Gun violence affects everyone

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

http://www.theroot.com/views/time-remove-race-gun-debate?wpisrc=root_lightbox

Let's face it, in America today black life is still not valued the same as white life. This is especially true when it comes to how we respond to and even discuss guns and violent crime. This is one of my key frustrations with the current gun-control debate and the question of how central a role race plays in such discussions.

The tragic gun killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., remain a sore wound. Merciless killer Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people, including 20 children. We now know that the gunman came from a home with a veritable arsenal of weaponry. He fired150 rounds of ammunition in less than five minutes in the killing spree with his .223 caliber XM-15 rifle and its high-capacity magazine.

Understandably, and quite irrespective of race, the event saddened a nation and sparked new outcries for major gun-control reform. The momentum behind calls for reform was palpable. Particularly so, as the Newtown gun killings came so closely on the heels a similar mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., theater where 12 people lost their lives and another 58 were injured by cold-blooded gunman James Holmes.

[lostinblue 1,989]

The one thing all the mass killers had in common were the drugs they were being fed. Blame the AR15. You need to change the the headline to psychotic drugs affects everyone.

[himher 634]

Fixed your post

http://www.theroot.com/views/time-remove-race-gun-debate?wpisrc=root_lightbox

Let's face it, in the black community today life is still not valued the same as life in all other communities. This is especially true when it comes to how we respond to and even discuss guns and violent crime where the black community quickly raises a finger of blame at actions of the white community years and even decades ago. This is one of my key frustrations with the current gun-control debate and the question of how central a role race plays in such discussions.

The tragic gun killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., remain a sore wound. Merciless killer Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people, including 20 children. We now know that the gunman came from a home with a veritable arsenal of weaponry. He fired150 rounds of ammunition in less than five minutes in the killing spree with his .223 caliber XM-15 rifle and its high-capacity magazine. He had a known mental illness and his divorced mother pawned him off to the basement playing "call of duty" making graphic shots over a rifle sight all day while she spent her 20,000 per month alimony on things other than treatment for her son.

Understandably, and quite irrespective of race, the event saddened a nation and sparked new outcries for major gun-control reform. The momentum behind calls for reform was palpable. Particularly so, as the Newtown gun killings came so closely on the heels a similar mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., theater where 12 people lost their lives and another 58 were injured by cold-blooded gunman James Holmes.

Edited March 30, 2013 by himher

[Danno 1,228]

If people actually cared about minorities they would be demanding heavier prosecution of firearm violations in Chicago which ranks dead last. Instead the media would rather focus on white murder in the suburbs because they feel it pulls in the ratings.

I think the fundamental problem with your partial solution is a bit misguided in that you believe these people who want to shoot each other are concerned with any law which might be passed.

NOw if just having a reason to lock these folks up is a solution well yeah I guess but you are simply picking the poisoned fruit from the tree

and not attacking the source from which it grows.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

http://www.theroot.com/views/time-remove-race-gun-debate?wpisrc=root_lightbox

Let's face it, in America today black life is still not valued the same as white life. This is especially true when it comes to how we respond to and even discuss guns and violent crime. This is one of my key frustrations with the current gun-control debate and the question of how central a role race plays in such discussions.

The tragic gun killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., remain a sore wound. Merciless killer Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people, including 20 children. We now know that the gunman came from a home with a veritable arsenal of weaponry. He fired150 rounds of ammunition in less than five minutes in the killing spree with his .223 caliber XM-15 rifle and its high-capacity magazine.

Understandably, and quite irrespective of race, the event saddened a nation and sparked new outcries for major gun-control reform. The momentum behind calls for reform was palpable. Particularly so, as the Newtown gun killings came so closely on the heels a similar mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., theater where 12 people lost their lives and another 58 were injured by cold-blooded gunman James Holmes.

There will be no assault weapons ban. Because it would be stupid and not prevent any of the above. The number of guns a killer left at home has nothing to do with the crime.

The endless bullsh*t that continues to be vomited up on this subject is just more evidence that ...

there will be no assault weapons ban.

