Unemployment for Young Vets:

30%, and Rising

Posted by: Dan Beucke on November 11, 2011

On Veterans Day in America, it’s sobering to realize just how badly the job market has turned against the men and women who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their rate of unemployment was 12.1 percent in October, vs. 9 percent for the U.S. overall. But that only scratches the surface of the employment picture for vets.

Dig deeper into the pages of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data and it becomes apparent that while the job market is slowly improving for most Americans, it’s moving in the opposite direction for Gulf War II vets (defined by the BLS as those on active duty since 2001). The youngest of veterans, aged 18 to 24, had a 30.4 percent jobless rate in October, way up from 18.4 percent a year earlier. Non-veterans of the same age improved, to 15.3 percent from 16.9 percent. For some groups, the numbers can look a good deal worse: for black veterans aged 18-24, the unemployment rate is a striking 48 percent.

(The BLS provided us with hundreds of pages of data beyond what’s easily found on the Internet; if you want to analyze the numbers yourself, we’ve posted them for October 2011 and for October 2010 here.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That 18-24 category only covers 320,000 veterans. I used BLS data to expand the bracket and calculate the rates for vets aged 18 to 34. Unfortunately, the trend still holds up: their jobless rate grew to 16.6 percent in October, from 12.6 percent a year earlier. For non-veteran men and women of that bracket, the jobless rate shrank, to 11.4 percent from 12.0 percent. The issue is not just that unemployment among young vets is high. It’s that if there’s even a limited jobs recovery, they are not sharing in it.

“The numbers don’t lie,” says Ryan Gallucci, deputy legislative director for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Washington. “The new veterans are going into the unemployment pile.”

The “new” part is key. From age 35 on, for the most part veterans have a lower unemployment rate than non-vets. In surveys earlier this decade, veterans aged 25-34 also did well. The BLS released figures in 2005 that showed veterans in that age group with a lower unemployment rate than their peers (just 3.8 percent vs. 5.0 percent.) For 2008, the rate for vets 25-34 was just a shade above that for those who hadn’t served in the military. Now for that group it’s 11.7 percent, well above the 9.2 percent rate for non-veterans. What might be most worrying is that what’s happening with younger vets looks like a leading indicator: the cohort of veterans now entering the work force in the midst of the economic malaise may point to a future in which veterans are falling behind their peers.

Why would someone coming out of military service have a harder time finding a job? Think about the demographics of a young soldier. Most are men, and unemployment is worse now for men: 9.5 percent in October vs. 8.5 percent for women. Younger vets are coming right out of high school; the job market punishes those with less education. Many vets come from and return to rural and rust-belt areas that are struggling. And the cut-throat competition for jobs has been hardest on those out of work the longest; fair or not, eight years in the Army is viewed by some employers as eight years without private-sector skills and experience. At a job summit held by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs in September, Gallucci says, some companies said many vets have a hard time adjusting to corporate culture.

The skills issue is particularly troubling. Hiring is strongest in jobs that require specialized education, and weakest for blue collar jobs, says Stephen Fuller, a professor of employment and economics at George Mason University in Arlington, Va. Even military jobs that are in the right ballpark for growth industries — say, software or electronics technician — may involve specialization that doesn’t readily apply to Silicon Valley’s Web 2.0 or software-services jobs. Some military positions seem to line up perfectly with their civilian counterpart — think of an emergency medical technician or truck driver. But that doesn’t mean the soldier comes out with the required licensing. Someone who’s been driving an armored truck through the mine-strewn streets of Iraq still has to pass state driver certification.

How could it get worse? Let’s say the Congressional deficit committee fails to achieve a breakthrough in the next two weeks. The result will be $500 billion of automatic cuts to the Pentagon budget over the next 10 years. There are a number of ways that could play out, but the House Armed Services Committee estimated in September such an outcome would push nearly 200,000 additional soldiers and Marines onto the job market. The draw-down of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan is already sending more troops home.

