'Gun Culture' -- What About the 'Fatherless Culture'?

This articlehttp://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2013/01/17/gun-culture--what-about-the-fatherless-culture-n1490940/page/full/ by Larry Elder was sent to me by a friend.  And while I am not Black, it speaks volumes to the culture of violence, gangs, and drugs that is prevalent in the Black Community.

The face of gun violence is not Sandy Hook. It is Chicago.

In 2012, President Barack Obama's adopted hometown had 506 murders, including more than 60 children. Philadelphia, a city that local television newscasters frequently call 'Killadelphia," saw 331 killed last year. In Detroit, 386 people were murdered.

Since 1966, there have been 90 school shootings in the U.S., with 231 fatalities. Yes, Sandy Hook shocked us. But the odds of a child being killed at a school shooting are longer than the odds of being struck by lightning.

Of the 11,000 to 12,000 gun murders each year, more than half involve both black killers and black victims, mostly in urban areas and mostly gang-related. The No. 1 cause of preventable death for young black men is not auto accidents or accidental drowning, but homicide.

Rapper/actor Ice T ("Cop Killer") and I attended the same high school. In the 1991 John Singleton film "Boyz n the Hood," the teenagers attend that school, and car-cruise the South Central Los Angeles boulevard after which the school is named. Crenshaw High opened in 1968. By the time Ice-T left, less than a decade later, Crenshaw had become, in the rapper's words, "a Crip school" -- meaning one controlled by that street gang. Because of the school's reputation for violence, Time Magazine called it "Fort Crenshaw." A powerhouse in basketball and football, the school lost its accreditation 2005, before getting it back in 2006 on a short-term basis.

In 1970, I was part of the second graduating class in the new school's history. Some kids, who started with me in the 10th grade, did not finish. But it was the exception rather than the rule. By 2012, only 51 percent of Crenshaw's students graduated.

What happened?

Dads disappeared. Or, more precisely, to use Bill Cosby's term, the number of "unwed fathers" exploded.

In 1965, Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote "The Negro Family: A Case for National Action." At the time, 25 percent of blacks children were born out of wedlock, a number Moynihan called alarming. Fast forward to the present, 72 percent of black children are now born out of wedlock. In fact, 36 percent of white children are born out of wedlock. Of Hispanic children, 53 percent are born outside of marriage.

In "Boyz n the Hood," Tre, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., has an active father in his life. Doughboy, played by Ice Cube, was raised without a father. His mother resents him because she dislikes his father. On the other hand, Gooding's hardworking, responsible father, played by Laurence Fishburne, stays on his son. He warns him against hanging out with the wrong people and that becoming a street criminal was a trap. He lectures his son that "any fool with a (penis) can make a baby, but only a real man can raise his children."

Studies show that children of divorced parents can have outcomes as positive as those coming from intact homes, provided the father remains financially supportive and active in his children's lives.

But what happens without dads in the 'hood?

In 1979, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that fatherless kids were twice as likely to drop out of school and that girls who grew up without dads were 2.5 times more likely to become pregnant teenagers.

Rutgers University sociology professor David Popenoe published "Life Without Father" in 1996, where he describes the "massive erosion" of fathers in America. Popenoe concluded that boys raised without fathers were more likely to have problems with drugs, alcohol, behavior and social interactions. Several studies during the '90s found that disruption in family structures was a predictor of children's gang involvement.

Many on the left dismiss the importance of fathers as "right-wing," blame-the-victim propaganda. Well, the late rapper Tupac Shakur, in the posthumously released documentary "Resurrection," said: "I know fora fact that had I had a father, I'd have some discipline. I'd have more confidence." He admits that he starting hanging out with gangs because he wanted to belong to a family structure, and it offered structure, support and protection -- the kind of thing we once expected home and family to provide.

The formula for achieving middle-class success is simple: Finish high school; don't have a child before the age of 20; and get married before having the child. Preparing for the future requires dedication. It requires deferring gratification, precisely the kind of "discipline" that Tupac admitted he lacked because he grew up without a father.

Doing what you want to do is easy. Doing what you have to do is hard. Dads, by getting up and going to work each day, send a powerful message every day to their children: Hard work wins. There are no short cuts. The outcome is unknowable. But the effort is entirely within your control.

Just this last year, in 3 cities (Chicago, Detroit, Killadelphia Philadelphia) 1,223 people were murdered with guns.  47 times the number of deaths at Sandy Hook.  Yet to the loony liberals 20 dead white children are more important to their agenda than 60 dead black children murdered in Chicago.  Sandy Hook was an upper middle class enclave.  The streets of Chicago are the ghetto.  The lives of the upper middle class are more important, more vital to the nation than any person living in the ghetto.

Chicago, Detroit and Killadelphia Philadelphia all have strict gun control laws.  In fact Chicago has the strictest gun laws in the nation.  And Chicago has the most gun deaths in the nation.  Gun control doesn't work.  Those 3 cities are proving it every day.

