Blacks in U.S. imprisoned at 5 times the rate of whites

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It's not a clear-cut case. No $hit...

[Heracles 417]

People would rather play the blame game, racist card or point the finger at someone than address why there is so much crime and poverty within the poor black American communities. Personally I believe it has a lot to do with the general culture and attitude of so many poor African Americans. While I agree number_6 that poverty is an issue, as is crime, I also believe there are other underlying reasons why they have such a high rate of both crime and poverty within their community. Whereas you're suggesting crime is a consequence of poverty.

There are people who see and understand this as well like Bill Cosby.

Cosby has declared that the principal responsibility for the high incarceration rate of black youth, as well as the problems of illiteracy and the 50 percent dropout rate of black high school students, lies with the parents...

Cosby continued: "I am talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit [i.e., prison garb]. Where were you when he was two? Where were you when he was twelve? Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you didn't know that he had a pistol? And where is his father?"

What was needed, said Cosby, was "parent power!" He elaborated: "Proper education has to begin at home.... We don't need another federal commission to study the problem. Scholars such as W.E.B. DuBois and John Hope Franklin and activists such as Dorothy I. Height have already written eloquently on the subject. What we need now is parents sitting down with children, overseeing homework, sending children off to school in the morning well fed, rested, and ready to learn."

Edited July 19, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[Scott & Lai 12]

The thing that stuck out like a sore thumb from this article was that the worst ratios were in the liberal Northern Blue states whose occupants often snear at the South in a condescending Holier-than-Thou manner and often have never even traveled or lived in the South.

Appears to me the sneering goes both ways.

It's not a snear...it's an observation from several years of reading posts here on VJ. It really is quite noticable.

Even though I was born in the South, I do not have the heritage of the Old South as my ancestors were from elsewhere. So I'm not making this observation as a true Son of the South. I call 'em like I see 'em.

Peejay, based on your observations, why do you suppose the great disparity? What about divisions along economic lines? Educational background? The Bell Curve showed a disparity of intelligence along ethnic lines, but drawing any conclusions that racial ethnicity has any bearing on intelligence from a biological point of view is erroneous.

Exactly. As I said - its erroneous at best to mistake correlation with cause.

I don't think anyone is talking about biological causes; that would be racist. The differences being noted that are getting the charge of racism are not biological (and thus unalterable), but cultural (and thus alterable).

[one...two...tree 2,762]

TOP 14 most dangerous cities in the US.

1. Camden, NJ - The racial makeup of the city was 16.84% White, 53.35% Black or African American

2. Detroit, MI - The racial makeup of the city was 81.55% African American, 12.26% of residents are White

3. Atlanta, GA - The racial makeup of the city is 61.39% Black, 33.22% White, 1.93% Asian

4. St. Louis, MO - The racial makeup of the city of St. Louis was 51.20% African American, 43.85% White

5. Gary, IN - The racial makeup of the city was 84.03% African American, 11.92% White

6. Washington, DC - The racial makeup of the city was 58.04% African American, 39.02% White

7. Hartford, CT - The racial makeup of the city was 17.72% White, 38.05% Black

8. New Orleans, LA - The racial makeup of the city was 67.25% African American, 28.05% White

9. Richmond, VA - The racial makeup of the city was 38.30% White, 57.19% African American

10. Birmingham, AL - The racial makeup of the city was 73.46% Black or African American, 24.07% White

11. Baltimore, MD - The racial makeup of the city was 64.34% Black or African American, 31.63% White

12. Richmond, CA - The racial makeup of the city was 21.36% white, 36.06% black or African American

13. Memphis, TN - The racial makeup of the city was 61.41% African American, 34.41% White

14. Jackson, MS - The racial makeup of the city was 27.79% White or Caucasian, 70.64% Black or African American

Based on various assumptions here, there should be a range of cities with a high portion of Caucasians and Hispanics. After all black Americans are not the only poor in America. 45,000,000+ Americans live in 'poverty'. Roughly 8,750,000 Black Americans live in poverty. There is clearly no correlation between poverty and crime as the rate of poverty amongst Black Americans is not 5 times the national average; when compared to being imprisoned.