It doesn’t help that a higher proportion of vets work for government (that’s even truer of disabled vets). That has been the hardest-hit employment sector recently. Over the past two months alone, 57,000 federal, state and local jobs have been eliminated. President Obama made it a priority for federal agencies to increase hiring of vets; 25 percent of all federal civilian hires in fiscal 2010 were veterans. At least at the state and local level, many vets move into police and fire jobs, which haven’t been targeted as much as, say, teachers.

Is there any hope? In a rare breakout of bi-partisan agreement, the Senate yesterday passed a bill that grants tax credits for companies that hire vets and overhauls job training and counseling. The House is expected to OK it next week. Daniel Indiviglio over at The Atlantic has analyzed the tax credits and found that while they may help some veterans find work, they probably won’t boost hiring overall. The job training changes, according to the VFW’s Gallucci, should make it easier for military jobs to translate into civilian certification.

In other words, it could help a little. Still, to quote George Mason’s Fuller, for vets “it gets worse before it gets better.”

Update: One big difference with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is that more of the soldiers going overseas are women. Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc., talks in this Bloomberg Television interview about the challenges for women vets reintegrating into the economy. (I ran the BLS numbers; the unemployment rate in October for women vets aged 18-34 was 13.2 percent vs. 11.2 percent for non-vet women. One small bit of good news: both those rates are lower than they were a year ago: 14.2 percent for vets, 11.6 percent for non-vets.)

(Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A Tuskegee Airman Speaks

Roscoe Brown, featured in a George Lucas documentary, shares his story with The Root.

• By: Lynette Holloway | Posted: November 9, 2011 

Stephen Chernin/Getty Images

 

Growing up in the 1930s in Washington, D.C., Roscoe Brown made model airplanes and dreamed of flying like the pilots he saw during air races that his parents treated him to on weekends, he recalled recently.

"Many of us as young African Americans wanted to fly but couldn't because of segregation," he told The Root during a telephone interview. But he finally got his chance, serving as one of the Tuskegee Airmen.

During World War II, Brown, now 89, served as a squadron commander and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

 

Double Victory Trailer

His story, along with those of six other airmen, has been brought to the big screen in Double Victory, a documentary produced by George Lucas. Narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., the movie is being screened in major cities to promote Red Tails, a theatrical film also by Lucas and starring Gooding and Terrence Howard, about African-American fighter pilots. Red Tails -- the term refers to an aircraft paint scheme -- is scheduled for release in January.

"It tells the story of how blacks were excluded from the military because of segregation to how they were included in World War II because of protests in the black community," Brown, who is director of the Center for Urban Education Policy at the Graduate School and University Center of CUNY, said of the documentary. "It talks about our training at Tuskegee and the trials and tribulations we faced there. It talks about our combat activity first in North Africa and Italy. It also talks about the combat we faced in the States while we were getting our training."

Brown said that before joining the military, he had long admired pilots, but flying was just a dream because of racial barriers. But his parents encouraged their two children -- Brown was the younger child -- to aspire to do great things. His father was a public health specialist, and his mother was a teacher.

 

Red Tails Trailer

And there were black pilots to look up to, he recalls, including Bessie Coleman, who learned to fly in France and became a great stunt pilot. Before that, there was Julian Boyd, who flew for the Canadian air force in World War I. There was also Albert E. Forsythe, who flew across the country in 1933.

But during World War II, the NAACP, the Pullman Car Porters Union and other civil rights groups forced the U.S. military to create an experimental group called the 99th Fighter Squadron, which was trained at an airfield in Tuskegee, Ala., Brown said. Eventually the military built a $1 million airfield to train blacks under segregated circumstances. An estimated 1,000 pilots were trained, and about 12,000 workers received technical training, Brown said.

