i bet she let him listen to that THUG-CRAP 24/7 tooo!!! you get what you put up with...
Posted on 04/10/2008 12:52:41 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A mother's love can go only so far. It's time some young people in Milwaukee started to realize that.
Lisa is a hardworking African-American mother who wanted only the best for her 16-year-old son. Consequently, she gave him whatever he wanted, including the latest high-tech toys.
"You look in his room, he's got cable TV, DVR, DVD, PlayStation...everything," Lisa told me.
Living on the north side of Milwaukee, Lisa knew her son was surrounded by temptation, including friends who constantly tried to talk him into doing things outside the law. Consequently, she kept in regular phone contact with him even when she was working at her security job.
Her boyfriend of 20 years - her son's father - also remained in the boy's life as a guiding force.
Lisa saw her son as a good boy who wanted for nothing but was susceptible to peer pressure. That's why she tried to get him transferred from North Division High School, where she felt many of his friends were bad influences.
"I told him, 'You have to pick a better class of friends,' " she said. "I knew those boys would only get him into trouble."
It turned out Lisa's son and another teenager were arrested after a string of robberies on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus last month. They were charged with taking cell phones and wallets from victims at gunpoint, as part of a rash of armed robberies on Milwaukee campuses.
For Lisa, it was a mother's worst nightmare.
"All you hear about on the news is about bad kids and their bad parents," she told me. "I don't want people to think my son is just a thug or a gangster."
Lisa knows most people will see her son as just another example of lawless black youth in Milwaukee destroying the quality of life for hardworking residents. (She and her son are not identified because he is a minor.) She hated the idea of her son lumped in with those kind of people because she didn't believe it was his true character.
"He deserves to pay for what he did," she said. "But he isn't a bad kid; he just fell in with the wrong crowd."
She had talked to her son on the night of the robberies; he promised to be home by a 10 p.m. curfew. When she learned of his arrest, she was flabbergasted. What made things worse was that police said the gun used in the robberies was taken from her home.
(I asked Lisa if the gun she kept in her home was legal. "I bought it at Wal-Mart!" she answered.)
Since her son's arrest, she hasn't been sleeping or eating well.
"He doesn't need anything. I give that boy everything he wants. He's got two parents who are together. It just doesn't make sense."
Her son faces serious charges, but she can find at least some solace in the fact he didn't hurt or kill anybody. He probably isn't facing a lifetime behind bars, but that doesn't negate his role in a senseless crime spree that put others in danger. It also doesn't explain why a kid who gets everything he wants decides to stick up people for kicks.
It's a tale I've heard time and time again in Milwaukee; when young people - usually young black men - make bad decisions, their mothers are usually the only ones left standing up for them. By then, it's too late.
A mother's love might be a precious thing, but it doesn't wipe the slate clean.
Too late!
Bill Cosby probably has about 15 minutes worth of material from this one story.
“You look in his room, he’s got cable TV, DVR, DVD, PlayStation...everything,” Lisa told me.
...Hillary Clinton said she “will help America’s poor as we know it today”.
This is a prime example of “America’s poor as we know it”.
“It also doesn’t explain why a kid who gets everything he wants decides to stick up people for kicks”
Sure it does. What kids really need is to learn right from wrong and a sense of morals.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
shoulda made the kid get a job and made him pay for his own toys.
harder to get in trouble if you’re working.
Sounds like one pampered little brat. But I thought we were told these kids only do these things because of poverty and lack of opportunity.
Also instills a respect for property.
Of course. But learning that would be 'white'
Decades of Marxist rants against capitalism have left people, and especially young, people with NO understanding of property. Understand property, and there's hope for you.
TV, DVR, DVD, PlayStation
They have us beat and we are not poor. All we have are TV & DVD. And my kid did NOT have all that in her room. She had a 13 in tv w/cable and a stereo.
Why do you presume she’s poor?
Where in the world would she get that idea? That's an idea spread by The Man to Keep Her Down. Maybe the question is...Where's Papa?
Broken cultures breed broken families. I'd like to know if she has a pastor...and if he's busy blaming me for what happened, what with being a "typical white guy", and all...
I know I am hopelessly naive and tremendously backward, but the way I grew up, I was taught that sex on a regular basis is the reward you get for being legally married, working hard, having a job and taking care of your family. I guess if the Democrats decide you can't possibly be expected to keep it in your pants, then you are free to go out and have a good time with whatever shiftless guy who is going to get you pregnent and leave.
Hey, maybe the "black chruch" should spend some time preaching about having the self-esteem and good character to tell your boyfriend that nothing is going on until you're married. Here I am, married for 26 years, with two great children, and it seems to be working for me.
You can give a rich kid pretty toys, you can give a poor kid pretty toys, and if they don't work for them in some way, they won't respect the behavior that you had to exert in earning them. Pull up your pants and get a job, son, and while you are at it, learn to speak regular English so that you don't brand yourself as a dangerous outsider all your life.
How would she know? I don't get calls from dead people either.
I'd ALSO not be surprised if he was not a 'latch-key' kid for much of the time out of school. There is NO SUBSTITUTE for family time TOGETHER where family VALUES are transmitted.
