Teenager burned alive in barrel.... after a year, Mother hasnt recieved call from Mayor/City hall

[Pogo]

I did make a mistake in the OP, sorry. I kind of missed the first part till I watched it again. It was the kids Aunt in the video not his mom, but still she is a tough lady to face this down. when its someone in your own family its got to be heart breaking

Amen to that. I have a friend who had to find the body of her 18-year-old in a trash can, much the same story. That wasn't Chicago, it was New York and that was about 30 years ago. Like this case she was never given an explanation.

Big-ass cities like this simply cram way too many people into a small space having put them there without a plan. They grew that way from industrial booms that spurred migration from within and without, then when that rush faded away the population's still there going "now what". Then you've got an entire population laboratory that has to invent new reasons to be there on a daily basis. Subcultures develop, crime develops in lieiu of opportunity and hope, and the system of basic public services is just inadequate to address it. You can facilitate mass transit to get people places for productive purposes, but when they no longer have places to get to something has to fill that vacuum.

 

[Vastator]

I did make a mistake in the OP, sorry. I kind of missed the first part till I watched it again. It was the kids Aunt in the video not his mom, but still she is a tough lady to face this down. when its someone in your own family its got to be heart breaking

Amen to that. I have a friend who had to find the body of her 18-year-old in a trash can, much the same story. That wasn't Chicago, it was New York and that was about 30 years ago. Like this case she was never given an explanation.

Big-ass cities like this simply cram way too many people into a small space having put them there without a plan. They grew that way from industrial booms that spurred migration from within and without, then when that rush faded away the population's still there going "now what". Then you've got an entire population laboratory that has to invent new reasons to be there on a daily basis. Subcultures develop, crime develops in lieiu of opportunity and hope, and the system of basic public services is just inadequate to address it. You can facilitate mass transit to get people places for productive purposes, but when they no longer have places to get to something has to fill that vacuum.

Much like Rome... whittled away the working class in favor of “free” slave labor. Who was then forced to give out free bread, and entertain the unemployed masses with entertainment of carnage lest they should grow idle and turn their hands toward those in power...
People never change.

 

[flacaltenn]

How much education; and to what end? What jobs? The bulk of these people have access to the same educational opportunities as their "non-hood" counter parts. Not a whole lot of potential nuclear physicists sitting there waiting for thier time to shine.

That's not necessarily true. There is a "lowered expectation" version of school in "da hood".. Because they don't push for academic acheivement anymore. Just attendance. For example, the number of Advanced Placement courses and tests in an inner city H.S. is almost non-existent. Because they haven't offered the prereq. courses to have a chance at them. Statistics are fudged, tests are shunned, and the attitude of the administrators is that all that "acheivement" is racist and culturally exotic. THAT needs to be corrected. There needs to emphasis on discipline, morals and ethics, and the VALUE of education from the very starting grades. Jerry Brown is now a partisan moron, but when I LIKED him -- he was sticking his neck out as mayor of Oakland to get a Military Academy for a thousand or so kids to attend. The activists went after after with zeal. But he prevailed. And on opening session, they had something like 8500 applications for the 1000 slots available.

When I go to Burger King (rarely) and look behind the counter, i truly feel that most of those kids COULD BE Chemical engineers or rocket scientists. But they can't GET THERE thru the dumbed down schools in their neighborhoods. That's because you CANT SAVE all of them at once. You got to do the best you can to intercede and channel off an appreciable amount so that can thrive and succeed.

That's one of the ONLY things I'm optimistic about in the state of affairs for this country.

And it's all about PERSONAL one on one contact. Not funding, not checks, not programs. Which MEANS "the army" you need ain't the National Guard. It's mentors, big bros and sis's, and business and community leaders that are needed to be let loose and triage the situation.