Posted on Sunday, 8/24/2008 - 1:27 a.m. PDT — by oaklandman08
Let us consider an assessment of what initiatives presently may be accounted for that target youths, aimed at prevention of violence. To what extent are there such initiatives? By what entities, e.g., government, industry, philanthropic, non-profit, etc.? Of what ages and areas are such programs available? What's the nature and scope of the programs, and in what ways have they proven effective; specifically stopping violence? (the latter question consider the rate of violence/location where the program[s] exist) What amount of monies are dedicated to such programs? Are their extended relationships or coordinated activities among various entities, e.g., schools, youth centers, commercial ventures? For the programs proven effective, are efforts underway to expand, or in discussion? What programs target not only youths, but also -families within the violence (hot) zones?
Please, if you are aware of any programs; please share your knowledge of them. Should enforcement, incarceration, or death prevail or win over as the predominate reply? What might we consider outside of the "box?"
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Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
What might be considered outside of the box is a statewide movement and demand to expand the Civilian Conservation Corps for youth started under Jerry Brown as governor.And added to that we need public service jobs for those being either cut or transitioned off of welfare. See my other posts.
America as suffered the worst job loss under Bush in 70 years. Over 2.l million jobs lost. California has lost 325,000 of these jobs. l3.6 Americans are unemployed.
There is going to be no silver bullet of prevention. If Oakland's black church community practiced Christianity and took Bill Cosby's advice and each congregant embracing a struggling family in the hot spots, something might happen. But Oakland's black working community is like the rest of America. Struggling to survive themselves. we need jobs at liveable wages. And if people don't want to work, labor camps through the penal system where they can be productive members of society. The welfare state is over now, particularly for Oakland which has fed off of it for many years while it lost it's manufacturing base.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
Bill Cosby didn't say congregation members should take on an at risk child or family, I did.
In the middle of my post, which was very long, indeed, I said back to my comment. That's where Cosby's ended. Sorry, I want the credit for that one.
Apology if my comment began to run in with what Cosby stated at his address. Just a clarification and my thoughts on how to help the community besides a Minister preaching to the choir.
Joined: Nov 2008
Current Posts: 31
Hey dude Traveler; you have no answers. All you want is for people to listen to your rhetoric, and you are a person who thinks you are superior and want other people to submit to your own sick will of fear. Bill Cosby is a Black man who said racism did not exist. He said that all the way up until his son was murdered on an L.A. freeway. Now he says the city of Los Angeles and the L.A. PD is racist! What!? Racism only exists when it concerns he and his family? You and him both sound just alike!
And loss of the manufacturing base in the innercity happened all over the country. Not just Oakland. I think it's a double edged blade. Meaning on the one hand jobs were lost that few could have been held by Black people, and I do mean few. But on the other hand it pushed younger Blacks into searching for something more than just a manufacturing job. Like "Littlelady" here who has shown great intelligence in the face of your nonsense and is pursuing a degree. Your syntax and semantics tells me that you do not have one yourself, but you do have a job though, huh?
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
For years many of us advocated for a Delancey street type of founation. It's the only organization with a proven track record. But Oakland that had the biggest number of alcohol and drug addicts didn't care. And they added more drug and alcohol addicted individuals and made them permanently crippled by giving them SSI rather than providing the programs to get them off.
All these special programs. They need to address and demand individual responsiblity. Without that, they are all doomed to failure because everyone has to struggle within the capitalist system and stop declaring things "racist" than are actually the reality for all workers and Americans. The black community has to stop steeping itself in victimhood and stop the dependent mentality it has created for itself in that America owes black people indefinitely. This is not a society that is going to embrace reparations or any more welfare state handouts. We're through that stage. Get it?
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 8
Traveler,
Your posting makes sense, however keep in mind the civil rights movement was not that long ago, the Black Community can only do so much, and with the cost of living in California who can live off welfare check? So, lets stop making this a black or white issue. what we need to do is stop paying the city and state officials all this money to do nothing and invest the money were it is needed, in the Communities and schools. Angela Davis put it very well, "The common denominator for crime is poverty. These people committing robberies are poor and uneducated. They feel like they don’t have any other alternative but to take penitentiary chances. Education and leadership in the community is the way to cut back on crime. unless we focus on education and leadership, Oakland crime will continue to raise.....The reparations for the Black community is to invest MONEY into our communities!!!!!!!!
Oh and by the way how is it that teachers In Oakland Make 30-35,000 a year and Oakland Police department starting pay is 80,000??