FYI, anyone that can afford to leave the North side of Milwaukee already has.
http://neighborhoods.realtor.com/WI/Milwaukee/Borchert-field/486323/Crime-stats
“He doesn’t need anything. I give that boy everything he wants. He’s got two parents who are together. It just doesn’t make sense.”
Sure it does. Since he was used to getting everything he wanted, he decided that he wanted what other people had.
Why start working for what you want now?
Shoulda maybe not worried about working to make money to buy him every expensive toy he wanted - He had 2 parents - one should've been home giving him what money can't buy: TIME and supervision.
They aren't married - but they were together - and that isn't just a ‘black’ thing anymore.
The missing ‘ingredient’ is the THINGS the kids need most: TIME and guidance in person...
not via a cell phone.
“Lisa knows most people will see her son as just another example of lawless black youth in Milwaukee destroying the quality of life for hardworking residents. (She and her son are not identified because he is a minor.) She hated the idea of her son lumped in with those kind of people because she didn’t believe it was his true character”
The hard truth is that is he _IS_ “just another example of lawless black youth in Milwaukee destroying the quality of life for hardworking residents”, and that this proabably _IS_ “his true character”.
Not much more to say than that, other than, “lock him up”. For as long as possible.
He will do worse sooner or later. Let’s make it “later”...
- John
Teens. need. a. parent. at. home.
Or they start messing around. They are old enough to figure anything out. They will get involved in sex, gangs, crime, porn, all sorts of self-destructive behavior unless they are. . .
supervised!
Work is probably the best tonic for a teenage boy. He will want stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. Make him work for his: cell phone. Fancy clothes. Car/insurance/gas. It keeps him off the street and helps make a man of him - gives him the value of a dollar, all that.
i bet she let him listen to that THUG-CRAP 24/7 tooo!!! you get what you put up with...
“Everything”, except a real father.
My first thought, too.
Closing in on 50 years of Socialism in the homes and the schools. We will continue to reap what has been sewn. :(
Well said, Marie. When my youngest hit Middle School, I told Husband that I was going to stay home. And that was that!
My being at home and at school made a world of difference in his life, and then in the lives of our two nephews that we ended up raising. (They had an addict for a mother; in and out of rehab & jail on a rotating basis.)
It pains me to see so many people abdicating their responsibilities as parents. It’s really, really sad and permeates all aspects and income levels of society.
And believe me, we were not “rich” by ANY Liberal standard, LOL! This “Thug in Training” has more than my kids ever had. But, it was a financial sacrifice that was well worth it to our family and to Society as a whole.
Wish some of these dopes could think beyond themselves for once.
You nailed it Diana.
I thank God everyday I escaped just in time.
And I truly feel sorry for those coming up. There’s no way they will ever know what they missed. A shame.
“Who wins doesn’t matter. They’re all liberals. Spend your time and money to take back Congress.”
Love your tag line! My feelings exactly. :)
I remember reading a story about a depression era kid who made his own vacuum tube in a broom closet using equipment he'd cobbled together out of junk. I never understood how this could be possible, but that's what I remember reading. I guess he was the lucky one.
“Lisa is a hardworking African-American mother who wanted only the best for her 16-year-old son”...also “living on the north side of Milwaukee.” (a very ‘poor’ area)
...I think it’s safe to assume that she’ll claim poverty. At least that’s how Hillary would see her. She wants black votes.
Nit picking the assumption that she may not claim to be a victim and poor is a bit nit witted.
I guess one could give her the benefit of the doubt by saying that she could be the “Cosby” family of the northside. Yeah...that works. ~sarc
“She had talked to her son on the night of the robberies; he promised to be home by a 10 p.m. curfew.”
People are too trusting. She trusted her kid, he trusted his buddies....on down the line.
This reminds me of a night when my son was about 14. He wasn’t driving yet. Went to spend the night at a friends who we had known for years (who I always worried about - the older he got the more trouble he was). I got that ‘feeling’. So I called their house, pretending to be very mad at my son for ‘something’. When I got him on the phone, I asked, “Is something wrong over there?”.....he said YES. “Shall I come get you now?”...”.YES!!”
Luckily, our ruse worked. He was trying to find a way ‘out’ without getting the hell beat out of him, since now there were 6 other boys there who he knew were trouble and NO adults. He was SO glad I called.
That night the others went out and vandalized a bunch of houses...one was a cops house!!! My son was smart enough not to get this kid mad at him but managed to stay away from him ( since the brat was in ‘custody’ much of the time after that was helpful.)
Good Job, Aunt B. You’re my kind of Mom. :)
Cause he ain't got no daddy. He was taught to be a man by his momma. And momma is always there to make excuses for him.
Standing O for you.
Thanks. I really don't know what else to do at this point. Our poor country is sliding towards the sewer. There are times when I feel it's hopeless.
Playing Madden 07 is no substitute for parenting.
***”He doesn’t need anything. I give that boy everything he wants. He’s got two parents who are together. It just doesn’t make sense.”***
Take it from me, lady. Parents being together isn’t the whole picture. They have to nourish the child from birth. Try to teach them about life the best they can. Help with the kid’s homework when they need it. Teach them how to ride a bike. A father could teach his son how to shave one Saturday morning.
I know because my parents were there, but not 100% there.
Well if he's gotten everything he wants, why shouldn't he just take more?
Part of your job as a parent is to say NO.
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