American Voice

The three factors that make up the middle class are a home, healthcare, and a college education. It can be said that the middle class is what defines the American Dream. The middle class is definitely the underlying force which drives this country. Without the purchasing power and the skilled workers that the middle class provides, the United States would by no means be a global power.


Many may not know that the middle class was actually created by the U.S. in the aftermath of World War II. After the second World War, demand for U.S. products rose to as high as it had ever been. New government programs enabled more individuals to obtain home loans. New programs also enacted reforms targeting discriminatory lending practices and made mortgage interest tax deductible. Minimum wage was raised to the highest than it had ever been in 1968. [here]


That was then and this is now.The structures that provided these opportunities have now either weakened or become obsolete over the last forty years. Because of this, a growing gap between the rich and the poor has emerged. The factors that make up the middle class, (a home, healthcare, and college education), have risen to extraordinary costs, outpacing growth in incomes. Because of this, the American people are finding it increasingly difficult to enter and remain in the middle class. [here]


WHY THERE IS A WEALTH GAP
Obviously, a lack of assets make it difficult to enter into or stay in the middle class. This means that securing a financial position is almost impossible for families, their children, their children's children, and so on. Each generation does not have the ability to pull themselves up. The idea of the middle class is, of course, that security and financial stability transfers across generations. This gives the future generations the head start that is often needed to succeed in life.


As we discussed in Part 1 of this series, low wealth individuals are predominantly African Americans. Also, most African Americans own more debt than they do assets. As long as there is more debt owed than assets owned, there will continue to be a large wealth gap.


Education is a definite way to eliminate the wealth gap. The question is, how will many low wealth individuals be able to afford education?

If rap music influences our youth in a negative way, then so do movies or any other sort of entertainment. When parents blame the way that their child acts on music that is being played, this is simply a crutch.

Sure, there are many rap songs that have lyrics that are vulgar or downright perverse. But it is not rap music that necessarily needs to change. It is the way the community takes care of their youth.

It takes individuals to show these youth that listen to rap music or watch gangster movies that this is for entertainment only. It also should fall on the shoulders of these rappers or entertainers to speak out to the youth of the inner cities.

When parents or others berate rap music, in hopes that it will stop a child from listening to it, they are really only making the matter worse. The more controversial something seems to anyone, adult or child, the more you want to know what it is.


Parents and community leaders should be acutely aware of one thing: These rappers have young kids undivided attention. It is not the rap music we need to be attacking. We need these rappers to speak out and influence these young inner city kids to get an education and to succeed in life. Who better to tell these kids of how to succeed than someone who already has their undivided attention?

Unfortunately, many of the rappers today are cowards. Not all, but many. They are afraid to pause for a moment to tell their listeners that rap music is strictly entertainment. They are afraid of losing their BS "street cred." 

Indeed, there are some that have spoken out to the youth and still do. For example, Jay-Z, Nas, Common and quite a few others have done great work by reaching out to the inner youth. These rappers have shown that they are skilled at making the youth listen to what they have to say, but infiltrating knowledge within their lyrics at the same time. There are very few artists that do this.

But there are a multitude of rappers that basically spit in the face of these
inner city communities by not attempting to give back. The attitude is, "Screw you, Im about money."
In short, these individuals that think this way are not grown men or women at all. They are hilarious cowards. It takes an adult - a man or a woman- to stand and be a leader.

Now per the recent poll that I posted, I am showing that 75% of you believe that education is one main reason that would most likely help our inner city youth to succeed. 25% believe that parenting is the key.


So, let's begin with parenting. It is true that any child needs the love and attention that only a parent can give. When there is no parenting or supervision, the results can be catastrophic. Teenage pregnancies, contracting STD's, hanging with the wrong crowd, drug dealing, drug using, robbing, fighting, gangs, murder...the list goes on.


There are any amount of situations or predicaments that a child may find themselves placed into, if someone is not there to tell them, "That's not a good idea," or "Why don't you try this instead?" Any type of advise that can be given a child would certainly help them avoid drastic and tragic situations.


However, what if a child does not have the proper parenting? What happens to that child then? What if that child's parent didn't have proper parenting as they were growing up and had their child as a young teenager? These are a lot of "what if's" but these are very real scenarios.


Let's paint this picture. A mother has a child as a teenager. She knows who the baby's father is, but he has never claimed the child. The mother was running in the streets before she got pregnant, while she was pregnant, so after she had her child nothing changed. The mother does what she can to feed her child including holding drugs for some of the drug dealers on her block, selling sex, and running illegal scams.