Where are the so-called black leaders?  Where is Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton?  Why are they not marching down the streets demanding that these boys stand up and become men?  Why are they not in the ghettos working to fix the problem?  Is it because there is no money in this problem?  Is it because they cannot accuse White people for this problem?

I fear that as we become more entrenched into a Nanny State the problem of Bastard Children and absent "Fathers" will become more and more prevalent.  In fact the language of the ghetto already reflects this idea in the name:  Baby Daddy.  In fact it is an apt name for these boys.  They cannot be called men, for they have no idea what manhood is and what the responsibilities that come with manhood.  Instead we have a bunch of boys who refuse to grow up.  While cute in a children's story is obscene in real life.

Shout Racism And Stop The Debate!

Stolen from Faultline USA

A Commentary by J. D. Longstreet
***************

I've had it up to my lower eyelids with the left's tarring of everyone who does not agree with them as racists.

See, right THERE, I'm a racist!  OK.  So be it! 

I am convinced that shouting "racist" is a coward's device to evade having to put up or shut-up. It allows a coward to claim to have won an argument by silencing the opposition.    Look, if you want to play in the big boy's league you gotta get rid of the thin skin -- no matter the color it happens to be.

I am a southern white male. I have been labeled a racist all my life and frankly, I have never really gotten used to it.  I learned to put up with it, and ignore it, as much as possible. But now that I have attained a, ahem, certain age, damned if I will hold my silence any longer.

Let me spell it out for you.  If you cannot debate your position without resorting to screaming "racist" then you need to look up the word "transference."  For those of you who have yet to master the use of a dictionary, transference, simply put, is when you call someone something that you, in fact, are.  Or, you accuse someone of holding and opinion, that you, in fact actually hold. (Ask any shrink.)  You are transferring your feelings onto your opposition.  Boil it all down and you get the school yard version:  "It takes one to know one!"

A very nice southern lady, one of or vaunted "steel magnolias" told me the other day, upon hearing the ladies of the Congressional Black Caucus refer to Senator John McCain (and others) racists, that she was sick of it.  She expressed her feelings ever so delicately to me by saying, "I think I'll puke!"

I wonder, do they have any idea how foolish they appear?  Or do they just not care?   It must be the latter.

Look, black folks in America are going to have to accept that they are no longer in the cat bird's seat.  They are no longer the number one minority in America.  That position is now owned by the Hispanics.  Guess which group will no receive the most attention now?  Uh-huh. 

African Americans are going to have to decide to either act like grown-ups or continue to kick the sides of their cribs for attention.  The latter is going to less effective every day.

The black community in America needs better leadership.  If you really want to know who is "keeping you down" -- look to your own leadership.  Requesting a UN affiliated group to monitor US election? Indeed!  Did you think we wouldn't resent the heck out of that move?  Oh, I wonder if those monitors were monitoring Congressman  Allen West's loss in Florida?  Huh?     

White America is tired, broke, and more than a little disgruntled.  We're in no mood for the childish game of name-calling. 

Now, for those of you, especially in the NFM (Non-Fox Media), who swore paradise had been found when America elected its first black President -- going so far as to refer to our era as "Post Racist America" --  how foolish do you feel now, huh? 

Racism is not confined to one skin color. Anyone who tries to convince you otherwise is full of it -- or has an agenda.  I vote for the latter. 

Look at the so-called "poverty-pimps"  who seem to find every TV camera and microphone in the continental USA when there is a disturbance between people of the white persuasion and people of  the black persuasion. I'll refrain from giving them more publicity by referring to them by name. You already KNOW who they are.

Only a fool believes racism can be wiped out.  As long as there has been more than one race on this planet there has been racism -- and there always will be.  It is the nature of the beast.  We tend to fear and distrust those not like us.  It is a defensive mechanism. Nature wired us that way to help us survive in a cruel world.

We have worked for millenia to overcome that natural inclination   Sometimes we are successful.  But most of the time we are not.  So, we learn to live with it as best we can.  It's what civilized people do.

Now,  having said all the above, it is my opinion that as long as folks continue to point fingers and shout racism at other folks, regardless of skin color, the tension between the races will continue to peg the needle on the tension meter.

So far as America being in a Post Racism Era, that's hogwash.  Race relations in America today are not that far removed from what they were in the 1960's.  Deal with it!

As far as Obama being black, or half black, (whatever!) I could not care less.  Heck, I might even like the guy! I doubt it! But lightening does strike occasionally!  It's his politics I disagree with, his political philosophy, his socialist agenda, all that.

There is a very good chance that Mr. Obama will be the last black President America has for a very long time.  The political left has so threatened everyone else with the "racism sobriquet" that no one wants to go through that abuse again by electing another black person to that high office.

The point is -- shouting racism to get your way has a downside. It not only makes you look stupid, it also convinces people who know better, that you are. And it will come back to bite you. 

