As we bemoan the current state of affairs and commiserate over the economic legacy we are leaving our children, those very same children are in jeopardy - right here, right now.
You can find here article here.
OUR LOST CHILDREN
What the hell is going on with our children?
In one high school in Palo Alto, California four teenagers, acting separately, killed themselves recently by stepping in front of a train.
And who wasn't stunned by the recent reports, also from California, about a group of 20 high school kids either participating in or standing around watching the brutal 2 hour long gang rape of one of their female classmates? The attack took place outside Richmond High School during the homecoming dance. Not one person bothered to call 911. Police are still struggling to identify those involved.
Who is responsible for that ghastly crime? The rapists, of course but also responsible are those who watched, and by some reports cheered on, the attack. Legally, nothing can be done to them because the law there only mandates eyewitnesses report a crime against a child under the age of 14. This unfortunate victim is 15.
I blame faulty parenting for failing to instill the basic idea that if you see a crime in progress you call the cops! To paraphrase the old saying, evil triumphs when good men (and women) do nothing.
As a nation we fail our kids in many ways. We continue to look past all sorts of troubled children. A recent FBI sweep arrested 700 people suspected of trafficking American children into prostitution. 52 kids were saved, the youngest just 10 years old.
We've got to try harder to keep kids from being pulled into this desperate, criminal world in the first place.
Numbers are difficult to come by but it's believed police get reports of about 1.6 million children running away from home every year. Many return, voluntarily, within a short period of time but there are countless others who are chronic run-aways, children whose home life is so horrific they'd rather take their chances on the streets.
We often know who these kids are but communities haven't made it a priority to protect those minors whose parents have fallen down on the job due to drug abuse, mental illness or other of life's maladies. These kids didn't wake up one morning and decide, "Gee, I think I'll run away." Children who are loved and cared for do not leave home.
Once on the street the most popular way of earning a living is prostitution.
Case in point: 11 year old Sara Kruzan. She was raised in Riverside, California by a drug addicted, abusive mother. When a 31 year old neighborhood man named G.G. befriended Sara, plied her with attention and gifts and began grooming her for a life of prostitution she was too young to realize what was happening. By the age of 13 this honor roll student and aspiring writer had lost her virginity to G.G. and he had turned her out onto the streets. No one stopped him. Ultimately, things got so abusive Sara killed her pimp, was convicted of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life without possibility of parole. This 11 year old victim had been transformed into hard-core criminal status in just 5 short years. She's condemned to die behind bars.
This is not an isolated case. In the United States there are nearly 2300 boys and girls convicted of crimes and serving "life without" as they call it. Amnesty International reports in the rest of the world combined there are just 12 children serving such sentences. A disproportionate number of these juvenile offenders are members of a minority group.
In other words, America seems okay with condemning children, many who were victimized first, to die in prison with absolutely no chance of ever having a full, free life.
I'm not okay with that.
Currently, 42 states allow children to be sentenced to prison without the possibility of ever being released. Judges have no discretion in these states; they must sentence these kids to the max. Only eight states - New Mexico, New York, West Virginia, Maine, Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado and Alaska - and the District of Columbia have banned "life without" for juveniles. There's a bill pending in California, which imprisons 227 of these unfortunate convicts, but it's not clear it will pass.
For Sara Kruzan, who is now 29 years old, the change would be welcome but it means she'd still have to serve at least a dozen more years before it would apply to her. She's expressed true remorse for her crime, she's dedicated her time behind bars to furthering her education and she's reported to be a model prisoner. Doesn't she deserve some sort of break in her life?
If we don't deal with the needs of kids like Sara from the get-go we'll likely have to deal with them later in their scarred lives. If they are, indeed, part of our future we're all in deep trouble.
This is our collective national problem and shame.
ReplyDeleteI write about children and their families frequently. Preventing our children from entering into a life of crime would be my first choice.
Unfortunately there are so many children who are in bad situations from the start that we have to pay attention to them also.
It is posts like this one that keep the problem in the eyes of the public. I just hope that more people will become involved in helping to save the lives of our children.
Ya know, Deb...if people don't become involved, and if we turn a blind eye, then the future doesn't bode well for any of us.
ReplyDeleteThe phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child" really is true today in America.
There is nothing more precious than children. That really tugs on my heart strings.
