"Although the overall rate of homicide in the United States remains relatively low, the landscape is quite different for countless Americans living, and some dying, in violence-infested neighborhoods," ~James Alan Fox, Criminologist~
Gee, ya think? I know that most of you have seen or heard about this study by now. The one that talks about the shocking state of teenage black on black violence in this country. Especially among young black men. I won't bore you with the numbers. As is usually the case in these types of reports, they are staggering. A 40% rise in black teen killings since 2000, and almost 964 black males between the ages of 14-17 committed fatal shootings in 2007 alone. I could go on of course, but you get the idea. And none of our major cities are immune from this deadly plague. From Oakland to Boston, we all suffer.
It's funny, at a time when most of you are outraged at Israeli aggression in the Middle East, which has unfortunately caused innocent civilians to lose their lives. Right here in your own country young boys who look like you are losing their lives to the streets, and some of you don't seem to give a damn. You are passionate about human rights in the "Holy Land" but not about the right of our children to live past 21 here at home. Thanks to the policies of the right; social programs, local police and juvenile crime prevention programs, and other key local government programs geared to help keep kids off the mean streets, have been cut. So while the frat boy was keeping us safe from Al-Qaeda, he forgot to protect our children from each other, and from the killing fields of urban A-merry-ca.
I keep a running side bar of the killings here in Philadelphia, and I guarantee you that in about 362 days it will be over 300. Of that 300 80% of those murders will have been committed by young black men. Why? The code of the streets? Poverty? Poor families at home? A poor educational system?A prevalent Hip Hop culture? I have heard all of the excuses and possible causes, and yet the senseless violence continues.
Which begs the question: If we have all the answers why aren't we doing anything about it? Why aren't we investing more resources into the problem? Because it's young black men killing each other? Because most of these crimes take place far away from the WSZ? (That's white safety zone for those of you who aren't familiar with field speak) Or because most of them weren't going to be productive members of society so they are disposable? See all the questions I have tonight? I have all these questions because every time I think I have some answers, I see a report like this which just frustrates the hell out of me all over again.
I don't have kids, but I always wonder what will become of the next generation of black boys.----The ones who are just coming into this world--- Will they kill each other and others like this group? Will they still have very little respect for their lives and that of others around them? Will they walk away from their families like those who brought them here walked away from them?
Damn it questions again. And for once I wish I had some answers.
very simply answer and everyone reading this knows it, the breakdown of the black family. millions of black kids born and tossed aside by one or both parents.
ReplyDeleteat some point we all have to grow-up and take responsiblity for ourselves that is unless we've been rasied to believe that our problems are caused by someone else. anyone pick a race, sex, religion or mean old white prez. ladies and gentlemen it's your resonsiblity to take care ourseleves and our KIDS!
as long as any race continuies with the denial like the black race has the slaughter of their youth will continuie. sad truly sad.
Realist
Field, these kids are not something out of Oliver Twist. We should lament, and be outraged, but the outrage should be directed at the sources of this behavior inside the homes and communities. Structurally yeah--Mr. Charlie lurks behind the scenes. But the beast is the nihilism and warped culture of the streets, and how it feeds into and off of the ranker elements of black pop culture.
ReplyDeleteField,
ReplyDeleteThis was my comment on your post "The Bullet or the Burger?":
"IMO, black murderers have replaced the old KKK lynch mob. They are much better at killing and terrorizing Blacks in greater numbers than the KKK ever dreamed of.
Apparently no one cares. Otherwise, there would be an uproar in the Black community.
After MLK, the Black community has consistently shown a lack of moral courage and potency to do what's necessary--STOP THE MURDERING OF ITS YOUNG ONES.
It FEELS hopeless".
Yep... That was my comment THEN, and NOW. Just because it's 2009 and Obama is about to be President, doesn't mean attitudes in Black community is going to magically change.
BTW, I like the title of your post. However, I think the title "Lost Race" would work just as well since those young boys dying year after year in greater numbers impacts the future of the Black race. And the future doesn't look good.
AND NOBODY CARES! So, Field, does that SINGLE answer cover ALL of your questions?
Its not denial. No adult wants to step up. It's everybody waiting for some fairy godmother to change the parents, make black fathers stay and black women marry. Family dysfunction is not a cause for murder, if that be the case, we would have a lot more. Our children have no one to count on. There have to be volunteers for programs to exist and it has to be more black male adult participation.
ReplyDeleteThe black church needs to step up. It needs to deal with black people as they are and not as some first century Hebrews. They need to look realistically at families, sex, AIDS, and drug use.
If some hip hop clothing enterprise would create jobs in the community instead of sending overseas, that would provide an option for some. For what we pay for clothes we certainly could pay a living wage to produce them. Why are the small manufacturing jobs in the suburbs?
Not any of this would change things overnight, but would be a start.
"It is better to light one candle, than to curse the darkness"
Chinese Proverb
When a murder in Newark NJ is reported on the Star-Ledger - almost aways black on black violence - the racist vitriol poured out by anonymous commenters is stomach churning. As if this violence will suddenly overspread white suburbs, & of course it rarely does. & when there's a positive story out of Newark, murder rate down, community outdoor dances & festivals with no crime, those same racists show up in the comments, with the same shit. They create hopelessness, too.
ReplyDeleteOur hearts are broken here in Oakland... and like you, we have no answers, but we keep putting our hope in those who believe they do; only to be disappointed again and again.
ReplyDelete~
ReplyDeletefield-negro, excuse my naiveté please; I thought it t'was general knowledge among the North American Negroe that Lincoln wanted to send all of the freed slaves to Haiti; of course yah boi Obama is playing a game with white folk. CRSTAL (sic) is telling me no thing new; but then again for you field and your negro entourage, this may be news.
With regards to black youth killing other black youth, the solution is that there is no solution. Where is the money going to come from to pay for the social programs you advocate? You going to take the annual $5B to Israel and the annual $3B to Egypt and move it over to Negroe youth pacification?
field, do you have the functioning brain cells to comprehend the financial mess this country is in? Mayhap, not. The US borrows money from the Chinese to finance itself. $500B to $600B, so far.
Imagine borrowing money from China to finance the US Africa Command, a command that is in Africa to thwart the Chinese. Imagine borrowing money from the Chinese to pay off people in the mid-east. Alexander the Great bought people off; now we buy people off, the Iraqi Surge = buying people off. Aid for the Palestinians, borrowed money; Egypt and Israel, borrowed money. Fighting AIDS in Africa, borrowed money. Negro tie it in a knot and put a lock on your zipper. Negress, keep your legs crossed, and then cross your ankles.
The coming US economic stimulus package will come from borrowed money; $850B to $1T projected borrowings. Hmmm, I wonder where that kind of borrowed cash is going to come from? You, field?
And now, field, you want more borrowed money for a bunch of punk-negro-dogs; kill them.
That's correct, euthanize them negroes, because if you don't, they just keep multiplying.
Euthanize them as if they were unwanted dogs and unwanted cats; put birth-control in their bird-feed as is done with the unwanted pigeon and city-sparrow population.
NSangoma
`
May be we black folks need to get our SHIT TOGETHER.
ReplyDeleteWhat does "the break down of the black family" have to do ethics and a high regard for human life?
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to two parents to teach a child the importance of these two concepts.
