Go here to read the article.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10560
I was surprised that this article didn’t start a debate. Read it. Whether you agree with it or not, I think it will get you thinking.
It is a great example of how events are viewed differently by white people and minorities. I don’t think it is done out of malice. Our experiences just cause us to view things differently, but it is amazing how differently we can view the same thing.
True, Columbine-style school shootings have been overwhelmingly perpetrated by whites. But the author of the column you cite is using that as a launching pad for a rant on race that at the least, seems poorly documented.
For one thing, the idea that mass murder is a white crime implies ignorance of the name of Colin Ferguson (1993, Long Island Railroad shooting).
For another, his claims about race and cocaine don’t fit with readily accessible statistics on cocaine usage.
There’s been a lot of hype about school shootings but the actual risk doesn’t justify the hysteria, or vindicate this particular racial diatribe. In the author’s own eloquent words, bullshit on that.
Sometime back, in another school-shooting-thread, someone (I forget who), mentioned that most shootings that take place in inner-city schools (primarily minority-populated areas, I think) are listed as “gang violence” rather than a “school shooting”. And the whole concept of “gang violence” was the Media Favorite of the '80s, so it’s already been done to death…
Anyway, I don’t know how much this jives with the facts, but if so, it’s an interesting explanation as to why it seems like “school shootings” are the White Man’s crime…
I found a some stats that jive closer to what the writer was talking about. Check the comprehensive data section
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/druguse.htm
I don’t think the stats were the main thrust of his article. His point is that there are real problems that white youths are dealing with, but that the parents are unaware of or willfully blind to. Even if the the percentage of white kids using drugs was lower than black kids, numbers-wise it still translates into millions more white kids using drugs than black kids. Yet drugs and violence is still viewed as an ‘urban’ problem.
Also the writer does not deny problems within the black community. The black community is well aware of the problems, and are trying to come up with solutions. The writer is angry that the white community denies the existance of a problem.
Mr. Language Person interrupts:
“It’s JIBE, not jive, people. Unless you’re suggesting that we get down, get funky to statistics.”
Damn. JonScribe is right. It is jibe.
I can’t speak for SPOOFE, but I meant ‘jibe’ AND was suggesting we get funky to statistics
Yes, I, too, was a victim of a typographical error. But now that you mention it, we SHOULD get down wit’ our bad selves.
And, Archmichael…
That’s an excellent point, for ANY debate… people latch onto statistics religiously without knowing what those statistics mean.
On the other hand (playing Devil’s Advocate here), sheer numbers aren’t all that damning in and of themselves, either. If minority groups live most prominently in the more urban areas, that would mean (by nature of the reciprocal) that more white kids live in the suburbs… and while the numbers of kids engaging in less-than-wholesome activities may be higher, it’s divvied up in a more diluted group, over a wider range of area.
So you have “lower numbers/higher percentages/greater density” on one hand, “higher numbers/lower percentages/lesser density” on the other.
Which isn’t to say, of course, that there isn’t a problem among parents deluding themselves about their kids’ criminal behavior. People delude themselves all the time. One humorous tidbit I ran across several months ago was “25% of the people think they’re among the 1% wealthiest in America” (or something like that).
I don’t think white people have been pretending like there aren’t any problems with their kids or their schools. After all they’ve attempted to fix the problems with an emphasis on self esteem, zero tolerance policies, and I’m sure y’all know of a few other programs.
Of course these kinds of things bring all sorts of people out of the woodwork with all sorts of theories. I remember there was one or two other school shootings before Jonesboro. But when it happened in Jonesboro the media fell on the “southern gun culture” as being one of the possible causes. Obviously there’s problems with some people. I don’t think there’s any serious problems with a majority of rural or suburban children.
