Panel researches black males' status
by SARAH CHACKO - Advocate (excerpt)

More black males in Louisiana are incarcerated or fall victim to homicide than white males, officials with an educational research center said Thursday. And the amounts by which black males surpass their white counterparts in those and other unfavorable areas are drastic enough to warrant special attention, said state Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans.

“African-American males are last in just about every category that measures the ability for success,” Richmond said.

The Council on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys, which met Thursday at the State Capitol, plans to release a preliminary report June 1 on how black males in Louisiana are currently faring. Chairman Calvin Mackie, a former Tulane University professor, said that data will show where the biggest needs are and direct the council’s full report, due by February 2010.