The "Estrogen Brigade" of the Congressional Black Caucus would do well to consider (in future) what they are going to say BEFORE stepping before cameras and microphones -- and making fools of themselves.  As Lincoln is supposed to have said:  "It is better to remain silent and and allow people to think you a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt."   Harken, ladies, harken!

© J. D. Longstreet

Congratulations Egypt! You Have Voted Yourself Into Poverty.

The Egyptian Elections Commission Ruling Junta has declared Muslim Brotherhood-backed candidate Mohammed Morsi the President of Egypt.  This is not really news.  It was all but predicted when the Arab Spring of 16 months ago happened.  This is after the Muslim Brotherhood promising not to run candidates for office in the nation.

Muslim Brotherhood-backed candidate Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner in Egypt's first free presidential election in history by the country's elections commission.

In Tahrir Square, the birthplace of the uprising that ousted autocratic President Hosni Mubarak, joyous Morsi supporters wept and kneeled on the ground in prayer. They danced, set off fireworks and released doves in the air with Morsi's picture attached in celebrations not seen in the square since Mubarak was forced out on Feb. 11, 2011.

In his first televised speech on state TV, Morsi pledged Sunday to preserve Egypt's international accords, a reference to the peace deal with Israel.

He paid tribute to nearly 900 protesters killed in last year's uprising, saying without the "blood of the martyrs," he would not have made it to the presidency.

In a non-confrontational speech, he did not mention the last-minute power grab by the ruling military that stripped the president of most of his major powers.

"I pledge to be a president who serves his people and works for them," Morsi said on his official web page. "I will not betray God in defending your rights and the rights of this nation." He was scheduled to address the nation Sunday night in his first speech after being declared president.

Many are looking now to see if Morsi will try to take on the military and wrestle back the powers they took from his office just one week ago. Thousands vowed to remain in Tahrir to demand that the ruling generals reverse their decision.

On the sidelines of the political drama are the liberal and secular youth groups that drove the uprising against Mubarak, left to wonder whether Egypt has taken a step towards becoming an Islamist state. Some grudgingly supported Morsi in the face of Ahmed Shafiq, who was Mubarak's last prime minister, while others boycotted the vote.

Morsi will now have to reassure them that he represents the whole country, not just Islamists, and will face enormous challenges after security and the economy badly deteriorated in the transition period.

Pro-democracy leader Mohammed ElBaradei urged unity after the results were announced.

"It is time we work all as Egyptians as part of a national consensus to build Egypt that is based on freedom and social justice," he wrote on his Twitter account.

Just one week ago, at the moment polls were closing in the runoff election, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) issued constitutional amendments that stripped the president's office of most of its major powers. The ruling generals made themselves the final arbiters over the most pressing issues still complicating the transition-- such as writing the constitution, legislating, passing the state budget-- and granted military police broad powers to detain civilians.

"I am happy the Brotherhood won because now the revolution will continue on the street against both of them, the Brotherhood and the SCAF," said Lobna Darwish, an activist who has boycotted the elections.

Morsi, the 60-year old U.S.-trained engineer, narrowly defeated Shafiq with 51.7 percent of the vote versus 48.3, by a margin of only 800,000 votes, the election commission said. Turnout was 51 percent.

Also, a few days before that constitutional declaration, a court dissolved the freely elected parliament, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, leaving the military now in charge of legislating.

"The revolution passed an important test,"said Yasser Ali, a spokesman for Morsi's campaign. "But the road is still long."

Full Story

Congratulations Egypt.  You have no industry.  You have no agriculture.  You cannot feed your people.  You have a high rate of infant mortality.  You are very lucky if you live to 70.  Your one industry that brought in foreign currency, TOURISM, is practically gone.  But now you will have Shar'ia upon you.

The Muslim Brotherhood has stated that they will NOT impose Shar'ia Law, but we all know that they break every promise they have made.  So the Egyptian population should be prepared for this:

Nothing says freedom like a burqa or two.

Or this:




Nobody knows what crime this woman did, but to the men it didn't matter.  They just enjoyed the show.
Thieves will lose their hands, adultery will be punish by stoning, gays will be hung.

Heck put it into the public square and the tourists will flock to see it.

And Mohammad Morsi has been stirring the people to war with Israel.  A war in which the Egyptians are ill prepared for.  A in violation of the Camp David Accord.  So much for peace treaties signed by Muslims.

Both President Barack Hussein Obama and Former President Jimmy Dhimmi Carter welcome the result of this election.  Obama by the virtue of promising the Muslim Brotherhood control of Egypt in 2009, and Carter because he want to destroy World Jewry.

I give Egypt until November before they have to attack Israel.  (Or face riots in the streets over the horrible economic conditions and massive hunger in Egypt.)  And I wonder how long the cheering crowds in Tahrir Square will continue to scream when Israel destroys their city, their army and their nation.

What we are seeing is Obama's Foreign Policy at work!

No wonder he is known as The Amateur!