"Finally, pilots had a chance to go overseas," he recalled. "First the 99th Squadron went to North Africa. We had trouble getting into combat because the flight commander didn't give us good assignments. Then we went to Italy. We were finally assigned to fly escorts for the bombers over Germany, and we flew over 200 missions escorting bombers.

"It's reputed that we never lost any, but we lost four or five, we found out later," he continued. "That is why they named the film Double Victory: We overcame the Nazis in Germany, and we overcame segregation in the States. It was a trying time, but we overcame it."

Lynette Holloway is a contributing editor to The Root.

via theroot.com

DJ Premier –

Heavy D Tribute Mix

| Free Download

 

November 13, 2011 by I Am Ayo    

A few days after DJ Quik and Bussa Buss released their tributes to the late Heavy D, who died on November 8, comes a very special and quite excellent tribute mix by the one and only DJ Premier.

Played to the Hip Hop loving masses on his popular Hip Hop Nation radio show, Live From HeadQCourterz, Premo seamlessly mixes many of Heavy’s pass hits from his incredible catalog from albums such as Big Tyme, Blue Funk and Nuttin’ But Love. See below for download link and full stream…

Download: DJ Premier – Heavy D Tribute Mix @ Live From HeadQCourterz

Rest In Peace… Heavy D.

[via thehouseofcoxhead]

 

The 2012 Judges

National Chapbook Fellowships
Judged by
Vijay Seshadri and Dara Wier

 

• Open to any U.S. Resident who has not published a full-length poetry collection.

New York Chapbook Fellowships
Judged by 
Lucia Perillo and D. A. Powell

 

• Open to any New York City resident who is 30 or under and has not published a full-length poetry collection.

Note: Poets may apply to one contest only.

 

GUIDELINES FOR BOTH CATEGORIES:

1.  Manuscript page length: between 20-30 pages of poetry (front matter not included in count). Poems must be typed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper and bound with a spring clip. No illustrations may be included. Do not include photocopies of poems from magazines or journals. Please submit only one copy of your manuscript. Manuscripts should include no more than one poem per page.

2.  A complete submission should include:

a.  Title page with contest name (The National Chapbook Fellowship or The New York Chapbook Fellowship), your name, address, telephone, email, and any other relevant contact information. Your name should not appear elsewhere in the manuscript.

b.  A title page with just the title of the manuscript.

c.  An acknowledgments page. Poems included in your manuscript may be previously published, but please include an acknowledgments page listing specific publications. Note: previous publications and/or the inclusion of published poems will not serve as a determining factor in the screening or judging of manuscripts.

d.  A complete Table of Contents.

e.  Payment of a $12.00 non-refundable entry fee(check or money order payable in U.S. dollars to Poetry Society of America). This fee is not waived for PSA members. Please do not send cash. While you may not submit to both The National Chapbook Fellowship and The New York Chapbook Fellowship, multiple submissions to one contest are accepted. Please note: we require separate entry fees for each manuscript you submit.

f.  Self-addressed stamped post card for confirmation of receipt and a self-addressed stamped envelope for announcement of the winners.

3.  Manuscripts by more than one author will not be accepted.

4.  Translations will not be accepted.

Submissions:

 

• Entries will be accepted between October 1st and December 22nd, 2011.
• Entries postmarked later than December 22nd, 2010 will not be accepted.
•  Manuscripts will not be returned.
• Electronic and faxed submissions will not be accepted.
• If your manuscript is accepted for publication elsewhere, you must notify the PSA.
• Submission to the Chapbook Fellowship Program does not prohibit you from applying to the PSA Annual Awards: www.poetrysociety.org

Send to:

PSA CHAPBOOK CONTEST
Poetry Society of America
15 Gramercy Park
New York, New York 10003

 

 

H.E. Francis Contest

2011 Competition Guidelines:

• Sponsored by: The Ruth Hindman Foundation and the UAH English Department.

• Judged by: A panel of nationally recognized, award-winning authors, directors of creative writing programs, and editors of literary journals.

