According to the New York Times murders committed by black teens is rising.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/us/29homicide.html?hp
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Friday, December 7, 2007
Omaha shooter vs. Sean Taylor's killers
Am I sensing something here? I was just listening to ABC Nightline where they labeled the Omaha shooter as being troubled and trying to figure out where they went wrong.
Yet, the killers of Sean Taylor are being labeled thugs and everything under the sun.
Why aren't they all being labeled one in the same: if one is troubled, then they all should be troubled. If one is a thug, then they all should be a thug.
It's just the usual example of a double standard to me. They (the media, we know who its controlled by) is always going to make "their stories" seem different than they make anyone else's. Not just blacks, but any other minority for that matter.
As a people (you know, before we disintegrated into the beasts that we've unleashed today) were civilized before slavery. We weren't savages. Everyone got a fair chance.
Yet, the killers of Sean Taylor are being labeled thugs and everything under the sun.
Why aren't they all being labeled one in the same: if one is troubled, then they all should be troubled. If one is a thug, then they all should be a thug.
It's just the usual example of a double standard to me. They (the media, we know who its controlled by) is always going to make "their stories" seem different than they make anyone else's. Not just blacks, but any other minority for that matter.
As a people (you know, before we disintegrated into the beasts that we've unleashed today) were civilized before slavery. We weren't savages. Everyone got a fair chance.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Who Are the Predators Teens Should Be More Worried About??
I was listening to the radio station on one afternoon while I was driving. During the week, I like to listen to the talk radio because they usually discuss some interesting things. On this particular afternoon, the topic was kids/teens having sex with teachers and other men/women of authority that the community looks up to and respects. Also, these are the people that you hope are helping you to look after your children and keep them on the right path. Anyway.
As people kept calling in, there was the story of where a girl talked about a minister and her having sex when she was 16 years old. She said that this man had her doing the freakiest things and that he had turned her out. He later had went on to get married and invited her to the wedding.
Another caller said that he had been injured in a game and his teacher was helping to bandage him. As she was wrapping the bandage around him, she was going lower and lower until she was in territory that she had no business being.
Another guy was talking about all the things the "Sisters" had done at the Catholic school that he attended. He actually lost his virginity at the age of 17 to someone who was supposed to help guide and mentor him.
I know the Catholic church has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, but this is not only happening in the Catholic church. I hate that I didn't get to hear the whole program because it sounded like it was really interesting. Not only were they talking to the teens who where going through these ordeals, but also trying to get the teachers and ministers, preachers, or whomever to call in and help shed light on the issue and give their thoughts. Also those who would have been bold enough to admit that they had sex with someone underage.
This is starting to become a bigger issue everyday. We have seen this with the lady, whose name I cannot remember right now, that had sex with her 13 year old student and had his child, and now they are in a relationship together. Not to mention the other lady who had gone to trial for having sex with her student, but got off because she was too pretty.
Now we all give R. Kelly and the likes hell, but what about this? What do you do? How do you handle it? How traumatic is it for the child that went through it. Yes, there are teens out there that look much older than they look. People don't buy it with R. Kelly. They say he should have known better still. Some say these girls these days are spreading their legs just as fast as a woman over the age of 18-25. Still, people don't buy it with R. Kelly. Is there an age where a teen can be held responsible for their sexual actions even if it is with an adult that is over 18? We all know the law is not always right or fair for that matter.
This is a very disturbing issue for me. I guess it is because there is so much that goes on in the community and it is never talked about until things start to boil over, or it is swept under the rug so much that those dust balls have turned into something so huge under that rug that you can no longer ignore it.
Seriously, what do you do? So much of the faith that Black people have comes from their religion. You have to send your children to school, unless you home school them. If you are not home schooling them, then you run the risk of being arrested for not allowing your child to get an education. That is funny to me because it feels like yesterday when we would talk about how Blacks had to fight to get an education. That is another issue for another time.
Point being, if Black people cannot trust to send their children to school because it is the teachers that they have to worry about and not the other kids, what do you do? If Black people cannot trust their spiritual father or spiritual mother, nuns, priests, or whomever and start to lose faith. what is left? Is it a possiblity that this could get so out of hand that Black people will question faith. Of course you can always go to another church, but the damage has been done. It would always be at the back of your mind what happened. Of course their is forgiveness and moving on, but can you really move on from that?
This post is just my mind thinking. I have no answers but only questions. Really, what do you do? What would you do? Are you worried or concerned? Has someone you know had this problem? How do you know your kids, cousin, niece, or nephew aren't going through this now and just haven't said anything? Who should we worry about more? The people closest to us? Or someone that they meet on the streets?