It boils down to responsibility. Single parents, both parents, teachers et al need to start teaching children to internalize the importance of responsibility.
This starts and ends in the home. If every Black parent took an active interest in their child's life, things would be much different.
ReplyDeleteWe took an active role in our child's life and had two rules in our house that could not be broken: no drugs, no crime.
We made sure to be there for him if he was about to get into a car with a drunk driver and we screened all of his friends before he left our house in their cars.
Didn't take that much time out of lives and was worth every minute. But you know, field, from your day job, that you can't legislate or embarrass folks into doing what is right.
The Palestinian/Israeli thing seems to be government on government (or at least the Hamas leadership) and that can be affected by legislation and embarrassment and therefore it is easier to deal with...but getting our brothers and sisters to deal with their kids; not so easy.
I can't tell you how many folks I had curse me out because I brought my concerns about how their children were treating my property and their lives. Can't do more than that.
But thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Hmmmm... The problem has been something for decades. But, who really cares about young black males killing themselves? ahhhh... Nobody. The situation can be deterred with real parenting and education. I come to a conclustion that it will take three things for this situation to be eridacted.
ReplyDelete1. The educatiional system in the Inner-city is BUllshit
2. Get rid of the dummies in city goverment(Have you ever noticed cities with high crime rate have dumb ass city administration?)
3. Irrespnosible breeding(How many of these murderers have come from a messed-up home?)
4. What will ever happen to inner city, if it ever cleaned itself up?
(A lot of people will be out of business. rappers, prisons, and race baiting politicians
5. we are also going have to stop to looking at one white redneck for one murder. while we are killing each other at alarming rate. www.nola.com/crime - Please go there and look at the murders... All black
P.S. I love your blog and read it on a daily basis.
I almost went to Southern Law School.
This is a heartless sin. Our youth are being killed and murdered daily. Yet, judging from the lack of response, the message to these kids is: "GOOD RIDDANCE--YOU ARE NOT WANTED ANYWAY."
ReplyDeleteIf humans don't care about the lives of children, then children won't care about the lives of humans. Our children are our answers to life, society and the world. If the black community cannot love and care for its children, then that community has lost its moral values. It has become a "spiritual desert".
This is an outrage-it makes me ashamed to be Black.
While I agree that it's important to strengthen the home, I DON'T agree that is where the entire responsibility for a young person's life rests. Schools and communities need to be strengthened. Teachers need to be able to establish and maintain strong, healthy, disciplined relationships with their students. Social programs at the local level need to be funded, maintained, and staffed by good people. We need to start being our brothers' keepers in that we look out for one another and do what we need to do to maintain the quality of community that we all strive for. It's not just the parents.
ReplyDelete1. The solution is Education( Do you see the enoromous rate of indian americans in College and universities?) we have to stress that to the kids... Nobody is holding them back but the community.
ReplyDelete2. Churches(they could do a better job in the community and stop with there stranglehold on the citizens with fear.)
3. Nobody want to whip there kids ass anymore... WHat is with with this Dr. Phil parenting? These kids act too damn grown.
Field, another good thought-provoking post. Folks are having demonstrations and everything about Gaza, but we've got killing going on at crisis levels right here at home.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what the answer is. There's a thug-looking dude that rents the house next door and when I went outside on New Year's Day, I looked over at his car in the driveway and there were 7 bullet holes in the drivers side door. What do I do? Do I knock on his door and try to talk w/ him about what is going on? Do I talk w/ him about the plight of black-on-black violence?
Honestly, I'm scared of him. He wears that sagging pants, oversized white t-shirt ensemble. I just get a feeling that he's up to no good. I feel cheated in some way, here I am got a master's degree, go to work everday, pay a mortgage, and I've got to look at them bullet holes everday and worry if some fools are going to drive down the street and spray the house next door w/ bullets.
Field honestly I don't know. A couple of days after Christmas we got a robo-call from the police department because 3 black kids did a couple of armed robberies in my subdivision. In both instances they made the victims lie on the ground in their driveway, one of them put a gun to the back of their head while the other ones robbed them. Then as they pulled off, they fired off couple of shots as they drove away. In one robbery it shattered the rear window and in the other one the bullets hit the garage door.
This is unreal. Somebody else commented about the lack of response from the churches. I tend to agree w/ this. The black church used to stand up in the midst of overwhelming odds during the civil rights movement. I've read a couple of Taylor Branch's books on the movement and the black church was nothing short of heroic during that time. They faced down death, bombings, beatings. Now it seems like when I go to church, I'm hearing a whole lot about the building fund, or robbing God by not paying tithes, and next to nothing about transformation of the epidemic of black-on-black crime in our community. Maybe thats it, if some of these churches didn't worry about buildings and gave more than a token effort at re-educating our young black males, things might start getting better.
The country is a mess. Period.
ReplyDeleteI live in a suburb of Rochester, NY and last year we saw 42 murders in the city. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about Los Angeles or Chicago. Rochester's dwindling population now stands at 200,000 residents. This is why we moved out of the city and into a suburb. The crime in the city is terrifying.
Today is January 4th -- the new year isn't quite yet 72 hours old and there have already been two murders in Rochester and like most of 2008's murders, the police can't solve the crimes because the eyewitnesses refuse to name names.
The street culture in Rochester, NY is utterly ridiculous. Just last night on the local news, they profiled a mother of one of last year's murder victims. She lost her son and while the shooting was witnessed by at least a half a dozen people, no one will come forward to "snitch." Preferring instead to protect the boy's killer(s.)
Did someone say kids need more whippings? A lot of these kids are getting whippings, and did get whipped, and their parents scream at them and until their throats are sore, and the kids still act a fool on the street and in school. A whipping ain't going to do a lick of good without the parenting behind it.
ReplyDeleteMore on whippings. Could the whippings and beatings some of these kids receive at home be one of the problems with the violence in the streets. Why would a young man have any regard for someone else's being when their mama is beating his ass with a belt, or even going whoops upside his head with a frying pan, at home?
ReplyDeleteThe areas and families that these youth live in have produced a sense of nihilism at its worst.
ReplyDeleteEnding the war on drugs and its associated black market would help. I would say 75% of these murder are related to control of drug territory and the like. Legalize it.
ReplyDeleteThe right wing defunding of programs is a feature, not a bug.
ReplyDeleteOne way to induce behaviours is to co-opt the evildoers. What stake do these young folk have in the greater society? Will they lose their hard-earned status with 'ghetto' activities? Do they have Master's that took time and effort or do they have nothing to lose?
Our brethren to the south gave the guerillas a portion of society. with the elections of folks like Chavez and redistribution of wealth, the violence has ebbed
Mold
Come on, get real! Young people have always had beefs, the difference now is that it is over the economics of drugs. #1 Stop the drugs from entering the community - which the government can do if it wants to, and #2 control the guns coming into the community.
ReplyDeleteIf we can regulate the sale and history of automobiles, we certainly can do so for guns and when crimes are committed find out its history. So to solve this problem we have to deal with the problem behind the problem which always comes down to money.
There is no will to stop the problem or else we would. There is no outrage at the loss of black lives as you said Field. If so, let homeland security stop the flow of drugs and get a gun bill or regulation enacted like we do for other consumer items.
