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Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 21 days ago)
35,693 posts, read 18,057,688 times
Reputation: 50756
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Quote:
Originally Posted by john3232
He wasn't wrong yet certainly not the father figure he portrayed on TV. And by some accounts MLK wasn't much better. If the below is true… only Malcom X was the real deal.
Fine but the tracking device stays on. If an individual is committed to change they shouldn't have a problem with that.
I suggest you read the book. It's short. The point where these previous gang members who were going on a speaking tour with the priest went shopping for a suit and tie - and when they saw themselves in the mirror they were transformed. It's very compelling, for these young men to look at themselves as being in the mainstream. And their speeches, on tour, were transformative.
Certainly, the priest chose young men from the pool he had to work with, and not all of them could rise to this level of this ability to speak in public and transform into a successful life, but many of them could.
I suggest you read the book. It's short. The point where these previous gang members who were going on a speaking tour with the priest went shopping for a suit and tie - and when they saw themselves in the mirror they were transformed. It's very compelling, for these young men to look at themselves as being in the mainstream. And their speeches, on tour, were transformative.
Certainly, the priest chose young men from the pool he had to work with, and not all of them could rise to this level of this ability to speak in public and transform into a successful life, but many of them could.
Gregory Boyle (a Jesuit priest) helping at risk teens over the years - is certainly commendable. Nevertheless, it’s up to the community to make the needed changes. White savors won't do it.
Reminds me of...
The true story of David Wilkerson, an Assemblies of God preacher who left a little country church to go to the streets of New York. There he faces life-threatening situations and hears heart-wrenching stories as he seeks to bring change into the lives of these kids through faith in God. The book tells the story of the beginning of Teen Challenge, a thriving ministry today. https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Switchb...s%2C166&sr=8-1
Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 21 days ago)
35,693 posts, read 18,057,688 times
Reputation: 50756
Quote:
Originally Posted by john3232
Gregory Boyle (a Jesuit priest) helping at risk teens over the years - is certainly commendable. Nevertheless, it’s still up to the community to make the necessary changes. White savors won't do it.
Reminds me of...
The true story of David Wilkerson, an Assemblies of God preacher who left a little country church to go to the streets of New York. There he faces life-threatening situations and hears heart-wrenching stories as he seeks to bring change into the lives of these kids through faith in God. The book tells the story of the beginning of Teen Challenge, a thriving ministry today. https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Switchb...s%2C166&sr=8-1
Well, Gregory Boyle runs Homeboy Industries, where they run the jobs themselves, mostly. Sometimes all it takes is one person to believe in someone.
But yes, there are other success stories here and there, and that's great.
In this case you are, or the OP is, referring to 'adding' special rules like the tracking device for example.
That is one direction. I think many would also say there already Are 'special' rules, but in the other direction. When we hear things like not prosecuting or soft on crime due to woke equity,..blah blah.. Those are 'special' rules right there.
It is almost akin to what you suggest the problem was in the first place.
But instead of the problem festering and blowing up due to the general populous and law not giving a hoot what goes on and who dies in the 'bad' parts of town as long as it stays there, the same results are happening due to people actively Trying to not give a hoot just like back then but renaming it equity.
So either people ignore it as long as it is NIMBY, or they Enable it, or they go full Minority Report on it.
And no matter which of the three options are done, its all gonna be white people doing it.
So I agree with john3232 when he says it needs to be birthed out of the community. The Black community.
I won't comment on Bill Cosby,..that was a bummer, lol. And to be clear, I am only referring to the Thug banger types.
There Are positive voices in the community. There is a whole subculture of 'normie' Black people that never make the news just by definition.
The sad thing is this. It's not impossible to clean things up. However, it's an uphill battle, and a major fight. You have to be committed to staying. And the thing is, there are many reasons why Blacks who aren't part of the underclass will leave. Many people have no reason to stick around. If the schools are bad, if crime is extremely bad, and you want a nice quiet life NOW, the easiest thing to do is to leave. If you somehow find a way to get a good education, and a job that pays very well, it's much easier to just leave.
But few people can do that. Everyone there would leave if they felt they could. It’s hard to move up a class from low income to middle class to millionaire class, no matter what step you start on few climb to the next. I can see generation to generation how that plays out, in people I know. My bff is upper middle class, and her kids are in college in majors in which they will likely be upper middle class. My nephew is working class blue collar, as was his father, and grandfather. One son is a truck driver and the other works at Amazon warehouse. Generational poverty is extremely difficult to climb out of, for whatever reasons statistically historically it is the case that it’s difficult to climb from one class to another.
