Believe those who are seeking the truth. Doubt those who find it.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
T,R 9:50am
23 comments:
Daniel L
said...
People’s perception on black males in this society has been misunderstood for plenty of years. When slavery was in effect for more than 400 years many black individuals were uneducated, and striped of their history. Most of our books and history has been tampered with by most Europeans until this day. The wrong information has been provided to take people thoughts, and minds off their ancient history and spiritual backgrounds, which is more powerful than riches. A good question will be why NYC police officers in general will stop a black male? I wonder why. A drug law doesn’t make a difference in this wicked society that we are living in. Legalizing marijuana, which is herbs from the earth is not the key factor on how black men in America our not equal with others, but us humans are all the same history prove that were all the same the only difference is are physical appearance, the way we think, and the actions we commit or do. The main thing that needs to be done is to stop passing judgment towards each and every individual that’s around us. It’s not our job to do, so only the most high creator is the true and only judge.
I think this is not a single problem. The lack of access to capital to start businesses is one of the sources of all these issues. Our education system is not helping at all. Government and politicians are not doing anything to help young black males. Too many lawyers and not enough family community services.Unfortunately we know that this problem is going to increase every day because ex-prisoners face a variety of challenges after incarceration.
The fact that an ethnic group, or a group from thir populaion, represents a big percentage of the prisons’ population is an issue that should concern all of us as a community. Looking for all possible solutions is an imperative need in order to improve the quality of our unique, mixed society. Real solutions will be the ones that will solve the problem not just in the present, but also for future generations. The debate regarding drug legalization seems like a tentative solution. However, the debate in this topic should be whether or not consuming marijuana is a personal right for everybody that should be respected. The debate shouldn'd be about how many drug dealers or consumers will stop going to prison thanks to the legalization of drugs. By that logic, if we legalize genocide then prisons will have less people inside. It is definitely not the pattern to follow. Although it is true that discrimination exists, and that poor communities also exist, none of them are excuses for not following an academic career that will keep any black kid in the right track towards a success not related to persecuted crimes. The opportunities are there for everybody, what makes the difference is how hardly you want them and how much hard work you will put into it. It is not true that equality in education does not exist, and it is not right to provide a different education, better or worse, to a specific group of people because of their race or economic status. It is true that maybe your economic status at some point may influence the path you will follow towards success but in this country it will not stop you from getting there. Many cases of success can be mentioned in which those people were neither rich nor part of the dominating race, and have succeed without knowing how a prison looks like from the inside. Being rised by a mother and a father who are rich, or educated, or good citizens, is definitely something good not just for a black kid but for anybody. However, they are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for black kids to behave in a specific way that will drive them to a specific point, in this case prison. The real solution to this problem is avoiding stereotypes. It is true that stereotypes exist, and they will never disappear, but the first step towards reducing them is to stop stereotyping yourself. It does not matter what has been the pattern in the history of your family tree. You can always choose if you want to change that pattern. If a black person believes that it is normal going to prison because he or she is used to see that, then probabilities are high that it will happen to him or her. On the other hand, if the same person believes that he or she can do great in biology, probabilities are high that the same person with the same background will end up being a doctor involved in the intellectual world far away from prison. If you were born in Cuba and Cubans use to play well baseball and bad soccer, it does not mean that you have to be a good baseball player and a bad soccer player. If any Cuban trains hard, he or she can also be a great soccer player. Same analogy applies to any ethnic group and their patterns. If you want to make a difference in something you think is wrong about any group that you form a part of, do not become another statistic, break the pattern. Andy Daniel
Not sure what it can be really. My best guess though is that it's probably because of the massive amounts of poverty that their community is stricken with. There is a correlation between poverty and certain behaviors out of 'necessity', but yeah. It's a strange cultural phenomenon. Stereotyping one culture is truly a disgusting thing to do, but with statistics like these some people just find it unavoidable. Culture+poverty? It might not be completely wrong, but there's some truth to it.
On the general scale, I don't think this is an issue about race. I can believe that a couple of judges would be immoral enough to push their personal morals into their work but it seems unlikely all of them do. I think the issue is more about the cultural preconditions and social inequalities that arise from economic strife, antiquated political policy in desperate need of revision, and a failure of the education system to prepare young adults with practical options. I don't think the legalization of Marijuana will circumvent the plethora of underlying issues that hugely play into the problem. As an example consider the issue presented in the article. It posited that a young adult in that neighborhood would choose selling weed versus dawning a McDonalds hat. The issue isn't that they'd rather sell marijuana over fries but rather that they appeal to the easy access of cash. Until you remove the appeal of such easy-but-ill-gotten gains of drug dealing the legalization of marijuana would just open the door for another drug to replace it. That's just one facet of the issue to boot.