Marc
Ahmmmm . . .I don’t know what kind of experience you’ve had with suburban/rural schools, but as someone who recently graduated from a public school right outside of a city in upstate NY, I can tell you, that there ARE major problems & that most people (parents, community members, and some teachers) have the exact same perception as you do, which is actually extremely innacurate. I know this may not be the case in EVERY school, & you probably assume that it’s not in your school district, but many, many of the kids I knew were struggling with addictions and/or abuse problems associated with alcohol, marijuana, acid & other drugs. They also had very poor anger management skills & I know of many times that knives were brought to school, although I never did witness a gun in school. People like to think that they are “safe” from all the problems associated with the inner city because they live in a suburban area, but that is exactly the attitude that makes those schools close to as dangerous, if not more so, then inner city schools. Now, I’m not saying that every school in the suburbs is like that, but that is the general perception I have from people I know in college. Since the majority of people in the suburbs (in my experience) feel that their kids are so much safer, they often do not take the time to parent appropriatly. However, if parents found out what their kids were really up to, they would probably freak out. I’m not talking “bad” kids either; I’m talking about the kids at the top of the class, the kids who take leadership roles, and the kids who are the star athletes. Again, this is a major generalization. I almost appreciate how “real” kids who’ve gone to city schools are in comparison to those who’ve gone to suburban or rural schools, because they do not have as much of an image that they have to keep up for authority & parental figures.
I don’t know that anyone thinks their schools are immune from trouble.
I find the idea that suburban schools are as or more dangerous than inner city (are we talking synonym for majority black or Hispanic here?) schools hard to swallow, but maybe you can point us to some hard evidence that this is so.
Of course, this all feeds nicely into my contention that schools should be equitably funded from communal monies instead of wealthy districts benefiting disproportionately from high property taxes, but that would be an atrocious hijack that I’d never contemplate. 
When I read this I thought it was going to be an article written by a black or another minority. But it wasn’t as the following states: “But listen up my fellow white Americans.”
If he had posted that article on these boards it would have been sent to the “Pit”. I personally feel that something had happened to one of his children at school and he was on a rant. He didn’t really know where to place the blame so race and the shootings were a safe target (yes, I’m saying it was politically correct). There are plenty of problems in the schools today, but this guy doesn’t have the answer.
The original article is a few months old. Here is a follow up article about some of the responses he received from the article.
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=10920
Irregardless of what race Sparkleegirl is, the difference in viewpoints alone is cause for concern. Here is a girl who attended a suburban school, saying that the writer is right. There are real problems in suburban schools. Parents in these communities think that there is NO problem. Many people who have responded have expressed that they find it hard to believe that there is more of a drug problem in suburban schools. In fact find it hard to believe that drug use in suburban schools is close to drug use in urban schools. Here is where the the difference in racial views come in. Most white people can’t believe it. Thanks to the Media, most white people think of “Beverly Hills 90210”, “Square Pegs”, etc when they think of suburban schools. They think of movies like “Lean on Me” when they think of urban schools. Schools that have drive bys everyday. Where students light up drugs in the halls. Minorities know that urban schools aren’t as violent as the media would have you believe, and that suburban schools are as problem free.
Consider what the writer is saying. The Media has for the longest time (and still) portrayed drugs and violence as a minority (black & brown), urban problem. Most white people were very ready to accept it. Black people and a minority of white people have fought against it, because it is untrue. Black people make up about 12% of the national population. With the sheer volume of drugs coming into the society, common sense would tell you that it can’t be isolated to the black community. Violence doesn’t just happen in the inner cities. The problem is that most white people have come to believe the stereotype. Ironically, the same stereotype is harming the white community because it doesn’t allow them to acknowledge the problems in their own areas
Racial profiling is a bad idea.
Everybody is included.
I go to a “white” school. We have black people just like any other school. Should we just ignore “white” problems in black students because thay do not fit the profile.
Should we just ignore “black” problems in white students because they do not fit the profile?
All forms of violence and substance abuse exists among all demographically definable groups. What is the point of profiling?