See me when Obama signs something.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

There will be no assault weapons ban. Because it would be stupid and not prevent any of the above. The number of guns a killer left at home has nothing to do with the crime.

The endless bullsh*t that continues to be vomited up on this subject is just more evidence that ...

there will be no assault weapons ban.

See me when Obama signs something.

Yes Gary, we know you value your guns more than any human life. Thanks for the reminder.

Fixed your post

No you didn't, you edited the parts you wanted to. I didn't write this article, so how could you fix it?

[lostinblue 1,989]

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society brought about the destruction of the black family structure for a large share of black americans. A dependence on the government to play the role of the father (ie) provider has beed a disaster.Two parents are needed in most cases to raise children . to provide a "moral " compass.Often when a male child hits 14 or 15 years of age a father is required. To lay down the law so to speak. That moral compass that is needed. This is missing in black society. The family structure has been ruined . There is no daddy. The black community has problems that only the black community can fix. I can open the paper sunday morning and just know there is another black death by a shooting. Why is that moral compass not there. I know of a case where a black woman was beaten to death in front of over 50 people. (all black ) It took the police two years to get someone to say who in the neighbor hood caused that death.WHY.... Somewhere something needs to be taught it is so wrong to take a life. When you have a one month old baby shot BETWEEN the eyes and the mother lies about where her son was .....was there any hope for that entire family.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society brought about the destruction of the black family structure for a large share of black americans. A dependence on the government to play the role of the father (ie) provider has beed a disaster.Two parents are needed in most cases to raise children . to provide a "moral " compass.Often when a male child hits 14 or 15 years of age a father is required. To lay down the law so to speak. That moral compass that is needed. This is missing in black society. The family structure has been ruined . There is no daddy. The black community has problems that only the black community can fix. I can open the paper sunday morning and just know there is another black death by a shooting. Why is that moral compass not there. I know of a case where a black woman was beaten to death in front of over 50 people. (all black ) It took the police two years to get someone to say who in the neighbor hood caused that death.WHY.... Somewhere something needs to be taught it is so wrong to take a life. When you have a one month old baby shot BETWEEN the eyes and the mother lies about where her son was .....was there any hope for that entire family.

True, but not having a father is no excuse for not knowing right or wrong, There are several black people that grew up without fathers and turned out fine, I can name several off the top of my head that I grew up with, I'd say 80% of my friends didn't have fathers, but we didn't grow up to be killers and gang bangers, My mother kept me in line, so did a lot of others. But we were lucky we didn't grow in a place festering with drugs, poverty and death. That is the factor most folks ignore. Like Karee said, you put someone in those type of situations, no matter what the race is, chances are going to be for the worse.

[Danno 1,228]

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society brought about the destruction of the black family structure for a large share of black americans. A dependence on the government to play the role of the father (ie) provider has beed a disaster.Two parents are needed in most cases to raise children . to provide a "moral " compass.Often when a male child hits 14 or 15 years of age a father is required. To lay down the law so to speak. That moral compass that is needed. This is missing in black society. The family structure has been ruined . There is no daddy. The black community has problems that only the black community can fix. I can open the paper sunday morning and just know there is another black death by a shooting. Why is that moral compass not there. I know of a case where a black woman was beaten to death in front of over 50 people. (all black ) It took the police two years to get someone to say who in the neighbor hood caused that death.WHY.... Somewhere something needs to be taught it is so wrong to take a life. When you have a one month old baby shot BETWEEN the eyes and the mother lies about where her son was .....was there any hope for that entire family.

To draw a finer point: When The great Society began the Illegitimate birthrate for Blacks was at 20% it has soared to now to over 70%. (Whites when from 2% to now 30%)

To compound the effects of this, Blacks tend to live in more consolidated areas which means as the community grows more dysfunctional ... it further effects everyone in it.