In my opinion, the problem would be in education. If black young males would receive the proper education (in school and our of school) they would probably make better decisions. No matter where they live, how much money they have, or who discriminates against them, the decisions they make are all up to them. If black young males (not saying they do not) had their mind in more positive situations, working towards their future, and hopefully make something out of their lives, they should not be in jail at any points of their lives.
Young black male have been affected in two significant regards. First, they are more likely to be victimized by crime than other group. This creates a set of individual and community problems. Second, the dramatic rates at which young African American males have come under some form of criminal justice supervision has created a complex set of consequences which affect not only individual victims and offenders, but families and communities well. When it comes to this big issue in our society, we can base our opinion on three factors such as, family breakdown, bad schools, and poverty. Black children suffer disproportionately because of family breakdown. A very large percentage of young black male students fail because they lack a father and a mother to value, encourage, support, and reinforce their efforts to learn. Common sense tells us that there is no surer recipe for the child to fall behind in learning than having to contend with the strain and disruption of a broken dysfunctional family, where the parent or parents are so focused on themselves and their needs that they have little emotional energy to spare for the child’s needs. The education system especially in public schools is really bad. They don’t provide some schools what they need to create challenge between the students. So, they can be interested in learning rather than get involving in some bad activities such as gangs and drugs. Legalize marijuana is not the solution to stop this from happening. I believe it will just worsen this situation. Poverty is a very fundamental factor that influences tremendously the life of young black male. The poverty rate of singled mothers with children is five times higher than the rate of married couples with children, and the rate for singled father is more than two-and-a half times the married couple rate. A lot of young kids drop out of high schools, colleges, and universities because financial issues. They have to work to help their parents and pay tuition of classes. I believe before we can address the problems of young black male in prison, we need to address the issues of family and marriage in our society because it is where it came from.
Black, Young, Male. Young black male are more likely to be victimized by crime than any other group. I think this is the effect of social perceptions because many black young males commit crimes just because they believe they are born to be part of the society that does so, and that does not follow up on their education. Education has to be another reason. These men are not grounded by their parents but at the same time loved, if they decide to skip school or stay at home. It is true that these black men are more likely to be stopped by police, but then again it is the way they show themselves to the community. I am sure that if a white man is walking around with messy hair, huge pants that fall down to their knees, and a shirt that says anything offensive; that man will also be stopped by the police. Black men are sometimes discriminated but then again they are little by little changing that reputation. For instance, our current president Obama. The problem is that these men complain that people are not changing, but a third of the black population being in jail sometimes through their lifetime is not coincidence. Legalizing marijuana would not be a solution because these men can easily go fight for a job if they want to change that reputation, but instead want to take the easy way out. So even if marijuana was legalized, they would find some other illegal drug that would allow them to ease their way through life.
This is not a current social problematic; young black males have been associated with delinquency for quite a while. I believe the main cause for this problem comes from the way children are treated in their household and the values parents impart them. When a child is raised in a home where the father is in prison and the mother has to work full time, the possibilities of this child following his father steps are very high. What we learn as children stays with us for the rest of our lives. Many kids grow up in neighborhoods were drug dealing and gangs are common. This creates an atmosphere that could be scary for a child but as they grow older it becomes normal, because is what they see in a daily basis. Many parents don’t teach their offspring the importance of education and fine behaving because they think is just common sense. But the reality is different, sometimes many kids need their parent to stop for a second their daily routine and explain them what good actions are and why values are important, or how significant it is thinking twice before committing a crime. On the other hand, there are other reasons that drive young African American men to jail. They are the part of the population that is typically victimized and discriminated by cops and society itself. I believe this creates resentment and increases racism making harder to bring society together and solve this problem. Most of the time what young males need is to be heard and treated equally. I consider that resentment and anger could lead anyone to commit a crime. Poverty is another solid cause that leads black males under legal supervision. Many drop out of school or college because of financial needs. Some start working to help their families and other just to sustain themselves. But sometimes young black males take the easy way out, stealing or drug dealing to get easy money to cover their necessities or their household.
After reading all the 9 different opinions, I agree that all had strong points; however, the most that I support is the one by Shaver Jeffries. I think that this society problem is due to racial discriminations and wrong social perceptions. We use to think that black men are the primary source of crime, because black communities are just more violent. All of these wrong ideas are based in our lack of educations. As a society we used to have racial stereotype and we judge all black men in the same way.
In my opinion People in general constantly stereo type Black people especially Black males. Legalizing marijuana which is plant based doesnt have anything to do with our Black males. For example a White male can walk into a store and no one would look at him or even keep an eye on that white man but if it was a Black man someone would have been following him around the store; watching his every move. A lot of individuals see Black Men as a threat when they are not threats at all. They are Humans, just like you. But this issue has been going on for a long period time now, not every Black Male wants to steal, or murder someone. They all have different perspectives of life just like a White man. Why are Black African Americans are always being attacked for no reason? Why are we passing judgment on each other? How about we leave that to the Lord. So if the police is looking a suspect in the street, they are more likely to frisk a Black male than a White male. That is very ignorant because a suspect can a different race or a different color. This is racism is still going because of IGNORANCE! No wonder why Black Males have a higher chance of going to prison, Police are taking the wrong people to jail.