• Award: $1000 prize

• Limitations: Manuscripts must be unpublished and may not exceed 5000 words in length. Multiple submissions are acceptable so long as we are notified immediately in the event that a manuscript is selected by another competition or publication.

• Deadline: December 31, 2011 (postmark)

• Tax-deductible Entry Fee: Check or money order for $15.00 for each submission, made out to the Ruth Hindman Foundation, a philanthropic institution which awards scholarships nationwide to undergraduate and graduate students.

• Format: All manuscripts must be free of any means of author identification. A cover sheet must accompany each submission. This cover sheet must indicate the title of the story, the author's name and address, and the approximate word count.

• Submission of entries: Mail submissions to Department of English, Morton Hall 222, H.E. Francis Contest, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL 35899.

• A submission is complete when it includes all of the following:
  1. Entry fee
  2. Cover sheet
  3. Three copies of the manuscript
  4. If desired, SASE for announcement of winner

• Announcement of Winner: March 2012

Tartts 

The winner of the fifth contest was Kurt Jose Ayau

Tartts Fiction Award, rules 2011

1. Winning short story collection will be published by Livingston Press at the University of West Alabama, in simultaneous library binding and trade paper editions. Winning entry will receive $1000, plus our standard royalty contract, which includes 100 copies of the book.

2. Author must not  have book of short fiction published at time of entry, though novels are okay. In keeping with Tartt’s biography, we are looking for an author who has yet to publish a fiction collection.

3. Stories may have been previously published by magazines or in anthologies, though the author should have all rights. Magazines will be acknowledged. Include a list of publications, if so desired.

4. Manuscripts must be typewritten, and we will ask for a computer file in Windows/Mac Word from the winning author and from the finalists for our anthology.

5. Manuscript length: 160-275 pages.

6. Deadline for postmark: December 31, 2010.

7. Entry fee: fifteen dollars. Our apology for the fee, but handling makes it necessary.

8. No manuscripts will be returned. Please send only a copy. You may include an SASE for acknowledgement of  receipt, or simply use your cancelled check to indicate such. We notify contestants of receipt as soon as the contest entry date has passed. We also notify all entrants of the winner and those picked for the anthology.

9. Winner announced in late spring, with publication in next spring.

10. Winner must be an American citizen; work must be in English.

11. Style and content of manuscripts are completely open.

12. Finalists will be considered for our regular publication schedule and for our Tartt Anthology.

13. Send manuscripts and check to :

                              Livingston Press

                              The University of West Alabama

                              Station 22

                              Livingston, Alabama 35470

 

Winner of last year’s award will be announced in April. Fourteen finalists will have stories published in Tartts: Incisive writing from Emerging Writers, which will be available this early Fall.

No monolithic

‘African’ writing here

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Dawn Promislow

African Roar 2011: An Annual Anthology of African Authors. Ed. Emmanuel Sigauke and Ivor Hartmann. StoryTime Publications, 2011.

African Roar 2011 is the second annual anthology published by StoryTime, the online journal of African writing. Editors Ivor Hartmann and Emmanuel Sigauke compiled the anthology from the best stories the journal had published over the previous year, with stories being further edited before inclusion. They are by African writers – writers in Africa or the African Diaspora – and one stand-out in the collection addresses this point right away. Zukiswa Wanner’s “A Writer’s Lot” portrays a Johannesburg writer and his interview with a journalist from overseas, one of “these Western journalists”. In lacerating satire, Wanner’s character exposes the pretensions and contradictions of the journalist’s expectations. In this meta-fiction, we can read an inadvertent address to the anthology’s enterprise itself. What is “African” writing? Is there such a thing? What, if anything, is expected of “African” writers?

