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Here in Minneapolis, we have a large population of Somalis(blacks just like African Americans). Most came here as refugees and some are still struggling with English. You go to the University of Minnesota campus, you see them everywhere. At my fiance's college graduation, all the Black people graduating were either Somalis or Kenyans, there was not even one African American. You go to the Somali neighborhoods here, they are not wealthy, but they are clean, tidy, thriving with businesses, very low crime. The North Side of MPLS, heavily African American, is by far the most dangerous section of city (about 2-3 murders every week). My point is, if a Somali coming from a refugee camp that does not even speak English well can put himself through college or start a succesful business, Don't you think that just about any African American(native English speakers) should be able do the same?. My theory is that this whole "I cant get out of the ghetto, therefore my only option is to sell drugs" theory is a bunch of BS. Yet, I seem to hear this from so many African Americans. I hear so much stupidity like "I was selling dope to survive, I was just trying to make a living, don't hate". Is it a problem of self-loathing, low self esteem, ignorance or all of the above combined? I really wanted to know because it does not seem to be a matter of being Black. The Black people mentioned above are actually doing very well and they have very limited resources(due to their pending Immigration status) and rise from very difficult circumnstances like living in a refugee camp. Can a ghetto be worse than a refugee camp in the desert with no running water? It seems like some people just don't realize how much they have
Well, having some of the most strict laws, and having some of the most strict ENFORCEMENT of those laws are two different things.
Yes, we have tons of laws here. Technically driving 5mph over the speed limit means you're breaking a law. But look at many other countries - in some places if you're convicted of stealing from a store they will either lock you up for a year or more, or, cut off one of your hands. Here you most likely won't do any jail time at all, and just pay a small fine and spend a day in a courtroom waiting to pay it. Murder someone in some countries? Hung from a rope. Here? Spend decades (if it was really violent) in a tax-paid prison with cable TV, rec rooms, and gyms. If it wasn't really violent, you can get out in some cases in as little as ten years or so. In my own area, you know what they do with these teen thug guys when they break into a home? Turn them over to their parents and make them pay a fine. MAYBE a few days in a juvenile detention center. That's it. It's a joke.
Prison is actually a *better* environment for some of these folks than their own homes. What kind of motivation do some of these folks have to not break the law? Personally I'd be happy to pay more taxes to build more prisons, but only if upon going to prison you have no access to televisions, phones, pool tables, and your exercise would consist of walking in a circle in a cage for one hour a day. I think after a few years of that people might not be so crazy about going back to hotel no-thrills and might try to control themselves. As it is now, some prisons are better than many Motel 6s and definately better than the projects, so why NOT take the chance of going there if that's where you live? It's easier to live off of tax payer dollars than to actually work and pull yourself out of a bad environment.
So yeah - we have lots of laws here. Just no real punishment at all unless you break the most severe of them.
We have too many laws in this country and too many jails as it is.
The laws that we have in this country sweep up the poor idiots who honestly think that they can taste the top of the American "dream", when they really, they can't.
We have laws against speed, laws against speech, one law coming up that says if you aint got your "Real ID" on ya-you can't be represented in Fed court, some are proposing laws against baggy pants,etc. Honestly, the enforceable laws are against the poor, which is why the prison demos are the way they are.
The makers of children's cold meds should currently be in jail. They have known for decades that their drugs, their product-I mean, was just poison candy in a bottle; but, they continued to sell it until the FDA finally got it's nose out of it's crack and decided to say something. How many kids have died taking Motrin? How many children have long term liver issues or have died taking Tylenol? But this is America TM, we're talking about. We hate street criminals(mainly because we're conditioned to), but oh, if only the street criminals had the multibillions that Big Corp Global has to market and brand themselves. Only if the street criminal had PR reps to give us bs disclosures. Only if the street criminal had a lawyer(not the free kind). LOL.
The prison population would look much different, if selling drugs to older teens and adults was NOT an offense, but selling drugs to children was. 2.5 million American children have been drugged by their suburban parents and teachers for having the elusive disease-ADHD(aka, my parents and teachers are ill equipped to care for me disease). You know that one. We all know that disease, it used to be called boredom. It's a disease alright, but it's not the child's disease. Drugging children against their will for "illnesses" that can be "cured" by removing a child from a particular environment should be a jailable offense. As should creating such drugs, and marketing them to desperate housewives. It's not though. Drugging children is way too profitable, and this IS America.
You know what else should be jailable? Hitting children..."moral" people prefer it be called spanking. Cowardly parents still hit their children. Especially in the South, from my understanding. You'd see much more of suburbia in jail if THIS was an offense. Heck, you'd see much more of everyone.