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 692
rainonu: I agree that education and leadership in the black community is what is needed. Oakland teachers should make more money. However, the police are being paid for a DANGEROUS, difficult and deadly job. The highest rate of suicide in the job field is the police. They are janitors that clean up the dregs of humanity and it is a nasty dirty job. They earn it.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Herand her ilk destroyed a working class movement by injecting race nonstop. They tried to purge the unionists from left movements. Angela David went around trilling "racism" for decades. She trilled it so much she must have looked in a mirror and polished rolling her r's. I despise that intellectual mediocrity and that horse that brought her in. She and the rest of those bankrupt cultural black nationalists can go jump off the Golden Gate bridge for all I care!
We're talking about Oakland here, not the state. And in Oakland it is all the welfare section 8 housing and OHA projects that are the lumpen proletariat declassed sector with no working class values whatsoever. But then Angela Davis has always fed from the public trough as well.
the left is in denial along with the left black liberal community about the fact that it was the welfare system that created poverty in the last few decades. All these young teenage girls getting pregnant too young, breeding hordes of children by different fathers to collect more monies. Yep, a self-inflicted wound and poverty that has destroyed what's left of the working class black community in Oakland. A terrible tragedy indeed.
But where was the left? Did they say stop having babies and go get an education? Who cried out for personal responsiblity and family planning? Who cried out that breeding babies too young rather than going to school was the answer?
And where is Angela now, in some cafe in East Oakland when she's not with the middle class kids at UC Santa Cruz? Why isn't she leading a struggle for a mass public works program?
The only true black candidate as Glen Ford from the Black Agenda wrote is Dennis Kucinich. He's the only one who has a concrete program to put both black and white people back to work.
Angela Davis has no real connection with the black working class community. Her connection is with white and black liberals and the lumpen rpoletariat element of the black community.
Don't mention that evil woman's name to me ever again! She had a hand in destroying a more viable left in this country!
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
Traveler ? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Calm down over there.
I've always had a positive view of Angela Davis - Black Panther Great !
Should I look deeper or are you mostly upset because she's pro-black ?
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
do you know Angela Davis personally? Have you traveled in her political circles? Name me one thing she has personally done lately or what she has done in the progressive movement for change lately.
YOu think the Black Panthers were Great? Dr. Huey Newton, a crack addict shot dead in the streets of West Oakland? How many people did he pistol whip in and out of the party? Did you ever read Elaine Brown's book after she took over and then Huey came along and ran her out so she had to go underground because he was such a violent leader?
Ha ha ha? Angela Davis is not pro-black, she is pro-Angela Davis. She is so full of herself it's not funny.
You jump into things sometimes i notice that you don't fully know or understand and just make a kneejerk response. Not unlike Jif. Too reactive.
In this case, I happen to know what I'm talking about first hand and it has nothing to do with being anti-black at all.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
You are jumping to conclusions and I'm sincerely asking questions !!!
I don't know sh>t about Angela Davis other than what I've heard from my family. They praised her as a black, powerful woman.
I was surprised to see you writing this way..............
I don't jump into anything that I don't know. If anything I question these things first !!!!
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
little lady, last words. Angela Davis was only as powerful as the movement behind her all the time that CREATED her otherwise you wouldn't even know about her. And now, sadly, she ain't about shyt! She was just another symbol of the black power movement. And that movement now lies in the dustbin of history dead and buried with Huey Newton and all the rest.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
Alright I understand you on that note.....
the movement was the force ..........
that's he*la deeeeeep !
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Trouble, that is what our community policing officer and police always taught us in the community. To give up your money and run out the back door if someone came into your house. Property and money is not all that important. It's stupid to kill desperate people over the like.
In this case, you are preaching police mantra and JIf ain't.
These is just cowboy and cowgirl macho and machisma talk.
The real tough people go down or get into these criminals faces indivdually when they are not on the job and tell them what they think of them and their activities. The real tough ones organize and lobby for change.
