CNN Student News Transcript Special: Black in America

(CNN Student News) -- July 28, 2008

Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. I'm Carl Azuz and this is CNN Student News. Thanks for taking a vacation from your vacation to check out our latest summer Webcast. Today, we're focusing on a sensitive and sometimes controversial topic. But it's also part of our country's history, from slavery to the civil rights movement. Forty years after Dr. Martin Luther King's death, CNN has launched "Black in America." It's a huge project that examines stereotypes and statistics and asks what it means to be black in America today. These special reports investigate health issues, like the devastating toll of HIV and AIDS on the African-American community. They also explore the progress of black men and women in the professional world and the black middle class.

One of the biggest topics that "Black in America" addresses is education and the disparities between black and white students. Soledad O'Brien visited a school in New York that's working to close that gap.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Principal Elijah Hawkes of the James Baldwin School in New York City says his school has something most principals only dream about: a 94% graduation rate.

ELIJAH HAWKES, PRINCIPAL, JAMES BALDWIN SCHOOL: The only way one can do this work and do it well is if you believe that a student failing in your class is your responsibility.

O'BRIEN: It's a new public school, made up mostly of transfer students and paid for with taxpayer money. The classes are very small; just 17 seniors last year. But what's most surprising: many of the students were failing out before coming here. How bad were your grades?

MARK, STUDENT, JAMES BALDWIN SCHOOL: Failed every class.

O'BRIEN: Really?

MARK: Yeah.

O'BRIEN: So you came here as a failing student?

MARK: Yes.

O'BRIEN: What are your grades now?

MARK: It's like B-minus.

O'BRIEN: Your graduation rate is significantly higher than the average graduation rate in New York City public schools. With far fewer students, I'll give you, but much higher.

HAWKES: Having your voice heard can equate to passing your class.

O'BRIEN: Almost half the students are African-American. A Harvard University study shows black children start falling behind academically by age 3. A separate Harvard study found in urban areas, the average black student performs on a level about 4 years below his peers. Over a million students attend New York City public schools. About three-quarters are minorities and 70 percent are impoverished.

JOEL KLEIN, CHANCELLOR, NEW YORK SCHOOLS: For as long as anyone can remember in America, our African-American and Latino students are way underperforming white and Asian students.

O'BRIEN: Schools like Baldwin are fighting to change that.

MARK: I just thought if I could, like, if I was guided the right way, I would succeed.

O'BRIEN: The school's success proves size matters.

SHELLY OCTOBER, TEACHER, JAMES BALDWIN SCHOOL: Small schools are where it's at, where you can sort of delve into what a student is and who that student is and what they're all about. And I think that that's our core.

MARK: I had teachers on my butt, and I like that, 'cause I was never used to that. And they helped me change into a better person; they got me focused.

ROBERT RAYES, TEACHER, JAMES BALDWIN SCHOOL: They realize that we value that they're individuals, and for many of them that's a catalyst of their success here.

O'BRIEN: They're also helped by mandatory, week-long camping trips where students work to overcome challenges.

HAWKES: There's a lot of pushing and cajoling that leads up to students taking that trip and taking that leap of faith. And it's transformative for so many of them.

O'BRIEN: So transformative that a once-failing student is now planning for college.

MARK: I grew up a screw-up, so I'm not gonna, I'm gonna change the pattern, I'm gonna do something myself, go to school and make something of my life.

KLEIN: Baldwin isn't the end for these students. Baldwin is a step in the course of their academic career.

O'BRIEN: Beating the odds by focusing on individual needs. Soledad O'Brien, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO)

Is this Legit?

HARRY BEADLE, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Is this legit? One student drops out of high school every minute. This one's false; it's actually much worse. According to America's Promise Alliance, one American student drops out every 26 seconds.

Black in America

AZUZ: That adds up to more than a million dropouts a year. Only 70 percent of all high school students graduate in four years, but that number drops to just 50 percent for black students. Susan Roesgen reports on a charter school in Chicago that's trying to break that statistic by providing a safe place to learn in a tough part of town.

(BEGIN VIDEO)

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're chanting "we believe." But who are they?

D'ANGELO GARDNER, STUDENT, URBAN PREP ACADEMY: I had a real bad attitude towards like everybody. I didn't wanna talk, I didn't wanna do work. It was just hard and I didn't wanna be there.

