Bad Boys II

[*jason*]

(06-10-2020, 09:16 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Fred is killing this thread.  I think what many, if not most, people don't realize about the point being made by Fred, myself and others is that you are not helping the black community by ignoring this obvious issue.  The problems in the black community are not solely caused by systemic racism.  While that certainly is a significant part of the problem it cannot explain it away entirely.  If it could then you'd see similar numbers for other minority groups, which you absolutely do not.  Native Americans got the shaft even worse than the black community, and while they do commit crime at a disproportionate rate, it's nothing even close to the numbers coming out of the black community.  A large part of the frustration comes from knowing that as much as people say they want to assist the black community, or empower them, or whatever term you choose to use, you can't solve a problem if you ignore a significant part of it.

There is a problem when around 7% of the population commits over half the murders.  This should really concern the black community as black people account for the overwhelming percentage of these murder victims.  Acknowledging this is not diminishing the effect of systemic racism, as it appears many believe it does.  This is obviously not helped by the use of such statistics by people who obviously want to discount the role of racism in the problem at all.  But pretending this is not a problem is just as deleterious as a Tucker Carlson pretending racism isn't contributing to the issue at all.  It's analogous to a person coming into an ER with a through and through gunshot wound to the chest.  The doctor patches up the entrance wound and then is confused why the patient still died because they ignored the exit wound.

I think your 1930's glamorizing of criminals by whites is spot on, Fred.  A similar problem exists today.  It's also exacerbated by absentee fatherism and a high teen pregnancy rate.  The majority of the people I work with are black.  The vast majority of them had both parents in their life growing up and parents who actually parented.  I don't care what ethnicity you are, if you lack one, and especially both, of those things your chances of falling into criminal conduct skyrocket.  In summation, if you really care about the future of the black community, which I know I do, and I believe Fred does as well, you have to acknowledge the whole problem.  Doing so does not excuse or mitigate the racism element of the issue, but pretending that's the only issue is just as damaging from an ultimate results standpoint.  

That's all pretty spot on, but couldn't a case be made that absentee fathers, and the high rate of teen pregnancy are a result of the traditional family unit being stripped from black people the moment they set foot in North America? I don't have numbers, and those same issues seem to be prevalent among poor whites too, but it seems like the lack of regard around breaking up families of people who were slaves could have some carryover.