The one institution which gave such stability and community to all groups be most especially Blacks had been the Church, now that institution has little impact anymore. (shoot outs occur there too)

We have ignored this cancer so long, I don't know what can be done now, sure I agree, this is a problem that Blacks must take the lead in correcting but tell me of just one Black leader who will even talk about it? Those Black who are the most capable have long fled to whiter parts of town and they ain't looking back.

Ironically this was the one down side to the Civil Rights acts.... it hastened the migration of Black professionals from Black communities not to mention destroyed a lot of Black businesses.

[lostinblue 1,989]

True, but not having a father is no excuse for not knowing right or wrong, There are several black people that grew up without fathers and turned out fine, I can name several off the top of my head that I grew up with, I'd say 80% of my friends didn't have fathers, but we didn't grow up to be killers and gang bangers, My mother kept me in line, so did a lot of others. But we were lucky we didn't grow in a place festering with drugs, poverty and death. That is the factor most folks ignore. Like Karee said, you put someone in those type of situations, no matter what the race is, chances are going to be for the worse.

We understand this. Of the people who do kill how many had a responsible father in their life. I had a coworker (black) he mentioned his son could not find a job for the summer. I looked down and he had a brand new pair of shoes. I said where did you buy them. Sears was the reply. I then asked him if there was a shoe store in his neighbor hood.Yes and it was owned by a black man. Then why did you not shop at that store. Price he said. Support the local business and maybe they would hire your son. If you read arrmand Hammer he mentions that most of the money spent by jews were spent in dealing with jewish stores.They kept that money within the jewish community. One only needs to go to a china town or korean town to see this. The problem is you have a drug trade that pays more than working at a honest business. A friend of mine taught in a school district that is in the top 10 per dollar per student in the US. Not top 10 percent top 10....80 percent of the black males do not make it past the 10th grade. What are you going to do with these men. I have worked with them and they start at the bottom but cannot advance because even the BASIC math skill are lacking. Cannot add fractions. well you need to add fractions even if you were to run the band saw. This same man (coworker) had a daughter that went for a joy ride with friends. They were arrested. He complained the friends were a bad influence on her . I suggested that perhaps he should move out of the city .....well he said there was no "action" in the country.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

We understand this. Of the people who do kill how many had a responsible father in their life. I had a coworker (black) he mentioned his son could not find a job for the summer. I looked down and he had a brand new pair of shoes. I said where did you buy them. Sears was the reply. I then asked him if there was a shoe store in his neighbor hood.Yes and it was owned by a black man. Then why did you not shop at that store. Price he said. Support the local business and maybe they would hire your son. If you read arrmand Hammer he mentions that most of the money spent by jews were spent in dealing with jewish stores.They kept that money within the jewish community. One only needs to go to a china town or korean town to see this. The problem is you have a drug trade that pays more than working at a honest business. A friend of mine taught in a school district that is in the top 10 per dollar per student in the US. Not top 10 percent top 10....80 percent of the black males do not make it past the 10th grade. What are you going to do with these men. I have worked with them and they start at the bottom but cannot advance because even the BASIC math skill are lacking. Cannot add fractions. well you need to add fractions even if you were to run the band saw. This same man (coworker) had a daughter that went for a joy ride with friends. They were arrested. He complained the friends were a bad influence on her . I suggested that perhaps he should move out of the city .....well he said there was no "action" in the country.

Look at all of the spree killers, did the Columbine boys have fathers? There are too many factors when it comes to killing, if you could narrow it down to just fatherless kids, it would be easier to prevent.

You can't support business if the business is not good there. My Master Chief talked about this when he was approached with going to eat in a black neighborhood versus going somewhere else. He's black, and from Detroit. You don't want to go someone and eat that's dirty or nasty. I don't care what color you are, it's a health concern. There's a place called Goody Goody, you can google it. It's in a black neighborhood, but it's clean and the food is very good. We eat there when my wife is off on the weekends. They do great business, and have no issues. Black people have no problem supporting a cause, and most of the time we stay within our own places, but if the service is garbage what do you do? Problem is it's bigger than a simple get up and move. There is so much to be done.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

http://www.theroot.c...c=root_lightbox

Let's face it, in America today black life is still not valued the same as white life. This is especially true when it comes to how we respond to and even discuss guns and violent crime. This is one of my key frustrations with the current gun-control debate and the question of how central a role race plays in such discussions.