After reading all 9 discussions about black males, it shows how America perception on Black males won't change any time soon. Even If half of black males do drugs, or sell them, drop out of school... Vs. The ones who actually don't have a criminal background and do go to school.. America still look at them as criminal. Even seeing the black makes doing criminal acts, America judges them rather than fixing up the education system to help them or doing some type of action. In my opinion, we'll keep seeing young black males in jail and in the streets because all America want to do is judge and accuse them of wrong doing.
Once upon a time, I was of the thinking that there was only a problem within the black community. One can say I have been enlightened, unlike many in our society and our own classrooms. There are more reasons as to why there is a large problem with the black male population. The United States is a young country, but most do not realize that for about half of the history of the United States blacks were considered chattel. Only worth an investment in the build and economic prosperity of the United States. After this large period in US history, blacks were treated as less than second class citizens. Only a mere 40 years ago, there was major disregard to the respect of the US black male. Seen as inferior and treated as such. They were made examples within their communities, sacrificial lynchings even in the legal system. A generation has hardly passed, It is hard to think that the ideology has changed so much that there is an open field for black males. Black males are still made of examples in the legal system. Even if they escape the legal system, they are less likely to land a job in which they are allowed to make a living for their families. The media uses them as brutes to show the worst of the worst in our society. Its a matter of people not being able to recognize the issues ahead of them. Minorities (Especially Hispanics ) seem to brush off the atrocities given to the black community as laziness and inability to mobilize. Campaigns against the black community have in a way, worked. There are external issues that caused internal issues. The only way they can fix this is by working from the inside out. Its not about the amount of crimes that are committed. Its more about the fact that when america thinks about murderers, the face more often than not black. We can proficiently fight this by educating ourselves and pointing out wrongs when they are committed.
The notion "...we are all pink on the inside" is a saying that though our skin tone are differentiated, we all look the same on the inside. A number of the united states may not see it that way. Discrimination has been around for centuries and it occurs till this day. Black men in today's socitey have an unfortunate increase amount of incarciration. Why is this so? I believe its a circular continium. African americans raised in poverty, "survives" by conducting crimes, gets incarcirated, gets released back into the same poverty environment, does the similiar crimes too survive and gets incarcirated back again. As you can see, this circular continum is very complicated to break especially if society does not want to see african americans, latino americans or miniorities succeed. But personally I do not believe this racial stigma within blacks or individuals with "color" will last long. I say this because our population is increasing out of diversity and the once "miniority" will eventually become the new majority so only time will tell.
When I think of racial profiling, I generally think of a person of color, perhaps a Black or Latino man or woman, in a car who gets stopped by police based on skin color. My point is that even though Whites and African Americans use and sell drugs police focus on people with a different skin color Whites people have a high percentage of using drugs and committing the same crimes . Police arrest more African Americans last year that Whites the main reasons of the arrest was racial profiling. Example of this, let say you have a white man driving a new Mercedes and you have a black man driving the same car who’s going to get stop the black man why, because the first thing that goes through the police officer head is that his a drug dealer and he can’t afford that cars and like this issue we have many more. I also think that this problem are based in the fact that drugs are not legal. In some cases young people feel curiosity attraction in illegal stuff based of the fact they are illegal. Other black male sometimes lose a lovely family members and they tend to react in a wrong way and they found refuges in drugs and that's why the police arrest them and they are send to jail.
It is a fact that the rate of black males who get convicted is greater than any other group in the United States. The reason why, however, is not that clear. I think it is a mixture of many things, as discussed by the different panelists; there are many factors that may influence the statistics. Some argue that it is entirely based on racial perceptions and prejudice, and that the focus should be on education instead of drugs. I believe that there is also a factor that makes this issue a circular problem. In fact, if the young black males get used to seeing in their environments (home, neighborhood, school) black teenagers going to prison, then it becomes an expected outcome in their lives. Considering that the fact that more black males get imprisoned is entirely caused by racial stigma may result in these teenagers engaging in illegal activities, because either way since they are black they will be convicted. So they may rather make more money illegally and possibly end up in prison; than work at Mc Donald’s and probably get convicted of a crime unjustifiably. If the police is always wondering around schools, and black neighborhoods, it is not only an expected behavior by the police, but an expected behavior by these particular teenagers. I definitely believe that there should be a major investment to ensure that black teenagers complete their education in High Schools, and ideally get to higher level education. It is also a fact that the higher level of education is reached, the less likely the individual will get convicted. On the other hand, I do recognize that especially in northern cities in the country, there is a major racial prejudice that plays an important role in the statistics. However, as it was discussed in a previous post, if black males are expected by society to engage in illegal drug dealing activities, isn’t society encouraging this particular population in showing this behavior?
