By Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com (610) 931-8810
Adam Beloff, Esquire
I am writing a short series of articles on the state of mind of black youth. The series is about how one attorney who has a private practice in Philadelphia plans to use one of the highest halls of justice to effectively deal with why young black men do so poorly in school. Adam Beloff's practice includes, divorce, alimony, child support, child custody, adoption, name changes, child relocation, asset protection, domestic violence, and related matters. He has worked on a program to reduce the tragic disconnection of thousands of black youths from successful urban American youth in general.
Beloff wants to change how the courts structure a decision, particularly the common pleas court, for black children who face factors like low incomes, joblessness, bad housing and poor schools. He wants county court justices to become more sensitive to black children as they live with many things that lead them to lacking reading and math skills. Courts should begin helping black males at a time when they suddenly find themselves in behavioral trouble that has very little to do with turning to illegal activities.
Adam has observed closely that many so-called absentee black fathers do find jobs. But then they find it very hard to get the courts to understand that withholding child-support payments from their wages in itself does not work toward improving black children literacy skills. Beloff is thinking about a process where child-support payments help young black men to no longer remain illiterate if and when this is the case. Beloff’s plan is to put black youth in solid positions so that regardless if adults seem to be hindered from accepting a job these job opportunities may be passed on to them. Why will Beloff’s plan work?
Adam has observed that academics have always been the route to success and a young man's positive state of mind. And if young men are raised on poverty it is a fair judgment that they can not be held responsible for their poverty. Beloff often shies away from the conservative view that a person's environment does not factor into induced problematic behaviors in black youth. Black youth are not always ready-made male self-destructive. Beloff believes that any black male youth shall have outcomes of a good attitude even when they may have been brutalized in their past. It’s fairness that will guarantee this.
One thing for sure, Beloff believes those cultural patterns, even if some appear to be extremely different than most urban cultures, can change for the improvement of young male’s environment. And economic factors must be dismantled within the court system so that black youth can make a solid shift back to the leadership mindset that their history tells us about. Justices should not assume that when young black males enter the courtroom they have the attitude of acting black. Justices should fully know that many black males are attending mixed-race schools. And that there is also a high number of white boys who either failed to graduate or didn’t go to college.
Beloff believes in a system where black boys and white boys in general both understand equally the consequences of not graduating or going on to college but often times the poor school system may choose quickly to give up on black boys. Working on a plan to support black men and women who have a high self-esteem and strong self-image using the courts is a good plan. Philadelphia needs fresh judges in the court of common pleas to make that plan work. Adam Beloff is running for Common Pleas Court Judge. On May 19, 2009, Primary Day, we should reach out to vote for Beloff to help change what is happening with black youth in the mainstream culture in the city.
