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Honestly, it is the attitude that minority kids are taught at home and through their peers because you can bet it is in minority neighborhoods that the violence has spiked.

Down here, we just had an armed robbery. Young man grew up in the neighborhood, came in an robbed a store on New Years. Even disguised, the owner recognized him as he had been coming into the store for years, owner had liked the kid as he grew up. But he had turned 20, attitude and group he hung with had changed. Now he is facing a long term for armed robbery and shooting at the cops when the tried to arrest him.

When you are a young minority man, listen to gangster rap glorifying the gang world, admiring the gang members driving the Caddy SUVs, etc, do you really think that without a solid family background you are going to accept that working at WalMart and working your way up through the company is the best way to live? You want the bling, the excitement, the ‘street cred’ that comes from the gangster life.

And we can thank our social programs for destroying the minority families.

I work with these kids and their families. You’re absolutely right - the pull of the streets is often stronger than the adolescent’s ability to do the right thing, even when they want to. To me, the biggest factor is not having a father in their life. In very few cases is the father around, which makes gang relationships so powerful. They’re the family the kid never had. When you have a single mother with other kids, stressed to the limit, who doesn’t have the energy or inclination to give the kid the love and encouragement they need, it’s really hard to undo the damage. But to me the key is the men - these kids need fathers. The mothers try t be both mother and father to their sons and daughters, but it’s impossible. They end up being bullied by their kids and the anger that should be directed to the absent father taken out on the mother. It’s a terrible cycle.