As a 20 plus inner city school teechur I'll testify that my own city Buffalo has a black super who outsourced our alternative school to his buddies in maryland who used a bogus program more aimed at convicts and addicts that included nothing of a therapeutic talk and conflict resolution component. After these clowns taught the wrong curriculae with their ingenious software that didn't even prepare kids for basic state competencies they collected the better part of 7 million bucks before the Board finally ran them off. This school took in the city's most troubled kids and wasted their time in an attempt to warehouse them. Their attendance ran around 50% and 2 days before xmas break they came in and ripped out all of their computers and books leaving teachers with virtually nothing. If this is how a black super does his own people ( and who are we kidding we all know the majority color of the kids in that school ) what hope is there but in people doing for themselves ? Also as one who has tried to reach out to certain parents of troubled kids it's a pretty close correlation that the worst behaved kids come from the worst home lives. The parents who won't lift a finger to discipline to teach their kids anything are the first ones trying to sniff out a lawsuit if they think someone else did their job for them. BTW this crosses all color lines. Peace.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be a recurring theme here; THE HOME. If these kids don’t get the proper nurturing at home they absolutely will not come to school and learn.
ReplyDeleteIt’s a cycle the young black male gets behind in school at an early age and doesn’t want to look ignorant in front of his classmates so, he starts acting up in class to look (bad). Then he ends up in an off campus school then eventually ends up quitting turning to street life rather than a respectable law-abiding job.
It has to start at home and no it certainly doesn’t have to be a conventional two parent home but just image how (and I’m sure some of you know) how it must feel to have a parent (most likely) father not want you?
No amount of government or social programs can solve this it has to start in the HOME!
Maybe we should be talking to the kids who don't sell drugs, don't shoot, don't want to be thugs, do graduate, and do try to be positive in their communities. Truth is that even on the meanest streets, there are good kids who are striving to make it. Seems we always focus on the negative and not the positive. Ask them why they have made the choices they make. What do THEY think needs to happen to encourage their peers to make the same kinds of choices. Hightlight their achievements instead of the droning death toll that we then all become immune to.
ReplyDeleteJust a thought.
JP, and Revvy Rev. make good points about the drug game. I am sure it is responsible for a large amoun of the killings that have been going on. In fact, here in Philly I know that it is.
ReplyDeleteMs. Chillie, how do we make our schools better? I am serious, I don't want to leave just you with a tough question, because I agree with you. But I really wonder what else can be done at this point.
Nsangoma, what does Lincoln wanting to send free slaves to Haiti have to do with what's happening now?
And as for your other solution?
"Euthanize them as if they were unwanted dogs and unwanted cats; put birth-control in their bird-feed as is done with the unwanted pigeon and city-sparrow population."
Well, I know that you are trying to make a point by pointing out the extreme. But you know what? I have actually considered the constitutional boundries of forced sterilization.
rob, sorry to hear about your thug of a neighbor. It is disheartening. Here you are paying your mortgage, going to work everyday and you have to put up with some New Jack shit right next door. Not cool. :(
"If humans don't care about the lives of children, then children won't care about the lives of humans. Our children are our answers to life, society and the world. If the black community cannot love and care for its children, then that community has lost its moral values. It has become a 'spiritual desert'."
Great point anon. As much as I get frustrated and want to at times, we just can't right these young heads off. But i honestly wish the people who brought them here (Like the HNOTD, for instance) would care more about them as well.
"It is better to light one candle, than to curse the darkness"
Hathor,those are words to live by.
The key is overhauling the waste in the community.
ReplyDeletei.e.- Why is that in the inner city, the imcompent government are always blacks? No republicans are killing us in the inner city (They have moved to the suburbs for safety.)
1. I have written numorous programs that have been shelf within the community becuase of fear from inner-city politicians that play the race card and etc.
I'm finally starting to get it... Most of these officials wouldn't dare try some of their stunts in more affluent communties. they only use it in communities in-which they can get away with these B.S.
The blame has to stop with some republicans or some toothless redneck.
Birmingham-108 murders- majority black on black crime
New Orleans-- Too many to count.
comparsion for the failure
1. Bad educational system (the teachers are terribly overworked with too many students to deal with (35 students in one class and try teaching that.)
2. Incompentent administration- The school board and city administationn are messed up.
3. Lawlessness-
My list could go on and on...
http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/List_of_Birmingham_homicides_in_2008
ReplyDeleteCheck out homicide 44-48. A whole family was wiped out for one's stupidy to beat the system and sell drug. A 11 and 12 year brothers wiped out for their stepfather's stupidity
Another point about the location of violence that I thought about when Christopher said he moved to the burbs to escape it. The burbs are not immune, and in fact if we see high gas prices and the foreclosure mess continues the suburbs are going to be the worse than the traditional inner city. What I see happening here New York is the crime that was associated with inner city nabes like Bed-Stuy and Harlem have moved out towards middle-class Queens and Long Island as the poor have been displaced by the gentrification of those areas. Eventually what you may see is a thriving wealthy urban center, a wealthy exurbia and hell in between. The city might be the place for people go rather than flee.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you that haven't read Freakanomics, please go and get it read the chapter on the inner city drug game. The person who wrote also a book on the topic that I'll probably try and get and read too. His study to me makes the most sense of anyone who ever studied this problem.
ReplyDelete~
ReplyDeletefield, your synchophants are out-of-step and missing your beat; that is to say, you are in trouble when your thinking is more akin to mine than to your Negroes.
There is no place for these thug negroes in the coming world; hell, there is no place for them in the world we have now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
Not just fornicate them, matrilineally fornicate them!
NSangoma
`
The author name Sudhir Venkatesh and his book is called "Gang Leader for a day".
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/Gang-Leader-Day-Sociologist-Streets/dp/014311493X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231086893&sr=8-2
I have thought about this more than once. It is a shame that this is going on and no one really wants to help. Mothers that really raise their children cry daily. It is just something I feel that the government don't really care. I wish it gets better. Every time I see a young man that has no respect for himself or others, I try talking to them and they look at me like I am half crazy. I am that, but it is because I care...
ReplyDeleteAnd what is your point anonymouse?
ReplyDeleteI would really like to see somebody put a bullet in your head, and your kids too.
People like you are a menace to society. You sit behind a keyboard sprouting your racist shit, commenting on my people like we don't have the right to be alive.
I live in an all-black neighborhood, and my neighbors don't scare me one bit. I know for a fact none of my neighbors will kidnap/rape/eat my children or take out my family for insurance money. Everyone has an answer to our problems but no one gives a damn to lift a finger. It's easy to blame ourselves and say it all starts at home, in school, in church,etc. But how many productive people actually come out of a household that doesen't have basic necessities, like heat, lights,furniture among other things. I was raised in brownsville,brooklyn, one of the toughest neighborhoods in new york. I slept on the floor until I was about 12, then my moms moved out of the house and left me. Since the age of 12, I pretty much raised myself. After 7 years of living from place to place, I finally became full fledged homeless for 2 years. thank god I came up out of that shit, and it wasn't because of no white man. I probably would of been dead or in jail if it wasn't for the various people that opened up their homes to me. Might I add, not one single family that helped me was white. I am now a husband and father working a full time job. I love my people regardless of what you anonymouse, or any of your ilk want me to believe about myself. Its people like YOU that contribute to problems in the black race.
I think that we need to take a strong look at our educational system and what we're doing to educate our children.