Talk is cheap and most posters are not tough, just too lazy to engage in political work and struggle and make personal sacrifices. In the end they will have to anyway trying to stay alive in a system that is unraveling every day we sit here posting.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 8
Traveler,
Like I mentioned in my first posting You are correct, However is seems as though you so quick to put down people in the community, rather then finding a solution. Angela Davis Receives the up most respect from me because she lived through the civil right movement and didn’t let Caucasians take her under. yes, young girls are having babies young by multiple fathers, yes, are prisons are overcrowded, yes, the city officials in Oakland make TOO MUCH Money, yes, those who are on sec8 and OHA are not the working class, yes, working as a cop is dangerous, BUT what can we do to change this!!! I didn’t want to make this a personal thing, But what ethnicity are you, and what is your social economic standing? (If you don’t mind sharing) Because from the sounds of it you sound like a republican who wants to talk about the problems, however don’t want to find a solution? Without Sec8 and OHA Oakland would be worse off than it already is........
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Angela davis was a child in the south who grew up far more privileged than most. She was a child when the church in Alamba got bombed. Angela Davis bit the hand that saved her life. But what would you know about that?
Oakland would have been far far better off without OHA and the whole entire sick welfare dependent program that the bourgeois government set up to keep black people out of the labor market and de-classed and destroyed large sectors of what would have been a working class community like their grandparents. but what would YOU know about that?
A number of older black people in my neigbhorhood who hated the welfare system were registered as Republicans as a reaction to what they saw destroying their community. I bet
you didn't know that either. And so what? As if there is any difference between the two parties anyway.
Who are you and what are your credentials? Before you ask others, you should come clean yourself coward!
P.S.You can try and paint me by any brush you want. I know who I am and what I've done and where I've traveled.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 8
Traveler, You’re so fancy. I don’t know everything, But what I do know is I want to be part of the solution to Oakland’s problems. Angela Davis my have grown up better off than some African Americans, however at the end of the day she’s still BLACK and She’s successful. Just because I asked you some questions about your ethnicity and social economic standing, why would you call me a coward? Well for the record I'm African American Female, 28 years of age, no kids, not married, go to Cal State East Bay and work fulltime as a Registered Dental assistant. I come from a very limited background (Dad on Drugs, Mother disable, lived in hood). So Now that I have come clean, what makes you sooooooo spectacular? And for the record its not just African Americans that are on welfare, Hispanics, Caucasians, Asian people take advantage of the system too.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Yes, the majority of people on welfare may not be black, but the inner cities have certain problems because many black people were forced onto welfare because of job discrimination and concentrated into housing projects unlike most white people or other people on welfare. The welfare system they were forced onto was not the system of public relief under President Roosevelt. It was perverted into another system that rewarded people for having children instead of a welfare program that gave them public service jobs and put them to work. It destroyed the work ethic in the black community and for other nonlblacks on welfare as well created a criminalized, declassed grouping. the OHA projects are petri dishes of crime in Oakland in many cases and those who are honest and working who live in them are the most victimized. It isolated black people in the projects and created a concentrated ghettoized sector of society far removed from the more successful black models in the community who moved onwards and out of the city. Far removed from 'NORMAL'.
I've posted a lot on this topic elsewhere and don't have the energy or inclination to repeat myself.
Joined: Nov 2008
Current Posts: 31
Hey Traveler, do you know that there are some Black men who despise Angela Davis just as much as you do? Why? Because she doesn't buy into their male superiority BS that does not and has not ever worked for Black people as a whole. Angela Davis is an abolitionist, and these Black men who despise her just want to be free to do nothing for the advancement for the classes of the people, and call themselves hustlers pimps and gangster. We don't want that, and that is what you neocons want. You think just like that Black man. The only difference is your skin color. And that's why I understand why you despise her.
You claim you know why Blacks are poor. Tell me then why are many Whites poor? Hmmm? Because of Black people? You claim you know where Angela Davis is now. I say the only way you know that is you were there yourself. Stop dude. It's not working.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 90
She's hardly a NeoCon; she spends most of her time attacking other people for being Trotskyists deviationists and telling us all of our problems would be solved if we just followed the Cuban model and made Fidel Castro our dictator.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
If you knew anything about the left which you really don't Yakima Kid, and even far less about me, you would know that everyone is different and that most leftists today are far more sophisticated than you give us credit for. We don't fit into your college box or experience of several decades ago. Every single country has to develop its own way to a more humane society. There is no blueprint to follow.
And given the fact that the people in the US are among the most propagandized in the world and it is hard for them to think outside the box of capitalism or any other kind of solution, it is doubtful we would ever have anything resuming Cuba or any other Latin American country. If we could come close to Canada or France in getting universal health care, that would be an amazing feat in and of itself. We can have a mixed economy and any number of different kinds of solutions. Furthermore, we live in a world where the entire world's economy is tied to the dollar.
p.s. I'm not one of the colllege "feminist" you've encountered either. Please keep me away from your college experiences and stop putting me in the box with all your other college nightmares you seem not to have recovered from. I admit I shouldn't label either but it was fun baiting you and you fell for it too. :-)
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 90
Traveler asked:And where is Angela now, in some cafe in East Oakland when she's not with the middle class kids at UC Santa Cruz?