Young black males are target of prejudice from the time they are conceived it is a sad but it is reality. This issue and mentality of some people can be altered, but will the problem ever vanish? No because it easier for some to be prejudice than be open minded and judge people on a individual basis. I do believe that young black should be aware of what they are in front of them and do all to overcome the odds. Black males should equip themselves with the best education tool dedication and work hard to be successful instead of embarrassing street life. The percentage of black males at birth helps set the amount of prisons to be built and as long as this is the method used to build prisons young black males faces a long life of prejudice.
Our perception of black males have been reinforced by TV shows, the news, Hollywood movies and history. We degraded them as human beings up until we gave them equal rights around the 60's. All we see on the news is about how a black male has shoplifted, raped, broke into a house or robbed from a bank. And the movies and TV shows we watch reinforce these images over again. We have to stop, as a society, thinking this way.
We are more likely to target this minority group more than others. With all the things i've mentioned, its no wonder New York police officers act the way they do although there is no excuse for this behavior.
With the legalization of drugs, I don't know what good or harm it will do. Drug trafficking is the main thing in a lot of gangs. Legalizing it would circuit the money back to the US and maybe take a lot of these kids out and put them back to school.
I believe since day one they are put down; in their family, school, work and society. Its a vicious cycle we have to stop and it beings with the parents. Parents need to instill good morals and a sense of education into these black boys and parents of other minorities should not have a stigma against them and teach that to their children. These problems solutions start at home.
There is a mix of reasons why young black men constitute the majority of people in jails. Even thought in some areas of the country there still exist discrimination towards minorities, I don’t think discrimination is the main cause. Lack of a proper education and family values are the main reasons why so many young boys of color struggle to fit in a society that each day is more and more competitive. Most black children now days come from broken families; drugs and poverty are for them a constant reminder that they cannot achieve anything in their lives unless they become part of a gang. Legalizing drugs is definitely one part of the solution because these young men would be forced to look for other ways to make money. But most important is to have good funding in public schools to have after school programs so that children don’t have to spend so much time in the streets or in abusive households. Also, it is important to educate black women, especially the young ones because they are more proneness to have several children, and unfortunately most of them don’t have the money to give their children a good life. Prostitution, drugs, violence, poverty is all that awaits for these children. they grow up without proper support, they have low self stem, they feel discriminated against, and all these factors are later on the reasons why they end up in jail.
There is a mix of reasons why young black men constitute the majority of people in jails. Even thought in some areas of the country there still exist discrimination towards minorities, I don’t think discrimination is the main cause. Lack of a proper education and family values are the main reasons why so many young boys of color struggle to fit in a society that each day is more and more competitive. Most black children now days come from broken families; drugs and poverty are for them a constant reminder that they cannot achieve anything in their lives unless they become part of a gang. Legalizing drugs is definitely one part of the solution because these young men would be forced to look for other ways to make money. But most important is to have good funding in public schools to have after school programs so that children don’t have to spend so much time in the streets or in abusive households. Also, it is important to educate black women, especially the young ones because they are more proneness to have several children, and unfortunately most of them don’t have the money to give their children a good life. Prostitution, drugs, violence, poverty is all that awaits for these children. they grow up without proper support, they have low self stem, they feel discriminated against, and all these factors are later on the reasons why they end up in jail.
This is definitely an issue that should concern everyone. This is indeed a strange cultural phenomenon,like Luis said...it is a disgrace to discriminate against one particular culture, but unfortunately the statistics don't lie. The poverty issue obviously plays a role, which sadly leads to much of the behavior that then leads to the arrests.
I work with an afican american male that was born and raised in the united states. he attended college for about a year and has decided to drop out of school because he doesnt want to go to school anymore and better himself. so i could not believe that being born and raised here he would give up the chance to do something with his life and be someone in this world, and the are so many people out there that come from other places and work their butts off to become someone and do something with their lives. so i dont believe that the upbringing that a person receives is the only factor, because if you are the kind of person that wants to better themself they will.
The way people perceive black males today are much better than before although there can still be some improvement. Blacks treated unfairly should realize that the problem is not them, but the people doing the harrassment. It happen a lot in my latin culture a well. The best thing to do is to learn from some of these terrible experiences and remain confident. If this can be done than you are in the road of ultimate success because you will show that nothing can effect you and it will lead to ultimate confidence. There will always be ignorant people and the only way to not overcome it is to lower yourself to their level. Know who you are and don't see yourself through other people's eyes. Hatred will probably always be around but as long as you don't fall victim to those surroundings, and you worry about your priorities, you will achieve ultimate success.