The tragic gun killings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., remain a sore wound. Merciless killer Adam Lanza took the lives of 26 people, including 20 children. We now know that the gunman came from a home with a veritable arsenal of weaponry. He fired150 rounds of ammunition in less than five minutes in the killing spree with his .223 caliber XM-15 rifle and its high-capacity magazine.

Understandably, and quite irrespective of race, the event saddened a nation and sparked new outcries for major gun-control reform. The momentum behind calls for reform was palpable. Particularly so, as the Newtown gun killings came so closely on the heels a similar mass shooting in an Aurora, Colo., theater where 12 people lost their lives and another 58 were injured by cold-blooded gunman James Holmes.

I do agree black and white life is not valued the same. you kill or shoot a black man for no apparent reason you get the extra charge of hate crime. Not so if you blow a toddlers face for no reason.. So I guess black life is more valuable or at least one would assume so under the guise of equal protection under the law.

Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society brought about the destruction of the black family structure for a large share of black americans. A dependence on the government to play the role of the father (ie) provider has beed a disaster.Two parents are needed in most cases to raise children . to provide a "moral " compass.Often when a male child hits 14 or 15 years of age a father is required. To lay down the law so to speak. That moral compass that is needed. This is missing in black society. The family structure has been ruined . There is no daddy. The black community has problems that only the black community can fix. I can open the paper sunday morning and just know there is another black death by a shooting. Why is that moral compass not there. I know of a case where a black woman was beaten to death in front of over 50 people. (all black ) It took the police two years to get someone to say who in the neighbor hood caused that death.WHY.... Somewhere something needs to be taught it is so wrong to take a life. When you have a one month old baby shot BETWEEN the eyes and the mother lies about where her son was .....was there any hope for that entire family.

You get it.. Good post

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I do agree black and white life is not valued the same. you kill or shoot a black man for no apparent reason you get the extra charge of hate crime. Not so if you blow a toddlers face for no reason.. So I guess black life is more valuable or at least one would assume so under the guise of equal protection under the law.

You get it.. Good post

http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/beyond-trayvon-black-and-unarmed

Funny, none of these police were charged with a hate crime, care to elaborate?

[Danno 1,228]

http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/beyond-trayvon-black-and-unarmed

Funny, none of these police were charged with a hate crime, care to elaborate?

While I don't want to dismiss your continued attention given to excessive police action, that is not quite a honest comparison to random people on the street shooting and killing each other.

That is just a much more complicated issue for instance.

Often Minority cops are also pulling the trigger or involved. MAny of these incidents happen in major cities where the People up the line investigating are also Black.

Are they all in on it?

In major cities most criminal interaction by cops are with a person of color so naturally these events will happen more to POC.

I am inclined to think cops are allowed to shoot to quickly and with limited Justification. For instance, if a car tried to get-away the cop simply claims he felt threatened and can unload.

Or a person with a knife walks towards an officer and because he drunk he does not respond to commands... Bam!

Edited March 31, 2013 by Danno

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

While I don't want to dismiss your continued attention given to excessive police action, that is not quite a honest comparison to random people on the street shooting and killing each other.

That is just a much more complicated issue for instance.

Often Minority cops are also pulling the trigger or involved. MAny of these incidents happen in major cities where the People up the line investigating are also Black.

I am inclined to think cops are allowed to shoot to quickly and with limited Justification. For instance, if a car tried to get-away the cop simply claims he felt threatened and can unload.

Or a person with a knife walks towards an officer and because he drunk he does not respond to commands... Bam!

My point was to Run, but it's not really that complicated if you just look at it. When was the last time a person who wasn't black or brown had these issues? Has there ever been a case of a white person being shot 50 times "by accident"? Stop and Frisk in NYC is targeting blacks and browns exclusively: http://www.nyclu.org/issues/racial-justice/stop-and-frisk-practices