xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#'. The Digibandit: Sep 30, 2007

Sunday, September 30, 2007

Prison Is A Vacation For Most Young Black Hoodlums - It's Punishment Time!

America has more than two million citizens behind bars, the highest absolute and per capita rate of incarceration in the world. Black Americans, a mere 13 percent of the population, constitute half of this country’s prisoners. A tenth of all black men between ages 20 and 35 are in jail or prison; blacks are incarcerated at over eight times the white rate.

The effect on black communities is catastrophic: one in three male African-Americans in their 30s now has a prison record, as do nearly two-thirds of all black male high school dropouts. These numbers and rates are incomparably greater than anything achieved at the height of the Jim Crow era. What’s odd is how long it has taken the African-American community to address in a forceful and thoughtful way this racially biased and utterly counterproductive situation.

How, after decades of undeniable racial progress, did we end up with this virtual gulag of racial incarceration? Well if you listen to Jesse Jackson or The Rev.Al Sharpton it's all the fault of us racist whiteys!
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But there is another equally important cause: the simple fact that young black men commit a disproportionate number of crimes, especially violent crimes, which cannot be attributed to judicial bias, racism or economic hardships -- The rate at which blacks commit homicides is seven times that of whites.

Why is this? The continuing reinforcement of bad behavior by black celebrities and leaders and the lack of a significant response from black family groups -sure doesn't help this pathetic situation.

In New York City, the tabloids published sensational details of the bias suit brought by a black former executive for the Knicks, Anucha Browne Sanders, who claims that she was frequently called a “bitch” and a “ho” by the Knicks coach and president, Isiah Thomas. In a video deposition, Thomas said that while it is always wrong for a white man to verbally abuse a black woman in such terms, it was “not as much ... I’m sorry to say” for a black man to do so.

Across the nation, religious African-Americans were shocked that the evangelical minister Juanita Bynum, an enormously popular source of inspiration for churchgoing black women, said she was brutally beaten in a parking lot by her estranged husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks.

O. J. Simpson, the malevolent central player in an iconic moment in the nation’s recent black-white (as well as male-female) relations, reappeared on the scene, charged with attempted burglary, kidnapping and felonious assault in Las Vegas, in what he claimed was merely an attempt to recover stolen memorabilia.

These events (the tip of the iceberg) all point to something that has been swept under the rug for too long in black America: the crisis in relations between men and women of all classes and, as a result, the catastrophic state of black family life, especially among the poor. Isiah Thomas’s outrageous double standard shocked many blacks in New York only because he had the nerve to say out loud what is a fact of life for too many black women who must daily confront indignity and abuse in hip-hop misogyny and everyday conversation.

What is done with words is merely the verbal end of a continuum of abuse that too often ends with beatings and spousal homicide. Black relationships and families fail at high rates because women increasingly refuse to put up with this abuse. The resulting absence of fathers — some 70 percent of black babies are born to single mothers — is undoubtedly a major cause of youth delinquency.

So- it's obvious that black parents can't cope with all this cultural negativity. The answer is to create the crystal clear perception in the black community that going to jail is not just another notch in your life experience - a cool street cred on the way to becoming a bigger deal in the ghetto -- a place to hang out with your brovas and lift weights and eat good on Uncle SAM.

These kids don't miss their loving families or children or miss the tenderness and sharing of a loving romance - prison is an extension of their fucked up violent lives and pathological behavior. (and their is no social stigma in doing time - it's cool).

Prison has got to become their worst nightmare! -- Hard work -- no TV - shit food (but nutritious) -- no gathering and spitting and screaming motherfucker all day long in social settings that are a total re creation of life back home in the hood.

Prison is a criminal's worst nightmare if you are basically a"normal fuck-up" -especially because seventy percent of the people you're locked up with are these street animals to whom it's no big thing - it's cool!

If this sounds harsh and racist I'm sorry - but in another ten years our society will look an armed camp if we don't take tough measures now. And - the congress ain't gonna do the right thing with education and rehabilitation (which i'm in total favor of) -- because most of them ARE racists.

So - i vote for protecting my family with laws that will pass and will work -it's a tribal thing.