Now, this child has no real parenting, being that the mother is rarely home with the child. And when the mother is home, she doesn't give the child the proper attention that a child needs. So, the child turns to the streets. The child becomes pregnant at age 15 and, well you know the rest. The cycle repeats itself.


Let's take education, our last option. With the previous example that was used of the basically parentless household, how would we keep this child from going down the same path as her mother?


This is how. We educate the child. With the proper education, the child will be opened to new worlds beside the tumultuous world in which they live. To get this proper education, there have to be teachers put into place that will take the time and passion to teach every kid that comes through the doors of their classroom. There needs to be extra staff on hand to assist with the monitoring and mentoring of these schoolchildren. This will give the child an almost definitive chance of being successful in their life.

This has been Part II of the poll results. Part III will be posted shortly, which will include a more detailed explanation of how education can save our inner city youth.    

Without a doubt, lack of  education is the overwhelming and dominant reason why so many of the inner city youth do not succeed in life. Crime and the level of a person's education can and should be linked together.

But, of course, a number of issues including low income or poverty can all be attributed to the degree of education that an individual received. This is a known fact within inner circles, but as of yet nothing has been done to resolve this problem. Real legislation has not even been set into play.


This type of statistical information needs to be shown to the public. This is exactly what I intend to do. I will post extremely eye-opening information as to why there HAS to be a change in our education system in the inner city. Or else the progress will be extremely slow. Slow as in it taking 4 generations to get from high school to a college level. Remember, we as Americans should be improve each generation both educationally and financially.


Obviously, many in poverty stricken areas have been poor their entire life, as well as their parents and grandparents. So it is very much a generational aspect to this that needs to be solved.


Currently in America we have individuals that are born into wealth and others that are born into poverty. This is the same thing that happens in other countries, similar to a king and royalty, and the low down peasants. The difference is that in America, we have the opportunity to change what is not fair and just, whereas other countries never get that choice.


I will post part III of the poll results tomorrow which will include statistics to prove the correlation of lack of education and the inner city.  A new poll will be posted tomorrow as well!  
    

What is it that contributes to the plight of the inner city youth? Why are these children using and selling drugs, committing petty thefts, and committing violent crimes?


Many of these youth have so much anger inside and have no care for anyone at all, not even themselves. Many of these kids have witnessed violent crimes ranging from domestic abuse to persons being beaten down in the streets to the horrific act of murder.


Some have lost family members to violent genocidal crime or have lost their loved ones to police crime. These children are sometimes void of emotion. They feel as if their situation is hopeless.


The reasons listed above may be considered as excuses to some. So, let's get to the root of the problem.


What contributes to this plight that these young kids find themselves in? There are a couple of reasons that have been tossed around and the reasons all appear to be valid.


One reason usually given is parenting. Where on earth are these kid's parents? Why don't the parents discipline their children or show their children how to love? Why are these girls becoming parents at such a young age? Why do these girls continue to have so many children, even when it is obvious that they cannot afford even one more child?


These are all honest questions that should be asked. And when all of the question asking has been done, what is left? Obviously asking questions change nothing. The parent is still no where in the child's life. The young kids are still having children of their own.


The glaring fact remains that the inner city youth are still in danger. There is no way to force these parents to to take care of their children. Sure, there are laws on the books that protect the child. But no law in the world will give a child the attention and love that he or she needs and craves.


Indeed, parenting would definitely help these children through the absurd lifestyle that they face on a daily, almost minute to minute basis. But if the parent doesn't step up, (as in 90% of the situations of kids in the inner city), what happens to the child?


Do we just write the parentless child off as a statistic? An extremely high amount of these kids who have no real guidance in their lives end up as either perpetrators of violent crimes, incarcerated, on government assistance, or a combination of all three. This means that every single taxpayer is affected by this inner city plight.


Another reason given regarding the damage of our inner city youth is the failure of the inner city education system. There is an incremental percentage of predominantly minority filled schools that are actually succeeding. For that matter, there is a small percentage of these schools that successfully graduate most of their students. A minimal amount of these schools are able to keep their students from dropping out or even deter young ladies from becoming pregnant.


Children in these schools are fighting amongst each other and fighting with the school staff. School staff have been known to abuse some of these kids, both mentally, physically, and sexually.


Many of the teachers have given up on trying to reach these kids and teach the kids properly. The morale amongst teachers is as low as the money that they are being paid. There are many teachers that actually took the job of teaching because they wanted to make a difference in a child's life.


Amongst all of this negativity, the children are learning absolutely nothing. Education is huge for a child that has nothing positive to face. Even when a child's situation is dire at home, education gives them something to look forward to. The proper education is tremendously beneficial to a child.