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of educated kids have the vision to see a bright future for themselves and therefore have something to live for. They aren't as willing to make silly mistakes that will directly influence their long-term futures.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/dec/22/football-fantasies/
Even if the kid doesn't graduate from college, a few years "away from the hood" can give them the perspective needed to stay away from the drug and violence lifestyle.
shabass.... booo fucking hooo
ReplyDeleteEveryone has an answer to our problems but no one gives a damn to lift a finger.
What the fuck are YOU doing, you love your people sooo, much.
Self Fucking Responciblity....
I agree that we need to vastly improve educational resources and youth programs but personally, I have no sympathy for lazy-brained murdering thugs and their enablers.
ReplyDeleteBeing a long time Oakland, Ca. native, I've seen more than my share of this crap.
There are more positive black role models today than in any time in our history so there are no valid excuses here for all of this mayhem. The examples of dignity and hard work are everywhere but they aren't the ones that get the press.Why? Because the thugs and knuckleheads get it all.
Maybe this is just seperating the husk from the wheat.
The time has finally come to stop making excuses for the bad behavior of our people and start pushing back hard against the "thug life" glorified by the media (including black media i.e. BET) and the shitty, low talent entertainers.
We must hold OURSELVES responsible for the dumbing down of our culture and our kids and stop blaming racism and whites. Time to stop whining.
And please, enough of the useless prayer vigils when some thug gets bumped and the obligitory news stories about how "DiShawn" was a good kid and was "getting his life back together for his 8 kids and their 6 momma's.
Please!
actually anonyasshole, if I was boo hooing I would be in the same predicament (homeless, jobless,etc.)
ReplyDeleteAnd to answer YOUR question, I am in the process of starting a job training program in the south, and my wife has a non profit organization called Abandoned But Not Alone Ministry which is dedicated to providing assistance and support for foster care children, homeless/poor youth, as well as assistance and drug counseling for the parents. I have a BA in business and currently my wife is earning her degree in clinical psychology and world religions(minor).
How's the trailer park treating you these days anonymouse?
"We must hold OURSELVES responsible for the dumbing down of our culture"
ReplyDeleteI wonder what culture you are talking about?
We adapted to a culture that is foreign to us .We lost our identities our religions even our names that identify us was choosen for us.
What is happening today are the sequels of SLAVERY
"And please, enough of the useless prayer vigils when some thug gets bumped and the obligitory news stories about how "DiShawn" was a good kid and was "getting his life back together for his 8 kids and their 6 momma's.
ReplyDeletePlease!"
AMEN!!!
Shabazz, nice to hear that you and your wife are not just talking but walking the walk.
JP, I have read "Freakanomics", it's an interesting read. The part about most drug dealers living at home because they really don't make that much money was interesting.
"And please, enough of the useless prayer vigils when some thug gets bumped and the obligitory news stories about how "DiShawn" was a good kid and was "getting his life back together for his 8 kids and their 6 momma's.
ReplyDeletePlease!"
AMEN!!!
Shabazz, nice to hear that you and your wife are not just talking but walking the walk.
JP, I have read "Freakanomics", it's an interesting read. The part about most drug dealers living at home because they really don't make that much money was interesting.
Damn, sorry for the double up folks.:( I was too quick with the enter key. My "Iggles" are getting ready to rock the Vikes.
ReplyDeleteHey there Field Negro!
ReplyDeleteI believe that the solution IS NOT social programs... the solution is black fathers... the majority of black boys have no paternal nurture at all. They are in a society in which they begin to internalize racial inferiority by the age of three and four. Remember the doll test? Those were pre-schoolers!
The internalization of racial inferiority coupled with the complete absence of paternal nuture has caused many black boys to be emotionall under-developed and to lack a healthy foundation of self-identification.
Plenty of black women want to point to their kids and claim that it is A-OKAY for black boys to grow up fatherless just because their sons aren't outside killing and raping anyone! Noooo it is NOT A-OKAY.
It is damaging.
What is the percentage of these black male killers who are illegitimate sons? Nearly 98%? We can't pretend that illegitimacy is not playing a role in the disintegration of the black family.
I realize that there is an infrastructure in place that ensures that black boys fail in elementary school but I still believe that the core foundation is a loving, nurturing, moral father in the home developing his boy.
Peace, blessings and DUNAMIS!
Lisa
***Congrats on your nomination for the Weblog Awards! I am voting for you!***
Amaliada:
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many folks I had curse me out because I brought my concerns about how their children were treating my property and their lives. Can't do more than that.
I completely understand. There was a time in the black community that neighbors had a right to reprimand a misbehaving child and teachers had the utmost authority when it came to given lessons and discipline.
Nowadays, I’ve seen parents who dare anyone to say anything to their kids. There have been news reports of adults joining in on school fights rather than being the intervening voice of calm and reason.
So it’s no wonder when people throw their hands up and say the hell with it and make an effort to make as much distance as possible between themselves (along with their children) and these “lost” children.
"And please, enough of the useless prayer vigils when some thug gets bumped and the obligitory news stories about how "DiShawn" was a good kid and was "getting his life back together for his 8 kids and their 6 momma's.
ReplyDeletePlease!"
Thank you.
Field,
ReplyDeleteI was checking the statistics and Washington DC is number one in murder and Philadelphia is number two.
In WWII the number of soldiers who actually fied their weapons was at about 50%. During Vietnam the programming got so good by the military it rose to 95%. In Iraq it is now listed at 98%.
But there is a mental cost that you can see on the streets with veterans. In my own thinking most people who kill have been programmed for it. I believe that is what is happening to both black and white youth. But black youth seeing it everyday in the cities are being programmed at a higher rate and speed. "On Killing," by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman 1996.
"I believe that the solution IS NOT social programs... the solution is black fathers..."
ReplyDeleteAlthough logically this is true, the reality is there are already plenty of youth caught up in the downward spiral already, and they need help NOW. Trying to get fathers involved is more of a long term goal, getting in contact with absent fathers for example. When you have a child out there who has warrants and a drug addiction, is very serious and needs attention now. Absolutely nothing is being done in the black communities and everyone wants to lay blame and have long and prolonged talks about what needs to be done and no one is doing shit about it but talk about it. When the children suffer, everyone suffers in the community.
Also, the article on the sidebar about the young man who killed his kid to avoid child support is sad indeed, but it's extremely disturbing to me to think a man would be desparate enough to kill his own son to evade paying child support. Child support laws are pretty much designed to destroy the father, which in turn destroys the family. That should be a topic for discussion field, because like the poster stated above, absent fathers are indeed a huge problem, but the child support laws, to me make it worse.
JP, I have read "Freakanomics", it's an interesting read. The part about most drug dealers living at home because they really don't make that much money was interesting
ReplyDeleteExactly, but the part that caught me is how willing they are to kill be the top dog, because he does really well.
Child support laws are pretty much designed to destroy the father, which in turn destroys the family. That should be a topic for discussion field, because like the poster stated above, absent fathers are indeed a huge problem, but the child support laws, to me make it worse.
ReplyDeleteThat may be true, and I understand your point. That said, children do deserve to be taken care of by both parents.
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ReplyDeleteThere are so many factors at play that we could go on all day and we may not touch on the roots of the problem or narrow them down.
