Monday Musings...
March is almost gone, and while there is that saying that goes "In like a LION, out like a LAMB", I think this particular March sort of came in like a WEASEL, and is going out more like a HYENA.
Sorry, friends, but I simply can't get into all this March Madness stuff. Seems like too much focus on B-BALL, and not enough on EDUCATION to suit my liking. And aren't we kinda hip-deep in problems related to the educating of our nation's children anyway?
Then there's the economy, which if a REAL (good) stimulus package were to be implemented by GIVING to the masses (and I don't believe in handouts to anyone for no reason), it would consist of "giving" every person in America, who is OVER 18 AND a LEGAL CITIZEN a check for ONE...MILLION...DOLLARS, period. How's that work for you?
THEN the economy would take off in a lot better direction. It would cost this nation a HELLUVA LOT LESS to pursue THAT course of action, rather than bailing out every business and defaulted mortgage in this country. And it would help those that truly need financial help, and allow the "wheat to be separated from the chaff", socio-economically-speaking.
I know I could honestly embrace THAT kind of "change"...how about you?
Yeah, I got most of that million "predesignated"...just in case.
Moving on...
(CAUTION: SEGUE ALERT - THE FOLLOWING COULD PRODUCE IMPULSIVE COGITATION)
After I took my morning constitutional down our walkway to retrieve our paper (thanks to the candy-ass-arm of the NEW carrier), I couldn't help but think about the state of our neighborhood (here). Living here does that to normal people.
Even on quiet mornings, the area has a stench of apathy hanging like a pall over the streets, and even following the rains we had, you'd think the air would have that crisp, clean smell...not so much.
In the METRO section of Sunday's paper, there was a minuscule light at the end of a long tunnel I've shown to you readers for quite some time.
The main article focused on the homicide rates in the city and how it impacts on the BLACK VICTIMS (I guess the white & Hispanic ones don't count?) and the black community as a whole (psst...it affects the OTHER citizens also).
Here's the link to the WHOLE story:
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090329/NEWS/303299927/1002/LOCAL Now while Holly Abrams does a really decent job bringing the facts, she could
have dug a little DEEPER to uncover more of the "truth" that rarely gets printed (except for here on THIS blog).
As I said, the story primarily dealt with the VICTIMS of shootings, and paid little, if any attention to the SHOOTERS themselves.
(And I'd wager "the farm" to say the majority of the shooters ARE BLACK as well...better odds there than at the casino)
The story says that a little over 17% of Fort Wayne's population is BLACK (thought it was HIGHER - closer to 27%...we suddenly misplace 10% somewhere?), but that 31 out of every 100,000 blacks are victims of shootings. Indiana ranks THIRD in the NATION when it comes to black victims of gunplay, behind Pennsylvania and Michigan. Wow, even the "poverty-ridden" SOUTH is doing BETTER than Indiana. Curious, indeed.
I can tell you why PA is #1 - two main reasons: PHILLY and PITTSBURGH.
Michigan being #2 is self explanatory: DETROIT (the ghetto capital of the Midwest).
Come to think of it, most EVERY URBAN AREA across the nation, that has a large concentration of BLACKS or HISPANICS is prone to GREATER numbers of VIOLENT CRIME. But don't take MY word for it...look it all up for yourselves.
NO race baiting or bias here...just FACTS.
Never seem to see similar numbers with large concentrations of WHITES, though...do we? Must have gotten most of it all out of our systems when the Italians, Germans, and Irish fought themselves into assimilation and productivity as normal CITIZENS.
Those darn white people...screwing up the stats for those ethnics...how DARE (we) they?
But the good news is that the BLACK community is starting to get with the program as to WHY this is occurring in their neighborhoods (...or they're finally starting reading this blog...lol). And since they acknowledge this problem (at long last), the question we should ask NOW is: "How are they going to address it"?
You are NOT going to reverse decades of violence, apathy and slovenly behavior in a year...or even FIVE years. Every decade that has gone unchecked will require about TWO (at least) to undo.
We've already got GENERATIONAL problems in that community with kids having kids, being totally irresponsible, detesting the police, and taking the easy way out through drugs, guns, gangs, and so on.
Cripes, you have grandparents barely in their THIRTIES. What the hell does THAT say about the problem?
Will more gun laws prevent the homicides in the black community?
No frigging way, so don't even GO down that street.
What WILL make an impact in the community is...(wait for it)...PEOPLE laws, and that means having EVERY single person in the black community held to similar standards of living and behavior as it's best citizens. And don't give me that "poor me, I can't afford to" bullshit. You can have fewer than two quarters to rub against one another and STILL have real personal dignity, a smidgen of individual pride, and a little respect to show yourself, as well as others.
Don't give me that depression crap, either.
Hell, we've had soldiers so damned depressed they shot themselves, and they had nothing to do with being poor. We've also had warriors that toughed through it, and became heroes. Everybody gets depressed at some point and for some reason in their lives.
