More young men in jail than college
- Thread starter S.A.M.
- Start date
So basically a subset of a whole generation of youngsters has decided to forego education due to a lack of responsibility?
To a large degree, yes. It also involves lack of ambition, laziness and low self esteem - picked up from their parents and peers.
So basically its a society full of misfits that cannot be helped? And the solution?
The trick is getting them into them. If a mothers tears wont get people off drugs then no rehab in the world will- (since you mentioned rehab)
Yes. And if you can come up with a solution you would be instantly nominated for the Peace Prize or equivalent. And no doubt it would be awarded to you.
"If ignorance were bliss you'd be having multiple orgasms all day every day" - on a bumper sticker
That was fun, now shall we discuss the topic?
Sam, the dropout rate has been declining for the last forty years for whites and blacks. But blacks have held steady at about double the rate for whites. It is currently about 6% for white males and 12% for black males.
You can not discuss this issue without considering race. Your own link discusses black males, period. I've also heard that something like 2\3 of black men under 40 are either in prison or on parole.
I'd attribute this largely to the disintegration of the black family. The vast majority of black children are now illegitimate. Black men have been replaced by welfare checks. Being a man to a young black male means being a pimp or a criminal, not being a father or holding a real job. Blacks who do well in school are derided as "acting white". This is a racial problem, period.
Bill Cosby sees the problem and is working to change the mindset, but he is too often derided for suggesting that problems in the black community might actually be caused by blacks!
PS This thread title is misleading, it should include the word "black".
Yes, shall we?
The only possible solution I can think of is motivation. I've successfully motivated a fairly large number of people to do better quality work. But the lazy ones I could only fire. And that's a big part of the core problem in this situation - simple laziness.
Fraggle Rocker
Staff member
You got it only half right but I give you credit for at least bringing up the issue. Why do these threads about "black men in prison" get to be two pages long before any brings up the War on Drugs? How many times do I have to post the same thing?
- Every published study finds that the rate of drug use in black communities is roughly identical to white communities. THERE IS NO EPIDEMIC OF DRUG USE IN BLACK AMERICA.
- Nonetheless, black Americans are twice as likely to be prosecuted for drug use as white Americans.
- Once prosecuted, black Americans are twice as likely to be imprisoned as white Americans.
- Since most Americans have used drugs at some point in their life, this means that the average black American is four times as likely to be imprisoned for drug use as the average white American.
I'm with you as far as the war on drugs being an idiotic, counterproductive, unconstitutional waste of time and resources.
And I agree that the war on drugs is responsible for many black males being in jail. But I don't agree that this is solely or even mostly due to racism.
The black innercities where these drug lords rule are war zones. It stands to reason that gangmembers and drug kingpins are a greater threat than some peaceful suburban teenager smoking a joint.
I'd say it's no more racist to arrest blacks in this situation than it is to arrest Italians when investiging the mob.
Couple of side observations:
The median wage for a bluecollar job - something a hardworking city immigrant from small southern town could hold in one of the northern industrial cities through hard work and sensible living - was sufficient, in the 60s, to allow a black man to marry, support a wife and children, and (after a while) own a house. There is no such reward now, for the ordinary hardworking balck man. Wages have been dropping, and started dropping more quickly in the early 80s (Reaganomics).
And lead poisoning is very closely correlated with poor school performance as well as violent or impulsively criminal behavior. Black children are more severely lead contaminated than white children, on average.
Add that in to the drug wars, the minimum sentencing fad, and the erosion of education in large cities, and most of the statistical anomaly disappears.
The median wage for a bluecollar job - something a hardworking city immigrant from small southern town could hold in one of the northern industrial cities through hard work and sensible living - was sufficient, in the 60s, to allow a black man to marry, support a wife and children, and (after a while) own a house. There is no such reward now, for the ordinary hardworking balck man. Wages have been dropping, and started dropping more quickly in the early 80s (Reaganomics).
And lead poisoning is very closely correlated with poor school performance as well as violent or impulsively criminal behavior. Black children are more severely lead contaminated than white children, on average.
Add that in to the drug wars, the minimum sentencing fad, and the erosion of education in large cities, and most of the statistical anomaly disappears.
That's interesting. Perhaps it's due to paint containing lead that was banned quite some years ago? Do you have any references to substantiate that thought?
same type of drugs or just rate of use? What exactly is rate of use?
All true - to a point, Fraggle, because you are overlooking an important point. Pretty much all the drug users I know of, and the ones that make the news, go into the Black districts to 'score' their supplies. Percentage wise, the availability of drugs is MUCH higer there than in the all-White or mixed neighborhoods. Consequently, many more of the arrests are made there also.
And I believe you'll find that it's not "drug use", as you stated in the middle of your post (above), but rather "drug posession with intent to distribute."
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That would imply that an increasing number of young people lack motivation to apply themselves.
What, in your opinion, could this be a result of?