ReplyDeleteThere is a general dumbing down of the masses going on as we speak. The poorest are suffering for it, because they never had the resources or enough resources anyway. When the population is senseless and dumb as hell, ignorant simps running around, did we really expect black youths in poverty to be any better off? What is worse, is said "dumbing down" is now cool. Nobody wants to work anymore. It's a drive thru nation we are living in. Black, poverty stricken youth should have never gotten on the bandwagon but what can you do when the urge is so strong? Not everyone is strong of mind or will.
This kind of reminds me of the proles in Orwell's 1984. The government or The Party/Big Brother don't care about them. They can continue to do whatever the hell they want no matter how vile and as long as it doesn't affect those within the party, who the hell cares. They're already losers anyway so what does it have to do with us? That's the US government's thought process and the population's as a collective. Black youth are the proles so fuck all. It's always been that way.
I feel like Guy Montag. I feel like I want to go on one hell of a rampage just trying to save the world from itself, but there's only so much one can do. For most things, I am active, but for others, we will literally have to witness the destruction of a group, before we can let this knowledge and good will be appreciated.
Thing is, you can't improve anything & make it stick unless gang activity is suppressed at the same time. So while I despair over education & housing, that doesn't change my opinion of the need for strong law enforcement, where I tend to be a bit of a hardass. Suppress gang activity & you suppress crime. Suppress crime & you suppress fear. Fear paralyzes neighborhoods even more than poverty, because poor people are not the criminals, they are preyed upon by criminals. The weakest are always the easiest targets. Crime & fear deprives them of their human dignity, & without dignity you have nothing build upon.
ReplyDeleteThe root problem in black-on-black violence is the same as the root problem of violence in the Middle East. It is the cycle of violence. The cycle of violence is one of the normal human development paradigms. When a person is exposed to violence in utero, as an infant, as a child, as an adolescent, and as an adult, some of them become more violent. This has been observed for forever. Humans evolved to develop that way. If you are growing up in a violent environment, being violent first is a survival feature. At least it was when humans used stone knives and spears; now that every teenager can get a gun not so much.
ReplyDeleteThis is what violence to pregnant women does, it programs the child they are carrying to be more violent. This is what violence to women with children does; it programs them to become more violent. This is what violence to children does; it programs them to become more violent. This is what violence to adolescents does; it programs them to be more violent. This is what violence to prisoners in prison does; it programs them to become more violent. Children growing up in a violent neighborhood are programmed to be more violent than children growing up in a non-violent neighborhood.
This isn’t rocket science; it is basic human development, something that has been known for forever. Live by the sword, die by the sword. As ye sow, so shall ye reap. What goes around comes around.
You can’t stop the cycle of violence by being tough. Being tough on children only turns them into violent adults. 40 years of violence in the Middle East have shown that. If you want the next generation of adults to be non-violent, you have to coddle them. You have to coddle their mothers while they are in utero, coddle them as infants, coddle them as children, and coddle them as adolescents. Do that and they won’t be violent as adults.
Take the money out of drugs by legalizing them. Take the violence out of prisons, out of schools, out of neighborhoods, out of families, out of relationships. If women had zero tolerance for being beaten, men would learn to not beat them.
This does relate to my nitric oxide research which I discuss on my blog. I think the cycle of violence is mediated through low NO which is the signal that triggers the physiology that mediates it. Raising NO levels is going to help too, and I have a technique to do so, it just isn’t available yet.
How about someone open a website along the lines of Change.org to discuss problems and solutions. Make decisions by voting. When one solution reaches critical mass, turn it into a project with an action plan and start working. There are enough ideas in this one thread to get started and at least three broad categories, parenting, education, and drug policy. I would bet my bottom dollar that someone reading this blog has the computer skills to set up the website. I would also bet that someone reading this site has connections to the academic world to find out if there are studies available that document solutions that have been proven to work (no sense reinventing the wheel). These are tough, tough problems but not unique to blacks in Philly.
ReplyDeleteHathor threw out a potential motto: "It is better to light one candle, than to curse the darkness" Anyway, just a thought.
Can't blame the lack of family. That may mess you up, but it doesn't make you a killer.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it now? 40 percent of black kids grow up in a single parent home? I'm glad that doesn't create killers cus that would mean 40 percent of black kids would be killers. So single parenting causes some problems, but violence ain't one of em.
Schools? Um, are we serious? You expect 8 hours in a place that most of us hated to change these young folks minds? Yes, schools can be better and provide a better education but the best schools in the WORLD aren't going to solve this problem.
I'll just add to what others have already noted. The answer is obvious. Legalize it. What percent of these crimes are drug related? 60? 70? 80? 90? If you take away the motive (Money money money), then you take away the crime.
Get tougher on crime. Real Crime. My legalize it stance is probably as liberal as it gets, but once we free up the criminal justice system, we can deal with real problems. One example, you commit a crime with a gun or a knife, you get life. If you have already been convicted of crime, and you get caught with a gun, you get life.
Oh, and projects are ridiculous. Lets just stick all society's problems in one giant, overcrowded area. Brilliant. Tear down the projects.
Now those are pipe dreams. Former drug user Obama won't even go NEAR legalizing marijuana, much less decriminalizing other drugs. Gun nuts won't let you take guns from anyone for any reason. And the projects are a convenient way to isolate the problem so we don't have to think about it or deal with it.
So what's the realistic solution? There isn't one. So it's not that people don't care.. It's that they CAN'T do anything. As long as the money is there, drug gangs will persist no matter how much good will there is in the community.
What Jody said.
ReplyDeletePolice to an extent make the problem worse.
ReplyDeletewhen people call the police in the ghetto,if and when they do arrive, the police criminalize the victim like they did something wrong by calling the police. Not to mention, what sense does it make to put white police officers on patrol in black neighborhoods? As if white civillians don't hate us enough? What do you think a white cop in the ghetto is gonna do, besides let his racial hatred and aggresion out toward my community.
Having white police officers patrolling through my neighborhood is no different than the various kkk splinter groups that march in the parades every year. The worst racial experiences I've ever had occured in the south, alot of the blacks here act like white people are the best things to happen to their lives since sliced bread.It sickens my stomach to see people that look like me behave in this manner.
Fatherlessness. Plain and simple. I'm not putting ALL the blame on the brothers but they are responsible for the breakdown of the black family because it's usually the man that because he "can't deal with his baby's mother". WTF??? I agree that black women need to take more responsibility (and birth control) when involved in relationships but I truly believe that if man just did the right thing and stayed in a relationship, a woman will work with him. I find nothing more disturbing than a man with children by several women. (I'm glad I don't have nuts because I'd hate for Jesse Jackson to want to cut them off).
ReplyDeleteSoapbubble,
ReplyDeleteIn fairness to some of black men who leave their baby mothers, some of these women are crazy too. They too grew up fatherless, leading to all kinds of emotional and trust issues that blow up relationships. Also everyone who chooses to leave a baby mother, abandons their children, a lot of fathers spend time raising their kids after they've left, as much as the courts let them.
Being tough on children only turns them into violent adults. 40 years of violence in the Middle East have shown that. If you want the next generation of adults to be non-violent, you have to coddle them. You have to coddle their mothers while they are in utero, coddle them as infants, coddle them as children, and coddle them as adolescents. Do that and they won’t be violent as adults.
ReplyDeleteCoddled kids can turn out as badly as kids having the living daylights beaten out of them and being called everything but a child of God from day one. Just consider the suburban kids in recent years who have walked into their schools and take out their teachers and schoolmates.