ReplyDeleteThe only time children are mentioned is when someone wants to pass a tax on something.
ReplyDeleteThis society doesn't value life and it certainly doesn't value children...sign of the times I am afraid.
Supporting and caring for our nations children starts with coming out against the murder of children--which means abortion.
ReplyDeleteYou can't talk about caring about children while at the same time supporting agendas and politicians that support murder of the unborn.
Nikki, an old bag like you wouldn't even begin to understand the Hell of growing up in America today.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing more precious than children. That really tugs on my heart strings.
ReplyDeleteYea, they passed the schip cigarette tax, and every other tax, using that line.
No, no one cares about Americas children...all you have to do is turn on the news to confirm that.
How can a nation claim to care about kids when the purposefully dumb them down in our public school system?
ReplyDeleteWell, I read the article. My thought is, what did you expect to happen when you took a sledge hammer to people's culture?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I know the word, "multi-culturalism". That's a lie. Multi-racialism maybe, but culture? Ha! You have to break it all to get it to fit into the same bag, you see.
What you have here in the United States barely passes for culture on a broad scale. To me, it's a lot like what you might call "prison culture" but on a national level (if you can call America a nation). Everyone is thrown together and everything becomes a system of "me and what I can get." Isn't that what we've taught people? Isn't that what we threatened them to the point of accepting? We might repeat slogans like "It's all in the individual" or "It's all up to the individual." Yes, I know. We're all equal (except God's Chosen) and we should never take one's race into consideration. Ever consider there might be sit effects to all of that?
Here's one and tell me if this sounds familiar to anybody: you can totally be out for yourself or you can join a gang. True enough in prison and now true enough in our schools.
Forget how nature organized everything, there's money to be made and power to weild! You can do that most easily when tear apart all forms of racial nationalism. First you drain out all the fight. Next you have to unfasten the culture (you can replace it with something plastic). Now you are all ready to disassemble the nationalist machine and part it out to everybody!
So what do you do with kids who are too young to understand your thrown together anti-culture of materialism and apologies? What can you do? Cross your fingers. Put them in jail. Hope their pimp lets them go one day. Hope rehab does the trick this time. Pray the lawyer can pull something out of his hat.
Don't worry, most will make it. Most will have to oportunity to take their place in the hog lot of capitalism where they get nice and fat. The fatter they get, the less the test the fence, you know!
So explain to me how we're such a better world now. Explain to me the difference between a trip to the zoo and being hopelessly lost in the jungle. Explain to me how if diversity (capitalist pig farm's patchy fence) has made this country great.
Well, we can fuss about it all day but it can barely even be heard. A big fat rich man is laughing loudly. He should.
"""This society doesn't value life and it certainly doesn't value children...sign of the times I am afraid."""
ReplyDeleteI agree that this society doesn't value life but it sure does value children.
To the degree that a parent can't even disipline their child anymore. And their teacher can't do it either.
Back in the day of morals and values in America, if your kid was caught being one of the 20 who attended the raping of the girl outside of school for a couple of hours, and did nothing to stop it, when you found out you would have physically knocked some sense into them.
Today you would go to jail for doing that.
In the days of morals and values, when a kid in school gets mad at a teacher and throws a chair at them, the teacher would have given them an ass whipping that they never would forget.
Today they would go to jail and lose their job for that.
"""These kids didn't wake up one morning and decide, "Gee, I think I'll run away." Children who are loved and cared for do not leave home."""
And this is a big pile of crap. I was definitely loved and cared for and I ran away as a kid on multiple occasions. I've got news for you, sometimes kids are just little shits and they just decide to do whatever the fuck they want to do, regardless of what their parents want.
Chris Drake said...
ReplyDeleteWell, I read the article. My thought is, what did you expect to happen when you took a sledge hammer to people's culture?
Yeah, I know the word, "multi-culturalism". That's a lie. Multi-racialism maybe, but culture? Ha! You have to break it all to get it to fit into the same bag, you see.
What you seem to be suggesting here is that the process of assimilation has watered down and blended cultures together to some degree. And to a degree, I concur. It's still a multicultural society, however.
Perhaps one of the most difficult things facing a society like ours is that each culture brings a different set of mores and values into the mix. As we are all products of this society, it is little wonder that we are just a little bit confused - or a lot confused.