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

[Heracles 417]

I don't think anyone is talking about biological causes; that would be racist. The differences being noted that are getting the charge of racism are not biological (and thus unalterable), but cultural (and thus alterable).

Yet people love to make it out as if someone is.

[Heracles 417]

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

Why are you trying to make it out as if it has something to do with the color of someone's skin. I certainly am not. There are differences in cultural attitudes, ethnicity, way of life, customs, traditions etc and that is what I am discussing.

PS Actually you have raised a whole other issue. How in America it is okay for someone black to be racist towards someone Caucasian but totally unacceptable for someone white to discuss anything about someone black. Plenty of examples of that out there.

Edited July 19, 2007 by Boo-Yah!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The thing that stuck out like a sore thumb from this article was that the worst ratios were in the liberal Northern Blue states whose occupants often snear at the South in a condescending Holier-than-Thou manner and often have never even traveled or lived in the South.

Appears to me the sneering goes both ways.

It's not a snear...it's an observation from several years of reading posts here on VJ. It really is quite noticable.

Even though I was born in the South, I do not have the heritage of the Old South as my ancestors were from elsewhere. So I'm not making this observation as a true Son of the South. I call 'em like I see 'em.

Peejay, based on your observations, why do you suppose the great disparity? What about divisions along economic lines? Educational background? The Bell Curve showed a disparity of intelligence along ethnic lines, but drawing any conclusions that racial ethnicity has any bearing on intelligence from a biological point of view is erroneous.

Exactly. As I said - its erroneous at best to mistake correlation with cause.

I don't think anyone is talking about biological causes; that would be racist. The differences being noted that are getting the charge of racism are not biological (and thus unalterable), but cultural (and thus alterable).

I hope not. What would be the cultural factors?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I don't think anyone is talking about biological causes; that would be racist. The differences being noted that are getting the charge of racism are not biological (and thus unalterable), but cultural (and thus alterable).

Yet people love to make it out as if someone is.

When you say:

Is education valued the same in various races?

Is the perceived responsibility of parents the same amongst various races?

Is the teen pregnancy rates the same amongst the various races?

Is violence and vandalism of public and others property the same amongst the various races?

You are trying to equate behaviour as a function of race. I don't know how it can be made any clearer than that - regardless of how you are trying to spin it subsequently. At the very least the wording of your post is extremely misleading - but you've said these sorts of things before so....

[Heracles 417]

What would be the cultural factors?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Snitchin%27

[mawilson 2,133]

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

The difference is cultural. Being born into the African American culture -- whether white

or black -- one is more likely to become a criminal.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

The difference is cultural. Being born into the African American culture -- whether white

or black -- one is more likely to become a criminal.

What is that culture? Who defines it and how is it/was it shaped?

[Heracles 417]

You are trying to equate behaviour as a function of race. I don't know how it can be made any clearer than that - regardless of how you are trying to spin it subsequently. At the very least the wording of your post is extremely misleading - but you've said these sorts of things before so....

Race is how demographics are broken down. Those questions where referring to the differences if answered by various people in similar groups.

[mawilson 2,133]

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

The difference is cultural. Being born into the African American culture -- whether white

or black -- one is more likely to become a criminal.

What is that culture? Who defines it and how is it/was it shaped?

African American Culture

[Heracles 417]

So what is your conclusion? Do you think it's a difference on a biological level (that being born Black, one is more inclined to crime)?

The difference is cultural. Being born into the African American culture -- whether white

or black -- one is more likely to become a criminal.

Very well said.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You are trying to equate behaviour as a function of race. I don't know how it can be made any clearer than that - regardless of how you are trying to spin it subsequently. At the very least the wording of your post is extremely misleading - but you've said these sorts of things before so....

Race is how demographics are broken down. Those questions where referring to the differences if answered by various people in similar groups.

Demographic breakdowns are shall we say... rather less 'emotionally loaded'