There are many open wounds in the African-American community that have not healed what so ever. Disintegration of family structures in the African-American community has been a persistent problem for far too long. High out of wedlock birth rates, absent fathers, and the lack of a family support network for many young African-Americans have led to serious problems in America's urban areas. The persistence of serious social problems in inner-city areas has led to a tragic perpetuation of racial prejudice as well. African Americans still face a litany of problems in the 21st century today.
How well Wes Moore describes the culture of the streets, and particularly disenfranchised adolescents that resort to violence, is extraordinary considering the unbiased perspective Moore gives. Amid Moore’s book one primary theme is street culture. Particularly Moore describes the street culture in two cities, which are Baltimore and the Bronx. In Baltimore city the climate and atmosphere, of high dropout rates, high unemployment and poor public infrastructure creates a perfect trifecta for gang violence to occur. Due to what was stated above, lower income adolescent residents in Baltimore are forced to resort to crime and drugs as a scapegoat of their missed opportunities.
I have lived in two distinct communities: the first was the small town of Moraga in the East Bay area of California, the second, and my current residence, is the city of Stockton. The former, Moraga is the epitome of white picket fence suburbia, with friendly neighbors, a high ranking public school system, and a practically non-existent crime rate. Growing up in Moraga, I was able to receive a great education, roam the streets freely with friends, and never had to fear horrors, such as, gang violence, sporadic neighborhood shootings, or drug abuse. Sadly, when I moved to the latter, most of these horrors were apparent weekly, if not daily.
Kids in the most disadvantaged neighborhood, with low family resources, bad schools, and neighborhoods characterized by violence are the ones who are being punished unfairly and are not given second chances. This is because of the discrimination and the bias of the criminal justice system against poor African-American communities, which represent a concentrated disadvantage in that case. Moreover it affirms the theory that the poor are more likely to get to prison because there is a bias in arrest such as the neighborhood social class that affects the presence of the police and their arrests. In that case 6th street is considered a neighborhood that represents communities that are disadvantaged, and therefore the presence of police is greater than necessary. Instead of having the resources from outside to ameliorate the conditions of the neighborhood and improve schools or academic institutions, the efforts and resources are being invested in the war against crimes, but without giving an alternative solution for their
For centuries people have associated the parents’ success with the kids’ success, basically assuming that since the parent is a slave than the kid will be nothing more than a slave as well. Sensitivity towards the inequality has forced minorities into a corner that makes their violent behavior obligatory. “Greater income inequality seems to amplify and intensify the effects of social status differentiation - - bigger material differences creating bigger social distances. So the most common trigger to violence seems to be people feeling disrespected and looked down on (Wilkinson, 2011).” Although slavery promoted this degradation and disrespect towards African Americans, minorities are making it clear that those days are over and that they will not settle for anything less than equality and
Children of any culture require nurturing in order to grow to become a productive member of society. However, In African American communities often children are left to fend for themselves. In a one-parent home all responsibilities fall on the shoulders of one person, by default creating a
Elijah Anderson, a Yale professor, developed the concept or theory entitled the “code of the street” which explains the reasoning for high rates of street violence among African-American juveniles in a Philadelphia community. The “code of the street” is the way of life for many living in poverty-stricken communities which attempt to regulate behaviors. Anderson observed that juveniles in inner-city neighborhoods who are exposed to racial discrimination, economic disadvantages and alienation from mainstream society may lead violent behavior. The strain, social learning, and labeling theories are all directly related to Anderson’s work.
Hate Crime is a “criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.” If an African American commits the same crime as an Caucasian it is more likely for the black person to be charged and arrested due to the racial issues we have today. There are many pros and cons towards the issue of racial crime, but hate crime is still a very difficult issue for our country to overcome. In order to overcome the issue of hate crime it would require changing legislation, public and police attitudes.
Since African Americans from lower income households don’t have legitimate opportunities available to them but they still want the nice cars and lives that everyone dreams of, they resort to crime because that’s the only way for them to achieve material success and avoid being labeled a failure. The only way for many of them to “make it” and live out “The American Dream” is a lot of times only possible through
The sources answer the question of what role does the history of violence against black people (slavery, lynching, segregation, etc.) play in the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. The sources show that the violence against African American people in the 1800’s is stemmed from the same place as the unsolicited violence against black people today. It comes from the idea that as black people continue to try and make a new place for themselves, white people, specifically cops in this case, continue try to keep African Americans in their place of being seen as a lesser race. It is the history of lynching and of segregation that are coming back into play today, as people who have done nothing wrong are getting killed simply because of their
This report is showing light to the communities’ response to police brutality particularly in the black communities and also their encounters with police officers. Police brutality is physical violence and great cruelty demonstrated by a police officer. Police brutality and misconduct have existed for many decades and it even has been broadcasted in news stories over America, but nothing has changed. It has happened predominantly to African Americans in lower-income states. Police officers are given slaps on the wrist for taking a life or injuring an innocent person.
The street affected every African American in Harlem. • Further, to what extent are African American children’s life chances today, especially in urban areas, better than Bub’s? According to Joanna Penn, Journalists Resource- Harvard Study Resource, “children from high-and low-income families tended to be worse growing up in urban areas, particularly those with concentrated poverty, compared with those in suburban or rural areas.
Vonnie McLoyd discusses in the book Child Development that black families are more likely to face poverty in America and the effects that poverty has on those children. McLoyd states that children that have faced poverty in their lives can have “impaired socioemotional functioning” (McLoyd 311). As a result from job loss creating parental stress, parents often become
Every child gets “The REAL Talk,” but every talk is different. For most African Americans the the talk includes how the world is not a fair place if a person is different, if African Americans want to get somewhere, they have to work twice as hard, and In the US last year, 223 African Americans were killed by police due to police brutality. One third of those people were unarmed, and should not have been seen as a threat, but they were still killed. 12 of these people were under the age of 18. African Americans should not have to be scared to go outside any day thinking they might not make it home.
Throughout the 17th-century gangs have been causing havoc in people's life and destroying the society. The National Institute of Justice (2011) has defined a gang as "A group of collective members which create an atmosphere of intimidation among citizens. " Many of these gangs are well organized, using different forms of violence to control neighbourhoods and to conduct their illegal activities. The National Gang Threat Assessment (2011) reports that “Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions.” Street Gangs have caused incidences of violence that is confined in the inner city of many countries.