I've been depressed more than a few times in my life, and I got through it. It's not easy, and the road IS long and narrow, but I'm no better than anyone else, and a hell of a lot less financially-endowed, but I say to all of you...it can be done, and without being laced up the ass with drugs, booze, OR crime. It might take some soul-searching...or maybe a trip to the local church to chat with a preacher, or just poking your nose into the Good Book.
In many ways, today's less-than-affluent blacks have had the iron chains of slavery removed, only to be substituted for the societal chains of another form OF slavery; slavery to stereotypical bias, slavery to the drug dealers and gang members in our cities, slavery to violent behavior born out of fear imposed upon them by members of their OWN race, and slavery to laziness and false victimology, thanks to government entitlements.
You deal with THOSE issues, and the community will bounce back...not before.
Now while we have to admit to the victims' plight in our city, we neglect to mention WHO is doing all this killing of the blacks in Fort Wayne. It's pretty much exclusively done BY blacks ON blacks (and everyone else...not nearly as many white shooters here).
The black population is 17% of the total (so the article says), which is not representative of the criminal element OF that population (which would be less than 30% OF that 17%) and YET...a LOT more than 60% of ALL the crime is perpetrated BY that smaller percentage of that particular part of the ethnic population. Got some REAL busy people there, hmm?
Shouldn't that have been telling SOMETHING to the black community for the last several decades???
Or was everyone too busy having a BBQ and downing a "40" to listen?
I relate here every week how low-class (many by choice) ethnics (and a few whites) are not living up to ANY of their (equal) potential in this area (the S/E section), and the city MUST think that is all fine and dandy (as THEY perceive things).
One blatant example of this is the number of people on a renter's lease. Apparently, most every rental lease written down here (I believe most are done with a spit and a handshake instead) gives those people carte' blanche to move in AS MANY PEOPLE as they want, whenever they want. Many of the problems related to these activities can often cause problems that will lead to gunplay, but the housing "rules" must not apply to these people, as they do what they want. Landlords need to be every bit responsible for WHO and HOW MANY people are living in their hovels.
While the few of us that still give a rat's ass do what we can to "lead by example", not bother anyone (unless bothered), and project a positive influence by keeping our properties nice in appearance, no one else is trying to come close...in fact, they're not trying one damn bit to do a damn thing.
No one else cares about trash-strewn lawns, peeling paint, broken windows or doors, kids with guns on the streets, or pretty much anything else. "Let someone else do it" seems to be the mantra emanating from the masses down here.
And for decades, the government stepped up and DID do it.
And then they patted themselves on the backs for their "ingenuity" in solving the urban crisis....bullshit!
There's a LOT of lumps under that carpet where all the DIRT has been swept over the years, don'cha think?
But finally, the black community IS recognizing the issue...and they want to take action (at long last).
Well, with all their door-to-door Q&A (they said they did), they somehow missed MY door. I guess living down here and being white disqualifies me from unbiased speech (or telling them the God's-honest truth). Truth is truth, no matter WHAT the damn color of one's skin is...I've always believed that, just as I've believed that laws DO apply to EVERYONE, regardless of skin color, or they mean nothing. Maybe the black community is biased themselves, and can't see the forest for the trees.
It wouldn't be the first time, and probably will not be the last.
In ANY event, what will be interesting to see is the MANNER in which the black community plans to address the homicide rate among themselves. Causing whites to flee from neighborhoods is not (nor should have ever been) part of any equation to solving the violent issues that flow like an untamed river, unchecked and washing away any civility left in the community.
I'm willing to say that they WILL, at some point (hopefully EARLY ON) mention EDUCATION, but I would also state that such education BEGINS AT HOME, and certainly NOT only with teaching the next generation (as well as the current one, who are in dire need of such learning) about the "Three Rs", BUT ALSO, (and this is an even larger issue) about CIVILITY and ETHICS, not only within their OWN race, but towards others as well. Tolerance is (and always has been ) pretty much a TWO-WAY street...same goes for RESPECT.
You give it to get it...got it?
It's one thing to know math and English, but it's quite the other to know that the STREETS are for cars, and the SIDEWALKS are for walking, or that our streets are not the trash repositories many around here falsely believe they are. It also means that you TAKE GOOD CARE of that which you have, and practice personal and financial RESPONSIBILITY. Yeah, let's see if THOSE issues are addressed. It's always the small stuff you take care of first, so that the larger (and oft times badder) stuff never gets to occur. It's worked in the past, and it WILL work again!
The black community helps (in no small part) to create the blighted areas (by all but sanctioning such behavior, when they know they're above such things), and apparently allowed the crime to get a foothold, and the violence to continue, year after bloody year, unabated by apathy, denial, or fear.
The least they can do is make an EARNEST attempt to turn that visage around, removing the stigmas placed with the south side of this city.
Just don't forget that a LOT of whites, Hispanics, Asians, and others would like to see that happen as well, and would be more than willing to assist...all you have to do is put some of that overblown love of self and haughty behavior aside, and ASK them.
To think it's ONLY Monday when in some respects, it feels like a Thursday...
Stay safe out there, America.