These questions have vexed writers, critics and readers both in and outside of Africa for some time. For certain, there are many expectations, a weight of expectations. African writers have complained of feeling they have to be representative of their region; of having a duty to write about particular things, in particular ways. Should African writers be addressing first and foremost problems on their continent: poverty, misery, corruption? Should they instead, as others have suggested, be focusing on internal, personal landscapes, retreating from larger, or political, concerns? Is there a continent-wide sensibility, or is that itself a fiction? And, never mind “should”, what in fact are African writers writing about, in the post-colonial moment?

The anthology is dedicated to Zimbabwean writer Ruzvidzo Stanley Mupfudza, who died last year, and whose story “Witch’s Brew” opens the collection. “Witch’s Brew”, told in the first person, is about two outsiders, a young boy with a club-foot, and an ostracised, childless woman of the community.

The story meanders with the rhythms of folklore, and oral cadences. In an intriguing way it blends realism with magical realism, and it might be this, together with its folkloric, oral quality that reflects a certain African sensibility. But the story inhabits the calm space of the universal: it is a classic story of the outsider.

The styles and genres in this collection range from the realistic to the satiric and meta-fictive; from the parable- or fable-like, to the fantastic; from the comedic to the tragic. There is a range, too, of established and emerging writers. Side by side with the well-known Zukiswa Wanner is emerging writer and 2011 Caine Prize winner NoViolet Bulawayo, whose “Main” is a story of mesmerising descriptive power that, like “Witch’s Brew,” manages to be classically realistic and magical at the same time. “Main” describes in shimmering language the main street of Bulawayo, the city in Zimbabwe: language that reflects the vividness and colour of the scene itself. But it is the writer’s expansive eye that elevates this scene into the realm of the metaphoric: the street is personified in the description, it is a beautiful although wasted and down-at-heel, and ravaged, woman.

Ivor Hartmann’s “Diner Ten” is a fantastical story told from the point of view of Radic, a cockroach who lives in a community of his kin in the innards of a diner restaurant, coming out at night, or when people are not there. Hartmann has imagined the consciousness of Radic: he describes the details of his life, some of them absurd and comical, as he lives a fugitive life hidden behind pots and under tables. In Hartmann’s hands the life of this insignificant, lone character is given interest, weight, and – finally – dignity.

“Water Wahala” by Isaac Neequaye has the grit and pared-down realism of a neighbourhood in Accra, Ghana, where the residents suffer under chronic municipal water shortages. Neequaye portrays Kweku, an ordinary man, his complaining, difficult wife, and his thwarted – even Kafka-esque – attempts to reach the bureaucrat who is in charge of the neighbourhood water supply. This ordinary and powerless man dependent on a powerful and corrupt bureaucracy is comically, then poignantly, rendered.

Corruption in government is the subject of at least two other of the stories. “Snake of the Niger Delta” by Chimdindu Mazi-Njoku is told compellingly in the first person by a man who takes it upon himself to subvert the forces of corruption around him, in Nigeria’s oil-rich and oil-producing Delta region. The story moves with a stealthy, snake-like momentum, to a point of achieved victory – a dubious victory, it must be said, but a victory nonetheless.

“Longing for Home” by Hajira Amla is a tale of stark realism set in the streets of an immigrant’s London. The colonial immigrant’s travails in the UK have been traced by many writers, starting perhaps with Sam Selvon in the 1950s, but Amla imbues them here, through the eyes of the young Grace, with the urgency of circumstances in present-day Zimbabwe.

Brutality and anarchy in Nigeria as seen through the eyes of a young girl is the subject of Ayodele Morocco-Clarke’s “Silent Night, Bloody Night”, a story so drenched in horror that it is difficult to read, or to forget, while snakes appear tantalisingly again in the mythical, magical “Snakes Will Follow You” by Emmanuel Sigauke.

And there are stories set in more personal terrains: a man tries in vain to stay celibate and faithful to his wife while attending an overseas conference in Uche Peter Umez’s “Lose Myself”. The sexual tension in the story is palpable and finely rendered. Muregeno Joseph Chikowero’s “Uncle Jeffrey” features an impotent man on a quest for cure: it’s a story with a light, comical touch and a fable-like quality, as the man goes in search of his Uncle Jeffrey who, he hopes, can help him.

