of the wider community.[] Part 2

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