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Did your mother speak English? Did she have a car? Did you have a permanent place to sleep or did you sleep on the sidewalk or in a shelter? Could your mother read English? How many brothers and sisters did you have?
I'm sorry, and this may shock you, but I don't really consider the circumstances you spelled out above "I grew up in an area that was greater than 50% black. I went to a school that was more than 60% black. My mother was single and on welfare until I was 9" to be terribly disadvantaged without knowing more.
Lots of kids grow up perfectly fine in areas that are 100% black. In a lot of areas, most of the kids have single parents and are on welfare.
If you were to ask me what I think is the single biggest disadvantage for a child, it would be homelessness. Not having a roof over your head. Almost equally bad would be having to move every few days from shelter to shelter.
I may be a "bleeding heart" but the little girl in the documentary yesterday who had her own room didn't make my heart break that bad. The 4 year old with no home did. He wanted "curtains." What kind of a crazy world is this where a 4-year old thinks curtains are like heaven?
I grew up in an area that was greater than 50% black. I went to a school that was more than 60% black. My mother was single and on welfare until I was 9. You just have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to me personally.
I could go on, but I hope you get the picture by now. Please don't sit there and tell me I had different opportunities, and better influences. I didn't. I just played the hand I was dealt a little better than most of the bozos out there today.
As for the kids in Camden, they've probably got more local opportunities than *I* had. Sorry, the sob story doesn't wash with me. Everybody has choices to make. I could have easily slinged a little rock when I was a kid. I chose not to because I weighed the risks and found that there was too much money to be made elsewhere, without the legal headaches.
There is no excuse for what some of these kids are doing, no matter what the bleeding heart left thinks.
-TT
First of all, I apologize because that was a bit presumptuous on my part, but it doesn't change the jist of my point.
I wasn't defending these "bozos" as you put it (didn't mean to come off like I was), because ultimately that's what the criminal element are. Many make foolish choices to compound their bad situations because those choices seem easy to them. I have no sympathy for people who take the "easy" way out no matter who they are or where they come from. But I sincerely believe that if you took a lot of what's left of our "middle class"- i.e. many of the ones who DO blame the poor for being poor- and put them in a life of poverty, they probably wouldn't fare any better than our poor do.
Growing up in places like Camden is challenging- I'll put it that way. Some respond to that challenge better than others, but I still refuse to blame poor people for being poor. If that makes me a "bleeding heart", so be it.
Did your mother speak English? Did she have a car? Did you have a permanent place to sleep or did you sleep on the sidewalk or in a shelter? Could your mother read English? How many brothers and sisters did you have?
I'm sorry, and this may shock you, but I don't really consider the circumstances you spelled out above "I grew up in an area that was greater than 50% black. I went to a school that was more than 60% black. My mother was single and on welfare until I was 9" to be terribly disadvantaged without knowing more.
Lots of kids grow up perfectly fine in areas that are 100% black. In a lot of areas, most of the kids have single parents and are on welfare.
If you were to ask me what I think is the single biggest disadvantage for a child, it would be homelessness. Not having a roof over your head. Almost equally bad would be having to move every few days from shelter to shelter.
I may be a "bleeding heart" but the little girl in the documentary yesterday who had her own room didn't make my heart break that bad. The 4 year old with no home did. He wanted "curtains." What kind of a crazy world is this where a 4-year old thinks curtains are like heaven?
Lol, fine, you want to know more?
Homelessness Approximately two years of my life were spent homeless before the age of 18, at least 6 months after as well. Sleeping on people's couches occasionally, but mostly in cars. No shelters where we were "based".
Environment Until the age of 11 I lived in a poor area and went to school with mostly minorities. I made note of the demographic to illustrate the economic conditions as well as the social environment. If you dont' get that from the statement, I'm sorry, but I'm not writing a book here.
Language
If you were born in this country, there is a good chance you speak english. If you were not born in this country, I'm sorry, you're irrelevant. You can't just plop yourself here and expect to be considered a social problem that needs to be dealt with. Sorry, thats my stance on it. We have enough people to worry about without taking on immigrants who thought they would get a "stay home check" for wading across a river. Too bad, so sad, you been had. Here's a raft, go back to the third world country you came from. The other thing is, language was not really an issue in my area. So the curve was different. I don't live in California and would rather die before moving there.
Curtains
There was at least one year when I would have liked some oil in the tank over curtains. Heat beats privacy any day in February in NY.
Nutrition
You may have used the term "starving" before when you were hungry. It takes on a whole new meaning when you're vomiting at 8 years old from not eating.
At any rate, I'm here now because of the choices I made. You can spout off all you wan't about these poor little black kids, but the reality is you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. I assure you, not many if no minorities at all who are homeless deal drugs. You need some sort of a base to do that, unless you're just a soldier for a larger dealer. These kids are greedy, lazy little good for nothings and thats really all there is to it. They want the big money, and they want it fast. They want their $200 sneakers, their diamond teeth, and their 28" rims on their Honda Civics. They treat the illegal activity they have to perpetrate to get these items as their "job". In their minds, they earned this stuff when they finally get it.
...and you're not a "bleeding heart". You're probably somewhat overpriveledged and somewhere along the way picked up a serious case of "white guilt". A true liberal is concerned about the welfare of all humans, not just those in the minority column.
You're probably somewhat overpriveledged and somewhere along the way picked up a serious case of "white guilt".
Ha! Not overprivileged since we were poor too though we usually had somewhere to live.