So, the situation and plight of the inner city can be detrimental to a kid. However, the revamping of our education system in these inner cities will save taxpayers money and save a child's life in the process.

He ran as fast as his short legs would carry him. The backpack which was slung over his shoulder contained only his homework assignment, and flapped against his back as he ran. He glanced over his shoulder quickly, considering what he had just witnessed.

Only moments earlier, as he walked towards the crossing guard to leave school grounds, he heard men arguing near the store across the street. He could tell they were arguing, but not from the loud and disdainful tone of their voices. Not from the stream of curse words that seemed to flow out of both individual’s mouths. He just knew; he could tell. It was as if the men’s voices were strained and may snap at any moment. Like two pit bulls forced to fight to the death for food, brought face to face and straining against leashes, begging to either kill or be killed.

The ten year old kid stopped to watch. His mom wasn’t here again. Not unusual. He had told her that there was a thirteen year old fifth grader that kept picking on him. She said she would meet him at the school when he got out, but once again she was nowhere to be found. She was probably busy…or something.

The two men were still semi-woofing at each other, but one was walking away headed to what appeared to be his car. The other stood in front of the store front still jawing, then turned around and walked briskly into the store. The crossing guard waved at the kid as if telling him to continue on home. The show was over.

As the kid watched the man reach his car, he suddenly noticed that the man held a gun in his left hand. And he wasn’t even trying to hide it! The other man had gone inside of the store, but the gun toting individual still was talking loudly, gesturing at the door of the store with his gun.

The second part of the argument, the man inside of the store, ran out and fire shot out of his right hand. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

The kid felt himself turn cold. He knew that sound all too well. He remembered looking from his bedroom window as his mother was on the porch screaming. His father trying to open the gate to run inside, but he was too late. Pop, pop, pop, pop! They had shot his father in the back, killing him. He had died still clutching the iron bars of the gate.

The ten year old tried to will his legs to move, but his feet had turned to cinderblocks. He was planted in place. The man that was about to get in his car was now crouched on the side of the car, returning fire. Bam, Bam, Bam!

Mothers were screaming to the gunmen to stop shooting. Kids were just getting out of school. Most of the children were running, seemingly terrified. There were a few children who seemed oblivious to the shooting, that were walking directly into the crossfire.

The man crouching on the side of the car opened the car door and jumped in, started the car and took off. The man in front of the store took off running around the corner. And the kid’s feet finally came to life, and he took off running.

Running until he was almost wheezing. There were about four blocks from his school to his home, and he was not planning on stopping until he reached home. He ran through the empty and deserted park. The crazy man that lived there stood in one spot staring at the kid running as if his life depended on it. He ran past the corner store where the young thugs posted all day. They stared at him quizzically as he gasping for air, but continued to run.

He ran up the two steps to his home and burst in the door. He ran to his mother’s bedroom door to tell her what he had just witnessed. Her room door was closed. Again. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He could indistinctly hear his mother moaning then giggling.

The kid threw his book pack down at his mother’s bedroom door and ran back outside, slamming the door behind him. He sat down on the steps of the porch, placed his hands under his chin, and sighed heavily.

It was going to be a long day.

This fictional story is based on actual events. I actually witnessed two idiots began shooting across the street from a school yard precisely when the kids were leaving school. Out of all of the shots fired, not a single one of the shots found a target. Extremely fortunate for the children.

If there is no parenting at home, do we simply write these children off as a statistic?

A nine year old child leaves school and walks home, with his book pack slung over his shoulder. Upon reaching home, he discovers his mother is not there, but this is not at all unusual. He pours a bowl of cereal and plops on a chair in front of the television.


After about an hour of watching television, he becomes bored and steps outside, sitting in a chair in front of his apartment door. Inside of his apartment complex is a bustle of activity. It was like this all during the daytime and most of the night - nonstop. None of his friends are outside, however. He is sure their mother's have them all doing homework or chores or whatever else it is that mothers have their kids do.


Suddenly, a group of individuals began arguing loudly. The child watched, almost disinterested. But just as suddenly, one of the individuals pulls a black gun from his waistband and holds it to his side, the barrel pointing at the ground.


"Do we have a problem?". the gun holding man asks someone in the group.
But the arguing only intensifies and the child notices that anyone else that was outside has run inside or left the apartment complex. He decided that he should go inside as well.


A shot rings out, the sound smashing into the walls of the apartment hallway.The child almost falls out of his chair and runs inside. As he closes the door, he sees the man with the gun pointed skyward. It looks as if the man had simply shot into the air. The child slams the door and locks it. He is shaking.


