African american violence rises dramatically
Northeastern university released a study that that showed that violence among the age range if 14-24, in the African American community in dramatic fashions, while nationwide, figures have basically leveled off.
You can read one summary of the study here.
What’s the deal? What caused this? What’s the solution? I will write my thought shortly…
So, here is what I think. I could be completely wrong, but here it goes – this article and study seems to name government, mostly President Bush for the problem, but I think that is far from the truth. I believe the largest contributing factor is the breakdown of the urban, black family. When the family breaks down, the entire society and culture will follow. I do not know what the latest figures are for, specifically urban, black families and how many are actually “nuclear” families, meaning it has a mom and dad that are together, and so on, but I would venture to say that a majority of those youths come from broken homes or home with out a father. In addition, it seems clear that their parents and extended family, are probably not involved enough in their lives to help guide them and give them a sense of ethics and morality.
I absolutely do not want to make assumptions about why the youths family is not involved in their lives, but the institution of the family was created by God to instill values, morals and ethics to upcoming generations. There have been numerous studies on what happens to the family when the father isn’t present, but add to that poverty, a “victim”/blame others mentality, and a culture that glorifies the “Gangsta” lifestyle – it really isn’t a surprise that this is happening.
I also want to “preach” about the “victim” mentality that I just mentioned. This is a mentality where you blame others, anyone but yourself, for your problems. This is a VERY dangerous mentality. What it does is takes the power away from that individual to actually be able to do anything about their situation and keeps them down or worse – drags them farther lower in what is going on their lives. I struggled with this mentality in my late teens and early twenties and it is NOT HEALTHY. It caused me to become clinically depressed and was and currently is something that God has to deal with me on, on a daily basis. We must take responsibility for ourselves and realize we have the power to do something about our lives. We are not powerless. That is what our nation and constitution is based on, we are all entitled and empowered to pursue “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
So, PLEASE, give me your thoughts!! Am I right about what I think is causing this violence epidemic? Am I a wacko? What are valid solutions? And PLEASE, if you offer solutions, absolutely, unequiviocally, leave the government out of this. The government is not meant to deal with this in and of itself. It can have programs and funding here and there, but this is primarily a culture and “personal” issue, not governmental.
Thanks!!
