For some of us, coming home from school without any homework was no good. Inexcusable. Downright offensive. To go home without homework meant either two things: you did it ahead of time (glory to you) or, reasonably condemning, you weren’t serious about your education. To parents, being black and not serious about education is a violation to everything ever worked for.
So it should be to no surprise that a high percentage of black parents check to see that their children’s homework is done. At 83 percent, black parents checked for homework at higher rates than other groups including, Hispanic (76 percent), Asian (59 percent) and White (57 percent), according to a new book called Black Stats.
Black Stats, by author and Oakland-based academic Monique Morris, explores data that a lot of folks have wrong about the black community. Even then-Senator Barack Obama got it wrong when he said: “we have more black men in prison than we have in our colleges.” This statement is untrue.
In fact, the number of blacks ages 25 and older with a college degree or more has quintupled since 1970, from four percent to 20 percent over the last 40 years. And by the numbers, the total black men in prison in 2010 were 844,600 compared to 1,341,354 black men enrolled in postsecondary education.
“There’s a lot of information that floats in the public domain about black America,” Morris told the Mother Jones, adding that a large amount of damaging numbers get tossed around without context.
Morris hopes Black Stats will debunk persistent myths and reset misleading narratives, and explores areas like sexual identity in the black community that usually goes untold.
In a fun fact mentioned on HBCUs, Black Stats shows that a higher percentage of students at these colleges pitch in on community service more often than students at residential colleges and liberal arts schools.
According to the data, 61 percent of students at historically black colleges and universities show higher rates of community service than their peers. For instance, historically black Howard University in Washington, DC recently appeared on a list of colleges with the most volunteers to the Peace Corps, ranking 16th among medium-size schools.
“The DNA of the Peace Corps is service. Howard’s motto is Veritas et Utilitas ‘Truth and Service’ so this accolade really emphasizes the commitment of Howard students and alumni to service,” said Howard Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick.
