The ridiculous violence in N.O.

A lot to chew on in this thread. There is a lot of frustration, and people have touched on some great points. guess I'll throw my two cents in as well.


The violence is being perpetrated largely by young kids, most of them school age. To me this means its glaringly obvious that the solution must include some form of youth programs. After school activities, youth camps, service organizations, anything and everything. Get these kids engaged in things that are constructive and positive. This kind of investment will pay off more than investing in jails, of that I am sure.

In neighborhoods where a lot of this violence originates from, there is no doubt a real lack of opportunity. A lot of kids don't see a model for success in life where they come from, except for professional sports and hip hop which are extreme long shots as a career. Low level minimum wage jobs at a corporate chains don't get you anywhere, and often times its not even enough to keep your head above water. Selling weed or whatever kind of "hustling", is seen as a way to make ends meet. Its a closed loop, you fall in with more and more criminals and once you get caught it becomes harder to get any other job with jail time on your record, so you have to keep hustling.

There are a lot of young single mothers who shouldnt be having babies but they do for whatever reason. With so many young black males getting killed or locked up or addicted to drugs, dad is often not around to influence the kid's life in a positive way. Most observers recognize that this is a problem but how do you fix it? The same people criticizing the young single motherhood epidemic as a problem, are the same people saying to lock up young black men on drug offenses and throw away the key. Louisiana is the most incarcerated place in the ENTIRE WORLD, so its no wonder dad isn't around. Again, its a closed loop.

now lets talk about NOPD. This is what Mayor Landrieu said when he was elected: "I have inherited a police force that has been described by many as one of the worst police departments in the country". Here is a link to the justice department investigation of NOPD: http://www.justice.gov/crt/about/spl/nopd_report.pdf
People in this thread have expressed frustration with the public refusing to work with NOPD, consider that there might be a reason for that. NOPD's corruption, ineptitude, and disregard for civil liberties makes it one of the worst police departments in the country. Nobody views them as helpful, everyone knows to just stay away from the cops.

Gun control - maybe its a problem that 15 year old kids have easy access to handguns? Duh? Adolescent kids don't use good judgement. Somebody in this thread dismissed the idea of gun control because people committed murder before guns were around. that's true. But killing someone without a gun requires a lot more work and thought put into it. Killing someone with the twitch of a finger is a whole different animal, it allows the act to be completely impulsive with no thought attached, and that's how lives get ended carelessly. If we can effectively reduce access to handguns its likely to translate into reduced homicide rate, but of course that is easier said than done.

The message in popular music that the kids listen to is alarming. The entertainers that put this stuff out are just entertaining. For example popular rap artist Rick Ross has songs that are all about selling dope and killing and whatever, but before he was famous dude was a corrections officer, not a drug kingpin. But the kids cant distinguish it as a fantasy and they are out there playing grand theft auto in real life. I'm not naive enough to say its all because of the music but I think that's part of it. I'm not even saying that music has to have a positive message, but there should be less actively poisonous content in popular music. Go back to talking about girls and stuff.

And finally I think Geldo's post struck a chord... American society as a whole has become increasingly selfish and materialistic. The principle of improving your own situation at the expense of someone else is not considered immoral anymore, its mainstream, its the American way. When Goldman Sachs can make money by hurting others economically, better believe they do it. Its the same mentality that the impoverished black kid has when breaking into cars and robbing people. The legality might be different, because wall street can take the money with computers and pens instead of guns, but the morality is the same. Enrich yourself at the expense of those around you. As a society on all economic levels, we need to evolve from this mentality and begin to see it another way: Enrich those around you, while improving your own condition. Flipping that switch will go a long way.

Wow, that was more than I meant to say. We are talking about complex social problems, its not just one thing. But I don't believe its a lost cause.