DJ2 wrote on March 17, 2008 09:02 PM: Don,

Your comment was chilling and profound.

Alexis wrote on March 17, 2008 01:23 PM: I graduated in 1968 (in Washington State) I was raised by a single mother and I was a latch key kid. Was there teen violence? Rarely, we still honored our parents even the ones that weren't part of our lives, God was still a big part of our lives. The drugs and alcohol were only coming out of the closet then and times were different. My kids didn't see the voilence that there is now and they are afraid for thier kids just starting life. How can this downard spiral continue and humanity still survive?

reader wrote on March 17, 2008 12:41 PM: Thank you George. Culture. That is the true issue and the core of what is shredding our country. Murder is the most heinous of crimes and the one I am most concerned with as it destroys without possibility of reparation. It was this crime that drew me to the report I linked below. When I looked at it I saw that a group representing 6% of our population is responsible for 47% of the murders. I don't think it is genetic, so it must be a cultural issue. Unless it is pointed out there will be nothing done, even then action is unlikely as nobody has an answer. Please do not be offended or think it racist. If I were racist it would not bother me as much since the larger part of these killings are within that same 6%. I am American and so are the victims, I want it to stop. This board is a microcosm of society, read the posts leading up to this one. If you point out something like this, only using factual information, you are still labeled a bigot.
My point is that the transgressions against a group of people in the past cannot absolve them of their own transgressions today. The culture needs to change and I have yet to see any sign of that. In fact it is getting worse by the day.

Terri wrote on March 17, 2008 12:36 PM: I graduated in 1978, and I never saw this kind of violence... I graduated from Western High School..

things are very different now.

We have VIOLENT VIDEO GAMES... which innoculates them from violence...

there has been a breakdown of the family.... so many fathers are not around... a lot of fathers allow the government to be their babies daddies...

it seems that parents have more money than time now days...

and God... God is not allowed anywhere anymore.

Sad state of affairs.

JMO.

SWM wrote on March 17, 2008 11:24 AM: So you are saying that children that are less supervised are the reason for teens behaving badly? I am a single working mother due to unfornuate reasons. I live in a beautiful home in Summerlin and my daughter attends Palo. She is a 4.0 student envolved in sports and school clubs. I have worked and raised her alone for 15 yrs and I tell you she would not behave badly because I taught her the difference between right and wrong. So your idea of working parents is dead wrong.
Kids will be what you put into them!

Don Evans wrote on March 17, 2008 10:23 AM: Children are less supervised, due to the increasing economic necessity of dual income families. In short, they are being raised without guidance. Kids are kids, unless their environment is the equivalent of "Lord of the Flies", like it so often is these days.

APM wrote on March 17, 2008 10:20 AM: Sure things have changed - the amount of teenagers (or other killers for that matter) who take others out randomly has increased. Unbridled aggression due in part to lack of community. The sterile burbs seem to produce as many criminals as the ghettos of yesteryear. Some kids feel no sense of connection to anyone. And parents who don't spend time with their kids and expect institutions like schools to assume responsibility for raising them don't help matters either. "A good name is rather to be had than silver and gold" has been replaced with the big screen TV, mega house, cars and other trappings of materialism. Kids learn early on "I am what I wear, what I drive, where I live, what my parents do,etc."
I pity the majority of children raised in this country at this time: black, white, red or yellow as the old song goes. They are like little prisoners carefully ferried about and not allowed to develop independence. Public school teachers are forced to train them like hamsters thanks to Every Child Left Behind. Unless parents assume responsibility and hold their kids to a higher standard the situation will not change. WE need viable communities where kids interact with a wide spectrum of generations. Peer to peer contact leads to tunnel vision.
The have-nots will not be ignored any longer. And this is where tragedy comes in.

GEORGE wrote on March 17, 2008 03:55 AM: Human nature doesn't change over the generations but cultures do. The violence statistics of the previous generation compared to this one were consistently lower. The difference was that their culture was based on religious principles which imposed a discipline on the society which minimized violent behaviour. Todays secular culture is controlled by a media which glorifies sex and violence.This is bound to produce high levels of anti-social behaviour.

reader wrote on March 16, 2008 11:23 PM: White men do not rape black women at the rate that black men rape white women. You can find that fact in the report I linked. Perhaps this is growth on the part of the white man?
Slavery was performed by all races George, please do not believe that it was a Caucasian invention.
I would bet that most African slaves brought to the Americas were sold by their brethren.
I am not here to debate the past, and I am sorry if I offend you George. However, I will say this: It seems fine for black folk to throw slavery in the face of whites whenever they want. I simply type facts that are current, in the world I live in and say I care about it. Why are the crimes of whites committed many years ago still so relevant, yet what is being done today by blacks should not be spoken of, rather called foolishness.
Rape and murder today is foolishness, the rape and murder of black people years ago, however, is serious business.
Hypocritical George.
I am 1/4th Native American FYI.

You said "whites are responsible for the institutional racism that plagues the black community in this country"

Zero responsibility George, exactly what I said in my first post.
It all white people's fault that black kids are killing each other.
As long as the black community holds that to be true, then they are powerless to change anything.
If they start believing that we are ALL responsible for what this country becomes there may be a chance for us.

No matter how thin a pancake is George there are always two sides.

George McKenna wrote on March 16, 2008 11:06 PM: reader,
There was an oversight that I missed. You stated "Look at the rape statistics. White men almost never rape black women, yet the rape statistics of white women by black men is staggering in comparison." Out of all of the scholarly journals, biographies, and narratives that you've read, how is it that you could fix your fingers to type such foolishness? White men almost never rape black women? Slavery must have been complete fiction to you, or it's something you chose not to acknowledge because it happened so long ago?

I am as blind to the issues in the black community as you are to white men not forcing themselves on not only black women, but native american women as well. The answer you're looking for isn't in a text. If you really want to help, contact your city councilman, county commissioner, and the mayor and express your concerns.

The answer that you are seeking cannot be found in a book, and probably won't happen in this lifetime. Contrary to what you believe, whites are responsible for the institutional racism that plagues the black community in this country and it will probably be several generations from now before it is rectified.

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