Jose Evans said he graduated from his private high school with a grade point average of 3.8.
He became the executive director of the Indiana Commission on the Social Status of Black Males in 2003. He was the director of Minority and Women's Business with the City of Indianapolis in 2004.
He just began his career as a sales representative for Indianapolis' successful Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.
However, as a black man in American society, life hasn't always been easy, Evans told an audience of more than 70 Ball State University students Wednesday night at Cardinal Hall.
"Every black man you see in college has gone through some things," Evans said. "Before birth, it was already stacked against them not to make it."
Evans described the struggles of today's black men in his speech titled, "The War Against Black Men: The Social Status of Black Men and What Black Women Can Do to Support Us in the Struggle," as part of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity's week of events.
Like the 70 percent of black children who are born out of wedlock, Evans said he also grew up in a single-parent household.
Even with a 3.8 high school GPA, Evans said he wasn't accepted into the University of Notre Dame because his SAT score was too low. When he entered Youngstown State University in Ohio, his GPA dropped from 3.8 down to a 1.9 before he entered the University of Indianapolis, he said.
Evans said Indianapolis' public school system currently has the number one dropout rate in the country, with only 23 percent of black males graduating. Only 1.2 percent of black males make up the teaching staff in Indiana's public schools, he said.
"So you can really go to school and never see a black teacher," Evans said. "I'm a product of that."
Evans said many black children, especially males, are criticized for their dress and hairstyles, labeled hyperactive, often placed in lower reading groups, questioned about their low family income levels and expected to speak ebonics, or "black English."
"I have no answer to what women can do to help African-American males or what African-American males can do to help themselves," Evans said. "But I know I had a lot of problems, but it was because of my friends and my loved ones in my life that I could get through."
Junior Arriel Stevens said far too many black men use negative statistics as an excuse for not succeeding academically and professionally.
"Do not let society stigmatize you with statistical data," Stevens said. "That's what right-wing politicians use to alienate black males."
Senior Mahogany Moore said many black men allow society's negative views of them to hold them back, and more black women should support them in their attempts to move forward in today's society.
"Black males are still thinking we live in a completely dominated white man's world," Moore said. "What women can do to help is uplift and just try to take charge (in) powerful positions and show that even though we're the minority, we can still get things taken care of."
Senior Marques Moore, president of Ball State's chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, said he was pleased with the outcome of the speech.
"It was a good presentation," he said. "I just think it's a hard question to answer ... You just have to try to stray away from the facts and try to rebuild history and try to reset a foundation with others."
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