"There is no single cause for the problems young black men face
in Britain today. But one thing I do know is your race, colour or class
shouldn't make you deny yourself genuine opportunities or hold you back
or limit your ambitions."
David Matthews
Are black males in this country in crisis? In this three-part series
author and journalist David Matthews unpicks the misconceptions
that surround African-Caribbean men in Britain today to reveal the real
problems they face.
David grew up in an environment where crime, violence and social decay
were seen as the norm and knows people who have been shot, shot others
or taken drugs.
However, through self-determination David got his act together, went
to university and forged a career as a writer - something he had wanted
to do since childhood.
In programme one David looks at work and education.
Only 25% of African-Caribbean boys get five good GCSEs compared with
51% of the population as a whole.
Black men are also being under represented in the traditional professions
of law, medicine, finance and teaching.
David tries to find out why they prefer street life and turn to music,
yearning for success as producers or as footballers as a way to escape
the lives they are currently leading.
To discover why so many black boys are going off the rails David goes
back to the school room and speaks to Tony Sewell, an ex-teacher and
educationalist known for his controversial views.
Tony believes that African-Caribbean boys are under intense pressure
from their peers to conform to certain stereotypes of black masculinity
and are often denied decent male role models.
In programme two David explores the criminal sub-culture and bad boy
image which is gripping black youth culture and confronts a startling
statistic: British black men form 12% of the prison population despite
being just 1% of the population as a whole.
To explain why this is the case David meets a range of people from
cult South London DJ Yardi to QC Courtenay Griffiths, who blame a combination
of the media, Jamaican Yardi culture, the lack of adult role models
and absent fathers on why this statistic is so high.
In programme three David tackles the sexual stereotype of the black
man as a well-endowed lothario who can't hold down a long-term relationship
and who is also a bad, absent father.
David wonders how true this caricature is and what its prevalence means
for relations between black men and black women and the state of the
black family?
Forty-eight per cent of African Caribbean families in Britain are headed
by a single parent (mainly mothers) compared to 22% of the general population.
David concludes that maybe it's time for black men, including himself,
to take a long, hard look at what they value in themselves as men and
redefine what it means to be a black man.
Notes to Editors
Below are the statistics used in the three programmes and their sources.
Work & Education
1. African-Caribbean boys are three times more likely than whites
to be excluded.
Only 25% get five good GCSEs compared with the national average of
51%.
Government research suggests that the attainment levels of African-Caribbean
boys actually falls between seven and 16.
Source (exclusion rates): National Statistics: Ethnicity
& Identity
Source (GCSE results): Department for Education and Skills: National
Curriculum Assessment and GCSE/GNVQ Attainment by Pupil Characteristics,
in England, 2002 (final) and 2003 (provisional) - Table 4: Achievement
at GCSE/GNVQ in 2003, by ethnicity and gender
Sources (Government research on attainment):
Department for Education and Skills: Aiming
High: Raising the Achievement of Minority Ethnic Pupils, March 2003
Runnymede Trust: Black
and Minority Ethnic issues in teaching and learning, 2002
Cabinet Office - Performance and Innovation Unit: Improving
labour market achievements for ethnic minorities in British society,
July 2001
Ofsted: Educational
Inequality. Mapping Race, Class and Gender, A synthesis of research
evidence
2. If the education system is institutionally racist, you'd expect
African-Caribbean boys to be doing badly at primary school but in fact
some research suggests they are doing as well, if not better, than other
groups.
Sources that suggest the above:
3. If it's simply about racism, why aren't black girls failing as
badly? In fact, they are doing almost as well as white boys at GCSE.
Source (GCSE results): Department for Education and Skills: National
Curriculum Assessment and GCSE/GNVQ Attainment by Pupil Characteristics,
in England, 2002 (final) and 2003 (provisional) - Table 4: Achievement
at GCSE/GNVQ in 2003, by ethnicity and gender
4. Twenty-one per cent of pupils here are of African or African-Caribbean
origin.
Ten years ago the school got a pretty dire report from the school inspector:
significant numbers of African-Caribbean boys were disruptive and lacking
motivation. Rates of exclusions were high.
Source (21 per cent of pupils are of African or African-Caribbean origin):
Andy Ward, Assistant Head, Preston Manor
Source (comments on state of school & exclusions 10 years ago): Andrea
Berkley, referring to 1995 Ofsted report
5. In 2001 Preston Manor got a brilliant report – its academic performance
is now among the top two per cent of schools in the country with similar
intakes.
And the inspectors praised their imaginative approach to the needs
of black boys.
Source: 2001 Ofsted report and school prospectus
Printable version
