Jackson, County Combine Efforts

Problems Plaguing Young Black Males To Be Addressed

Central High School sophomores Sharmaine Wiseman, left, and D'Metrius Smith cheer as Jesse Jackson speaks to the student body. "No matter how deep life's hole may be for you," Jackson said, "you can dream your way out." (Photos By Mark Gail -- The Washington Post)

Jesse Jackson and Prince George's County Executive Jack B. Johnson yesterday announced a plan to use the county as a laboratory" for addressing the problems plaguing young African American men.

Under the agreement, county officials and Jackson's RainbowPUSH Coalition will create a task force of educators, parents, lawyers, business leaders and elected officials to address such problems as the high rates of illiteracy, teen fatherhood, crime, imprisonment, unemployment, poverty and high school dropouts.

The solutions developed here -- with the resources and leadership of a well-educated, black middle class -- could be exported across the country much as Selma and Montgomery, Ala., were used as staging grounds for civil rights fights in the 1960s, Jackson said.

"The problem of young black males in this country is a national crisis," Jackson said. "We will convene a group consisting of leadership and parents to work on a focused initiative to break the cycle affecting these youths."

In an interview after the agreement was announced, Johnson (D) said he will hold a meeting within two weeks to lay out priorities for reaching teenagers and young men. "We will find people who have not previously been involved in the discussion, because everybody needs to be involved," he said. "This has to be a united effort."

The agreement was announced the same day Jackson spoke at Central High School in Capitol Heights, where students are still reeling from last week's slaying of 2006 graduate Maurice Powell, 19, shot in a robbery near the Addison Road Metro station. Another Central student, Khiry Montay Moore, 16, was arrested in connection with the crime.

Jackson urged the students to strive for success despite the obstacles they face.

"No matter how deep life's hole may be for you, you can dream your way out," he said before leading a call and response of his famous "I Am Somebody" mantra.

"Repeat after me, 'Respect me!' "

The students shouted their response.

"Protect me! Never neglect me! I am somebody!"

Thunderous applause followed.

Jackson also used the speech to discuss the problems affecting young black men, including a rising rate of HIV/AIDS, gun violence and rampant drug and alcohol use. He told the students that 10 states have dropout rates for black male teenagers that are nearly 50 percent, including Maryland and Virginia. He later invited all the students who were 18 or older to come forward, and he registered them to vote on the spot.

"This is a crisis that requires all of us to get involved in the struggle," Jackson said. "This month is March Madness, and many of the players you will see on the basketball courts winning games are African American males. But it will be May Sadness at graduation time."

As Jackson entered the Central gym just before 11 a.m., Dominique Brunson, 18, of Camp Springs and her friends pressed their faces against the cafeteria windows to get a glimpse of him.

"We just couldn't believe it," said Brunson, who is headed to Salisbury University in the fall to study finance. "I didn't know that much about him. . . . But then when I heard him say what he had done, I couldn't believe somebody like that would come to see us!"

Upper Marlboro residents Harun Jackson, 22, who attends Montgomery College, and Zakari Babaji, 19, a senior at Central, videotaped the program for their "The Blackest, Fliest Ever Show" cable program. The youths praised Jackson and Johnson for using Prince George's as a national laboratory to address the problems of youths.

"The number one problem . . . is that many of us are raised in poverty and that created the cycle of problems Rev. Jackson talked about," Harun Jackson said. "When someone lives in poverty, there is a lack of hope. . . . When you have no hope for your future, you don't prepare for it. Some young black men don't know how to find hope because they can't see it."