23 comments:
People’s perception on black males in this society has been misunderstood for plenty of years. When slavery was in effect for more than 400 years many black individuals were uneducated, and striped of their history. Most of our books and history has been tampered with by most Europeans until this day. The wrong information has been provided to take people thoughts, and minds off their ancient history and spiritual backgrounds, which is more powerful than riches. A good question will be why NYC police officers in general will stop a black male? I wonder why. A drug law doesn’t make a difference in this wicked society that we are living in. Legalizing marijuana, which is herbs from the earth is not the key factor on how black men in America our not equal with others, but us humans are all the same history prove that were all the same the only difference is are physical appearance, the way we think, and the actions we commit or do. The main thing that needs to be done is to stop passing judgment towards each and every individual that’s around us. It’s not our job to do, so only the most high creator is the true and only judge.
I think this is not a single problem. The lack of access to capital to start businesses is one of the sources of all these issues. Our education system is not helping at all. Government and politicians are not doing anything to help young black males. Too many lawyers and not enough family community services.Unfortunately we know that this problem is going to increase every day because ex-prisoners face a variety of challenges after incarceration.
The fact that an ethnic group, or a group from thir populaion, represents a big percentage of the prisons’ population is an issue that should concern all of us as a community. Looking for all possible solutions is an imperative need in order to improve the quality of our unique, mixed society. Real solutions will be the ones that will solve the problem not just in the present, but also for future generations.
The debate regarding drug legalization seems like a tentative solution. However, the debate in this topic should be whether or not consuming marijuana is a personal right for everybody that should be respected. The debate shouldn'd be about how many drug dealers or consumers will stop going to prison thanks to the legalization of drugs. By that logic, if we legalize genocide then prisons will have less people inside. It is definitely not the pattern to follow. Although it is true that discrimination exists, and that poor communities also exist, none of them are excuses for not following an academic career that will keep any black kid in the right track towards a success not related to persecuted crimes. The opportunities are there for everybody, what makes the difference is how hardly you want them and how much hard work you will put into it. It is not true that equality in education does not exist, and it is not right to provide a different education, better or worse, to a specific group of people because of their race or economic status. It is true that maybe your economic status at some point may influence the path you will follow towards success but in this country it will not stop you from getting there. Many cases of success can be mentioned in which those people were neither rich nor part of the dominating race, and have succeed without knowing how a prison looks like from the inside. Being rised by a mother and a father who are rich, or educated, or good citizens, is definitely something good not just for a black kid but for anybody. However, they are neither necessary nor sufficient conditions for black kids to behave in a specific way that will drive them to a specific point, in this case prison.
The real solution to this problem is avoiding stereotypes. It is true that stereotypes exist, and they will never disappear, but the first step towards reducing them is to stop stereotyping yourself. It does not matter what has been the pattern in the history of your family tree. You can always choose if you want to change that pattern. If a black person believes that it is normal going to prison because he or she is used to see that, then probabilities are high that it will happen to him or her. On the other hand, if the same person believes that he or she can do great in biology, probabilities are high that the same person with the same background will end up being a doctor involved in the intellectual world far away from prison. If you were born in Cuba and Cubans use to play well baseball and bad soccer, it does not mean that you have to be a good baseball player and a bad soccer player. If any Cuban trains hard, he or she can also be a great soccer player. Same analogy applies to any ethnic group and their patterns. If you want to make a difference in something you think is wrong about any group that you form a part of, do not become another statistic, break the pattern.
Andy Daniel
Not sure what it can be really. My best guess though is that it's probably because of the massive amounts of poverty that their community is stricken with. There is a correlation between poverty and certain behaviors out of 'necessity', but yeah. It's a strange cultural phenomenon. Stereotyping one culture is truly a disgusting thing to do, but with statistics like these some people just find it unavoidable. Culture+poverty? It might not be completely wrong, but there's some truth to it.
-Luis Fernandez
On the general scale, I don't think this is an issue about race. I can believe that a couple of judges would be immoral enough to push their personal morals into their work but it seems unlikely all of them do. I think the issue is more about the cultural preconditions and social inequalities that arise from economic strife, antiquated political policy in desperate need of revision, and a failure of the education system to prepare young adults with practical options. I don't think the legalization of Marijuana will circumvent the plethora of underlying issues that hugely play into the problem. As an example consider the issue presented in the article. It posited that a young adult in that neighborhood would choose selling weed versus dawning a McDonalds hat. The issue isn't that they'd rather sell marijuana over fries but rather that they appeal to the easy access of cash. Until you remove the appeal of such easy-but-ill-gotten gains of drug dealing the legalization of marijuana would just open the door for another drug to replace it. That's just one facet of the issue to boot.
Dorian Baquedano
In my opinion, the problem would be in education. If black young males would receive the proper education (in school and our of school) they would probably make better decisions. No matter where they live, how much money they have, or who discriminates against them, the decisions they make are all up to them. If black young males (not saying they do not) had their mind in more positive situations, working towards their future, and hopefully make something out of their lives, they should not be in jail at any points of their lives.