Probably hanging out at Bill Ayers house drinking tea, eating cookies, and sharing bomb making recipes with Bernadine and Sara Jane Olson.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
Police get paid to do a very dangerous job. Yes, the educator should be compensated at a higher rate than is already stated.
This society glorifies athletes, ceos, city leaders, government leaders and movie stars when society should glorify educations and its resources. Most of these teachers have dangerous jobs. Not as dangerous as the Police but dangerous and difficult never the less. Having to be a teacher and a parent to some of these children. Having to buy school supplies for their classroom out their own pocket and having their hands tied by red tape.
Sure build more prisons and less investments in schools and educational programs. that's answer government has. There's money in the prison system and there is money in war and war on theses streets is no different nowadays than the war in Irag. The drug and gun trade, Oakland is swimming in it. The prisons, California is bursting at the seems.
The school system, drop outs, low test scores and crowed classrooms. Some teachers only teach for the two years required to have their loans paid off. Some teachers don't care anymore, either.
And reparations also start with parents taking responsibility for their children. Just because the parent may be ignorant and unlearned doesn't mean the child should have to be committed to this ignorance. Welfare was not established to stop education!
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 223
THEY MAKE THIS THING HARDER THAN IT NEEDS TO BE!!! HOW COME A CITY HALL FULL OF COLLEGE DEGREES CANT FIGURE OUT HOW TO SLOW DOWN THE KILLINGS??? THAT ARE BEING DONE BY A MAJORITY OF PEOPLE THAT DONT EVEN HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA??? THEY ARE THINKING TO HARD!!! ITS NOT WHAT YOU KNOW BUT WHO YOU KNOW!!! IF EVERYBODY IS ONE TRACKED MINDED (IM SO SMART IM STUPID AND IT SHOWS) NOTHING WILL GET DONE!!! TO PUT GUIDELINES AND AGE BRACKETS ON PROGRAMS ONLY HURTS THE COMMUNITY!!! IF YOU CAN SHOW ME AN AGREEMENT WHERE THE PEOPLE IN THE STREETS AGREE ONLY TO KILL AT A CERTAIN TIME OR AGE GROUP. I WILL GIVE YOU SOME OF THE CHEESE I GOT FROM THE MOON. THEY NEED SOMEONE WITH TODAYS STREET CRED NOT 80'S OR 90'S BUT 2008 CANT GIVE UP ALL MY SECERETS!!!
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 692
Trouble: We both know 90% of the killings are being done by young men, 16-23 years old, mostly involved in the drug trade at a low level, most of whom are stoned when they start shooting. They are generally stupid, stoned, young, and have a short and miserable life in front of them. There are probably 3000 or less of these guys in Oakland, and the cops know who many of them are. What we really need are some English style laws ( they don't have the same constitutional rights) that allow arrest and detention for being a public nuisance. That would get them off the streets more quickly than anything else, and save their worthless lives as well.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 87
I have a solution. Instead of jailing people we can just sell them to other countries as slaves. This way we are not killing them, we don't waste tax dollars housing them in prison and we don't have to worry about them robbing a killing in America. Don't try to save them, they are not worth the effort.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Enny: Comments and what passes for your "humor" are the number one reason why people don't "snitch" in Oakland and cooperate with the police. Every time you post one of these comments you can be sure it goes out throughout the community. So, it might feel good now, but will it feel good later?
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
People don't seem to realize Traveler : This forum doesn't really hide anyone. We have aliuses, but I know whats up in the REAL world. Of course we are not anonymous. Do a little googling and messing around on the computer and you can find out who every last person on this forum is Hahahaaaaaaaa !
Hope they don't think technology is backed up into the 70's or somethin'.... LOL
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
I pretty much gave you the clue and I've pretty much revealed who I am to everyone else by now who wants to know and needs to know. And that's why some of these other self-righteous snakes are floating by now trying to engage me.
But I think it's our right to put ourselves out there to the degree we all feel comfortable. Just like ol church lady and all the rest including alias9....
yes, it is kinda funny. We do know who we all are on this site by what we say and what we reveal in our beliefs and messages. and hey, it's okay that way.