Beating the shit outta your kid at Wal Mart to show what a tough momma you are in front of whoever happens to be watching then buying him the damned toy he was kicking up over anyway doesn't teach the kid anything except sooner or later Momma can't beat on him cause he's too going to be too big. And when he gets to school and nobody there is allowed to beat his brains in do you think he's going to do what he's asked ? Violence begets violence same with shitty parenting and stupidity - they just beget more of the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rastimicki61. Children need to be parented in a nurturing way, instead of beating the shit out of them.
ReplyDeleteThat is a very shamful thing to do to a child. A child has its own feelings, its own sense of preciousness, and its own dignity. And because the child is too young to protect and defend those God-given qualities, it is a wrongful act for an adult to squash them.
Unfortunately, this happens too often to children in black families because the parent is too immature, shameless and dumb to know any better. I believe this type of parenting has been passed down from the whipping days of slaves. It seems to be common and quite acceptable in the black community. It's as though black children must be whipped to be made good. "Spare the rod, ruin the child."
Parents who do that to children, shouldn't be parents.
I don't know the answer. These statistics are unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteWe cannot allow this many boys/men to be lost.
I agree violence begets violence. I know a lot of single moms are frustrated but beating the crap out of a child makes things worse.
Our culture in general has coarsen over the years. We went from looking out for one another to a "get rich or die tryin'' attitude.
I don't see things getting better any time soon.
Unfortunately, this happens too often to children in black families because the parent is too immature, shameless and dumb to know any better.
ReplyDeleteYou're right about immaturity (along with shamelessness and ignorance) with many parents who are way too young.
Some of them are children themselves. And far too many do not understand childhood development, e.g. yelling at or hitting a two year old who talks back (ever hear of the terrible twos?) or telling a crying baby to shut up.
One can discipline children without beating them senseless. You can reason with an older child--I've even taken my daughters to final exams after explaining the importance of their being quiet. However, I also plied them with Golden Books and pencils and paper for drawing.
Shopping with kids can be a joy if you understand that looking at drapes couldn't be more boring for a 10 year old. But you explain that it would take just a moment or two. A promise of a trip to Baskin Robbins doesn't hurt either.
And with babies, alway remember the simple sentence: Babies cry. Heeding that, find out why the baby is crying--and tend to the reason.
Telling it to shut up isn't going to do the trick.
Nurture your child, try a little tenderness. Console the crying baby and hold the toddler's hand as you are walking down the street.
And these parents need to realize that their little ones' legs are not as long as theirs, so use a little patience withe realization that he or she can't walk as fast as you.
Another thing, expose your kids to what is appropriate. I am a program assistant at a day treatment facility which provides therapeutic treatment for kids with ADHD and mental health disorders.
Many of these kids--as if their diagnoses aren't enough of a challenge-- are exposed to violent movies, adults swearing like sailors and drug use. Such factors can and will have an effect on a child's behavior.
I think the primary cause is a lack of self-knowledge and self-love.
ReplyDeleteTwo links of interest. One which discusses solutions being tried in a local school and another which suggests the issue, while bad is not as quite bad as Fox's stats suggest.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090105/NEWS01/901050329
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/the-latest-on-homicide-rates/?scp=2&sq=alan%20fox&st=cse
I am a black man and black people scare me. My solution to this problem is to move as far away from black people as I can get. That's my solution. Maybe the dope boys will all kill each other (let's hope) and the rest of us can live in peace.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Anonymous, but after reading most of your post, I doubt that you are Black but I am certain of you're a troll.
ReplyDeleteFear can be very disabling, be carefull.
the youngstas don't listen, all they see is the "glory". The older men try and talk to them , tell them how gangsta life leads to death, jail, sorrow. they are not listening in Boston to LA. They think the older men are pussies.
ReplyDeleteI'm tired of people blaming single mothers and believing every lying statistic. Even tough many kids are from unmarried households, many of these households have a man and woman present. Many single mothers have raised educated upstanding men, like me.
It's funny how the press leads people to believe what they want. I have to send my father news clippings of the violence in Las Vegas. Las Vegas is the most violent place I've ever lived. I noticed how the news and weather do not leave the vicinity. there are more crazy murder here ( stabbings and casinos, pedestrians constantly being killed by cars. I lived in LA and Boston and Newark. LAS VEGAS is the MOST VIOLENT place I ever lived and gang violence is such a small percentage. But the press puts out what they want people to be outraged by and lemmings follow. Las vegas has more white drug addicts than anywhere I've ever been, but it's great to constantly berate the black man and family. Yet, no one is still educated in America about the origins of the original man. Only in America does the black man know less about his own history. Without your history, there is no source of pride. American foolishly believe the Jews are the chosen people spoke of in the Bible even though the Balck man is the original man and no where in the Bible does it state the word Jew. If as babies black people and all classmates were taught true knowledge maybe their outlook on the world and themselves would change. But people American still fight basic facts like the word Shem means black. But oh well, let's follow wher the press takes us
sorry about the typos, I'm trying to do to much as I'm rushing to work
ReplyDeleteanswers, is the question when it comes to killings. People are never going to do anything to stop the killings. There is no punishment for the killers and they know it. Live in prison is a camp to many, stripes for the bangers, rank for the hardcore. You know and many of the commenters know that there is no respect on the streets anymore. Killers don’t respect you, your family, kids or cop. People have been programmed to kill and to accept the killing. You hear gunshots everyday, no checks it out, you hear about who shot who, no one reports it. Then when a family members is arrested for murder, that members mother/father is the first on tv bitching about their child is innocent. You write about policies from the right, throw that shit out the window, politics has nothing to do when a murder is committed. DEATH is on the killers mind, not what social program was cut. If you want to stop some of the killings, bring fear back to the killers, let them know their life will be taken as well, and don't give the that ten year span on death row. A life for a life. You will see a big drop in homicides in this country. America needs to stop catering these killers and let them know the people mean business. You kill someone and is found guilty of that murder, that person needs to be PUT TO DEATH, by all means necessary. You number of 300 may be reached sooner than you think.
ReplyDeleteI Bullet Am Sorry
American foolishly believe the Jews are the chosen people spoke of in the Bible even though the Balck man is the original man and no where in the Bible does it state the word Jew.
ReplyDeleteOne, you are mixing religion with anthropology.
Two, you do realize that the word "Jew" is English, right?
The same term is Juif in French, Juden in German, Ebreo in Italian and
Еврей in Russian.
In Hebrew, the word Jew is יהוּדי (pronounced Yehudi). If you were familiar with the language, you would find that it is indeed in the Tanakh (Bible).
And there are many other words in Hebrew that are spelled with a "J" in English, e.g., Jerusalem - ירוּשלים(Yerushalayim)
Jack J: I beg to differ with you. Why do you suppose I'm not black because I don't want to live around crime and violence? I'm just a black person who values his life and SANITY.
ReplyDeleteMost middle class black people I know have either ALREADY escaped black neighborhoods (there is no such thing as a "black community" anymore) or they are planning their escape.
I live in a mostly white area NOW but I didn't move FAR ENOUGH away. I am planning my next move as this is written. Talking about how to fix these damaged beyond repair (DBR) black people is something I'm no longer willing to waste my time doing. If you and others want to waste your time discussing these DBR blacks and go ahead but count me out.
