By Carl West
If you're of the age of 35 - 45, then that means if you had children between the ages of 20 - 25, then the kids on the blocks ranging from 15 to 20 years of age could easily be your children. So why haven't you done more to control and raise your kids?
Why now are you begging and asking law enforcement to increase police presence in your communities to profile your sons and daughters and in some cases your grand children?
Civil rights leaders have fought hard over the last 30 - 40 years to combat and defeat unwritten laws on the books to stop and prevent profiling in certain communities. If you were to ask Rev. Jesse Jackson, and other prominent leaders if they are calling for profiling of any type, whether it be of the white t-shirts and jeans or baseball cap nature; they'll all tell you heck no! Because once you request for profiling in one area, it will spill over into other areas.
This is why I insist that some in my generation, which is the age demographics I listed above with children in the age bracket also listed, has failed. We've allowed some of our kids to lose control or better yet, never gain any control over their teenage lives. And now we ask for help from the one place we will wish we hadn't.
If women and families are saying their are “no available men or jobs for the men‘, then just you wait. If we allow a police state from these young, programmed style robo cops advancing themselves with one thing in mind, and that's to seek and destroy, then we all will be sorry decades from now.
What I mean by seek and destroy is the new form of cops with one thing on their minds and that's profiling little boys and girls who fit a certain make up - to stop and harass and in some cases apprehend and lock up. When your high school kid is cruising during the summer in your BMW or rolling in his new Honda you just purchased him or her for graduation, and they're stopped and or profiled, and booked on whatever charges deemed appropriate, then you have another issue on your hands.
Ten years later, hopefully after college graduation, when he or she goes to get a job and their record is pulled and it says a misdemeanor for ‘whatever’ and the employers says no thanks - then what. This is what I mean by no man or no job for the man in the family.
All because people like Matt, a respectable talk show host called for profiling along with dozens of other uninformed and uneducated listeners. They have absolutely no ideal what they're requesting, and the long term affects of asking for outside help to contain their own communities will be devastating.
Then for some to use hip hop like Mr. Jackson, as one of the root causes of the violence and disrespect is overstepping at best. Last week Tio Hardiman of Ceasefire laid out some stats on Cliff Kelley show on WVON detailing that in Chicago during the 80's, that the murder rate ranged around 800 - 900 every year. Back when hip hop was positive. Today the Chicago murder rate is around 450 - 500 any given year, so word up!
My daughter listens to pop/R&B and hip hop regularly, or when I allow her to listen to music at all. And she's not affected by the sex, drug talk and dysfunctional behavior of the blonde debutantes and Justin Bieber or Snoop. My daughter is in third grade and reads at an eighth grade level, that's because me and her mother, along with her mother's husband has strict reinforcements about who she is and what she will become.
As I stated before, crime has been and always will be a part of America's culture. That's why we have such things as law enforcement - "Dah". The only difference Mary, Stella and other respected journalists, is your print industry is just more intrusive today. When a murder occurs, it's repeated over and over again all day for 24 hours making it look like its more and more murders. Yes, all murders are sad and painful, so is just dying.
My generation had better be careful what they ask for, because you will spend more time bailing your little innocent kids out of jail, then packing them up and sending them off to college, all because you cried for more profiling.
Remember when former Mayor Daley's son, Patrick, was caught allegedly beating other youths when he was a teen with baseball bats. Today he's a respectable businessman and former war veteran because he was not profiled, harassed and arrested on flash mob charges.
Lets not forget, when in the 70's and 80's, the original flash mob crew in Bridgeport use to chase and beat visitors to their neighborhoods with bats and bottles. No one suggested profiling to combat those crimes and those boys to men still reside in Bridgeport living productive lives with families.
Finally, what about the regular drunken boys on Rush Street, street brawling weekly after long hard nights of boozing and partying. If any one should be profiled, it's that bunch. But you can believe, not the neighbors in those expensive high rises or the visitors from the suburbs being occasionally attacked are asking for anyone to be profiled, as they continue to make their way into the city week after week.
As I mentioned before, my little brother died from drug activities at seventeen. And today, some of the same boys who were involved in his demise are now respectable men with families. When I see them from time to time we reminisce about 'Lil Ron West', and discuss the others who profiled themselves, continuing on a destructive path to dead or in jail. If I would have demanded justice for my little brother, there would be some kids and some women growing up without a few good men. Peace and one love.
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