However, it has been my experience that regardless of culture or ideology, most of us want the same things for our children. Most of us can agree that abuse and neglect are unacceptable.
What you have here in the United States barely passes for culture on a broad scale. To me, it's a lot like what you might call "prison culture" but on a national level (if you can call America a nation). Everyone is thrown together and everything becomes a system of "me and what I can get." Isn't that what we've taught people? Isn't that what we threatened them to the point of accepting? We might repeat slogans like "It's all in the individual" or "It's all up to the individual." Yes, I know. We're all equal (except God's Chosen) and we should never take one's race into consideration. Ever consider there might be sit effects to all of that?
Did you ever consider that our continuous division of people along racial lines rather than acceptance along human lines might be the side-effect of which you speak? We are all in this together and instead of working towards solutions we are busy separating each other into little boxes. Highlighting our differences rather than our likenesses only furthers the divide.
Here's one and tell me if this sounds familiar to anybody: you can totally be out for yourself or you can join a gang. True enough in prison and now true enough in our schools.
So what is the root of the problem? Why do our children have to do or be either one? What drives them to be "totally out for themselves" or to "join a gang?"
As far as the gang ethos - I suggest that the core of the problem is twofold; 1)A need to belong - and the constant division in our society along racial and class lines contributes greatly to this as well as an unstable or unsatisfying homelife; 2)Resentment and fear - children today are angry, resentful, suspicious and feaful. And all of those things are our problem.
Forget how nature organized everything, there's money to be made and power to weild! You can do that most easily when tear apart all forms of racial nationalism. First you drain out all the fight. Next you have to unfasten the culture (you can replace it with something plastic). Now you are all ready to disassemble the nationalist machine and part it out to everybody!
Your thought processes are, obviously, a product of precisely what I was talking about, Chris. Resentment, anger, suspicion, and fear. You have managed to rationalize all of that into one big conspiracy mind-set. It explains your earlier need for belonging to a group that some would call a gang. With maturity, you have managed to coalesce all of your anxieties and fears into a nice, neat bundle of beliefs that, for you, explains this irrational thought process.
So what do you do with kids who are too young to understand your thrown together anti-culture of materialism and apologies? What can you do? Cross your fingers. Put them in jail. Hope their pimp lets them go one day. Hope rehab does the trick this time. Pray the lawyer can pull something out of his hat.
ReplyDeleteWhat to do is the biggest question in all of this. Our children are our greatest asset and we are failing them miserably.
Anything that would be successful is long-term. There are no easy or quick fixes. But, as I see it, we must stop defining ourselves and others along racial and ethnic lines. We have to get rid of the boxes and start looking at each other as one people. That's the only way any of this is going to work.
Don't worry, most will make it. Most will have to oportunity to take their place in the hog lot of capitalism where they get nice and fat. The fatter they get, the less the test the fence, you know!
Your cynicism is duly noted. I take it, you don't like Capitalism - I'm not a big fan, either. Of course, there's a box for that too - and it's labeled anti-American. Unfortunately, I do not share your optimism believing that "most will make it." Certainly, most will survive - but to what end? Broken and damaged individuals do not insure a great future for a nation already in peril.
A child abuse report is filed every 10 seconds in the United States - that's the ones that are reported. Millions of children are being neglected and abused in this country every day. Over 2,000 children turn up missing every day. The child sex-slave trade is booming in this country. These facts cannot be swept away - they can't be ignored. This should be a major concern to ALL of us regardless of our political persuasions, regardless of what we think of capitalism, or multiculturalism, or liberals, or conservatives, or any other "ism."
So explain to me how we're such a better world now. Explain to me the difference between a trip to the zoo and being hopelessly lost in the jungle. Explain to me how if diversity (capitalist pig farm's patchy fence) has made this country great.
Well, we can fuss about it all day but it can barely even be heard. A big fat rich man is laughing loudly. He should.
A better world than what, Chris? No...we are NOT a "better world." We are failing miserably because our priorities are all screwed up. Capitalism breeds materialism and materialism breeds greed and greed breeds sociopaths. As long as we continue to ignore these facts and fail to address the problem as ONE people; as long as we continue to place what should be our number one priority dead last; as long as we continue to divide ourselves into tidy little boxes we are doomed. Our children will definitely be our legacy - and it will be a really sorry state of affairs.