The best indicator as to if a peace treaty will hold is young male employment in that area. I think that the same goes for violent areas in a country.
ReplyDeleteTo put it another way, Black unemployment is over 10%. For that roughly 10% that are still actively searching for legal jobs, there's over another 10% who would like to be employed legally, but have stopped trying. What are those over 1 out of 5 people going to do? While some may depend on a significant other or family member (or savings), a significant number will have to turn to illegal employment, some of which is violent.
As you increase legal jobs, you don't just decrease the pool of unemployed people; you also decrease the pool of people who rely on illegal employment.
As for why this is occurring, one major political party has been attempting to de-fund inner cities for quite a while, largely because they don't do well in them. They've had a significant amount of success; less state and federal funding (and essentially no regional funding) tends to lead to lower employment levels.
I live in a mostly white area NOW but I didn't move FAR ENOUGH away. I am planning my next move as this is written. Talking about how to fix these damaged beyond repair (DBR) black people is something I'm no longer willing to waste my time doing. If you and others want to waste your time discussing these DBR blacks and go ahead but count me out.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
Other than moving as far away as possible, do you feel there is any hope or solution to this problem?
i hate to say this, but after working in the trenches for more than a decade I have to say, if it doesn't happen in the home, it can't happen anywhere else. I've had kids that I worked like a dog to get out of bad situations, sent to expensive boarding schools, etc... Where are they now? Either dead or incarcerated. Every last one of them. We developed some innovative programs, with motivated people to run them. Our success rate was at best 25% and they were all female. Not one of our males succeeded, even the minimum. (And yes, we had plenty of men working in our programs.) The one element we can't do a helluva lot about is the one element that has the most impact: The Home.
ReplyDeleteThere are some kids who will overcome a crappy homelife, and they will succeed with or without us. It's incumbent upon us to focus our resources on those kids. The others? Let the chips fall where they may.
Anon 1:38PM said,
ReplyDelete"I live in a mostly white area NOW but I didn't move FAR ENOUGH away. I am planning my next move as this is written. Talking about how to fix these damaged beyond repair (DBR) black people is something I'm no longer willing to waste my time doing. If you and others want to waste your time discussing these DBR blacks and go ahead but count me out."
I understand your frustration and you may be right. This might be an insoluble problem. But Blacks have-for decades-only given lip service to this problem without trying much. I think the REAL problem is that Blacks lack WILL and unity. The closest we have ever come to having 'will and unity' was during the days of MLK. And maybe that was a fluke because since that time our race as a whole has regressed.
Kids are out of control and so are the parents. There's little support for black children- even in the home. We are definitely a "Lost Race" headed for an unknown destination that looks pretty scary. Maybe that's why "The Wire" was such a hit. It mirrored our hopelessness.
I could recount so many sad things...just too many.
ReplyDeleteWhat I will say since there is not a vibrant or functioning black community..our children are not being properly socialized. Morals and values are not being passed on. Also basic common sense rules about life.
Since few in the black community are willing to speak openly about this it is allowed to fester and grow.
I hear Geoffrey Canada has had some success. I have been following his school for years. Apparently Barack Obama is looking into his model for teaching poor.
children.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wherewestand/blog/geoffrey-canada-the-harlem-childrens-zone/153/
http://www.hcz.org/
One of his ideas is basic...you have to engage the whole family in learning. There are classes for the adults as well...in nutrition and the like. Watching the large numbers of little fat black kids walking up and down the street eating Doritos and drinking orange soda can tell you the need for that.
We have to be re-taught how to raise children. It is a new century and a new time...we have not adapted well.
Our children will not be able to work even the most menial jobs in the future, if we don't change. On 125th street in Harlem, almost all the sales clerks and stock boys I see are Latino or West African.
Its sad.
As for moving away.......
ReplyDeleteIt is said that some poorer New Orleanians who were involved in the drug trade created mini crime waves where ever the moved.
Criminals travel too.
I "B Stupid" can tell you that.
http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/06/bstupid_facing_25_years_in_ple_1.html
It's multi generational poverty and dysfunction and moving away from it, won't make it disappear.
The recalcitrant attitude of some of today's black youth culture is one problem that leads to dead young black men. What I mean is that many young black men are more likened to suffer under peer pressure, for example, gangs, group robberies, and drugs. For the last week, all I see on CNN or my local news is some group of young black men doing something illegal together. It's a sick fraternity of corruption that goes unchecked. I think If there were more programs geared towards getting these youths towards individual pursuits then maybe we'll have fewer deaths, such as education or vocational schools. Also, when it comes to our favorite scapegoat reason, the black family, we only say how dysfunctional black families must be. I have to say that some research shows that middle class families are more likely to excessively drink and use drugs. However, I personally feel the rift that divides is it is easier to get guns in black/minority neighborhoods than anywhere else in the USA. The government has really failed to stop domestic terrorist from setting up shop in the poor/working class minority communities.
ReplyDeleteThis is ANON 1:38 PM: Sharon from WI asked "Other than moving as far away as possible, do you feel there is any hope or solution to this problem?"
ReplyDeleteI DO NOT feel there is a solution to this problem, if by solution you mean "how can DBR black people be fixed". My personal solution was to SAVE MYSELF and get away from DBR black people. My advice to those blacks who have the means to do so (if they haven't ALREADY) is to leave DBR blacks to their fate, whatever that is. The natural law of 'survival of the fittest' will take care of DBR black people in due time.
Leaving behind DBR black people means that you leave ALL DBR black people behind including your DBR RELATIVES.
It is especially important to leave black residential areas if you have dependent children. What values are your children learning just by walking down the streets in these desolate black areas (I hesitate to even call these areas "neighborhoods")? What kind of schools are your children forced to attend (if you can't afford private schools) in these areas? Get out!
My advice to middle class black people (especially with dependent children) is get as far away from all black and/or mostly black areas as you can. You will be doing yourself AND especially your dependent children (if you have any) the biggest favor imaginable. AND DON'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT.
I don't have the answers.
ReplyDeleteBlack people need to take responsability for our children, our communities and the violence that erupts. We can't have it both ways. We can't demand more from others than we're willing to do for ourselves. This willingness to become involves starts prenatal, continuing on to early childhood. If we let them slip by at that young age, it's difficult, (but not impossible), to set them on the correct path.
Here's another instance of the devaluation of a young black man's life.
ReplyDeleteHandcuffed Man Shot in the Back
Anon 1:38pm,
ReplyDelete"My advice to middle class black people (especially with dependent children) is get as far away from all black and/or mostly black areas as you can. You will be doing yourself AND especially your dependent children (if you have any) the biggest favor imaginable. AND DON'T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT."
I agree. Most Black communities are the worst places in America to raise children. They are dangerous, unsafe, and highly dysfunctional. They are definitely not an environment for raising healthy well-balanced kids.
Good luck on your next move.
I live in the open country of the big island of hawaiia,2% black state wide,we still have gangs & robberies & all the shit i left behind in the ghetto s of the mainland.All youth are fucked up,it's the culture & the dumbing down of the nation.white kids go to class & dont give a !@#$ who they kill,& you make all these excuses for these good boys gone wrong,black kids kill over drug turfs or silly beefs & it's expected,these kids know thier lives are shit,they give us what we expect.