As people kept calling in, there was the story of where a girl talked about a minister and her having sex when she was 16 years old. She said that this man had her doing the freakiest things and that he had turned her out. He later had went on to get married and invited her to the wedding.
Another caller said that he had been injured in a game and his teacher was helping to bandage him. As she was wrapping the bandage around him, she was going lower and lower until she was in territory that she had no business being.
Another guy was talking about all the things the "Sisters" had done at the Catholic school that he attended. He actually lost his virginity at the age of 17 to someone who was supposed to help guide and mentor him.
I know the Catholic church has been under a lot of scrutiny lately, but this is not only happening in the Catholic church. I hate that I didn't get to hear the whole program because it sounded like it was really interesting. Not only were they talking to the teens who where going through these ordeals, but also trying to get the teachers and ministers, preachers, or whomever to call in and help shed light on the issue and give their thoughts. Also those who would have been bold enough to admit that they had sex with someone underage.
This is starting to become a bigger issue everyday. We have seen this with the lady, whose name I cannot remember right now, that had sex with her 13 year old student and had his child, and now they are in a relationship together. Not to mention the other lady who had gone to trial for having sex with her student, but got off because she was too pretty.
Now we all give R. Kelly and the likes hell, but what about this? What do you do? How do you handle it? How traumatic is it for the child that went through it. Yes, there are teens out there that look much older than they look. People don't buy it with R. Kelly. They say he should have known better still. Some say these girls these days are spreading their legs just as fast as a woman over the age of 18-25. Still, people don't buy it with R. Kelly. Is there an age where a teen can be held responsible for their sexual actions even if it is with an adult that is over 18? We all know the law is not always right or fair for that matter.
This is a very disturbing issue for me. I guess it is because there is so much that goes on in the community and it is never talked about until things start to boil over, or it is swept under the rug so much that those dust balls have turned into something so huge under that rug that you can no longer ignore it.
Seriously, what do you do? So much of the faith that Black people have comes from their religion. You have to send your children to school, unless you home school them. If you are not home schooling them, then you run the risk of being arrested for not allowing your child to get an education. That is funny to me because it feels like yesterday when we would talk about how Blacks had to fight to get an education. That is another issue for another time.
Point being, if Black people cannot trust to send their children to school because it is the teachers that they have to worry about and not the other kids, what do you do? If Black people cannot trust their spiritual father or spiritual mother, nuns, priests, or whomever and start to lose faith. what is left? Is it a possiblity that this could get so out of hand that Black people will question faith. Of course you can always go to another church, but the damage has been done. It would always be at the back of your mind what happened. Of course their is forgiveness and moving on, but can you really move on from that?
This post is just my mind thinking. I have no answers but only questions. Really, what do you do? What would you do? Are you worried or concerned? Has someone you know had this problem? How do you know your kids, cousin, niece, or nephew aren't going through this now and just haven't said anything? Who should we worry about more? The people closest to us? Or someone that they meet on the streets?
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Forum tackles black-on-black crime
Police, leaders worried about rise in gang violence
By HECTOR CASTROP-I REPORTER
Seattle's African American leaders have watched with alarm in recent years as crime by blacks against blacks continues to plague their community.
"This is an issue that we'll have to solve," said the Rev. Harriet Walden, who has been working on what has been dubbed black-on-black crime since 1999.
Locally, other leaders also have stepped into the discussion, and Tuesday, as part of the annual Juneteenth observances commemorating the end of slavery in Texas, many will attend a community forum at Rainier Beach High School titled "Black-on-Black Crime: What are we going to do?"
FBI statistics show that in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, the victim and offender were both black in 63.5 percent of the more than a half-million crimes reported nationally.
Locally, Seattle police have been increasingly concerned about a rise in violence between rival gangs, particularly in the Central District and South Seattle. In the majority of instances, the drive-by shootings, assaults and other gang-related crimes involve the city's black gangs, but the impact of the violence is widespread.
Walden and a colleague set up a Web site, silentwar.org, to addresses the problem.
They began by talking to people about violence in the community and surveyed about 1,000 people.
"Most people in our community know somebody who has been hurt," Walden said.
Part of the problem, she said, is that drugs and guns are too easily obtained by young men and woman of all races.
"As adults, we have not figured out a good way to be able to confront the bad guys and win," Walden said.
At the same time, boundaries for youths are no longer clear, she said.
Local activist the Rev. Donovan Rivers, who plans to attend the forum, said he is not only concerned about crime, but also wants to keep young black men out of jail.
