Seems like everyday I read about some teen killed around here. (Pittsburgh: section 8, apartment)

[Steelers10]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

Sorry, but I honestly don't.
Those that truly wanted out got out....
but the ones who wanted to do the work were far outnumbered by those who wanted the free ride.

And there were/are the strange few who choose to stay even when they could leave. Never understood that....

You have to love the conservative mantra. "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps". "If you want to get out of poverty you can." "Keep your own community clean".

These are all very nice things to say. Any rational person would certainly want to "pull themselves out of poverty". However that is not reality; please feel free to read:

Born Poor? Half of These Babies Will Spend Most of Their Childhoods in Poverty; Significantly More Likely to Be Poor 30 Years Later

If you are born poor in America, there is essentially a 50% chance that you will spend your childhood in poverty. If you are not born poor, you only have a 4% chance of regressing into a childhood of poverty. I think that it says a lot that slightly over half of all born poor don't remain poor as children.

So actually, half of all poor people DO pull themselves up out of poverty. But it is a bit ambitious and somewhat unrealistic to expect that 100% of all impoverished babies are elevated out of poverty. Either wealth has to be grown or redistributed to elevate the other 50% out of poverty. Or, according to conservatives, affirmative action, welfare, social security, public education, and Obamacare are going to increase the 4% of babies not born poor who decline into poverty to a full 50% so everyone will exist in a socialist state, because you know people are getting rich off of American welfare benefits.

If you think about it, you would have to assume that 90% of all African American children existed in poverty (I have no data to support this assertion but I'm assuming there were no wealthy slaves). Factoring in the extensive roadblocks placed in the way of blacks to keep them a permanent underclass for the subsequent 100 years, current black rates of impoverishment are I think reasonable.

For example, blacks were unskilled laborers in Alabama and Mississippi as slaves. After slavery in Alabama and Mississippi, most blacks were consigned to sharecropping or domestic work. These occupations were purposefully excluded from being able to receive Social Security Benefits because they were so heavily participated in by blacks. A sizeable portion of these blacks migrated to the Hill District in Pittsburgh where some were able to be entrepreneurs, but most were consigned to menial labor. Twenty years later these blacks were scattered into housing projects and aging "suburbs" when the Hill District was essentially razed at unfortunately the same time Pittsburgh was deindustrializing. So, when was the wholesale black renaissance out of poverty supposed to take place in Pittsburgh again?

And look at how filthy the roadsides of Appalachia are. Look at the slag heaps left behind by coal mining and the rusting wreckage of the aftermath of the steel industry. Look at how filthy the bottoms of the three rivers are. But the Northside has to keep their neighborhoods clean?

Despite the large number of black children born into poverty in Pittsburgh, a pretty good portion either escape poverty or move away from Pittsburgh altogether. So remember, for as unfortunate as it is, it is a very, very small minority of these poor who are vicious enough to actually commit homicide as adolescents and adults. And had it not been for the deinstutionalization policies of Nixon, I would think a significant chunk of even these teens with homicidal tendencies would have been diagnosed for a mental deficiency long before it got to the point of murder (i.e. the man in Texas who was executed with an IQ of 61). And once again, no one talks about the majority of white children who are born into the middle class circumstances that we wag our finger that the impoverished should aspire to who end up committing suicide. I personally would prefer to laud those individuals who have escaped poverty even without much of an economic catalyst to do so and a 50/50 shot that they wouldn't even do it.

[gg]

Sure was a busy weekend. Is this years shooting/death count higher than most years? I hope this activity doesn't bleed into the suburbs.


Weekend Gun Violence Ravages Through Pittsburgh « CBS Pittsburgh

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Sure was a busy weekend. Is this years shooting/death count higher than most years? I hope this activity doesn't bleed into the suburbs.


Weekend Gun Violence Ravages Through Pittsburgh « CBS Pittsburgh

Actually, a lot of it has been in the suburbs lately, including Munhall, Homestead, Mckees Rocks, Mckeesport, etc.

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by Pitt Chick

I do.

I busted my butt to get out of there, as did my siblings. Got harrassed plenty for keeping my nose as clean as possible, for getting a job while in high school, and even for going to college.

Now, some of the kids I grew up with are still there, as are their kids and grand kids... collecting those checks.

What most people fail to realize is that this type of iniquitous dysfunction runs deep in some families. Families who have multiple murdered young men seem to have this happen in every generation. There are mothers who have lost all of their sons to murder. Although it is sad, you have to look at yourself as a parent. What did you do (or not do) to cause ALL of your sons to be senslessly murdered. Most of the young men come from families where the fathers and uncles before them are dead and buried as well. Where is the example?

My grandparents had 10 children (6 girls and 4 boys) All of the children went on to college and none of the sons (or daughters) went to jail. I have a very large family spread across the US and Germany and none of my grandparents children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren became or took part in senseless murders. Why is that?

[wpipkins]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Sure was a busy weekend. Is this years shooting/death count higher than most years? I hope this activity doesn't bleed into the suburbs.


Weekend Gun Violence Ravages Through Pittsburgh « CBS Pittsburgh

Not even close. The 90's were way worse locally and nationwide.

[gg]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Actually, a lot of it has been in the suburbs lately, including Munhall, Homestead, Mckees Rocks, Mckeesport, etc.

"a lot"? Although those areas you mentioned and you can add Penn Hills are dumps.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by wpipkins

I have a very large family spread across the US and Germany and none of my grandparents children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren became or took part in senseless murders. Why is that?

Because children learn what they live

[gg]

Here you go Scott, another one outside the city. Guess it is bleeding a bit outside the city. Hope it doesn't get too close to my area. I don't have a huge O'Hara buffer like a lot of FC. Might have to look to move further out. Just getting too violent for my liking around our region. Of course we can justify it and say, oh look at Camden, NJ to make us feel better.

Police Investigating After Body Found In North Versailles « CBS Pittsburgh

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

"a lot"? Although those areas you mentioned and you can add Penn Hills are dumps.

They may be, but dump or not, they are suburbs. Penn Hills gets a lot of negative publicity, but much of it is pretty nice. It seems that the trouble spots seem to be on the border of Penn Hills and the city, which is very run down.

[TechieTransplant]

Originally Posted by h_curtis

Here you go Scott, another one outside the city. Guess it is bleeding a bit outside the city. Hope it doesn't get too close to my area. I don't have a huge O'Hara buffer like a lot of FC. Might have to look to move further out. Just getting too violent for my liking around our region. Of course we can justify it and say, oh look at Camden, NJ to make us feel better.

Police Investigating After Body Found In North Versailles « CBS Pittsburgh

Now imagine living 6/10 of a mile from Homewood, and a block from Wilkinsburg, which is a big one I forgot that has been receiving a lot of negative attention from shootings/murders. On top of the fact that there have been two armed home invasions less than 100 feet from our home.

We were sitting at Biddles Escape Friday night and heard the ole "rat a tat tat", and sure enough, less than five minutes later, sirens.