Young Black males: 14x more likely to be murdered than white males

[Bob Dobalina]

What's your take on the murder figures?

It’s shocking and disturbing, but not surprising. From my experience there are different reasons that leads to joining a gang. I’m assuming that a large percentage of these are gang related. In the “hood” gangs have a very real draw about them. Gang members are glorified, some of them (one’s actually making money and not just “banging”) are driving nice cars, etc. The females are attracted to them. Because of this draw, it’s not solely limited to the single parent home where the mom is a crack ho. For example my cousin got deeply involved (this actually caused me some grief because we have similar looks) in gangs. My cousin is the son of the “rich uncle” in the family. His mom and dad are still married and successful college educated folks. On the other end I have several cousins and nephews from the typical broken home which are still banging, slanging and hustling. They’ve been shot, stabbed, etc and are STILL out there. They just don’t know anything else. What I’m trying to say is that it’s not so simple as a broken home or they had no other choice. It really varies, though I assume the majority probably did not have a stable home.

There are some relevant issues brought up in this thread. In my opinion it’s a continuous cycle of ignorance, dependence and lack of family structure. I think Maris actually brings up some good points, although a bit simplified in some posts. Ignorance is a huge factor. You’ve got kids having kids for one. These young ladies (girls) are having babies with dudes that are headed off to prison or jail. I’ve tried to understand this as I talk to my nieces and sisters. The only conclusion I’ve come to so far is that it has become a part of the culture. Not only accepted, but maybe even expected. It’s mind boggling to me. What makes a young woman with 2 kids, 2 different daddies, current daddy has no job and no car, have a third child? These moms are then raising their kids from the mentality of a high school girl. You know? What’s important to her? Clothes, cell phone, friends, media, etc. This is passed on to the kid. So while the little one is draped in the latest fashion and whatnot, education, life lessons and morality take a backseat and the cycle continues.

Not sure if I went off on a tangent or what, but just wanted to give a different perspective. I don’t know why god chose a different path for me, but he did. I could so easily be “another statistic”, but here I am. Though I did not escape without getting shot first.