With gang activity, in particular, expected to rise this summer, Rivers
said he expects police enforcement to be equally tough.
"The police are not going to play this year," he said. "They're going to hit hard."
Rivers said he hopes the community will come through with youth programs this summer to help keep children out of trouble.
When are our violent black youth going to realize that we are only hurting ourselves. Sometimes I feel like every year or everyday rather that we are setting ourselves back.
By HECTOR CASTROP-I REPORTER
Seattle's African American leaders have watched with alarm in recent years as crime by blacks against blacks continues to plague their community.
"This is an issue that we'll have to solve," said the Rev. Harriet Walden, who has been working on what has been dubbed black-on-black crime since 1999.
Locally, other leaders also have stepped into the discussion, and Tuesday, as part of the annual Juneteenth observances commemorating the end of slavery in Texas, many will attend a community forum at Rainier Beach High School titled "Black-on-Black Crime: What are we going to do?"
FBI statistics show that in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, the victim and offender were both black in 63.5 percent of the more than a half-million crimes reported nationally.
Locally, Seattle police have been increasingly concerned about a rise in violence between rival gangs, particularly in the Central District and South Seattle. In the majority of instances, the drive-by shootings, assaults and other gang-related crimes involve the city's black gangs, but the impact of the violence is widespread.
Walden and a colleague set up a Web site, silentwar.org, to addresses the problem.
They began by talking to people about violence in the community and surveyed about 1,000 people.
"Most people in our community know somebody who has been hurt," Walden said.
Part of the problem, she said, is that drugs and guns are too easily obtained by young men and woman of all races.
"As adults, we have not figured out a good way to be able to confront the bad guys and win," Walden said.
At the same time, boundaries for youths are no longer clear, she said.
Local activist the Rev. Donovan Rivers, who plans to attend the forum, said he is not only concerned about crime, but also wants to keep young black men out of jail.
With gang activity, in particular, expected to rise this summer, Rivers
said he expects police enforcement to be equally tough.
"The police are not going to play this year," he said. "They're going to hit hard."
Rivers said he hopes the community will come through with youth programs this summer to help keep children out of trouble.
When are our violent black youth going to realize that we are only hurting ourselves. Sometimes I feel like every year or everyday rather that we are setting ourselves back.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
What People Are Saying About...
NYC as a model for effectively addressing the national dropout crisis
"Kids who quit school don't just suddenly drop out; it's more of a slow fade. Typically it begins in the ninth grade, if not earlier, often when life hits a particularly nasty patch and racking up credits in class no longer seems especially compelling or plausible. Ernestine Maisonet started fading in eighth grade, when the grandmother who had raised her died...Tanya Garcia, 19, of Brooklyn also went off track at the end of middle school. A fire destroyed her family's apartment and left them homeless for four months....Against all odds, Maisonet and Garcia are slated to graduate in New York City's class of 2007. They are among some 13,000 students who dropped out or were on the verge of doing so but have been recovered in the public school system. The city's secret? Finding out who was dropping out and why and offering a variety of paths-complete with intensive social support and personalized instruction-back to school." - "Stopping the Exodus," Time Magazine, May 3, 2007
Continued improvement in NYC Public School graduation rates
"By Mills' count - not the count of Bloomberg or Klein - only 44% of the students who entered high school in the city in 2000 wound up graduating in four years, but 50% of the kids who started in 2002 successfully completed their studies in four years. For comparison purposes, the graduation rate fell in New York's next four largest cities and remained static across the state.
Equally encouraging, when students who took five years to get through were counted, the graduation rate stood at 57%. All the arrows, in fact, were up, and if trends continue, the five-year graduation rate could well top 60% in 2007. Although that's still below the state average, we're seeing sustained upward progress - along with a vindication of Bloomberg and Klein's policies, such as shutting big failing high schools and replacing them with smaller schools.
