About a week ago I told you about the launch of NewsOne.com, the new venture from Cathy Hughes and Radio One. I’ve been keeping a very close eye on their content and although they got off to a slow start, man have they revved up the engine.

In the wake of the Sean Bell (what he calls) murder case, NewsOne contributor, Mark Anthony Neal discusses the black on black murder in his piece, The Chicago Shootings: Why Black Men Kill Each Other.

Neal sites recent Department of Justice figures that indicate that black males aged 18-24 have the highest homicide rates in the country and are more often then not killing their black male peers. His article focuses on the 36 shootings including 9 murders which occurred over the course of a single weekend in Chicago. As he points out, many of the incidents were gang-related involving young black men.

The reason why I found the article particularly credible is that Neal immediately dismisses the usual Rap music scapegoat and instead focuses his attention to a phenomenon called Hypermasculinity which he defines as “behaviors or performances that amplify the already masculine aspects of male identity.” Neal identifies this Hypermasculinity as the sole “tangible source of power and respect” of which the black male without much more can tap into.

I won’t spoil it for you. Neal obviously does a much better job than I could have. I encourage all of you to read it and add the NewsOne.com RSS feed to your readers.