Reply to "My Brother's Keeper" and at-risk kids... thoughts?

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Reply to ""My Brother's Keeper" and at-risk kids... thoughts?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]Brown or black versus the Board of Education is no longer the white person's problem. We have got to take the neighborhood back. People used to be ashamed. Today a woman has eight children with eight different 'husbands' — or men or whatever you call them now. We have millionaire football players who cannot read. We have million-dollar basketball players who can't write two paragraphs. We as black folks have to do a better job. Someone working at Wal-Mart with seven kids, you are hurting us. We have to start holding each other to a higher standard. [/quote]

Yeah...a rant isn't really going to help.  Ask Bill Cosby.

When there is no access to a higher quality life and no one around to model it, then kids are working with an entirely different standard than the ones you'd like to hold them to.  A different set of values, different goals and objectives, different life strategy--completely removed from the standards you think they should be working toward.  You talk about shame, but imagine the development of an 8 year old boy who sees everyone and everything around him as shameful (and an 8 year old knows).  What can he do about it?  What does it turn into as he develops?  And then everyone in and out of his own community is calling him a knucklehead.  It takes a pretty extraordinary kid to buck that trend.  All others? Not a shot in the world.

The only upside to segregation was that a poor kid could live down the street or attend church with educated profeesionals and he could see what was possible.  He could believe it was attainable.  For kids today, it's about as realistic as life on the moon.

So, have your rant, cluck your teeth, complain about what parents aren't doing.  But know that you're joining in on the downward pull.  I'm glad someone with real influence is trying to do something and, from what I read in the press release, the effort is designed to come from the communities where these kids live.  So you can sit in the comfort of your home and not have a hair on your head bothered about it.  And if it's one less kid who might be knocking you over the head, be glad for it.[/quote]

I can't speak for others but for me the frustration behind the rants stem from the fact that whenever anyone even brings up the fact that there is negative modeling and a different set of standards and values, most of the time it's denied and deflected and the person who brought it up is immediately accused of racism.  And as long as there's nothing but denial and accusation going on rather than taking a first step of acknowledgement, not much can change.   Doesn't the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step?  :roll: [/quote]

From whom are you seeking acknowledgement?  From people who have time and inclination to post on this forum?

You're going on nothing but assumption, ranting to people who've got nothing but assumption.  I'm not aware of any poor and black parents perusing DCUM over their morning coffee who will read your (clueless) opinion and assess whether or not it's racist.  Wher's the charge of racism in this thread?

What I see is a lot of energy and words thrown at criticizing a class (and race) of people, and then a lot more coming up with reasons should be done about it.  It's their own fault.  It's ingrained.  It's poor parenting.  It's poor decisionmaking.  All true!  Now what?

If you've got no ideas at this point, you're in luck because[i] no one has asked you[/i] for any.  You can go mind your own business and tend to your school fundraisers and let the poor communities figure out how to turn things around. As I read it in the White House press release, that's the plan.[/quote]

You haven't seen accusations of racism here?  LOL!  You must be new here.   No, it's not about race - but you made your own huge assumption in jumping there.  Nobody here is griping about Sasha and Malia.  If you think it's about race then you don't actually understand the problem.

Now what?  A lot of it has already been said.  The solutions is that a cultural shift has to happen, which means to stop pretending the problem is about race, or pretending it's not a problem, or pretending that it's different standards and values and that's ok - when in fact it's perpetuating dysfunction generation to generation and it's NOT OK.  Cultural shift means that parents need to be educated to improve their own life skills and their own responsibilities to their kids, it means very early intervention and early childhood education to get kids off to a solid start, it means mentoring and educating folks on what "normal" actually is in the rest of society.  This isn't an easy ride for any of us, it's not just a matter of throwing some money around and all is well.[/quote]

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