I never said it was only in the black community, but this is a black lives matter thread. Also the argument of a battle over resources is bs at best. First many of the killings aren't resource related and there are other ways of settling resource battles when it is. Why is the indiscriminate killing an acceptable way of life.
There is a battle for resources in every neighborhood, business and family across the planet. That doesn't explain why killing each other at an alarming rate is acceptable.
i didnt know that was the question you asked. I dont have an answer and its really not acceptable. Its a straw man argument, black people want safety as well, they want to call the police to stop the violence as well. Its not as simple as your sweeping generalization.
I never meant to make it sound simple, that's why my post was in the form of questions not answers. There is obviously a problem, but no one seems to have the answer.
well the biggest problem is the fear of decent people in the neighborhood, they have made working with the police a negative action and its bullshit, they suffer. This no snitching movement has been perpetuated and glorified by rappers, story tellers, people who has never been in that life. Its quite ridiculous and people can call me a sell out. Im calling it like it is. I dont care, we have lost more black men to gun violence and jail more than any other social epidemic. On college campuses, plenty of black men who are going to school, but the average ratio of black men to black women on college campus is like 16 to 1. my nephew just started at Xavier in New orleans, my 4 year old son saw that and said he wanted to go to college as well like his cousin.
It's that and more. It is the despair and hopelessness of the life in those areas. This is an element of society that has been forgotten, used and abused. Current social support services offer no real hope of escape to a better life. The drugs and gangs provide relief and a margin of hope for a better life within the community. For now only music and athletics are held as potential to truly escape. What Red describes is a infantile and dysfunctional society. It can't pull itself up by its bootstraps. It needs help. However the help must by of a sort that allows them to grow and develop. Too many current programs do nothing but attempt to meet day to day needs and don't see the issues dependence creates. We need a real change in approach to erasing this underclass. Contrary to many right wingers these people aren't lazy or stupid or bad at root. They are dealing with a horrible situation with no tools and no hope. Likewise contrary to left wing views they aren't incapable of success and need to be taken care of and coddled or kept where they are for votes or that a one size fits all approach works. We need a new approach that gives them the tools and a cushion to learn the ways and means of what we call middle class society. They need to know that they must strive to learn and be productive AND when they are there is a reason and reward. This is what most middle class youth learn as they grow up. Yes many in the'hood' are adults by age and may have seen things we never want to see no matter how old we are. However that doesn't mean they are mature and have the tools to live in a middle class world. Don't misunderstand they are capable just not educated, a huge difference. It won't be easy or cheap but the reward to all would be tremendous. It will also take breaking of molds both left and right. If we don't the penalty and punishment will be great and deserved.
I am not disagreeing, but how friggin' long does it take to learn this? Too many black folks have overcome all of these issues and done quite well to imagine that there is something insidious holding the rest back. All of the many programs designed to address poverty from affirmative action to subsidized housing have not moved the curve very much. George Will made a good point once. The key to escaping poverty has always been small business. Wave after wave of immigrants who arrived with nothing have worked their way out of the slums into the middle class through taking charge of their lives themselves with small businesses. Not waiting for a government jobs program, not trying to get hired by The Man, and not depending on anyone else to solve their problems. The Irish in the 19th Century, the Italians in the early 20th century, and more recently the Koreans, Vietnamese, and Middle Easterners. All arrived in poverty and facing discrimination. But they opened small eateries, repair shops, and retail stores and earned they way to prosperity. But I see few small black-owned businesses in poor black neighborhoods. The stores that are there are mostly owned and run by Koreans, Vietnamese, and Middle Easterners working their way out of poverty. When I was a kid, the poor black neighborhoods were serviced by immigrant Italian businessmen but they put their kids through college and have moved up and out. When the Vietnamese found it hard to get loans from banks to buy a fishing boat or lease a commercial building, they created their own savings and loans operations and eventually their own banks. The Mexican illegals mostly come here and work hard, but there are still many barrios and colonias where they have reverted to the third-world way of life in shanties, doing little, drinking too much, and relying on aid. Perhaps a solution is to find ways to educate, enable, and encourage the development of small business in their own poor neighborhoods. Don't escape the 'hood, transform it into middle America. But nothing will work without a great deal of self-determination and self-reliance. It's the American way.
When I hear calls for the police to stop the killing in black neighborhoods I wonder what those people are thinking. The police can't stop murders. They can only arrest the perp once the crime has been committed. Unless somehow they get wind of a planned killing. All too often I read of murders right here in Baton Rouge. Everything from teenagers walking or riding bicycles down the street to older men in their 40's and 50's. Often their mothers or other relatives are quoted as saying what a good person the victim was and they can't understand why anybody would want to kill him. Some of the older victims have been described as a friend to everyone in the neighborhood and as going out of their way to help people. Since I don't know these people I don't know if that's true or if they were somehow involved in drug dealing or gangs. It doesn't make any sense to shoot somebody for no reason but it happens. It's not only black people who kill each other for crazy reasons. Just Saturday a 60 year old white man killed 3 brothers aged 51, 55, and 57. They had gathered at another friend's house to watch football and sing karaoke. Supposedly a fight broke out over what kind of music they were going to karaoke. The 60 year old got his gun and shot the 3 brothers then turned the gun on himself. They were described as good friends.
Well said Red. However it is done it is ultimately up to those who are the situation to change themselves. No one else can make it happen. The only thing we can do is provide them the education and tools to make the transition. Are you sure you're not a closet conservative?
