[dead]

Were Bush to announce that this country will no longer allow Americans to be terrorized and murdered by thugs, he could count on ministers, community leaders and the communities themselves to come behind him.

A handful.

The rest would be screaming about racial profiling. Then the NY Times would explain to us all how Bush’s anti-gang tactics were no better than South Africa’s apartheid enforcement squads.

[Yaelle]

This is a good article. There is one problem with coming up with "solutions" to the gang and lack of careful parenting problems in urban black communities. Social engineering fails because the powers that be have to "reward" (and it's always with money and opportunities) people for making the good choices that lots of people are already making with no rewards, making them resentful, and also alienating people who have made the wrong decisions, often being callous toward innocents (the babies they have made).

So, what do you do? What I always keep coming around to is the difference between poor urban black people's behavior now and 50 years ago. [Anti-black] Racism is way, way down since then. So, what did they have that we don't have now? Shame. Social stigma. Yep, that's the only thing we can do: get ourselves back to having high expectations of our family members and neighbors.

It may take a couple of generations. We absolutely must insist on public decency by our children (teach your kids to hold open doors, or at least not slam them in other people's faces). Keep their car stereo's volume down, or roll up the windows. Smile at friendly faces on the street; we are actually NOT "dogs" and we should be able to make eye contact without fear. We need more intergenerational action. Even in the most primitive traditional societies, people learn from and respect their elders. Let's start with that.

Kids, if you don't want to see Granny in a thong and butt-huggers, what makes you think we want to see you like that? Would it be OK for your Dad to have 6 inches of his boxers hanging out in public? Then don't do it either.

I think we need to start shaming and shunning our own kids if they are not society-ready. The first punishment should be NO MTV, EVER.