The bottom line is the bottom line in this great country-morality and order have never been the general basis for laws in America. Prostitution on the street brings down property values. It's unsightly, and it's a predominantly minority position. Now, if you can afford to house yourself in a pretty little building, say, a $3,000/month rental, post up a glitzy sign and call yourself an "escort service", you've got yourself a business!! It doesn't hurt if you're a blonde either, my understanding is that most "escorts" are white. But that means you've got to have some capital. That means you've got to get a loan. That likely means, you've got to have already sold yourself into debt to the credit card swindlers( I mean, businessmen). Ah, capitalism. Alas Bonquisha, the system just wasn't made for you. You could always be a table grinder in a hiphop music video, but then must understand that you will be blamed for the total degragation of society.
You know what else should be illegal? Tazing citizens for not showing ID cards, or for not shutting up when police tell them to. What happened at the University of Florida and California should be a seriously jailable offense in a so-called "free" country.
We've got laws in this country. Too many. So many that I'm sure I'm breaking one right now, but the laws aren't intended to prevent crime. The laws are intended to warehouse the poor, particularly; poor minorities. The enforeable laws are directed almost entirely towards street crimes, and it has nothing to do with "oversight". Enron and Worldcomm are not unique, there is a factory in Cartersville,Ga right now that is pumping out loads of carcinogens into Georgian communities. In fact, Georgia has more coal facilities pumping out KNOWN toxins into the air, than most states. The owners of the company, Southern Power, could careless how many Georgian children and adults are suffering ill effects from their actions(to the degree that these people don't complain). Most of the owners of Southern Power and other coal companies who are posted up in Georgia, live outside of Georgia. THEY are breathing clean air whilst they pollute the air down here.
Southern Power mentions "cost" when it talks about converting these plants into clean energy. Owners and top employees of Southern Company should be filling our jails-they are killing and harming WAY more of our people(and our environments) than Ray Ray and Boo Boo ever could. They are doing it knowingly, they are doing it because it's profitable, and they are doing it because they know that people are way more concerned with Ray Ray than they are with them. And so pillars of smoke cloud our views, asthma plaques our children, McDonald's and other companies LEGALLY and purposefully taint our food with cancer causing addictive agents, the sun heats up our planet as construction companies LEGALLY destroy the world around us, and nuclear weapons threaten all life. For the most part, like some colorful people on here have already mentioned-we can avoid street crime by avoiding "tha hood". But global crime is profitable, it's inescapable, it's the most dangerous to all life, and it aint being run by Ray Ray, Boo Boo, or Bonquisha. In fact, it's mainly being driven by suburbia, who funds and supports the majority of these violent entities who act LEGALLY, but have virtually NO respect for life.
With that, there is the talk about religion and "spirituality". I mean, cant you see how hypocritical this is? It is just like BET, they show for hours and hours all these lowlife thugs talking about how much money they make and their bags of money(I am sure they are not running GM or Microsoft), and then later on, they bring on these very "spiritual" religious shows.
Totally agree. BET sucks though. It has nothing to do with black people. It's just pure ghetto.
A great number of the homeless are mentally ill, and the majority of the mentally ill are not dangerous to society. It's sad that people think it's a "good thing" that people in need(financially, emotionally, or psychologically) should be driven out to the country side and dumped in a street left for dead. Wow. Is apathy a disease?
I don't think that many people think "those in need" should be dumped along the road - I was refering to a police department that takes the BUMS.. not "those in need" and dumps the BUMS outside the city limits along with a stern, "don't come back" message.
People have a bad habit of clumping together words here in the forums sometimes - there is a vast difference between someone in need, someone who is homeless, and a "bum". Atlanta actually has a lot of bums downtown. Rarely do you find a legit person in need. Many who are there are there because they are not willing to do what it takes to not be there - including getting the help that is freely available to them.
You may have missed an earlier post I made where I made reference to the thing they did a while back here where they went downtown and told everyone on the streets where they could go to get FREE counciling, job training, shelter/food, and drug or pschological help. Gave them cards with directions, addresses, and I do believe even a resource for a ride to the places if they needed it. Pretty much no one took them up on it. Now I ask again - what should we do? Take paddy wagons and FORCE them to go to get help? No, we can't do that. The activists would then say we are "rounding up black people" or something. So - what's left? They stay where they are, and we get to step over them on the sidewalk and park area downtown along with the tourists. You can't FORCE people to get help... they have to WANT to get it, and it's THERE if they want it.
So, my solution? Do it again. Get the doctors and helpers organized again in the clinics and training centers and shelters. ONE MORE TIME, go around town and pass out the cards and directions and talk to them about where to go for help. This time, if they refuse to take the city up on the offer? Well... yep... that country road dump sounds pretty good. Tolerance is one thing - but we're reaching the end of that.
