How to Fix the Ghetto.

[Sensei]

Anyone else seen this dude? Fredrick Wilson II

Outstanding Irish. Here is another of his videos. I would not play it at work due to his use of a n-word variant.

http://chicksontheright.com/posts/it...h-acting-black

[Shellback]

Here is another of his videos.

He blows a lot of holes in a lot of excuses in a very straight forward manner. Here's his Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGJ...HH3EIQ8GPIo5qw

[BaiHu]

Thanks Irish! Good stuff guys. I'll just add this to the mix in case it wasn't shared.
http://m.townhall.com/columnists/wal...2887/page/full

[Wheeler]

My apologies if this has already been referenced. A friend turned me on to this today.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/fro...of-the-cities/

[RoyGBiv]

Crack in the dike. Hope dripping through.

[Fire-Medic]

I am young and with a limited education to this point in my life (but working on it). I came from a bad neighborhood, no pizza delivered when the sun came down, things like that. I grew up in the middle of turf wars for drug territory with the cocaine boom in the 80's. Deep down inside we know what's right and we know what's wrong. For a lot of people it's easier to do the wrong thing and blame it on someone else when you know if you don't get away with it (whatever you're doing wrong) someone will take care of you. You might not live at the ritz, but fuck it you will eat sleep on a bed and shower. As previously mentioned many times, if you don't like where you're at, move. I did, and sometimes it sucked, and when I initially left my "old" life behind I was called a sell out, told I was a pussy because I couldn't hack it anymore, etc, etc. To make things worse, I was an athlete in gifted classes in the ghetto. Talk about a shit storm lol. Before I got to high school I got bussed to two different schools from my school for a better education. While it was a good idea in theory, I now see I was a pawn in someones research project. Let's take the smart kid from the ghetto and put him in school with the rich kids and see what happens. Well they didn't think to NOT do this with an athlete lol. Lot's of anger, fights, name calling, being alienated because I had a funny accent, I ate strange foods, I dressed different (poor) etc. But whatever life went on. I don't have a lot but what I do have no one gave it to me. I am happy that as an adult and father now I have the family I never had as a child. My wife and I are together and happy and I have happy kids who bitch sometimes about the silliest things, but you know what, they can just be kids. I didn't have that. And that makes me happy. I learned my place in this system and for my family it was to break the cycle. And the way I do that is by raising my kids the best I can and giving them the best opportunity to do better in life than their parents did.

The problem in this society in "my" eyes from where I come from is two things:

1) When you provide people a reward for doing wrong you give them no incentive to get up and better themselves. Why would Guy "X" get up everyday and go to work or school (or both god forbid) when he can stay home claim he's poor not contribute to society and "society" will take care of him? Now I am not that guy, nor could I be, but I'm obviously NOT the norm. The fact that Obama was elected a second time is proof enough that more people than not in this country rather have a handout than work for the things they want. It's easier to stay home and do drugs and collect a check and have more kids and get paid more and dodge the cops and sell dope on the corner than it is to go to work for minimum wage. Then when someone suggest drug testing people who receive aid from the gov't the lawmakers are racist? Why? The guy in the military has to be drug free, I do at my job, my co workers do, the policeman do, etc, etc. So I have to live my life clean to keep my job to pay the taxes that carry those less fortunate than I am but they get to live free as they please? I'm not implying I want to stay home and get high all day and collect a check, nor that everyone in low income neighborhoods ants that, but let's be realistic. I came from a step below, and sometimes things are so tight financially that I'm not that much a step above, just nicer paint on the walls. But I've been there and seen and lived it. Hmmmm collect welfare, free cell phone, and make untaxed income doing not so nice things, or get up every day and go deal with BS at "work" for $400 a week if I'm lucky.......

We have created this element. WPA is fantastic and would in my eyes change a lot. Because if people had to go to work, then man things would change. When a woking guy needs help, he doesn't get it, because you "make" too much. I have lived this as well and recently. We give help to those that don't need it and take advantage of it, and we tell those who really need it to suck it up because they don't qualify for it.

2) We have, in my opinion, as a whole become too "politically correct". And what that has resulted in is a society of people who care more about what others might say about there actions, versus getting things done regardless of who thinks what. I played sports a lot, and you know what.....? Not everyone should always get a chance to play. Because winning isn't everything but I also didn't sign up to lose all the time. Organized sports teaches a lot, if run correctly. This society of everyone should get to play I understand the principle of it, but I think it has been taken to an opposite extreme of win at any cost. We are not all created equal or we'd all superstars. Some guys are meant to play in the NFL and some guys are meant to create the theory of relativity, we are NOT all the same. If the next time your kids went to school for a test your teacher decided hey, everyone gets to play, and she took your kids "A" and made it a "C" so the other kid who jerked around and got an "F" could get a "C", what would your reaction be? Because hey, we are all equal right? I agree, everyone should get opportunities in life, but I wouldn't want Incognito rom the dolphins writing theories for Nasa and the guy from Nasa being the leader on the O line for the Fins..... is this crazy or am I alone here? This gov't is too busy trying to fix the "world" and it's wearing itself and its resources thin in the process and not paying attention to the issues at home. How can you fix poverty and build societies in other countries when you can't get things right on your own soil? Now I'm not wearing a tin hat here or anything but we need to fix "Home" before we fix a vacation home, because if not your home goes to shit and you're looking for a permanent vacation.

