Friday, January 05, 2007

PRODUCT OF A VICIOUS CYCLE!




A recent murder in Detroit got me thinking.

Chris Chelios, a hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings, had two restaurants, one in Detroit next to the Comerica Ball Park.

A few days ago, a young (17), former bus boy at the restaurant that was fired for bad performance of duties, came to ask for his job back; he was black. The white kitchen manager said no so the kid stabbed him with a butcher knife 10 times. A white female manager heard the commotion and came to investigate and she was stabbed 10 times.

I don’t think race had anything to do with the crime but I mention it because I think it does have something to do with the whole affair.

The kid ran but was recognized and was picked up by the police a short time later – he confessed.

Our female, black police chief said something that struck me. She said that our kids (black kids in Detroit) are not taught peaceful conflict resolution. They are not taught how to interact with society. They are not taught basic rules of behavior.

The only family member that could be found was a grandfather. We will see if a caring father even exists or for that matter, a mother. The 17 year old kid said his girlfriend was pregnant and he needed a job. She too worked at Chelios but was fired for not doing her job.

Bill Cosby has been in Detroit numerous times lecturing on responsibility in the black community; a responsibility to raise responsible children that would create responsible families, etc.

I think a vicious cycle exists and the cycle is hard to break and unless we break it, these types of senseless crimes will just continue. Please give a thought to the two victims who were 52 and 49, at a time in their lives where they have achieved some success and were now just enjoying life –gone.

The cycle starts with this kid. He is 17 and has a pregnant girlfriend. He will go to jail for life and she will give birth and raise another black kid that will have basically no parents and therefore no guidance – and the cycle will repeat again when that kid goes to jail after getting his 14 year-old girlfriend pregnant and so on and so on.

Stop the pregnancies! Easier said than done; this is a democracy and people have civil rights BUT children? Well, define the age of consent! Plus getting pregnant in the black community is the normal thing to do. It is so accepted that there is no stigma for getting pregnant out of wedlock – also true for the white community.

Teach them responsibility in school? - Sex education? I don’t think so; teachers have trouble enough just keeping order in the classroom.

Is there a realistic way to break the cycle? Realistic means obeying the law so we cannot force specific behavior.

The answer starts with blacks being able to and forming family units, units that nurture a culture
of normalcy with rules and regulations of behavior that can be passed on and on. I am not saying the problem does not exist in the white community but we are talking about Detroit specifically.

I don’t have an answer but I will let you know when and if, I do.

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