And You know what? This site is dang good therapy and FREE too! It has allowed me to verbally box the ears of everyone whose ears I've needed and wanted to verbally box for a long time now and say a long of things I've been wanting to say publically for a long time now and wouldn't probably have said.
And frankly, I've always been pretty outspoken to put it mildly. Some others on this forum already know that about me.
Anyway, it is a lot of fun not having to be politically correct and kiss the dang arses of so many people in Oakland to whom you'd much rather kick in their dang arses. I cannot begin to tell you just how enjoyable.
But I'm glad you've alerted me. I might just have to travel on now. Farewell all. Traveler
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
Traveler, you really shed light on a lot of subjects and allow for thoughtful dialogue. Your insight is appreciated. Wanted you to know that!
Take care and travel safe!
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
Come Baaaaaack ! Don't leave...............the forum will not be the same ! Sorry - I don't mean to ruffle any feathers here.................
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
TRA-VE-LERRRRRRRRR ! OVERALL, YOU NEED TO STAY ON THIS FORUM. I NEED SOME MORE INFO ON THE SOLAR PROGRAM. I'VE BEEN CALLING LANEY AND LEAVING MESSAGES. I THINK I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO GO DOWN THERE ONE DAY THIS WEEK. LAST DAY TO ADD CLASSES IS ON THE 1ST OR 6TH. AT LEAST GIVE ME THAT OFFLINE CONTACT YOU PROMISED ME A LOOOOOONG TIME AGO.
GET READY FOR TOMORROW'S TOPICS !
I'LL HOLLER AT YALL TOMORROW * IT'S FUNNY HOW THERE IS SORT OF A CONNECTION BETWEEN THE PEOPLE WRITING ON THE FORUM -
I LOVVVVE YALLLL !
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Little Lady, I posted you a note on this last week. there is no time to lose, the spaces are filling up and and time is running out. Those who get trained first will get the jobs. GO TO LANEY TOMMORROW IF POSSIBLE! AFTER YOU GO GO LANEY CALL ELLA BAKER CENTER ON 40TH STREET. GOOGLE ELLA BAKER CENTER OAKLAND AND ASK THEM ABOUT GREEN ENERGY JOBS. But they cannot enroll you at Laney, only you can do that. I'll post an email address after I create one tomorrow possibly. Traveler
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 692
The Laney (and Merritt) email and phone systems are a waste of time. You can register online and then go down there to enroll. It takes ten minutes to register, and ten minutes in line there to enroll.
I just signed up for a course.
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
Ernie, in order to see what she wants to enroll in doesn't Little Lady first need a catalog or are all the classes online? Also, she doesn't know what name the program is under and neither do I. Perhaps she can google it in the "search" box on the laney college website. Thanks.
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
Thank You.
Sounds like you live in my area.........
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 1383
For Little Lady and Others-Information about the solar panel technician program is available through Ella Baker Center in Oakland which is coordinating Oakland's Green Jobs Corp available to LOW INCOME OAKLAND RESIDENTS to get training in solar panel installer certificate. They are offering the training at Laney College but Ella Baker Center is coordinating who gets admitted.
Also, Laney college has an Energy Technology Enitronmental Training Program that gives a certificate to individuals who can apply for a variety of jobs in the energy industry with companies like PG& E. Please read below from a SF Chronicle article about these programs I found online that describes the link between Ella Baker and Laney in training technicians in solar panel installation and other energy programs. Google in SF GAte Search this title:"State Has Green Collar Labor Shortage" January l5,2008 is date of article. Here is an excerpt"
"Community colleges serve the population of students who are a natural fit for these jobs. The
Ella Baker Center’s Oakland Green Jobs Corps, which builds off of the policy work of the
national Apollo Alliance, takes an approach that the “New Energy” economy should provide
economic opportunity for all. Their goal is to provide job training and living wage jobs in clean
technology for low-income residents in urban areas. This is consistent with the mission of
California’s community colleges.
The occupations highlighted in this report also provide workers with career advancement
opportunities as they gain additional training and certifications in the Energy Services field.
Providing new and incumbent workers with the training and certifications required by industry
for career advancement is clearly relevant to the role of community colleges."
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
Thanks for this information. I did call the Ella Baker Center the morning I let you know what was going on, but no one ever called back (getting like OlChurchgal - excuses, excuses !). I'll call on my lunch hour. More cutting and pasting to do here. I'll probably shoot over to Laney after work.