ReplyDelete33 & 1/3 Sirius Isrealite
If poverty were the cause of crime most crime would be committed by 60 year old women. Young black men are, by far, the the poorest group. The poorest are women and older folks. If injustice were the cause women and gays would be responsible for much more crime then they are.
ReplyDeleteI look at this:
African American civil rights leaders for a long time have-
Called Koreans who have worked 80 hours a week for 15 thousand a year "greedy" and "exploiting the black community". They call young black men who work 4 hours a week and make 300 thousand a year selling drugs "victims of poverty".
They call Jews who make an honest living "bloodsuckers". And they treat black men who make a living by selling black women like celebrities.
I have experienced myself several times, and seen first hand dozens of times whites have been cussed out for some perceived miniscule slight committed towards a young african american male. I have seen black men beingly openly abusive to people then using the race card to turn the situation around. I believe many black leaders have encouraged young african americans to become sociopaths by encouraging them to by obsessively concerned with their own need for "respect" but not their need to show respect for others.
Case in point. When Scindlers List came out a group of black students were kicked out for laughing and ridiculing what they were seeing. They were asked to leaving and the teachers huffed and puffed saying the kids couldn'
t know better- they were "victims" who had seen so much that they lost their sensitity to violence. THEY were the victims. But you know what? I've been movies depicting blacks being lynched and enslaved with young african americans and you see no laughter, no disrespect from them. But to their black advocates these meanspirtied kids were the VICTIMS and the holocaust surviviors in the audience who had to put up with their laughter and ridicule? Well, they were RACIST. Now if Holocaust survivors went to see a movie about slavery and laughed hysterically I don't think black civil rights leaders would condone it by saying "They'd seen so much, we have no right to expect them to be sensitive to us". Hardly.
People say social programs are the answer yet the neighborhoods with most social service agencies have the highest, not lowest, crime rates.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked at Job Corps (helps high school drop outs get their GED) most of the kids I worked with thought public assistence was a given. Most thought that if they had kids a combination of their parents and the government would provide. There deifinately was a belief that things should come to your doorstep, rather than have to work for them. There was VERY low frustration tolerance.
My parents made it clear to me I was responsible for the life I brought into this world. I don't have kids cause I know I would be responsible for providing for them. I believe the government should provide first for the elderly and disabled, not for me if I make choises that are foolish.
I know that if I sit on my ass, or party while other people work, they will get ahead, and I don't blame society for how I choose to spend my time.
I want to choke the shit out of people ALL THE TIME. Yet I know that just cause some is not as respectful as I feel they should be or I am annoyed, I still got to keep it in line. I noticed with the kids I worked with it was always "You made me....." (do this or say that or feel this). There was no feeling that they were responsible for how they behaved if they felt "dissed" or whatever. It was always "You made me..." There is no awareness that maybe THEY are reacting innapropriately or maybe they are seeing slights were there is none. This passive way of viewing their lives and behavior, beliving that ones actions are being "provoked" by others I think is a huge cause of violence. These people don't seem to realize that there are multiply ways to react, and that most people choose to react in a less hot headed way. And that is the reason they are on the margins of society.
Someone said that black male unemployment is a big indicator to whether black males will succeed. Well I just had a young black man who was referred to us from a social services emplyment agency walk out of an interview yesterday yelling at me I was a racist bitch. Why? I asked him why he showed up at 3:00 when the interview was scheduled for 2:15. They he exploded with the rant. How dare I ask him why he was 45 minutes late. That was more than he could bare and he was out the door after chewing me out. And and Im stuck paying for his housing, food stamps, etc. Sadly enough no one in my office was surprised. Apparently this is a common experience when dealing with young black men who reply on social services and are being pushed by welfare/workfare programs into becoming employed.
Please don't kill the messenger.
If poverty were the cause of crime most crime would be committed by 60 year old women. You jest Yes? Black men are fucked up becuase they belong to a society that hates them,& doesnt give a shit about em unless they can run/dance/put a ball thru a hoop or do back breaking work for them.If you have set your black ass in a seat to watch a Pro Sporting event then you are complacent in this & are indeed a house negro yourself.i hate seeing our kids in sport crap,still fuckn slaves we are.
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If poverty were the cause of crime most crime would be committed by 60 year old women. You jest Yes? Black men are fucked up becuase they belong to a society that hates them,& doesnt give a shit about em unless they can run/dance/put a ball thru a hoop or do back breaking work for them.If you have set your black ass in a seat to watch a Pro Sporting event then you are complacent in this & are indeed a house negro yourself.i hate seeing our kids in sport crap,still fuckn slaves we are.
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African American civil rights leaders for a long time have-
ReplyDeleteCalled Koreans who have worked 80 hours a week for 15 thousand a year "greedy" and "exploiting the black community"...
They call Jews who make an honest living "bloodsuckers"... ...many black leaders have encouraged young african americans to become sociopaths by encouraging them to by obsessively concerned with their own need for "respect" but not their need to show respect for others.
Case in point. When Scindlers List came out a group of black students were kicked out for laughing and ridiculing what they were seeing.
You are using a pretty broad brush there.
Tell me, what group of civil rights leaders have advocated the views you claim they hold. And of all the hundreds and thousands of people who saw Schindler's List, you pick out an isolated scenario in which some knuckleheads from LA laughed at the scenes in the movie. I assure you, that film generated more tears than laughter. When I saw the film, there was an idiot who was constantly kicking the back of my seat. (This was a white chick, for the record.)
Now, I'm already tense as this story unfolds on the screen and this woman is kicking my seat. I turn and ask her to please stop. That I didn't intend for her to have her foot in my back for the next three hours.
She claimed she wasn't kicking my seat. As soon as I turned back to the movie, she was at it again. I could have strangled her.
Instead, but I told my daughter and friend from college to move down a seat so I could move away from this silly b* before I did something that would have me on the evening news.
Jane Doe,
ReplyDeleteBlack kids acting inappropriately during a movie is nothing new. What's new is Whites are now shooting those black loud mouths. Check out the post titled "Revenge of the White Moviegoers" on this blog. It will give you satisfaction. It did for me, and I'm Black.
Now, if some black person somewhere in A-Merry-Ca would beat the shit out of a white person for kicking the back of their seat (maybe Sharon From WI would be willing to sacrifice herself?), we might start to have some peace and respect among moviegoers. Wouldn't that be movie heaven?
Hey, it was Schindler's List! And I did move away from the offending party. :-)
ReplyDelete"Black men are fucked up becuase they belong to a society that hates them,& doesnt give a shit about em unless they can run/dance/put a ball thru a hoop or do back breaking work for them."
ReplyDeleteAnd women belong to a society that doesn't give a shit about them unless they are young and beautiful, and even then they are treated like orniments, not people. Furthermore, lets remember black men have been instrumental in the glamorization of the idea that selling women is cool. When someone talks about a "ho" it doesn't sound like they are talking about a human being, do they??
Gays also belong to a society that hates them and have to live with the knowledge that in many other countries homosexuals are lynched (legally). Look at how rampent homophobia is amoung Jamacian men. Look at how much homophobia and mysogeny is spewed by black rappers complaining about racism?
Black men have played a pretty nice size role in dehumanizing women and gays. All I'm saying is WE ALL live in a society that treats us like we are disposable or worthless. And black men too have been willing to indulge in this as much as anyone.