Many have attacked the reforms, and many have doubted whether students were actually learning more... but Mills has now certified the trend. And it is happily up. So much so that Mills pointed other districts to some of the techniques now in use in the city's schools, virtually all of which hinge on constantly measuring the progress of individual students and tailoring teaching to their needs. The approach is at the heart of the drive by Bloomberg and Klein to hold everyone in every school accountable for producing results, as opposed to moving students along on a conveyor belt of failure. It's very basic, and it's working. Well done. - New York Daily News, April 26, 2007
Worth reading:
"School reform could also play a major role in fighting poverty and spreading opportunity. One sound proposal is to pay substantial bonuses to get the most effective teachers into schools with low-income students. It's simply unfair for America's neediest students to be continually assigned to the weakest teachers, perhaps consigning them to another generation of poverty. Higher pay will help recruit and retain excellent teachers." - Nicholas D. Kristof, "Gold Stars and Dunce Caps," New York Times, May 1, 2007
"Kids who quit school don't just suddenly drop out; it's more of a slow fade. Typically it begins in the ninth grade, if not earlier, often when life hits a particularly nasty patch and racking up credits in class no longer seems especially compelling or plausible. Ernestine Maisonet started fading in eighth grade, when the grandmother who had raised her died...Tanya Garcia, 19, of Brooklyn also went off track at the end of middle school. A fire destroyed her family's apartment and left them homeless for four months....Against all odds, Maisonet and Garcia are slated to graduate in New York City's class of 2007. They are among some 13,000 students who dropped out or were on the verge of doing so but have been recovered in the public school system. The city's secret? Finding out who was dropping out and why and offering a variety of paths-complete with intensive social support and personalized instruction-back to school." - "Stopping the Exodus," Time Magazine, May 3, 2007
Continued improvement in NYC Public School graduation rates
"By Mills' count - not the count of Bloomberg or Klein - only 44% of the students who entered high school in the city in 2000 wound up graduating in four years, but 50% of the kids who started in 2002 successfully completed their studies in four years. For comparison purposes, the graduation rate fell in New York's next four largest cities and remained static across the state.
Equally encouraging, when students who took five years to get through were counted, the graduation rate stood at 57%. All the arrows, in fact, were up, and if trends continue, the five-year graduation rate could well top 60% in 2007. Although that's still below the state average, we're seeing sustained upward progress - along with a vindication of Bloomberg and Klein's policies, such as shutting big failing high schools and replacing them with smaller schools.
Many have attacked the reforms, and many have doubted whether students were actually learning more... but Mills has now certified the trend. And it is happily up. So much so that Mills pointed other districts to some of the techniques now in use in the city's schools, virtually all of which hinge on constantly measuring the progress of individual students and tailoring teaching to their needs. The approach is at the heart of the drive by Bloomberg and Klein to hold everyone in every school accountable for producing results, as opposed to moving students along on a conveyor belt of failure. It's very basic, and it's working. Well done. - New York Daily News, April 26, 2007
Worth reading:
"School reform could also play a major role in fighting poverty and spreading opportunity. One sound proposal is to pay substantial bonuses to get the most effective teachers into schools with low-income students. It's simply unfair for America's neediest students to be continually assigned to the weakest teachers, perhaps consigning them to another generation of poverty. Higher pay will help recruit and retain excellent teachers." - Nicholas D. Kristof, "Gold Stars and Dunce Caps," New York Times, May 1, 2007
Thursday, April 19, 2007
The Don Imus Controversy
A lot of people have never heard of Don Imus, but I had. He had been embroiled in controversy in the past where he insulted gays, Arabs and yes, Blacks. Some people wonder what’s different this time. He insulted African-American women who have bright futures ahead of them. They’re working hard, future career women who a preparing to become doctors, lawyers, etc. They were attacked for no reason at all. Not only that their glory was stolen from them by Mr. Imus.
I must commend two women one is Vivian Stringer, the Head Coach of Rutgers University ladies basketball team and Essence Carson who is the captain of the team. These women and the entire basketball team has conducted themselves in an intelligent and dignified manner.
Do I think Don Imus should be fired? At first I thought he should, but then I thought well he’s a shock jock. This is what a shock jock does. In a way, he has allowed the Black leaders to look at the influences from our black cultures. Oprah Winfrey had a Town Hall on her show to discuss these issues. This should have been done a long time ago. Come to think of it, he is not thing only one who has done this. Where was the outrage when Howard Stern was doing all this? Today, he continues to degrade women.
I do think that Don Imus should be ashamed of himself. He insulted women he knew absolutely nothing about. I refuse to believe that he was just being "funny" as he said. Don Imus is old and smart enough to know that what he said was wrong. He’s lived in America long enough to know what’s considered offensive.
Now, the coach and the young women has forgiven him. I don’t believe it is the end for Don Imus. I believe that he will be bigger and richer than ever. Think Howard Stern getting $50 million for Sirius Radio. Don Imus has since apologized, but we will only find out if he means it when he gets another show and doesn’t make anymore derogatory comments. That remains to be seen.
This issue also is allowing music executives to discuss the rap lyrics.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-04-18-imus-rapmusic_N.htm
I must commend two women one is Vivian Stringer, the Head Coach of Rutgers University ladies basketball team and Essence Carson who is the captain of the team. These women and the entire basketball team has conducted themselves in an intelligent and dignified manner.