Take care of home, and stop rewarding people for being douchebags, it sounds so simple but there is a problem executing it. And that problem is the people who complain about what needs to be done to fix those things. And coincidentally the ones complaining are the free loaders and the politicians who need their votes to push their own agendas.

Here's a side bar tid bit folks, and I don't know how things run in other states but bare with me here. In certain municipalities here at home, you run for one term and you get a pension with benefits. But a Fireman or Policeman has to put in 25 plus for the same thing......? Then Politician Buddy goes up the ladder racking up pensions the whole way to Washington finding other places with the same rules.

My apologies for my rant, but there's my contribution from my "perspective".

[BaiHu]

Thanks FM. I agree. Even though my experiences were not the same as yours, my conclusions are.

[RevolverRob]

I thought of this thread this morning when I saw this newspiece was trending: http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/27/showbi...ugh/index.html

I'll cut to the Charles Barkley excerpts, but suggest everyone give it a quick read over:

"There are a lot of black people who are unintelligent, who don't have success," Barkley said. "It's best to knock a successful black person down 'cause they're intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they're successful. It's crabs in a barrel. ... We're the only ethnic group that says, 'hey, if you go to jail, it gives you street cred.' "

"For some reason we're brainwashed to think if you're not a thug or an idiot, you're not black enough. If you go to school, make good grades, speak intelligent and don't break the law, you're not a good black person," he said. "It's a dirty dark secret. I hate to bring white people into our crap, but as a black person, we all go through it when you're successful."

While I certainly think Mr. Barkley has a valid point vis-a-vis historically black culture, I think his points are likely valid to many disenfranchised groups. The same thread of thug-culture can be found in poor White and Latino communities, too. That said, I applaud Barkley for standing up and speaking his mind, he has always been a straight shooter when he gives interviews and I've appreciated the decorum he and his peers have used both professionally and personally. It's a shame that more men and women don't view guys like Barkley, Ronnie Lott, Russell Wilson, Jordan, or even Kevin Durant/Lebron James as role models. Everyone gets too wrapped up in the idea of fame and fortune to recognize the true strength of athletes/artists/etc. as rolemodels. It is not in their success, but in how they achieved their success (e.g., hard damn work).

-Rob

[BaiHu]

I posted this exact article in the Ferguson thread. It's relevant in both and I agree with your assessment.

[Mjolnir]

Goodness knows well never see concrete solutions from the government, so I pose the question to LEOs and other folks who've grown up and worked in the urban cesspools of America.

As a black man who left the city for his own life and future, it's distressing to see many in the inner city perpetuating criminal living like it's a positive thing. When I was growing up a common question I'd get from the women at my high school was "wat gang u wit".Upon answering" none" they'd promptly leave my company for someone with "rep". I got called more names then I can remember for wearing glasses and reading books in high school, while the drug dealers were socially elevated as people to look up to.

We know gun control, zero tolerance, metal detectors, and welfare don't work. All those programs have done is help establish a culture which says following the law is for suckers, and 'real men' hustle. Until someone gets shot or locked up, in which case it's the government's fault.

How do we actually fix that problem? How can we bring civilization back to the inner city, if it's possible?

Kinda mirrors my life experiences, brother.

Went to Catholic schools which were predominantly White but lived in an all Black neighborhood. Didn't get much flak there. It was when I went to a historically black college I ran into folks who didn't quite get it. They were not "ghetto", just ethnically biased. Some - a few - were bigots. Nothing that cannot be found in White Society in similar percentages I imagine.

When I moved "up north" to the Detroit Metro Area to work I ran into quite a few Blacks who were prejudiced and a large number (maybe the same percentage as home, I dunno) who were quite coarse of character.

If you didn't love in the city you were a sell out.

If you didn't frequent black owned stores you were a sell out.

If you didn't dress in dark colors and have the right "look" and drive the right car with the right accessories you were a sellout.

I minimize contacts with folks like that. You're not likely to change then many more a White bigot. Let the dead bury their own. Show them by example by "not showing anything." By that I mean love YOUR life. Everyone is watching you - blacks and whites alike. You don't fit THEIR concept of what it means to be Black. So being yourself is the best medicine. Good folks WILL seek you out. Those are your brothers and sisters. Cherish them as if you shared the same parents.

That's my approach and it's been very fulfilling.

As for changing the low, coarse culture, catch them young. Work with the inner city (and trailer park) youth. Once they become teens testosterone and estrogen clouds the little judgement they have.


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"One cannot awaken a man who pretends to be asleep."