BLM protests shuts down the Magnificent Mile in Chicago

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Here's the difference:

Of course violent crime is horrible, and of course blacks hate being victimized by criminals - but, one expects criminals to be criminals.

But when cops are the ones engaging in criminal behavior, it's not only the crime that's horrible, it's the betrayal as well that makes it even worse - that the people who are supposed to be protecting you are the ones victimizing you.

And the fact that the number of black on black deaths exceeds by many times the number of those from police misconduct/brutality makes no difference?

You shouldn't be shot and killed by your own government.

No, but you should also - as a parent - be responsible for your own kids. When parents lose control of their kids, the government takes over - social services or jail. That's the way it goes, folks.

Of course, we can say that poverty is the root of all evil. But again, with social programs (WIC, Medicaid, Job Corps, migrant training, you name it), why do people stay within victim mode?

We've basically fucked ourselves by ignoring how to wean people off programs.

The answer isn't more government. Instead, we need more transition services. Furthermore, mandate sensitivity training for police.

But most importantly? Parents NEED to be parents. I don't care how goddamn poor you are. Your kids come first. There are more than a few success stories out there of people overcoming the odds.

Wean people off programs onto WHAT, exactly? Transition services to transition them to WHAT, exactly?

When employers aren't paying a living wage, how do you propose weaning anyone when they can't afford to feed themselves or put a roof over their heads on the paltry wages being paid? When employers slash benefits left and right, how do you propose weaning anyone off of government benefits? When corporations offshore American jobs just so that the CEO can make more profit for himself and his other rich buddies, how do you propose weaning anyone when the jobs aren't there? When massive amounts of wealth are being extracted by the rich rather than going into circulation, causing economic growth to stagnate, how do you propose weaning anyone?

I'm all for weaning people off of governmetn programs but right now our culture of selfishness and corporate greed makes it very very difficult to do so. It wouldn't be a weaning, it would be cutting people off and abandoning them altogether.

Well, let's see. First of all, many of the kids living in poverty never graduate - or if they do, they graduate barely literate. Some end up pregnant. Others join gangs. So of course, these kids will continue the cycle. Blame the schools (b/c that's all people do). Blame "society." Blame Big Business.

Blame
Blame
Blame

That's all we do.

But there are avenues for these kids. If they applied themselves, they could learn a trade. They could earn scholarships. They could graduate!! There are so many services/partnerships at schools now that schools have become social programs. So there's no sense in placing blame when these opportunities are there for the taking.

That's called prevention - proactive measures. And with these successfully in place, there is no need to "wean" adults off the

So if parents are neglecting their kids - b/c they're either lazy assholes or working their asses off - then we try to catch the kids in school. However, b/c many are so hardened - so tainted and angry - we must involve school psychologists, social workers, counselors and gang outreach mentors. But people are unwilling to put their money where their mouths are - choosing instead to be reactive by rounding up these kids and jailing them. . . . b/c that's where many end up

We've got to accept that schools in areas of high poverty are no longer just institutions of learning. They're "restaurants," counseling centers, and sometimes "mini jails." But when parents can't parent for whatever reason, the government has to step in. And we can be proactive or reactive.

That's the truth.

In your "truth" you COMPLETELY FAILED to address even one single fact or point raised above: Of jobs being offshored, of the ones that aren't being offshored not paying a living wage or providing any benefits, of the massive wealth extraction that is hurting our economy, of our culture of greed, resulting in an environment where there's nothing there for the poor to be transitioned to.

well, let's see . . .

If kids graduated with SKILLS, we wouldn't have jobs for the "poor and ignorant" being shipped overseas.

a reactive type, eh? You just proved my point.

Sorry but we already had plenty of workers with skills who were laid off and went unemployed when factory after factory was offshored. They didn't offshore the jobs for a lack of skilled workers. Greedy CEOs did it for bigger profits, not for lack of skilled workers. American workers are among the most productive and skilled in the world, the countries that they outsource cannot hold a candle to that. The only thing they can do more of in those other countries is pay slave wages, abuse workers and cut corners while destroying their environment and everything else.

Same story is happening with companies laying off highly skilled IT workers and then hiring Indians on H1B visas for a fraction of the cost, pretending they can't find any IT people - it's bullshit. There are plenty of IT people, companies just don't want to pay them what they are worth.

Wages for the middle class have stagnated ever since the '80s - while productivity has steadily increased and while the wealthiest have gotten richer and richer. We don't have a skills problem, we don't have a workforce problem, we have a problem with greedy rich people.

That's also part of the reason why things have gotten tougher for small business. And less small businesses also means fewer job opportunities for the poor and the working class.

[Anonymous]

I have commented on this many times. I grew up in a struggling neighborhood in a poor household. My parents, while hard working and well-meaning, had never been to college and expended so much energy "surviving." I was a good student and a responsible teen (I cared for my siblings whle my parents worked). However, until I was 15YO I had no idea that college was even an option for me. I knew nothing about college readiness or financial aid and neither did my parents. The ONLY reason that I even began to understand it as an option is because I had a couple of teachers who saw my potential and helped me. Without them, I would have followed a different path. That is the thing wrong with "all you need is personal responsibility" rhetoric. It implies that people know or should know all of the options they have. In some of these homes, that is not the case. That is one reason why I volunteer in a mentoring program for HS kids. I help them learn what is out there and how to get after it.

Besides that, there is a factual disconnect with all this rhetoric. People ARE trying to help themselves get out of some of these communities. AA and Latino college attendance are at historical highs. May of those kids are from low SES backgrounds. The flip side to that is that student loan debt levels are alarmingly high is this demographic.

You are a hero. I wish someone like you had been around for my kids.