I don't know what to do with this rant: Violence/Drugs/InnerCity Kids

The BBQ Pit
1

Fuck me for turning on the TV and catching part of an HBO special on inner city life or violence–hell, I don’t know what the point of this program is, but I feel like vomiting.

Finally we’re all coming together. People have an outpouring of support for each other. People are being kinder. People care about each other. Heck, you can’t turn around without find a well-meaning public-service announcement about how to talk to your kids about the tragedy, about the violence they’ve seen.

That’s wonderful and heartening and makes me feel great about America. But jesus, there are kids who see terrible violence every day in their lives. They have serious emotional and developmental problems because of the neighborhoods they live in, their lack of family resources (emotional and financial). They’re focusing on a school and neighborhood in Baltimore and I seriously thought I was going to have to go throw up at several points.

After feeling helpless and hopeless for a fucking week, I am suddenly reminded that in some parts of the U.S. people are hopeless and helpless all the time. It’s so discouraging. We have such big ugly problems, even when we don’t have maniacs killing 5,000 at a pop.

I don’t even know what to say about this. No, I don’t think our priorities are wrong at the moment. No, I’m not mad at other Dopers or other people about this. I’m not even usually a bleeding-heart liberal. I just can’t handle this–I can’t handle knowing we’ve got some our kids growing up like this, that we don’t have the resources to fix it, that we don’t have the answers. I can’t handle feeling helpess about something else. Once we survive this tragedy and this war on terrorism will we have the momentum to start fixing this other stuff wrong with our world? Will we have any answers?

I sound like such a pussy. This isn’t coherent and I have no place to go with it. A pointless rant. I just was overwhelmed by watching this. I think it was the wrong week to turn this program on. Someone post something nice, wouldja? Something real positive.

2

(small voice on) ummmm. I guess what you’ve posted about is why I’ve been plugging away for the past 20 years in a chronically underpaid and underappreciated field. A co-hort calls me the ‘last of the do-gooder social workers’. But you know what? he’s wrong - there’s a whole bunch of us out there.

And as I work in the trenches (as it were), I see little patches of hope. Yes, there’s still the cycle of violence/ drugs/ poverty going on. But there’s folks who have been steadily chipping away at that mountain. And I see the results, from time to time.

3

Ah, wring. Trust you to get in here and make me feel a little better.

And I think you’re right. Maybe we can’t fix every kid’s life, but sometimes something as small as making sure one of them gets a hug can make a difference. I truly believe that. Stop barfing, you cynics. I’m as cynical as they come, yet I believe this.

I can recall, in my younger days, hearing about programs like playground cleanups. I used to think those were absolutely dumb, putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. I mean, jesus christ, a stupid playground when these kids need serious help and a huge life change. But now I realize that having a safe place to play for fifteen minutes a day may indeed make a difference. It may be the best 15 minutes of the kid’s day, some days.

4

The First Nations people up here represent a whacking big chunk of the population. Forty years ago, there were one or two per graduating class at the high school. It is now half or more.

:slight_smile:

One of my friends has broken her family cycle of alcoholism, and gotten her certification as a LAN tech.

:slight_smile:

We just have to keep working on it.

5

Your timing is eerie, Cranky. It’s been a terrible two weeks made even worse by a group of 15-20 teens literally terrorizing everyone in the building (a library, btw). They spit obscenities, vandalized materials (hate stuff, including “Yaay terrorists!” and “Burn!” scrawled across the front of the NYT), razored entire sections out of reference books, threatened hapless folks trying to enter the place (“gonna kick your ASS, bitch!”), threatened to beat up staff, etc. I’ve had to hire a plainclothes off-duty police officer–which we can’t remotely afford–to protect staff and users. And we’re trespassing the whole bunch of them. Nothing close to this has ever happened before here (medium midwestern city).

I’m heartsick. And can’t see an alternative.

One-on-one, they’re good kids. They ARE. I’ve dealt with them before. But something triggered a shared pool of hate/frustration/resentment. And whatever that source is, somehow we couldn’t do enough (or in the right ways) to make a difference. This is agonizing. Our highest mission is to provide a haven for them along with the absolute best, kickass, level-the-playing-field access to the world’s knowledge.

I tried contacting parents first; God knows I tried. And couldn’t reach a single one. None. Disconnected phones. Messages never returned. Mail never answered. Some are single parents who work every hour God put in a day. (The kids aren’t fools; they erase phone messages and intercept mail.) Others…well, there’s simply no consistent, responsible adult capable or willing to cope.

We’re tossing kids away like used Kleenex: disposable, plenty more, toss 'em when a bit icky. What have I seen work?

The Boys and Girls Clubs. They don’t just provide activities and a place to be; they offer involved people willing to spend time, listen and STAY involved.

Big Brothers Big Sisters. People take in (and take on) kids one-by-one. Not to live, just to be there, to listen, care, get involved in a kid’s life–and stay there.

Local organizations. Our local Martin Luther King Center is a marvel. (For those who assume race of our “problem children”–don’t. They’re a very mixed bag.) But the MLK Center is very tough, loving, canny and prepared for troubled kids. And they enfold kids of any color.

Apologies again, Cranky, for wandering your topic all over the north forty. And applause for including “next door” among what needs help.

Shaken on a global and local level,
Veb

6

Leading cause of death for a Black American Male age 15-24: Homicide and Legal Intervention (p9)

…and our country doesn’t consider this a National Emergency ?

If Killer Bee stings were the leading cause of death you could be goddamn sure our country would be doing something about it. I probably shouldn’t get started on this topic.

Does everyone know what the euphemism “Legal Intervention” means ?

Doesn’t say anything about alleged lawbreakers, so I guess our men in blue know the difference.

Glad to see the War on drugs is being waged thousands of miles away. And with our new war on “Arabs” I’m sure this epidemic will get the just attention that it deserves.