Black on Black Violence & Hypocrisy in the U.S

[jade408]

I am black too (and grew up in middle class suburbia), and I think the hysteria about black on black violence is really silly. Most people commit crimes to members of their own ethnic group. This means white people hurt white people, latinos hurt latinos and so on. So why are we only concerned with black on black crime instead of getting rid of crime and reducing violence in our society? Do we sit here going "why aren't the white people solving their meth problem!"

When people drill into the details on crime, it has a huge correlation with class (or access to amenities). People with limited economic opportunity tend to commit more crime than people with more economic opportunity. A
Here are some interesting stats to think about:
nf/poverty & crime/FEBRUARY
The Poverty-Crime Connection | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Additionally, based on the results of a recent long term study, being a criminal has different impacts on black and white males. In a nutshells, white former criminals have better job prospects than their black peers. White criminals do less jail time and so on. Anyway, here are the results of a 20 year study with black and white men. Why Young, Black Men Can’t Work - COLORLINES

Alexander and his team detail what they have discovered about their subjects’ lives in a new book, “The Long Shadow.” Of the many striking findings, two stood out prominently to the research team.

First, education was not a golden ticket out of poverty for those in the study; rather, it appeared only to enhance the privileges of those who were already middle class. Low-income youth of all races in the study pursued higher education widely, but like Moody, they hit insurmountable barriers, ranging from costs to family obligations. Only 4 percent had earned a bachelor’s degree by age 28, compared to 45 percent of the middle-class study participants. “We said, ‘Wow, education isn’t really working for these kids, even though we tell them that’s how to get ahead in life,’” Alexander recalls. “And that’s what turned our attention directly to the folks in the workforce who did not go to college.”
....

Perhaps most profound were the differences researchers saw when they factored in “problem behaviors”—dropping out of school, doing drugs, getting locked up. Here, Alexander explains, white men of all classes reported far more troubled behavior than anyone else in the study, but black men suffered uniquely harsh, lasting punishment for their mistakes. Among men who’d dropped out of school, for instance, 84 percent of whites were employed full time at age 22. For black men, however, only 40 percent were employed at that age. And while black and white men from low-income families had similarly high rates of criminal convictions, those convictions mattered far more to the lives of the black men. At age 28, 54 percent of white men with a record were employed full time making an average of $20 an hour; among black men with records, 33 percent were employed, making just over $10 an hour, or half that of their white peers.

So I have a different question, why are we so worried about the "plight of the black people." And think it is a community problem, when we clearly have a violence problem in this country, in many neighborhoods, but expressed differently.

Now I know one of you will say, "but there are more black people in jail!" Let's not forget that black people are targeted more, arrested more and charge more often, for the same crimes compared to their non-white peers.

We have a crime problem, and much if it is tied into our opportunity problems related to income inequality. Notice how the crime rates drop off a cliff as people have more income and stability. So why don't we work on that, instead of trying to find something wrong with black people all the time. Cutting down on income inequality and increasing economic opportunity for people at the bottom will solve a ton of our societal problems.

[wall st kid]

Originally Posted by Jamal.wall

I absolutely cannot stand Al Sharpton. I feel as if he is just a scapegoat to show we have black leaders. I mean this guy is always wanting money or endorsements for anything he does. I NEVER hear him comment on the multiple killings that happen in the hood AND it only seems he comes out when a national story has broken out (most recently the LI incident with the NYPD)

& you guys believe the blame should go more to the government as opposed to black people themselves? I mean I think enough is enough at some point in time we have to look at ourselves as a race & expect more for ourselves.

I agree. Sharpton was "All over" The Martin-Zimmerman case, but when Shorty Belton or Christopher Lane were killed, he was nowhere to be found.

The "crusade" against Zimmerman did nothing positive to help the black community, did nothing to address black on black crime and nothing to address other race issues that we currently have in society.

All it did was spark some fake outrage and get Al on tv. Nothing changed for the better.

[Matt Marcinkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Troyfan

Blame the Great Society, number one, and the "justice" system number two. The GS has destroyed black families (most black, anyway) by driving out black fathers. Now we've had three generations of young black males make their way to adulthood without paternal supervision, with consequences that were foreseen by all except those promoting the programs.

The "justice" system consistently returns criminals to the the street by not incarcerating them. Instead, its only concern is with the legal rights of the criminals. Again, the consequences of this was obvious to all except the people whose desire was to destroy the "justice" system.

White people were leaving cities, largely black ghettoes now, even before these developments took root. Now, the avenues of escape for blacks has been cut off by the very people, black and white, who claimed to be acting in their behalf. But really weren't and probably knew they weren't, as evinced by their continuing advocacy of the more of the same failed policies they implemented years ago.

With 2.3 million incarcerated, the US has a really high incarceration rate already (the world's highest, in fact), yet to you it apparently is not enough. In my mind a better solution to greater incarceration would be an overhaul of said system, with a greater emphasis on rehabilitation and lowering the recidivism rate. I'd love to hear you elaborate on how the "Great Society" was responsible for the destruction of black families.

United States incarceration rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Opin_Yunated]

Originally Posted by jade408

So I have a different question, why are we so worried about the "plight of the black people." And think it is a community problem, when we clearly have a violence problem in this country, in many neighborhoods, but expressed differently.

Now I know one of you will say, "but there are more black people in jail!" Let's not forget that black people are targeted more, arrested more and charge more often, for the same crimes compared to their non-white peers.

We have a crime problem, and much if it is tied into our opportunity problems related to income inequality. Notice how the crime rates drop off a cliff as people have more income and stability. So why don't we work on that, instead of trying to find something wrong with black people all the time. Cutting down on income inequality and increasing economic opportunity for people at the bottom will solve a ton of our societal problems.

Everything said here is 10000000% true.

Income inequality is key.

Also, most people fail to mention encounter rates when mentioning crime statistics. Whites being a majority make them significantly less likely to encounter minorities, as they can self-segregate easier. Tim Wise cited the encounter rates as follows: less than 3% of all persons encountered by a white person are black. By converse, over 57% of all persons encountered by blacks are white. Due to differential encounter rates (blacks being significantly more likely to encounter other blacks and other whites), there is an easy explanation for racial crime disparities (black-on-black or black-on-white crime). Most crime committed by whites is on other whites, but it won't ever be media worthy.