I'm glad you're still on Traveler. You've done alot for the community !
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 223
That was a good look!!! I have been on them for some time to no avail but Im not going to stop trying.
Joined: Aug 2009
Current Posts: 9
THIS ELLA BAKER CENTER IS A FAKE DRUG INFESTED GROUP OF COMMIES THAT HATE AMERICA. THE ONLY REASON THEY HAVE THIS GREEN PROGRAM IS THAT THIER BOSS IS NOW WORKING FOR OBAMA, OTHER THAN THAT THIS GROUP HAS DONE NOTHING FOR OAKLAND
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 223
YOU BETTER NOT LEAVE THIS IS AMERICA YOU CAN SAY WHAT EVER YOU WANT TO SAY!!!!!! WHO GIVES A F WHO,WHO IS WE COME TO THIS FORUM TO RELEAVE STRESS TALK SHYT AND SWALLOW SPIT. IT WOULD NOT BE THE SAME!!!
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
Traveler and Trouble you keep the sanity in here! thanks!
Joined: Mar 2008
Current Posts: 223
Dont worry we got you!!!
Joined: May 2008
Current Posts: 44
Well I for one don't who you are and don't really care...not in a mean way- just saying. Everyone started boo-hooing when you implied you'd consider leaving since you're not exactly anonomous anymore-lol- that was priceless!! If your leaving - peace!! I enjoyed going back n forth with you at times, at other times it made me nauseous ...I really can't stand your self-righteous, blow-hard on soap-box demeanor but hey as long as you recognize reason (for the most part) and can admit when your wrong (barely), and state your points effectively, I can't hold any hard feelings against you...I actually stopped posting here for a while becasue you irked me so good- it was like you were stalking me -lol. When i saw your post again lately, I was about to attack you but there were already plenty folks doing that already...I just read on and low and behold- you got my username in your post, typing mess about me...tsk,tsk,tsk...well its nice to know I made an impression.
Oh and by all means (anyone) please google me...I'd bet you'd run back across your own tracks at some point trying to follow me...
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
Littlelady, LOLOL
I said a few of those statements before in a post and it ruffled feathers. Let's keep it light and on the subject of the article. There are sensitive, scared people posting on here.
LOLOL
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 120
That is bogus !
But I have a better idea. Why don't we punish criminals as they should be punished ? In Liberia prisoners take the concrete as a bed. Their limbs are cut off. Well it depends on the crime committed which is reasonable.
How much you wanna bet they will think twice before committing a crime ?
Joined: Nov 2008
Current Posts: 31
Littlelady I'm proud of you. Keep it real and don't let this nonsense get you down while they're all ego tripping. And this is what I mean: They look at all of this as a joke simply because they are not the despised people in america and they're glad of it. If they had to do and go through what you do everyday medicaid would have more shrinks on the payrolls. Go to the PBS website and watch FRONTLINE. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/story/2008/11/a-mile-in-your-shoes.htmlss
It's called "A Class Divided"
Joined: Jun 2008
Current Posts: 156
They are a public nuisance and what's wrong with enacting a law against them. I'm for that one!
Heck, there's a law in New Orleans preventing boys from wearing their pants below their crack head posteriors.
Good one Ernie!
BTW> I might give up the $100 and give to you for retirement! LOLOL
Joined: Nov 2008
Current Posts: 31
Everybody needs to pull their pants up! Even noncertified, anti-union Joe the plummer! Hey tchrisj don't get caught with yours down!
Joined: Nov 2008
Current Posts: 31
This guy Traveler writes as if he has the last word on everything. He sounds like those repugs who used every excuse to vote republican except for the unthinkable... Like that trailer court (White folks projects) looking woman who called Obama an Arab as if she knows what an Arab is. Hey Traveler dude you were real nasty to that young lady until she was big enough to not hide behind her screen name like you're doing. I'm big enough too. I'm a 56 year old Black female US veteran, postal worker, college dropout living in the south bay. Originally from Nebraska and I've found that many Whites are just as strange out here as the ones I left behind. You sound just like one of them..... I can't even go outside without people like you stare as if you never saw someone like me. It bugs me when you people blame Black people for the welfare problem when statistics show that the majority of recipients in the US are White. I see long lines of Mexicans down here signing up for it everyday. You speak of junkies and act as methamphetamine is not a drug. But I won't complain. You guys can continue to smoke as much meth as you wish, and teach the young ones so they can continue to consume when it kills you. I can't even sit and wait for the bus that takes me to work everyday without a meth head begging me for a cigarette or watching his/her every move knowing that if they do succeed in mugging me to get money for their next hit they would most likely go free since police rarely punish White on Black crime. Hope I never have to hurt one of them. Why aren't they at work? Can you answer that for me Mr. Traveler since we're too lazy and you're not... Hmmmm?