It might be noted that a full six of the fourteen stories in this collection are first-person narratives, giving a particularly strong sense of the individual speaking out against authority, against hypocrisy, against bullying, corruption, and bureaucracy: a cold, hard world. The Kafka-esque quality of the character’s plight in “Water Wahala” is notable because a sense of the beleaguered is felt in other stories here, as well. The individual consciousness at odds with the world is limned through this anthology: a consciousness that is sometimes defeated, but is just as often triumphant and transcendent.

The book is prefaced with a fine piece of memoir by Memory Chirere, an intimate address to the recently deceased Ruzvidzo Stanley Mupfudza.

African Roar 2011 features voices telling stories in the ways they want to and must, defying all and any expectations to the contrary. In the pages of this anthology, writing coming now out of Africa and its Diaspora is not monolithic at all, nor bound by any prescription, but is varied in theme, genre and style, and vibrantly going into the future.

African Roar 2011 is available on Amazon as an e-book; a print edition will be following.

Are poor black boys

easy targets for

sexual predators?

 

By Edward Wyckoff Williams 9:13 AM on 11/10/2011

 

History does not always repeat itself, but it echoes quite loudly.

The latest scandal rocking Pennsylvania State University's football team, in which disturbing details surfaced that former Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly raped and molested at least eight young boys between the ages of 10 and 15, echoes the dark truth at the heart of evil intent in all cases of child sexual abuse. As things presently stand, Jerry Sandusky has been arraigned and released on bail. University President Graham Spanier and Coach Joe Paterno have been fired, effective immediately.

Paterno may not get his final winning season, but he will certainly receive accolades and rewards for an exemplary career. Yet what remains is that too many others have already lost here. Nameless, faceless and voiceless boys were invited to play a sick, dangerous and twisted game, while good men watched in silence, and did nothing.

WATCH 'TODAY SHOW' COVERAGE OF THE PENN STATE SCANDAL:

When the allegations of sexual misconduct against Georgia minister Bishop Eddie Long hit headlines last year, there were shock waves throughout the African-American community. Most disturbing was the fact that Long had spent years grooming young men from their early teens until the legally safe ages of 16 and 17 (under Georgia law at least) before allegedly initiating sexual activity.

Many ran to Long's defense, with baseless claims that the young men were fortune hunters: willing to destroy the reputation of a successful and respected community leader for financial gain. However, as more accusers came forward with eerily similar stories, Long quickly delivered a large settlement agreement, which silenced the young men.

Like Bishop Long with his Youth Academy, Sandusky allegedly used his own children's charity program, The Second Mile, which focused on assisting poor, underprivileged kids, many of whom came from single-parent homes and were struggling in school -- to find his prey. Using his money, fame and the lure of access to prized football facilities and games that any young boy could only dream of, Sandusky likely perverted the mission of the charity by making it a breeding ground for his targets.

The motto of the program, originally founded by Sandusky in 1977, is "Providing Children with Help and Hope"; but the gruesome details of the grand jury report released this week reveal something so damning it rivals the actions of notorious Catholic priests engaged in the highest betrayal. As Stuart Scott, anchor of ESPN's SportsCenter, opined last night, "Short of murder, these allegations are as serious as it gets."

In public, Jerry Sandusky was the coordinator of Penn State's successful defense for 23 years, known for making the Nittany Lions famous as "Linebacker U". He mentored Pro Bowl player LaVar Arrington, and produced 10 All-Americans during his tenure. He was a father-figure to young giants on-the-field and to underprivileged boys off-the-field.

In private, Sandusky is said to have raped boys in his care from as early as 1994 to 2009, the most damning of which occurred in 2002 in the showers of Penn State's Football facilities, witnessed by a Penn graduate assistant and -- though reported to Joe Paterno and other administrators -- hardly anything was done.

