200 or more "Urban Youth" fight in mall

[carterstamp]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

Not to mention Black students graduating from college.

One of them even made it to the White House. Will wonders never cease.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by jade408

I don't need to share the name of my high school here. I have revealed enough personal info that it would eliminate my desired level of anonymity. I have also posted in many threads that although I mostly have lived in CA, I spent my middle and high school years in SC.

During my initial years of high school, there were 50+ person fights about every few weeks. We later got a new principal who cracked down on the fights and it wasn't an issue for the last few years.

One year during black history month there were a series of fights between lots of students deemed the race war. It started because someone decided to cover up the pics of MLK and Malcom X on the black history month bulletin board with a confederate flag. I don't recall it being on the news at that time. In the end we had a few assemblies to "improve understanding" and they started a club meant to encourage conversation between the different groups. In reality the club only had black and Asian students. Only 2-3 white students decided to join.

Over the summer, someone always managed to schedule a big fight at the local amusement park.

Here is the deal, there are a lot if dumb kids out there. Some of my classmates are lucky there wasn't you tube or they would have tons of evidence floating around.

Now it is way easier to coordinate these big fights because people can text. In my high school years you old only pass notes or hope teachers didn't overhear the convo.


On an autocorrecting iDevice.

Since someone left me an anonymous rep account, I thought I'd add in a another detail.....I am 35, this happened in the late 90s and not 40 years ago. As much as people claim we are in a colorblind society, my own experiences do not echo this. We have a very long way to go as evidenced by this thread.

[EddieB.Good]

Originally Posted by southbel

Based on my experience, the loudest voices on the left are not these people you describe. Of course, I must be intellectually honest and say that on the right, we have loud voices which label any program as welfare. Once again, though, the answer is for those on the left and right to denounce these rabble rousers, for lack of a better phrase.

I have no idea who you're talking about on the Left that implies we need to excuse criminals. The hippy Liberal caucus is powerless & practically voiceless in America.

Originally Posted by hawkeye2009

If the parents are not promoting and supporting education, enforcing discipline in their children, and providing a stable home life, there is no hope for the child. Should we then waste money on a lost cause? No. These children should be-

placed in an orphanage
placed in a military track in which the hopeless are provided discipline and a path to the military
placed in a trade school camp in which they can recieve some work training

If you "care" about "fixing the problems of society", you would-

You just supported exactly what I said, but b/c you want to limit it to ways that "punish" kids. What difference does it make if you're saying use the military to teach them a mindset or if it's a community program that provides mentoring & job placement. You're so arrogant in your belief that helping minorities is a lost cause, that the only way you can justify a program that does it, is if it's framed as a punishment. This is a sad reflection on your mindset.

But then again, you are a liberal, so you just want to perpetuate and compound the problems of society through false sympathy and throwing other people's money at a wasted effort. These "problem children" are the future criminals of America. We will be providing a "dorm life" for them in the prison system, so wasting more money on them now is an effort in futility.

Libs do not understand that you cannot help those who do not want to be helped and take no active role in improving thier situation.

At this point, I can't tell if it's arrogance or just spite for minorities. You just suggested 3 options that are FAR MORE EXPENSIVE than jobs training & mentorship: orphanages, the military, and jail. Each & every one of those is "throwing money" at the problem. 2 of those 3 (jail & orphanages) have been empirically shown to be less effective than job training, and just perpetuate all the things you say you're trying to fix.

I don't what faux-political label you claim, but when say that you're against spending money to fix a problem, but then suggest 3 expensive "solutions" that compound the problem, you might as well just say you're from the party of "I don't actually think through what I write."

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

I think that maybe, why comitt crimes just becauce you are unemployed and bored. Its an awful excuse.

Regardless if it's an awful excuse, it's the reality. Why do high school kids pick up smoking. B/c it looks cool. Just b/c a reason is stupid, doesn't change the fact that it's what led to a decision.

Judge those kids all you want for being stupid, poor examples, waste, whatever. But if you're not willing to contribute something to fix that problem then you don't belong in the conversation.

Originally Posted by SamBarrow

Here's an alternative to brawling in the streets for you.

Not brawling in the streets.

Yeah... it's an alternative that those kids chose not to take. At this point, you can spend $ punishing these kids, never correcting the behavior that leads to that poor choice, and perpetuating them down a path of poor choice b/c other avenues have been closed to them --OR-- you can spend less $ mentoring these kids, instilling in them the right mindset, and give them the skills & opportunity to go down a better path.

For the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would choose the former for anyone except rapist, murderers, & serial offenders.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by SamBarrow

Here's an alternative to brawling in the streets for you.

Not brawling in the streets.

Yep, thats what I did when I was unemployed and bored and young ( 18 years old ).

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by glass_of_merlot

Yep, thats what I did when I was unemployed and bored and young ( 18 years old ).

There is one important question one should ask: Where were the parents at when this brawling took place?