American Voice

The results of a study posted by the New York Times show that life after foster care is a disaster, to word it lightly. Individuals that turn 18 and have aged out of foster care, have shown on an overwhelming scale that they are unable to succeed with the tools, (or lack of tools), that are given to them.

Here are some of the numbers according to the NYT:

• Only half of the youth who age out of foster care are employed by their mid twenties. 
•  Six in ten men have been convicted of a crime.
• Three in four women receive some form of public assistance (many of these women have children of their own.)
• Only six in 100 have completed even a community college degree.

These are extremely disturbing statistics, especially when many of these foster homes were set into place for the improvement of the child's well being. However, there is already work being done to solve this dilemma.

There are programs that are being set up to mentor and assist these young people after they leave foster care. These kids often need a sense of direction and guidance, but have no one to turn to. But these mentor programs that are being set up are already having positive results.


The foster families shown in these pics are just one of thousands of foster families in the country. However, once many of these kids leave foster care they are virtually helpless.

(Please continue reading below...)

The NYT  reports that one gentleman recently aged out of foster care is now doing quite well on his own, because of the mentor ship that was provided. The gentleman is attending a community college and works at a printer cartridge company. This is outstanding compared to the fate that many other foster children before him have met.

Mentoring these kids after leaving foster care is the first of many steps that need to be taken to ensure that our youth succeed. Remember, it not only hurts them if they fail. It hurts us as well. Think about it.

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?

It's no secret. The plight of our children in the "real" inner city areas is atrocious. If the child does not grow to become either an athlete or entertainer (aka rapper), their only other viable option is to work a menial wage job or turn to a life of crime.


There are those that have done criminal acts in their past and have vowed not to return to their past behaivor.
But understand, the only reason many were introduced to a life of crime in the first place is that this is all that surrounds them. They see no other way of making money unless it is with a minimum wage paying job.


This is where the dilemma arises.Either continue doing criminal activity with about a 90% probability of being caught and going to jail, or work the minimum wage job. There is a family to support, there is rent to pay - and there is an opportunity to make at least 5 times as much money doing crime rather than working a 9 - 5.


Doing crime would break this cycle for the children and mouths to feed at home. Hopefully they won't have to live this same lifestyle and have to make these type decisions.




So...what to do?