I don't think that many people think "those in need" should be dumped along the road - I was refering to a police department that takes the BUMS.. not "those in need" and dumps the BUMS outside the city limits along with a stern, "don't come back" message.
People have a bad habit of clumping together words here in the forums sometimes - there is a vast difference between someone in need, someone who is homeless, and a "bum". Atlanta actually has a lot of bums downtown. Rarely do you find a legit person in need. Many who are there are there because they are not willing to do what it takes to not be there - including getting the help that is freely available to them.
You may have missed an earlier post I made where I made reference to the thing they did a while back here where they went downtown and told everyone on the streets where they could go to get FREE counciling, job training, shelter/food, and drug or pschological help. Gave them cards with directions, addresses, and I do believe even a resource for a ride to the places if they needed it. Pretty much no one took them up on it. Now I ask again - what should we do? Take paddy wagons and FORCE them to go to get help? No, we can't do that. The activists would then say we are "rounding up black people" or something. So - what's left? They stay where they are, and we get to step over them on the sidewalk and park area downtown along with the tourists. You can't FORCE people to get help... they have to WANT to get it, and it's THERE if they want it.
So, my solution? Do it again. Get the doctors and helpers organized again in the clinics and training centers and shelters. ONE MORE TIME, go around town and pass out the cards and directions and talk to them about where to go for help. This time, if they refuse to take the city up on the offer? Well... yep... that country road dump sounds pretty good. Tolerance is one thing - but we're reaching the end of that.
You can't have a solution if you don't know what the problem is. Have you ever raised a child? If so, you know right now that no human being WANTS to be dependent. At the age of 2, humans start to assert themselves as individuals, seperate from all others. "No" is a favorite word, and "I do it myself" is a favorite phrase. This is developmental stage that ALL people go through-twice; barring any problems. If someone is willing to stand outside, with no dignity, no respect for themselves, and look a total mess-they are in NEED. Maybe they aren't in need of money, but they ARE in need of something, as their behavior is completely indicative of a problem. The question is, what IS the problem. Many people have problems without knowing that they do. I know your wife or girlfriend has had you watch Oprah before. That show is nothing but a soap box for suburban women who have problems, but don't know it. Bums can be the same you know? They are just as human as anyone. Prehaps they have a problem, and don't realize it. Who knows what it is? But how can one solve a problem without knowing what it is? I doubt it can be done, and the proof is in the pudding.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Reputation: 3995
I think the Atlanta area's reputation is a bit worse than it is. Not that it's perfect (some places are far from it), but I don't feel like I have to be packing heat to be safe when I'm walking around our neighborhood at night either...
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,089,277 times
Reputation: 3995
Quote:
Originally Posted by Derrick_TheRiskTaker
For example, it has always bothered me whenever a white cop shoots and kills a black person (in many of these cases that I have been exposed to, the suspect was at fault) the black community and shakedown kings Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton calls for protest, boycotts and outright crazy media coverage is given to these issues with no or little substance to them. However, when a black person is killed by another black person all we do is; NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING! No protest against these kinds of crimes, no national media coverage, no protesting of the perpetrators crimes and guess what? No Al or Jesse! This is alarming to be.
I'ev never understood it, etiher. Maybe there aren't as many political brownie points to be earned by protesting same-race shootings?
You know what else should be jailable? Hitting children..."moral" people prefer it be called spanking. Cowardly parents still hit their children. Especially in the South, from my understanding. You'd see much more of suburbia in jail if THIS was an offense. Heck, you'd see much more of everyone..
Actually, I have seen news stories about parents being hauled off to jail for spanking their unruly kids in public places. I think that is ridiculous. I think that you need to do something to get a kid's attention when they are out of control. If talking to them doesn't work then a swat on the butt might get them to pay attention. And, Puh-leeze, don't tell me that is abusive!
What is abusive is popping out kids that you have neither the money nor the inclination to raise properly. Having a child is a huge responsibility. If you are not prepared to put your own needs on hold for the next 18 years so that you can put their needs first, then don't have a baby! It really is that simple!
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
11,334 posts, read 26,089,277 times
Reputation: 3995
Quote:
Originally Posted by backfist
lukeache,
I'm a grown Black man in my mid-forties; a father; a husband; and a professional. Please tell the world what you know of people like us.
I work with several professional folks like you here, and I have two families of such for neighbors. All of them are very good people as far as I know.
I'm having lunch with another similar positive example in two weeks, actually - someone I met at a technical class a couple of months ago. We've been comparing notes and such.
I think the world would be a better place if there were more like these folks *regardless* of color. :-)
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