What???

[popup_menace]

Actually, I find this quote quite honest and revealing. He was raised in an environment with low expectations and few positive role models. This is not a race thing. The african-american community is just first to experience it. They are the canary in the coal mine.

Ask yourself "how would I have turned out if I was the 3rd or 4th generation child born to unwed mothers with no positive father figure or no exposure to a strong work ethic?" You don't have to look very far to find that answer.

I think you either underestimate the individual power of reason and morality or place too much emphasis on emulating others. I know guys that could have turned out dead like this, but instead they busted their butts to better themselves. White and black alike.

[Rush2Judge]

I would argue that I am accurately arguing the power of morality. It just so happens the "morals" of the hood are quite different from the morals you and I are surrounded by. I am always amazed and heartened by the stories of those that "escape". In many of those cases, someone or something gave them hope that there was a different path.

Don't take my statements or observations as an excuse. Nobody's life is pre-ordained. We all make choices and must live with the consequences.

[coy-ote]

or die with them in this case

[KenWood]

This p***** me off! I've wrote three different answers and backspaced them all out. Guess I'll be on my way.

[BowCrazy]

I'm sure that even in an underprivileged and 3 or 4 generations of bad decisions & having the morals of the hood, he would still have known you don't go into someones place without being invited.

How could he have supposedly been so sharp and not know this.

[Rush2Judge]

He knew. He didn't care. Somehow he rationalized it in his own mind. Scary if you really think about it. These type of incidents are only going to increase. Byproducts of our brilliant political decisions over the last 40+ years. To me, it's as simple as asking "will our policies encourage or discourage a society that breeds this type of mentality?"

And I am referring to the woman as much as the deceased.

[El Forajido]

He was just misunderstood

[RLB]

Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce, the democrat party.

[CoolArrow]

Rush Limbaugh spoke of this crazy chit yesterday. Unbelievable

[Mike]

Originally Posted by Rush2Judge
Actually, I find this quote quite honest and revealing. He was raised in an environment with low expectations and few positive role models. This is not a race thing. The african-american community is just first to experience it. They are the canary in the coal mine.

Ask yourself "how would I have turned out if I was the 3rd or 4th generation child born to unwed mothers with no positive father figure or no exposure to a strong work ethic?" You don't have to look very far to find that answer.

There is some real truth to this, albeit we all have a different take and it's very hard to moralize or rationalize the thought process for most of us. My wife was a music teacher for several years in "the hood", specifically Port Arthur, Texas. She was a big recruiter for her alma mater, McNeese State during the time when they were searching for out of state recruits for their music program. I know of 6 different students that she was able to get a full ride for music and would be a life changing event and forever change their family lineage at that point. They possibly could have been very successful individuals but at the very least would have had a college degree for free.

Fast forward to the present and 2 are deceased and the other still live in the 'hood. These young adults were "talked out of" going away to college and "to stay home, this is your home and this is what we do, we stay here." It was very sad.

Since then, my wife has taught at a smaller 3A, 90% white school and has led 16 students to the Disney Intern program and countless college scholarships.

It's just a different mentality and hard to understand for many of us, me included.

[dustoffer]

Seems to me the only goal he had was making the FBI's Most Wanted List--and why go away to college and make something of yourself and have to work for it when you can stay in the 'hood and get free stuff and checks each month? It is a mindset.