Kristie Valencia
Young black male have been affected in two significant regards. First, they are more likely to be victimized by crime than other group. This creates a set of individual and community problems. Second, the dramatic rates at which young African American males have come under some form of criminal justice supervision has created a complex set of consequences which affect not only individual victims and offenders, but families and communities well. When it comes to this big issue in our society, we can base our opinion on three factors such as, family breakdown, bad schools, and poverty.
Black children suffer disproportionately because of family breakdown. A very large percentage of young black male students fail because they lack a father and a mother to value, encourage, support, and reinforce their efforts to learn. Common sense tells us that there is no surer recipe for the child to fall behind in learning than having to contend with the strain and disruption of a broken dysfunctional family, where the parent or parents are so focused on themselves and their needs that they have little emotional energy to spare for the child’s needs. The education system especially in public schools is really bad. They don’t provide some schools what they need to create challenge between the students. So, they can be interested in learning rather than get involving in some bad activities such as gangs and drugs. Legalize marijuana is not the solution to stop this from happening. I believe it will just worsen this situation. Poverty is a very fundamental factor that influences tremendously the life of young black male. The poverty rate of singled mothers with children is five times higher than the rate of married couples with children, and the rate for singled father is more than two-and-a half times the married couple rate. A lot of young kids drop out of high schools, colleges, and universities because financial issues. They have to work to help their parents and pay tuition of classes. I believe before we can address the problems of young black male in prison, we need to address the issues of family and marriage in our society because it is where it came from.
Black, Young, Male.
Young black male are more likely to be victimized by crime than any other group. I think this is the effect of social perceptions because many black young males commit crimes just because they believe they are born to be part of the society that does so, and that does not follow up on their education. Education has to be another reason. These men are not grounded by their parents but at the same time loved, if they decide to skip school or stay at home. It is true that these black men are more likely to be stopped by police, but then again it is the way they show themselves to the community. I am sure that if a white man is walking around with messy hair, huge pants that fall down to their knees, and a shirt that says anything offensive; that man will also be stopped by the police. Black men are sometimes discriminated but then again they are little by little changing that reputation. For instance, our current president Obama. The problem is that these men complain that people are not changing, but a third of the black population being in jail sometimes through their lifetime is not coincidence. Legalizing marijuana would not be a solution because these men can easily go fight for a job if they want to change that reputation, but instead want to take the easy way out. So even if marijuana was legalized, they would find some other illegal drug that would allow them to ease their way through life.
Daniel Rincon
This is not a current social problematic; young black males have been associated with delinquency for quite a while. I believe the main cause for this problem comes from the way children are treated in their household and the values parents impart them. When a child is raised in a home where the father is in prison and the mother has to work full time, the possibilities of this child following his father steps are very high. What we learn as children stays with us for the rest of our lives. Many kids grow up in neighborhoods were drug dealing and gangs are common. This creates an atmosphere that could be scary for a child but as they grow older it becomes normal, because is what they see in a daily basis. Many parents don’t teach their offspring the importance of education and fine behaving because they think is just common sense. But the reality is different, sometimes many kids need their parent to stop for a second their daily routine and explain them what good actions are and why values are important, or how significant it is thinking twice before committing a crime.
On the other hand, there are other reasons that drive young African American men to jail. They are the part of the population that is typically victimized and discriminated by cops and society itself. I believe this creates resentment and increases racism making harder to bring society together and solve this problem. Most of the time what young males need is to be heard and treated equally. I consider that resentment and anger could lead anyone to commit a crime. Poverty is another solid cause that leads black males under legal supervision. Many drop out of school or college because of financial needs. Some start working to help their families and other just to sustain themselves. But sometimes young black males take the easy way out, stealing or drug dealing to get easy money to cover their necessities or their household.
Veronica Paredes
After reading all the 9 different opinions, I agree that all had strong points; however, the most that I support is the one by Shaver Jeffries. I think that this society problem is due to racial discriminations and wrong social perceptions. We use to think that black men are the primary source of crime, because black communities are just more violent. All of these wrong ideas are based in our lack of educations. As a society we used to have racial stereotype and we judge all black men in the same way.
Elsa Zamora
In my opinion People in general constantly stereo type Black people especially Black males. Legalizing marijuana which is plant based doesnt have anything to do with our Black males. For example a White male can walk into a store and no one would look at him or even keep an eye on that white man but if it was a Black man someone would have been following him around the store; watching his every move. A lot of individuals see Black Men as a threat when they are not threats at all. They are Humans, just like you. But this issue has been going on for a long period time now, not every Black Male wants to steal, or murder someone. They all have different perspectives of life just like a White man. Why are Black African Americans are always being attacked for no reason? Why are we passing judgment on each other? How about we leave that to the Lord. So if the police is looking a suspect in the street, they are more likely to frisk a Black male than a White male. That is very ignorant because a suspect can a different race or a different color. This is racism is still going because of IGNORANCE! No wonder why Black Males have a higher chance of going to prison, Police are taking the wrong people to jail.