In the 60’s, there were good jobs in black communities here like Camden, NJ. It had RCA, it had Campbell Soup, the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Camden was thriving with many stores and diverse neighborhoods. Those jobs all left and everyone except black people were able to follow jobs to the suburbs and transition to white collar jobs.
The situation now is Camden is one of the poorest cities in the country. Most kids in Camden have never met a college graduate except in an official capacity like a teacher or social worker. When kids see the people who have “made it” in terms of wealth in their communities, very few if any did it by going to college so why would anyone expect that they would see it as a solution?
And again, the gangs get to these kids when they are very young just trying to walk to school. And once they start out doing small favors, say they give him a $20 and say get me a pack of cigarettes, a child is going to think that’s a great deal. And they are especially vulnerable if they don’t have a father at home, and the gangs act like they care about them just like pimps do at first. But then the favors escalate and escalate until they find themselves entrenched in crime and unable to get out even if they wanted to, because now they’ve seen too much to be allowed to leave.
And many of these kids are born with fetal alcohol syndrome, drugs in their system and have developmental disabilities at much higher rates than areas with higher income, raised in houses with lead paint, born to parents who can’t read, and for those kids the chances are very slim for them to escape. As an OT, I’ve worked with kids in those areas who are 12 but read on a Kindergarten level. What is the escape route for them? If you go into a school in Camden, a large percentage of the student body will be classified (special Ed) at rates that far outnumber districts with higher income parents.
People understand how kids are groomed when it comes to sex predators but it’s just as easy and the same processes that play out with the criminal gangs.
It’s a complicated issue and solutions will have to start with getting to kids even before birth. I don’t know how you do that though.
A vigil and calls for unity are nice and all that. However, I want to see those killers removed from society for a long time. What about rehabilitation? My feeling is some people (including teens) are unfit to live in society and no amount of rehabilitation will *change that. I'm concerned about the costs of long-term incarceration and ways to improve on it.
*Some might say the one thing which can save those bad to the bone is a psychic change (for example finding Jesus or Allah.) Perhaps but that's for another forum.
My opinion as well. God can change people whether they like it or not, and I have experienced this directly so I know it to be true. Because I feel that way, I have a hard time with the death penalty. Jesus said let those without sin cast the first stone but he also told sinners to turn from their sin. I’d have to study it more in depth but what about those who don’t turn from sin and are hurting others? I don’t have the answer to that but to keep others safe, they must be removed from society and yeah, the cost of it adds up.
But how can they do that when gangs run the cities, and everyone else is afraid of them? These gangs start in on recruiting little kids 8, 9 , 10 years old just walking to school, by the time they're 12, 13, they are entrenched, and the parent(s) can't do anything about it.
Look at the movie "A Bronx Tale". It's not about inner city gangs, but a working class father trying to keep his son from getting entrenched in the Mafia, after they took a liking to him (he witnessed a shooting and told the cops he didn't see it, and they rewarded him by bringing him into the fold as a kind of mascot). In the movie, he thinks his dad is a loser, working his butt off for peanuts, while these guys seem cool, and they toss him money and include him in their social activities, drive nice cars and have beautiful women. The movie is about DeNiro's efforts to change his mind and save him before it's too late. It is hard to explain to a child how it's better to live an honest life even if it causes you to suffer and you're still poor in the end.
This is where a foundation in the Lord can make all the difference.
Children don’t understand the long term of things, but they can start understanding that we each have a purpose and are special to God even if things happen that make life hard. It’s not about being happy or carnal pleasures. This understanding also applies to depression and anxiety - God loves us even when we don’t love ourselves. He gives us something to live for; the joy of the Lord is legit.
These kids exposed to poor parenting, violence, possibly drugs, and poverty are hanging on by a thread, thinking that’s all there is to life.
I apologize, I should have said where I got that from so folks wouldn't have to waste time searching social media for some facts.
In the USA we have an agency that does many things dealing with crime. It's called the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but is usually just called the FBI.
FBI.gov is a good place to start.
Unless you will point me where exactly on that page it says SPECIFICALLY "3 people are beaten to death in the USA every day."
Because it was YOUR statement.
So I want to see the confirmation.
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