The grand jury report details Sandusky's contact with boys ranged from touching, and tickling to oral and anal sex. The stark details are difficult to stomach as an adult, let alone experience from the perspective of a pre-pubescent or adolescent boy.

Over the past few years similar incidents of sexual impropriety in the realm of sports have surfaced, with one common trend: the victims are exclusively young black boys from underprivileged backgrounds.

The cases of Ernest Lorch, the founder of the famed Riverside Church basketball program in Westchester County and Bob Oliva, the head of Christ King Regional High School's basketball program in Queens, NY are the most poignant examples.

Oliva was a prolific basketball power for 27 years, winning five city championships. Dozens of his players graduated to Division I programs, and several, including Lamar Odom of the Los Angeles Lakers and former Nets center Jayson Williams, went onto the NBA. In 2009, Oliva was forced to retire in shame after accusations of child molestation and an investigation which led to him pleading guilty of all charges, and he currently remains on probation and is listed as a sexual predator.

Lorch, the multimillionaire investment attorney and patriarch of Christ King Regional, the New York hoops magnate, resigned his position in 2002 after the New York Daily News reported investigations had begun into sexual abuse charges. The first to come forward was a former player Sean McCray, who Lorch subsequently paid large sums to keep silent.

The abuse originally began when McCray was only 12 years old, and the revelations led to other young men offering similar accounts. Under Lorch's leadership and financial guidance, the Riverside Church basketball program once boasted basketball players including NBA all-stars Ron Artest, Chris Mullen and Mark Jackson.

The grand jury indictment of Sandusky is written in such a way as to fully protect the victims' identity, and as such the racial make-up of the children remains unknown. But one defining trait is consistent among the alleged victims of Eddie Long, Sandusky, Oliva and Lorch: they were all poor and/or inner-city, underprivileged youth. This bears out a universal truth, that those with the least defense mechanisms are the most vulnerable.

Young black boys are often disproportionately without resources, left to cling to a hope and a dream, and this often involves athletic aspirations as their way out. In a society that offers them few pathways to success, they can be easily led to trust predators against their better instincts. And with an African-American culture that prizes a hyper-masculine ideal, it is nearly impossible for them to admit when and if they have been victimized by another man.

Much of the media coverage on the events at Penn State has centered on Coach Joe Paterno, his 61-year long career, and the fact that with 409 wins, he recently surpassed Grambling State's Eddie G. Robinson to become the most-winning coach in college football history. But is this what really matters? Is there so little concern for the actual victims? And if we as a society allow ourselves to be so sorely misguided, are we not accomplices to the neglect inherent in the victimization of these children?

As I described in a prior piece for theGrio on the Eddie Long scandal, my personal experience as a child mirrors the experiences of these young boys who were targeted by a sexual predator, the classic tactic of whom is to slowly and gradually cross boundaries: a touch here, a rub there, until the child is being fully violated, with no idea how any of it began and with no power to stop it.

In Joe Paterno's statement of resignation he said "I wish I had done more." His words invoke the oft quoted phrase, "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Open your eyes dear mothers, fathers and friends: for always and everywhere there is darkness and trickery in the world. While the Board of Trustees of Pennsylvania State University decides on an effective damage control strategy and how to save a lucrative Football franchise, the question we should be asking is what has come of those boys who are now men? What demons are they left to wrestle with? Who will pay and what is the price?

Edward Wyckoff Williams is an author, columnist, political and economic analyst, and a former investment banker. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

 

C Stunners:

Unique sun glasses

by Kenyan Artist

Cyrus Kabiru

 

Post reblogged from Obruni Radio

 

37thstate:

Cyrus Kabiru was born and bred in Nairobi. He is a self taught artist. His studio is at the Kuona Trust in Nairobi. Cyrus is currently a painter as well as a sculptor. He works with recycled products, and his signature are the unique eye glasses that he makes with various waste materials.