(washingtonpost.com) “Jesse Jackson and Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson yesterday announced a plan to use the county as a laboratory” for addressing the problems plaguing young African American men.

Under the agreement, county officials and Jackson’s RainbowPUSH Coalition will create a task force of educators, parents, lawyers, business leaders and elected officials to address such problems as the high rates of illiteracy, teen fatherhood, crime, imprisonment, unemployment, poverty and high school dropouts.

The solutions developed here — with the resources and leadership of a well-educated, black middle class — could be exported across the country much as Selma and Montgomery, Ala., were used as staging grounds for civil rights fights in the 1960s, Jackson said.

“The problem of young black males in this country is a national crisis,” Jackson said. “We will convene a group consisting of leadership and parents to work on a focused initiative to break the cycle affecting these youths.” (more…)