Seconds later, he hears a key being inserted into the keyhole and the lock turning. His mother bursts in, with a look of concern on her face. She attempts to hide it when seeing her son sitting in a chair. But the relief on her face is obvious.


"Mom, where were you?", the child asks.
"I had to take care of some business baby."
He knew that she had probably been gambling or was with one of the men from the corner store.
"Somebody was shooting out there!" He has a story to tell his mother now.


But she dismisses it, "Don't worry about them baby. Some people are just crazy. C'mon and help me count this  money."
She is in a good mood, so he knows that she has some money, which means they may be eating out tonight.
"You do your homework?" she asks as they walk into her bedroom.
"Yea."
"You sure?'
"Yea!" he exclaims, exasperated. "I did it at school!"


But in fact, he had done nothing of the sort. His teacher had sent a note home advising his mother that the child needs to improve drastically or would be flunk his grade. But the note was buried in his book bag. He could have thrown it away. But he considers this. If his mother really wanted to know about his school work, all that she had to do was look in his book bag.


The next morning, he wakes up to his friend knocking on the door.
"You ready for school?", his friend asks when the door opens.
"Hold on," he replies.
He leaves the door open and runs to his room. He puts on the same shirt and pants that he had on the day before, slings his back pack over his shoulder and runs out of the house, shutting and locking the door with his key. He knows his mother is asleep and decides not to disturb her. He and his friend walk the 7 blocks that it takes to get to school.


This example is simply an illustration of what many inner city children have to look forward to everyday after school. In fact, this is actually an extremely tame version of events compared to the harsher events that many youth face. The question is,  
"What do we do when a child does not have the parenting that is needed to help them succeed?"   

It is obvious that our inner city children need education in order to improve their current living conditions and escape the unfortunate likelihood of failure. This is a glaring fact. So why is there not much being done to reform the inner city education system?

Firing a few teachers because of poor student test scores may suffice temporarily, but this is definitely not the permanent solution. Many times, when these kids go home there is no parent waiting. Often times, these children have to be parents to their younger siblings. These kids are raising themselves.

Sure, we can easily point to the fact that it is the parent's responsibility to raise their own child. Indeed, this is very true. However, if a parent is not there for a child, what happens then?

Do we simply write that child off as another statistic?

This is where education reform comes in. These kids in our inner cities need to a mentor as well as an educator. The children need to be treated on an individual basis. They need someone to listen to them when they speak. Even if the kid does not speak, someone still needs to be there.

Teachers will have to be put in place that will take the time and effort to deal with "troubled" kids. Remember that each child that does not get the proper education, that is another child that is likely to remain living in poverty. That is another child who is probably going to be in and out of the prison system. An uneducated child does not benefit society, instead that child could be considered an endangerment to others around them as well as an endangerment to themselves. 

Facts don't lie. Our inner city education system needs drastic reformation. 

I'm sure that most of us would agree by now that lack of education is the primary source of lack of success for individuals in the inner cities. The statistics below simply provide visual evidence to support the argument that education is needed to bridge the gap between inner city areas and the rest of the nation.

• 16% of Americans have not completed high school.
• 75% of state prisoners have not completed high school.
• 67% of jailed inmates have not completed high school.

In my opinion, the three bullets listed above are painfully revealing.


Now think about this:

• 84% of all Americans have at least completed high school; the violent crime rate for the U.S. is 469 per 100,000 individuals.
• The ten states with the largest percentage of population with a at least a high school diploma is a high 91.5%; the violent crime rate for these ten states is  305 per 100,000 individuals (below the national average.)
• The ten states with the smallest percentage of population with at least a high school diploma is 80.5%; the violent crime rate for these states is 488 per 100,000 individuals (above the national average.)

The nation spends an average of $9,644 a year to educate a student. The average annual cost per inmate is $22,600. The U.S. spent almost $50 billion dollars in incarceration costs in 2004. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice reports that high school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Can you say wasteful spending?


Here is the financial status of those that lack in education:

• Women who did not finish high school make an average of $10,786  a year.
• Men who did not finish high school make an average of $18,990 a year.

Any questions?

I'm sure that most of us would agree by now that lack of education is the primary source of lack of success for individuals in the inner cities. The statistics below simply provide visual evidence to support the argument that education is needed to bridge the gap between inner city areas and the rest of the nation.

• 16% of Americans have not completed high school.
• 75% of state prisoners have not completed high school.
• 67% of jailed inmates have not completed high school.