Oh yes. You say Angela Davis bit the hand that fed her..... What are you truly trying to say? Or are you just reciting one of you people's old cliche's that has no baring or meaning to the matter at hand what so ever?
The real thing is that your ideas are old and do not work. You're too simple to think any other way than you do. And you blame Black people for the problems of the world instead of taking a look in the mirror. You should go on back to that neocon page you hang out at and spare everybody from your hillbillie ideas over here. Go hunt possum or something.
Joined: Jan 2009
Current Posts: 1
Crime and interpersonal violence among youth and young adults, specifically in the use of firearms, has become the most complex social anomaly the nation has ever experinced. Politicians and policy makers continue to propagate the myth that arrest and incarceration are the solutions to this enormously complicated set of circumstances. It is not! No city police department can arrest it way out of the crime and violence problem confronting Urban America. Police crack downs and sweeps are short-term. temporary initiatives that are unsustainable. Citizen victimization is high and so is recidivism. Most communities don't have a sucessful offender re-entry program. Effective crime management requires a well-balanced, integrated services approach of aggressive prevention/intervention in support of agressive arrest and incarceration. And it must be driven by innovative problem solving. The Metropolitan Police Department of Wasington, D.C. was the first law enforcement agency to place social workers; youth gang specialists and psychologist in offices within a police district. The unique team was created to assist beat officers and to address the pathology of crime and violence. It quickly became an incredibly effective professional synergy. Police officers, perhaps more than any professional group have more contact with houshold in need then anyone. Often they are ill equipment and untrained to assess or make precise determinations on the human conditions affecting the most blighted and underserved neighborhoods circumstances. Moreover, it isn't within their purview. But the community policing philosophy which many police departments have adopted mandates that focus more on the prevention of crime and creating collaborative problem-solving partnerships among residents and all government agencies and non-profit organizations. The police/social service team introduced a new dimension to problem solving. The group was highly mobile and connected to police communication (911). When not responding to an incident of violence involving a young person or family member they were engaging youth in the alleyways and street corners from 8:00PM-3:00AM, providing information on earning a GED; job opportunities; dispensing condoms to combat AIDS; mediating gang/crew disputes; giving out substance abuse prevention literature and building trust between youth and adults. Effective crime manangement begins with keeping youth out of the criminal justice process. Communities must develop infrastructures that nurture and foster youth development and make every neighborhooh resistant to crime. Inventory all youth servicing programs working within specific neighorhoods; reduce dupications of efforts; improve coordination of servicess and ensure high performance outcomes. Keeping young people regularly attended in school; providing exhilerating leisure-time and recreational activities and ensuring that part-time employment is available to all young people who want to work is an important part of that process. Communities should [bleep] their risks; understand their strengths and build partnerships with all stake holders. One of the most effective approaches to building capacity among all community groups is development of an appointed (mayor or police chief) youth task force to address crime and violence. Young people are perhaps the most under utilized group in solving the crime problem. But they often have more insight, energy and commitment than many adults. Urban America must address the problems of crime, violence and substance abuse with level of zeal and innovation as never before. Those in the fight must become more vocal. Our young people need more today than ever. I would be more than happy to assist any group that wants to develop a model of effective crime management.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 90
It isn't a racial matter; we have violent thugs of all colors, creeds, classes, and races running around and people seem to make excuses for all of them.
It isn't a matter of poverty; as SJMarine noted he has relatives earning less than the minimum wage whose first language is apparently NOT English, and they aren't violent thugs. I know many people born and raised under the most horrendous circumstances who haven't considered rape, robbery, drug dealing, and murder as career paths.
There is a loss of hope; and a lot of that can be laid at the feet of parents and politicians who enjoy reminding the poor and unfortunate that they are poor and unfortunate. The schools CAN help if they have the will - but politics would doom any attempt to do so. From an early age children need to be taught that they have a future. That is where integrating vocational education into the curriculum from an early age can help.
