One hundred years ago, a group of intellectuals led by W.E.B. DuBois gathered at Atlanta University for the ninth in a series of annual meetings that probed the condition of blacks in this country.

Beginning in 1896, these meetings, called the Atlanta Conferences for the Study of the Negro Problem, concentrated each year on a single issue, like the high mortality rate among blacks and the lack of our political power.

In 1904 and again in 1914, the topic was the high crime rate in black communities. DuBois hoped that by continually looking at some of black America’s most intractable problems, “a body of sociological materials unsurpassed in human annals” would be gathered – and that solutions would flow.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta conferences ended in 1915, but crime in the nation’s black communities continues to be a vexing problem – one that again cries out for serious analysis by a distinguished gathering of black intellectuals.

I thought about the need for such an introspective look at crime in the black community a few days ago, when I saw the most recent listing of the nation’s “Most Dangerous Cities.” The list is generated annually by the Morgan Quitno Press, an independent research group and publishing company.

Morgan Quitno bases its rankings on the FBI’s crime statistics in six categories: murder, rape, robbery, burglary, aggravated assault and car theft.

Of the top 15 cities on the “most dangerous” list this year, 12 have majority black populations (Camden, N.J.; Detroit, Atlanta, St. Louis, Mo., Gary, Ind., Washington, D.C., New Orleans, Richmond, Va., Birmingham, Ala., Baltimore, Memphis and Jackson, Miss.).

In two of the cities (Hartford, Conn., and Richmond, Calif.) blacks and Hispanics combine to make up a majority of the population. Only one of the cities (Tampa, Fla.) has a majority non-Hispanic white population.

I know that by pointing this out, I’ll anger many of my liberal friends who think high crime rates in black communities are a byproduct of the political neglect and economic disenfranchisement of many blacks.

While I agree that these factors produce the tainted soil from which criminal behavior grows, it doesn’t explain why there is a higher level of crime in these majority black cities than in places where whites make up most of the population.

In raw numbers, most poor people in this country are white, not black. Most of the nation’s unemployed are white, though a higher percentage of blacks are jobless. There are more white people on welfare, more white high school dropouts and more whites than blacks on death row.

So why do so many majority-black cities top the list of this nation’s most dangerous cities?

I don’t know the answer, but I’d like to get to the bottom of this enigma. I’m sure that some people would simply say it’s because blacks are a criminal class. But that answer is uninformed – and it’s as misguided as liberals’ desire to avoid public acknowledgement of the issue.

Just as DuBois tried to dissect this issue a century ago, some of this country’s finest black minds should come together now to determine the causes – and solutions – for this problem. Crime is a greater threat to many black neighborhoods than poor housing, crumbling schools and joblessness.

While blacks have little control over the condition of inner city housing, the state of public schools and the availability of jobs, we do have control over our own actions.

So where does the breakdown occur? What are the factors that cause murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, aggravated assaults and car thefts to happen at an alarming rate in cities where blacks are a majority of the population?

In the century since DuBois’ Atlanta conferences first addressed the issue of crime in the black community, a lot has changed. Blacks have made a lot of gains. But despite this progress, many blacks remain mired in the bog of poverty. And too many blacks commit serious crimes that are as threatening to the gains we’ve made as is this nation’s lingering racism.