In my opinion, the three bullets listed above are painfully revealing.


Now think about this:

• 84% of all Americans have at least completed high school; the violent crime rate for the U.S. is 469 per 100,000 individuals.
• The ten states with the largest percentage of population with a at least a high school diploma is a high 91.5%; the violent crime rate for these ten states is  305 per 100,000 individuals (below the national average.)
• The ten states with the smallest percentage of population with at least a high school diploma is 80.5%; the violent crime rate for these states is 488 per 100,000 individuals (above the national average.)

The nation spends an average of $9,644 a year to educate a student. The average annual cost per inmate is $22,600. The U.S. spent almost $50 billion dollars in incarceration costs in 2004. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice reports that high school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Can you say wasteful spending?


Here is the financial status of those that lack in education:

• Women who did not finish high school make an average of $10,786  a year.
• Men who did not finish high school make an average of $18,990 a year.

Any questions?

Per the responses on the posted poll, it shows that 75% of you believe that education is most likely to help inner city youth succeed in life. 25% believe that it is parenting. A huge thanks to all that took the time to vote!

Of these four answers, which single reason is most likely to help inner city youth succeed in life?
	Law Enforcement
	Religion
	Education
	Parents
Free polls from Pollhost.com

No one voted for law enforcement, which is understandable. It is not very often that a law enforcement officer becomes involved in the life of an inner city kid, unless they are taking the kid to juvenile detention or jail. Yes there are officers who do reach out to the inner city youth in a positive manner by attending social functions, enrolling in mentor programs, etc. And these officers need to be commended. But let's be honest. The majority of the time that an officers interacts with one of the youth, the kid's usually feel dread, fear, or both, because the outcome is rarely anything good.


Also, no votes for religion. Not being a religious buff myself, I agree wholeheartedly. I don't believe that religion alone will help a child to succeed. After all, look at the struggle that many of the inner city churches are having with the youth of their community. For example, many of the churches of the inner city teach that being gay or lesbian is a sin. So, for any young kid that may be gay or lesbian, they are only being shunned once again, this time by their community church.


Another example is that many inner city churches do not advocate sex before marriage, and in fact teach abstinence. With the AIDS virus being so high in our poverty stricken and inner city areas, it is unconscionable that we would still be teaching abstinence to our youth. Obviously, it is not working or else the amount of AIDS cases in our inner cities would have dropped.


There is also the dilemma of teenage pregnancy.The fact is that these kids are having unprotected sex, and instead of the churches reaching out to them, these kids are cast out and looked down upon. These churches need to be advocating safe sex to members of its community. They need to be handing out contraceptives. In short, these churches need to get with the times, instead of standing and watching our children be killed off.


This is only the Part I discussion of the poll results. Part II will be posted shortly. This will discuss the second part of the poll which includes education and parenting. Stay tuned!

Have you ever committed murder? Maybe not knowingly..
Today, a sixteen year old girl was sentenced to 25 years in state custody for the shooting and murder of her fifteen year old classmate.
My heart goes out to the deceased child’s family. No child should have to die in this fashion. My heart also goes out to the sixteen year old child sentenced to prison.
This entire situation and so many other similar situations that happen in our inner cities could have been easily avoided. How? It could have been avoided by parenting, communication, and giving the youth the attention that they desperately need and crave. Instead, we as an apathetic society would rather concern ourselves with trivial issues rather than reaching out to our youth.
Without a doubt, one child saved from despair and a seemingly hopeless situation is one less child who may commit atrocities in our society. Whenever we give the excuse “that’s not my child” or decide to let someone else handle a situation that has definitely gone out of hand, then you may as well be pulling the trigger and killing the child yourself.
Our inner city youth cannot grow without the proper nurturing and care that is needed for ANY child. Each child that does not get this proper attention or mentorship stands a great chance of committing any number of crimes, from drug selling, to sexual assaults, rape, and of course murder.
This is why education is a necessity in the inner city areas. Indeed, a special attention has to be given to education and schooling in our urban areas. Most of the children on school campus are never more subject to adult supervision than during school hours, as unfortunate as this is. The reason is many kids do not have the parenting that they need at home. I am not at all attempting to advocate that parents take care of their children, because I cannot force parent to take care of their child. We as a community have been stating for decades that there has to be more parenting, but to no avail. The real change that these children need has to be in the schools. There has to be strong leadership and mentorship in these schools. These teachers that are halfheartedly teaching lessons, if at all, should be fired immediately. These slothful teachers are assisting in the murder of our kids. So, have you ever committed murder?

Let's Save Our Youth!