In elementary school, a lesson on microbiology could include a plumber or an exterminator talking about the important role their jobs play in preventing disease. A sanitarian could talk to a class on healthy eating about the importance of proper food storage temperatures and how their job helps to make food safe. A doctor or a nurse could come in for a health class and explain how a blood pressure cuff works and how blood pressure relates to health. An electrician could come to a science class discussing electricity and point out how his job makes our homes have light, heat, and be safe and demonstrate such things as how a ground works, how a switch works, how a circuit breaker works, why different sizes of wire are used for different applications. A programmer could come in for a lesson on the role of computers in society and explain what programmers jobs actually entail. A systems administrator could show how their job keeps the schools computers running and connected. An administrative assistant could show how their decisions keep companies running smoothly.
But this won't happen because too many people are convinced that vocational education is a "dumping ground" - and in the past it has been used that way in some schools. This is not a good reason for schools to abandon giving children who either haven't the money for college or just plain aren't interested in college a chance to make a good living and perhaps finance their own higher education as my best friend did while working as a high level secretary and administrative assistant.
Schools could coordinate with community colleges and offer LVN training; at many schools an LVN need only go for three to four more quarters to receive her RN. Graduating as an LVN from high school would provide immediate access to a decent job. Cabinetmaking, automechanics, systems administration, web design, Java programming, office administration, bookkeepping, EKG technician, X-Ray technician, beautician, barber, welder, paramedic, first year of apprenticeship are all programs that schools could integrate with their existing curriculums and give kids a look at a viable future.
Vocational education can lead to a career and it can also be used as a financial stepping stone to an entirely new field of endeavor. My best friend studied office administration for all four years of high school; she graduated and received an excellent secretarial position and when she decided she wished to go to college she made good money working part time because of her skill set. My cousins took auto shop in high school: one went to college and has received numerous awards for his outstanding performance as an industrial arts teacher; the other became a machinist and later a foreman at Dakota Aircraft, an aircraft parts manufacturer.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 90
If we had real vocational education in the school system we wouldn't need all of these post high school "make work" tax funded job programs. Solar energy? The panels don't pay for themselves and wouldn't be popular at all except for government subsidies. They're not even "non-polluting" since manufacturing them is very filthy and polluting - which is why they are almost all made overseas in countries that either lack or do not enforce environmental regulations.
The schools need to be teaching useful things, instead of "self-esteem" and all the other nonsense that passes for an education these days. Believe me, when I was doing hiring we were looking for high school graduates to train on the job for some tasks in high technology - and at least half of the supposed high school graduates were functionally illiterate. We wound up hiring people with college degrees in various non-technical fields.
See my earlier posts on the importance of, and the need for, vocational education in the public schools.
Joined: Dec 1969
Current Posts: 41
Government, institutions, non-profit community organizations and heads of family must realize and accept genuinely motivational and spiritual solutions to the crises facing black youth (a national problem). True charismatic and responsible leadership is required to oppose the devasting effects of biased history, ignorance, media brainwashing, and self-destruction. Our ancient African ancestors foresaw this problem of societal breakdown and understood its restoration under MAAT political and spiritual leadership.
Joined: Aug 2009
Current Posts: 9
IN 1998 THE CITY HAD A CRIME PREVENTION PROGRAM THAT WORKED, IGNACIO AND TONY ACOSTA ALONG WITH FORMER MAYOR ELIHU (I STEAL FROM THE KIDS HARRIS) KILLED IT BY SETTING UP ITS DIRECTOR WITH A FALSE SEX SCANDAL THAT A LOT OF DUMB OAKLANDERS FELL FOR. THE MAN WAS CLEARED AND THE PROGRAM WAS LOST. SHAME ON THEM ALL. READ THE BOOK POLITICS CRIME AND LIES WHICH TELL THE TRUE STORY BEHIND THE SCANDAL THAT COST THE CITY OF OAKLAND OVER TWO MILLION DOLLARS AND THE ONLY TRUE VIOLENCE PREVENTION PROGRAM THIS CITY EVER HAD.
Joined: Jul 2008
Current Posts: 90
Youth employment and training programs are "thinking outside the box"? We've had Y.E.S., the CCC, the Job Corps, the training program for green energy workers, and many other youth employent and training initiatives and they haven't made a tinker's dam. Until someone gets serious and recognizes that inner city families have been afflicted by a culture and a government that has low expectations for them and denigrates self-reliance, self-respect, and self-sufficiency NOTHING can or will change. All too many people see no reason for schooling or training because on the one hand, they fear discrimination and are discouraged, and on the other side if they do choose to fall into failure they are well *entitled* to entitlement programs.