After reading all 9 discussions about black males, it shows how America perception on Black males won't change any time soon. Even If half of black males do drugs, or sell them, drop out of school... Vs. The ones who actually don't have a criminal background and do go to school.. America still look at them as criminal. Even seeing the black makes doing criminal acts, America judges them rather than fixing up the education system to help them or doing some type of action. In my opinion, we'll keep seeing young black males in jail and in the streets because all America want to do is judge and accuse them of wrong doing.
Once upon a time, I was of the thinking that there was only a problem within the black community. One can say I have been enlightened, unlike many in our society and our own classrooms. There are more reasons as to why there is a large problem with the black male population. The United States is a young country, but most do not realize that for about half of the history of the United States blacks were considered chattel. Only worth an investment in the build and economic prosperity of the United States. After this large period in US history, blacks were treated as less than second class citizens.
Only a mere 40 years ago, there was major disregard to the respect of the US black male. Seen as inferior and treated as such. They were made examples within their communities, sacrificial lynchings even in the legal system. A generation has hardly passed, It is hard to think that the ideology has changed so much that there is an open field for black males.
Black males are still made of examples in the legal system. Even if they escape the legal system, they are less likely to land a job in which they are allowed to make a living for their families. The media uses them as brutes to show the worst of the worst in our society. Its a matter of people not being able to recognize the issues ahead of them. Minorities (Especially Hispanics ) seem to brush off the atrocities given to the black community as laziness and inability to mobilize.
Campaigns against the black community have in a way, worked. There are external issues that caused internal issues. The only way they can fix this is by working from the inside out. Its not about the amount of crimes that are committed. Its more about the fact that when america thinks about murderers, the face more often than not black. We can proficiently fight this by educating ourselves and pointing out wrongs when they are committed.
Priscilla Brown said...
The notion "...we are all pink on the inside" is a saying that though our skin tone are differentiated, we all look the same on the inside. A number of the united states may not see it that way. Discrimination has been around for centuries and it occurs till this day. Black men in today's socitey have an unfortunate increase amount of incarciration. Why is this so? I believe its a circular continium. African americans raised in poverty, "survives" by conducting crimes, gets incarcirated, gets released back into the same poverty environment, does the similiar crimes too survive and gets incarcirated back again. As you can see, this circular continum is very complicated to break especially if society does not want to see african americans, latino americans or miniorities succeed. But personally I do not believe this racial stigma within blacks or individuals with "color" will last long. I say this because our population is increasing out of diversity and the once "miniority" will eventually become the new majority so only time will tell.
When I think of racial profiling, I generally think of a person of color, perhaps a Black or Latino man or woman, in a car who gets stopped by police based on skin color. My point is that even though Whites and African Americans use and sell drugs police focus on people with a different skin color Whites people have a high percentage of using drugs and committing the same crimes . Police arrest more African Americans last year that Whites the main reasons of the arrest was racial profiling. Example of this, let say you have a white man driving a new Mercedes and you have a black man driving the same car who’s going to get stop the black man why, because the first thing that goes through the police officer head is that his a drug dealer and he can’t afford that cars and like this issue we have many more. I also think that this problem are based in the fact that drugs are not legal. In some cases young people feel curiosity attraction in illegal stuff based of the fact they are illegal. Other black male sometimes lose a lovely family members and they tend to react in a wrong way and they found refuges in drugs and that's why the police arrest them and they are send to jail.
It is a fact that the rate of black males who get convicted is greater than any other group in the United States. The reason why, however, is not that clear. I think it is a mixture of many things, as discussed by the different panelists; there are many factors that may influence the statistics. Some argue that it is entirely based on racial perceptions and prejudice, and that the focus should be on education instead of drugs. I believe that there is also a factor that makes this issue a circular problem. In fact, if the young black males get used to seeing in their environments (home, neighborhood, school) black teenagers going to prison, then it becomes an expected outcome in their lives. Considering that the fact that more black males get imprisoned is entirely caused by racial stigma may result in these teenagers engaging in illegal activities, because either way since they are black they will be convicted. So they may rather make more money illegally and possibly end up in prison; than work at Mc Donald’s and probably get convicted of a crime unjustifiably. If the police is always wondering around schools, and black neighborhoods, it is not only an expected behavior by the police, but an expected behavior by these particular teenagers. I definitely believe that there should be a major investment to ensure that black teenagers complete their education in High Schools, and ideally get to higher level education. It is also a fact that the higher level of education is reached, the less likely the individual will get convicted.