Do I think Don Imus should be fired? At first I thought he should, but then I thought well he’s a shock jock. This is what a shock jock does. In a way, he has allowed the Black leaders to look at the influences from our black cultures. Oprah Winfrey had a Town Hall on her show to discuss these issues. This should have been done a long time ago. Come to think of it, he is not thing only one who has done this. Where was the outrage when Howard Stern was doing all this? Today, he continues to degrade women.
I do think that Don Imus should be ashamed of himself. He insulted women he knew absolutely nothing about. I refuse to believe that he was just being "funny" as he said. Don Imus is old and smart enough to know that what he said was wrong. He’s lived in America long enough to know what’s considered offensive.
Now, the coach and the young women has forgiven him. I don’t believe it is the end for Don Imus. I believe that he will be bigger and richer than ever. Think Howard Stern getting $50 million for Sirius Radio. Don Imus has since apologized, but we will only find out if he means it when he gets another show and doesn’t make anymore derogatory comments. That remains to be seen.
This issue also is allowing music executives to discuss the rap lyrics.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2007-04-18-imus-rapmusic_N.htm
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Hiring crisis for U.S. black youth
Hiring crisis for U.S. black youth
August 9, 2005
Seth Sandronsky
U.S. employers added 207,000 new jobs in July, while the national unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent, the Labor Department reported on August 5. Yet for one group of workers in America, there is little to cheer about when it comes to being hired by employers.
The July jobless rate for America's black teens was 33.1 percent, up by 0.7 percentage points from June. In other words, black teens are out of a job at nearly seven times the overall national rate!
Skin colour matters in the U.S. labour market, which is promoted as the global model for other nations to follow. Under American capitalism, employment opportunity is supposed to grow when the private sector is freed from government regulation.
That is one theory. Social reality is another matter entirely for black teens living in the U.S. Their employment plight was apparently hardly deemed newsworthy in mass media reporting on the July jobs report – another failure of mainstream American journalism.
Black teens across the U.S. are experiencing joblessness at rates comparable to those experienced by the overall adult labour force during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As my father told me, folks then had greetings that fit the hard times they lived. One common example was, "Are you working?"
Seven decades ago, he was one of the lucky folks who gained employment that paid him wages, labouring in rural areas for FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps. People’s organized resistance to the hardships they faced forced the federal government to respond when the private sector failed to create jobs.
Currently, the U.S. economy is growing. New jobs are being created in many sectors of the economy, including construction, real estate, restaurant and retail. At the same time, there is a festering jobs crisis for America’s black youth. They are living in depression-like times concerning employment opportunities, with their absence from payrolls failing to make front-page news.
Where is the outrage?
Seth Sandronsky is a member of Sacramento Area Peace Action and a co-editor with Because People Matter, Sacramento's progressive paper.
August 9, 2005
Seth Sandronsky
U.S. employers added 207,000 new jobs in July, while the national unemployment rate remained at 5.0 percent, the Labor Department reported on August 5. Yet for one group of workers in America, there is little to cheer about when it comes to being hired by employers.
The July jobless rate for America's black teens was 33.1 percent, up by 0.7 percentage points from June. In other words, black teens are out of a job at nearly seven times the overall national rate!
Skin colour matters in the U.S. labour market, which is promoted as the global model for other nations to follow. Under American capitalism, employment opportunity is supposed to grow when the private sector is freed from government regulation.
That is one theory. Social reality is another matter entirely for black teens living in the U.S. Their employment plight was apparently hardly deemed newsworthy in mass media reporting on the July jobs report – another failure of mainstream American journalism.
Black teens across the U.S. are experiencing joblessness at rates comparable to those experienced by the overall adult labour force during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
As my father told me, folks then had greetings that fit the hard times they lived. One common example was, "Are you working?"
Seven decades ago, he was one of the lucky folks who gained employment that paid him wages, labouring in rural areas for FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps. People’s organized resistance to the hardships they faced forced the federal government to respond when the private sector failed to create jobs.
Currently, the U.S. economy is growing. New jobs are being created in many sectors of the economy, including construction, real estate, restaurant and retail. At the same time, there is a festering jobs crisis for America’s black youth. They are living in depression-like times concerning employment opportunities, with their absence from payrolls failing to make front-page news.
Where is the outrage?
Seth Sandronsky is a member of Sacramento Area Peace Action and a co-editor with Because People Matter, Sacramento's progressive paper.
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