Speaking English may seem like a given, but you have to remember that people from Puerto Rico are citizens and they speak Spanish. And language/English issues can be hard to overcome if your parent didn't finish school or learn to read and write. The little 4-year old on the documentary had a functionally illiterate mother. We might think that that shouldn't affect him -- but when he got to school, he was instantly behind those who had parents who could read and spell. Most of those kids had books read to them. He didn't because his mother couldn't read. So... Little things can make a difference.
I'm glad that you succeeded in getting out of poverty but I'd like to see it happen for others too. There's nothing that can be done for those who chose to become criminals. There is hope for those who can be helped before they fall into that. None of the kids on that documentary were falling into a life of crime but they all would have been so much better off with a little help. (I imagine, since yesterday's documentary aired, there will be help for the 4-year old and the kid that graduated from high school. That's how these TV shows seem to work.)
*************
One more thing, unrelated to the documentary... I used to work at a law school. They gave a full scholarship to a poor black student from the local area. The student REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to get his law degree. He worked so hard at it, it really hurt to see him fail over and over again. Why was he failing? He was failing because he lacked a lot of the things most of us took for granted. He got great grades in school, all the way up until law school. He probably was a fantastic student at a poor level school. The problem was that once he started competing with kids who went to better schools, you could see that his papers weren't written that well. He lacked some of the reasoning skills that other students had. I can't remember what happened to him in the end, but I do remember that it was painful for everyone involved because they all wanted him to do well -- and he wanted it most of all. So, just wanting something, and even working really hard for it, isn't enough in the end.
Don't believe anything you see on liberal television ! They were probably all actors playing a role to tug at the left wing liberal purse strings.
Do you actually think that there are parts of the country that aren't like that? Growing up in the shadow of Chicago's south-side I can tell you categorically that you are wrong. I knew kids whose parents were in jail, who dealt with situations like having their front windows shot out by gangbangers in a botched up drive-by, who ended up in the hospital when they spurned the advances of gang-members, who lied about their address and took the train and go to my suburban school (which in itself was a school plagued with violence and gang problems) instead of the even worse craphole up the street from them (at least my school has mostly modern ammenities), whose situations mirrored what I saw in that show. What bizarre paranoid reality do you live in, that you think it is all a ploy to seperate you from you money when stuff like this is discussed.
Do you actually think that there are parts of the country that aren't like that? Growing up in the shadow of Chicago's south-side I can tell you categorically that you are wrong. I knew kids whose parents were in jail, who dealt with situations like having their front windows shot out by gangbangers in a botched up drive-by, who ended up in the hospital when they spurned the advances of gang-members, who lied about their address and took the train and go to my suburban school (which in itself was a school plagued with violence and gang problems) instead of the even worse craphole up the street from them (at least my school has mostly modern ammenities), whose situations mirrored what I saw in that show. What bizarre paranoid reality do you live in, that you think it is all a ploy to seperate you from you money when stuff like this is discussed.
Problem #1....Parents in jail
Problem #2....Ganbangers
Problem #3....Drive by shooting
If they would clean up Chicago these problems wouldn't be there...Lock up the gangbangers with those parents. Shoot the drive by shooters.
I still don't believe anything the liberal media puts out. It's all to tug at your wallet....Have you told Oprah about all of this, I'm sure she will fix it overnite. With your money.
""What bizarre paranoid reality do you live in, that you think it is all a ploy to seperate you from you money when stuff like this is discussed.""
Do you ask that just because I don't believe what the liberal media puts out?
This country would be alot better off if more of us questioned what the media puts out and what they don't put out and how they edit what they do put out. It's easy to live with their stories if you only want to heard one side of a story...
Last edited by texanborn; 02-01-2007 at 12:01 PM..
Does one get banned if they get to many points? I think you were talking to me.
I think perhaps Amavel was talking about good rep points, and being a tad facetious--but I could be wrong.
Texanborn, I agree that we should not blindly accept everything the "liberal media" serves us. I take every edited, feel-good or feel-bad docudrama reality-based show with a bit of skepticism, no matter what slant it might come from, Fox or CNN or whatever.
But when I read your post, with it's "shoot the drive by shooters" and "Oprah will fix it with your money," well, you lost me. Your opinion seems less based on reality than anything the media puts out.
Some of the other posts here are quite thought-provoking and inspiring.
I think perhaps Amavel was talking about good rep points, and being a tad facetious--but I could be wrong.
Texanborn, I agree that we should not blindly accept everything the "liberal media" serves us. I take every edited, feel-good or feel-bad docudrama reality-based show with a bit of skepticism, no matter what slant it might come from, Fox or CNN or whatever.
But when I read your post, with it's "shoot the drive by shooters" and "Oprah will fix it with your money," well, you lost me. Your opinion seems less based on reality than anything the media puts out.
Some of the other posts here are quite thought-provoking and inspiring.
What I meant by "shoot the drive by shooters" was if they were all shot that there would be no more drive by shooters. And this whole country would be better off without them. And they were brought up to me, I didn't bring them up.
And Oprah is always trying to fix some wrong in this country and that is a good thing...and so many times she wants others to pay to fix it. Not that she dosen't spend her money too but it comes back to a liberal wanting you to spend yours also for a problem you did not cause.
I'm sure you have heard that she spent 40 million dollars to build a school in Africa, it's her money and she has a right to spend it where and how she wants. But when someone brings up about that bad area of Chicago to me in this forum and she works and live in Chicago why not fix things at home first, then go out and fix the rest of the world.
And maybe you haven't noticed how liberal she is.
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