On the other hand, I do recognize that especially in northern cities in the country, there is a major racial prejudice that plays an important role in the statistics. However, as it was discussed in a previous post, if black males are expected by society to engage in illegal drug dealing activities, isn’t society encouraging this particular population in showing this behavior?
Young black males are target of prejudice from the time they are conceived it is a sad but it is reality. This issue and mentality of some people can be altered, but will the problem ever vanish? No because it easier for some to be prejudice than be open minded and judge people on a individual basis. I do believe that young black should be aware of what they are in front of them and do all to overcome the odds. Black males should equip themselves with the best education tool dedication and work hard to be successful instead of embarrassing street life. The percentage of black males at birth helps set the amount of prisons to be built and as long as this is the method used to build prisons young black males faces a long life of prejudice.
Our perception of black males have been reinforced by TV shows, the news, Hollywood movies and history. We degraded them as human beings up until we gave them equal rights around the 60's. All we see on the news is about how a black male has shoplifted, raped, broke into a house or robbed from a bank. And the movies and TV shows we watch reinforce these images over again. We have to stop, as a society, thinking this way.
We are more likely to target this minority group more than others. With all the things i've mentioned, its no wonder New York police officers act the way they do although there is no excuse for this behavior.
With the legalization of drugs, I don't know what good or harm it will do. Drug trafficking is the main thing in a lot of gangs. Legalizing it would circuit the money back to the US and maybe take a lot of these kids out and put them back to school.
I believe since day one they are put down; in their family, school, work and society. Its a vicious cycle we have to stop and it beings with the parents. Parents need to instill good morals and a sense of education into these black boys and parents of other minorities should not have a stigma against them and teach that to their children. These problems solutions start at home.
There is a mix of reasons why young black men constitute the majority of people in jails. Even thought in some areas of the country there still exist discrimination towards minorities, I don’t think discrimination is the main cause. Lack of a proper education and family values are the main reasons why so many young boys of color struggle to fit in a society that each day is more and more competitive. Most black children now days come from broken families; drugs and poverty are for them a constant reminder that they cannot achieve anything in their lives unless they become part of a gang. Legalizing drugs is definitely one part of the solution because these young men would be forced to look for other ways to make money. But most important is to have good funding in public schools to have after school programs so that children don’t have to spend so much time in the streets or in abusive households. Also, it is important to educate black women, especially the young ones because they are more proneness to have several children, and unfortunately most of them don’t have the money to give their children a good life. Prostitution, drugs, violence, poverty is all that awaits for these children. they grow up without proper support, they have low self stem, they feel discriminated against, and all these factors are later on the reasons why they end up in jail.
Sindy Pulgarin
There is a mix of reasons why young black men constitute the majority of people in jails. Even thought in some areas of the country there still exist discrimination towards minorities, I don’t think discrimination is the main cause. Lack of a proper education and family values are the main reasons why so many young boys of color struggle to fit in a society that each day is more and more competitive. Most black children now days come from broken families; drugs and poverty are for them a constant reminder that they cannot achieve anything in their lives unless they become part of a gang. Legalizing drugs is definitely one part of the solution because these young men would be forced to look for other ways to make money. But most important is to have good funding in public schools to have after school programs so that children don’t have to spend so much time in the streets or in abusive households. Also, it is important to educate black women, especially the young ones because they are more proneness to have several children, and unfortunately most of them don’t have the money to give their children a good life. Prostitution, drugs, violence, poverty is all that awaits for these children. they grow up without proper support, they have low self stem, they feel discriminated against, and all these factors are later on the reasons why they end up in jail.
sindy pulgarin
This is definitely an issue that should concern everyone. This is indeed a strange cultural phenomenon,like Luis said...it is a disgrace to discriminate against one particular culture, but unfortunately the statistics don't lie. The poverty issue obviously plays a role, which sadly leads to much of the behavior that then leads to the arrests.
I work with an afican american male that was born and raised in the united states. he attended college for about a year and has decided to drop out of school because he doesnt want to go to school anymore and better himself. so i could not believe that being born and raised here he would give up the chance to do something with his life and be someone in this world, and the are so many people out there that come from other places and work their butts off to become someone and do something with their lives. so i dont believe that the upbringing that a person receives is the only factor, because if you are the kind of person that wants to better themself they will.
The way people perceive black males today are much better than before although there can still be some improvement. Blacks treated unfairly should realize that the problem is not them, but the people doing the harrassment. It happen a lot in my latin culture a well. The best thing to do is to learn from some of these terrible experiences and remain confident. If this can be done than you are in the road of ultimate success because you will show that nothing can effect you and it will lead to ultimate confidence. There will always be ignorant people and the only way to not overcome it is to lower yourself to their level. Know who you are and don't see yourself through other people's eyes. Hatred will probably always be around but as long as you don't fall victim to those surroundings, and you worry about your priorities, you will achieve ultimate success.
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