Recommend this article  With black unemployment reaching
historic levels, banks laying off tens of thousands and law
school graduates waiting tables, why aren't more African-
Americans looking toward science, technology, engineering and
math _ the still-hiring careers known as STEM?  The answer turns
out to be a complex equation of self-doubt, stereotypes,
discouragement and economics _ and sometimes just wrong
perceptions of what math and science are all about.    Yet the
situation is most acute for African-Americans.       "White men
make up less than 50 percent of the U.S. population. We're
drawing (future scientists) from less than 50 percent of the
talent we have available," says Mae Jemison, the first black
woman astronaut, who has a medical degree and a bachelor's in
chemical engineering.  "The more people you have in STEM," she
says, "the more innovations you'll get."    Allen Gordon has
been teaching math in Oakland, Calif., for seven years. He
always tries to apply real-word situations to his lessons