ROESGEN: The odds were never good for 16-year-old D'Angelo Gardner. His father died of a heroin overdose when D'Angelo was nine. And by the 8th grade, he was caught up in a gang. D'Angelo was also part of a dire demographic: In Chicago, young black men have the highest school dropout rates. Fifty percent, half of them, will drop out of high school. Only 3% will finish college.

And that's not all. So far this year, nearly 30 Chicago public school students have been shot to death. In impoverished neighborhoods like Englewood, guns and gangs are a part of daily life. But Urban Prep Academy is a safe haven. This is a school for young black men, a glimmer of hope to get them off the streets and into the classroom. D'Angelo's mother did all she could to get him in to Urban Prep. It's a charter school. He and his fellow freshmen entered the school with a 6th grade reading level. Two years, later they've improved dramatically. D'Angelo says he used to be allergic to homework. Not anymore.

GARDNER: I still have to get my study habits up, but I touch books, I touch books now.

ROESGEN: Teacher Tre Childress has been at the school since day one. He says at first, D'Angelo and his classmates did not have the skills to think critically.

TRE CHILDRESS, TEACHER, URBAN PREP ACADEMY: They kind of wanted to just sit there and be spoonfed. Now, they want to actively be engaged in discussions, they want to debate each other and they're really performing at a high level as far as their own cognitive abilities.

ROESGEN: And it's not just academics students have embraced. They've also accepted their teachers as role models. Sophomore Marlon Marshall knows he's not alone here.

MARLON MARSHALL, STUDENT, URBAN PREP ACADEMY: When they see I'm not working to the best of my abilities, they pull me aside or they give me extra work, and they say "this is the level you need to be working on because this is where I see your ability at."

ROESGEN: As in many Chicago public schools, 90% of Urban Prep's students come from single-parent, female-headed households.

CHILDRESS: It's always great when they come and say "my young man was doing this and I was pulling my hair out. And now he's helping out around the house, helping with his brothers and sisters, he's more responsible." That makes you feel really good that they're living our creed at home and in the community. That definitely makes our chest stick out a little more.

ROESGEN: D'Angelo has changed. He hopes to inspire some of his old friends.

GARDNER: I tell them straight up, like, you have to do something else, not just hang in the neighborhood all the time. There's other things out there.

ROESGEN: And Marlon says, "When you hear opportunity knocking, let it in." He refuses to be a stereotype.

MARSHALL: Young black man who cannot graduate from high school, or go to college. A young black man better off in jail. They fall under that statistic because they don't have a motivation or push to stop them from doing whatever things they are doing to get them into that status.

ROESGEN: And motivation is just what they get at Urban Prep. Susan Roesgen, CNN, Chicago.

(END VIDEO)

Promo

AZUZ: If you missed the most recent "Black in America" specials, The Black Woman and Family and The Black Man, we'll be re-airing those programs. Go to CNN.com/blackinamerica for air dates and times. While you're there, check out our discussion guide at CNNStudentNews.com. It has questions and activities parents can use to help young people understand the issues facing black America.

Spoken Word

STUDENT: Being black in America means just being beautiful, embracing oneself, loving oneself and just being true to yourself.

STUDENT: It means being able to overcome adversity.

STUDENT: Holding yourself at a higher standard. We are a part of a minority group in the United States of America. That means we have to work harder, fight harder and actually hold ourselves at a higher standard and treat ourselves with respect in order to move forward.

STUDENT: It's like the famous quote goes, it's "being a spectator at your own lynching." Not to say that it's all negative, but honestly, being black in America, you have to locate a pride within yourself that stems from struggle. And that pride can lead to power, which can then lead to revolution.

STUDENT: I think it's time for us as a country to unite and stop talking about black America and white America, and become an America; a country of one.

Black in America - HBCU Tour

AZUZ: Some thoughts there from students at HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Earlier this year, CNN traveled to some of the country's most well-known HBCUs and held a campus iReporter contest. Participants were challenged to create their own videos about what it means to be black in America. The winning entry came from Travers Johnson, a senior at Morehouse College. His iReport examined whether it's a good time to be young and black in America.

Goodbye

AZUZ: You can find his video in the Spotlight section on our home page. And head to our blog to share your thoughts on today's program, which has reached its end. One more summer Webcast to go. We'll see you then from CNNStudentNews.com.