Hooch said...
ReplyDelete"""This society doesn't value life and it certainly doesn't value children...sign of the times I am afraid."""
I agree that this society doesn't value life but it sure does value children.
To the degree that a parent can't even disipline their child anymore. And their teacher can't do it either.
Back in the day of morals and values in America, if your kid was caught being one of the 20 who attended the raping of the girl outside of school for a couple of hours, and did nothing to stop it, when you found out you would have physically knocked some sense into them.
Let's talk about "back in the day of morals and values in America." That's one of my favorite subjects, Hooch.
Let's see...back in the day, if you got in trouble in school - you were in twice as much trouble at home. And home generally consisted of two parents.
If you were a traditional "back in the day kid" you would come home from school to a home-cooked meal and a family gathering around the dinner table. How many kids can say that today?
Back then, you roamed the streets freely, without fear, until it was time to go home - and most of the time you made it home before your curfew.
Sundays were always busy with church and family and, of course, Sunday dinner.
Back in the day...husbands were the head of the household in every way. Women were expected to take care of the family and the home and, most importantly, the man.
Girls were raised to be good wives and boys were raised to never cry and to follow in Dad's footsteps.
Virginity was valued. There was no pill and if a girl got pregnant the boy was expected to marry her and take responsibility or the girl was sent away and the baby was adopted.
Domestic violence was not always reported or responded to. There were no "safe houses" for battered women and, generally speaking, unless hospitalization was necessary, the police turned a blind eye. After all, women sometimes had to be taught their place.
Blacks were taught their place too. They were segregated, oppressed, given menial jobs, degraded and sometimes killed.
But, then...that was "back in the day of morals and values, right?"
Children, by and large, were to be seen and not heard. If they arrived in school with a bruise on their cheek, little was thought about it. If they acted out in school, they faced the paddle. It worked for some, but there are always those who rebel.
There were gangs - oh yes. They mostly fought over turf and girls. Instead of guns they used chains, knives, razors, and clubs. But back then...the fighting and inflicting of pain had to be considered a "fair fight" unless, of course, the foe was a minority.
The sexual content in movies consisted of mainly innuendoes. Violence was kept to a minimum and movies had little to do with reality.
There's much to be said in favor of "back in the day..." and there's a whole lot that wasn't quite right as well.
As to the gang rape situation - if that would have happened back then - and such things did - you might have "physically knocked some sense into your kid," but more often than not, the men in that era would simply have thought that the "girl asked for it." That's the way it was.
Today you would go to jail for doing that.
Yes you probably would.
In the days of morals and values, when a kid in school gets mad at a teacher and throws a chair at them, the teacher would have given them an ass whipping that they never would forget.
Today they would go to jail and lose their job for that.
It's a sad truth that the schools have been hamstrung in meteing out discipline. However, corporal punishment is all that it is cracked up to be. Generally speaking, spanking and paddling is more of a venting process for the initiator than the child and can have some very serious fallout.
ReplyDeleteThe other side of that is that far too many parents and teachers got carried away with their punishment and that's what brought it all to an end.
"""These kids didn't wake up one morning and decide, "Gee, I think I'll run away." Children who are loved and cared for do not leave home."""
And this is a big pile of crap. I was definitely loved and cared for and I ran away as a kid on multiple occasions. I've got news for you, sometimes kids are just little shits and they just decide to do whatever the fuck they want to do, regardless of what their parents want.
I agree, Hooch. Often these things happen in loving and caring families. I often find myself wondering why a kid committed a certain act. However, the point must be made that the nuclear family, as you think of it "back in the day" is much different now.
Children in today's society often raise themselves. Either both parents have to work or they are the product of a single parent home. Fast foods and microwave dinners are the fare with little family time being spent.
The number of young children arriving at school without breakfast or after being kept awake half the night is staggering. We fault the school system for lack of education (another topic worthy of discussion) but much of the blame lies right at the feet of the home and neighborhood. Schools, like any other industry, can only produce quality if the materials they have to work with are quality material. Do you know how many damaged children walk through those doors everyday?
We have a problem, for certain. But, looking backward won't fix it.
"Did you ever consider that our continuous division of people along racial lines rather than acceptance along human lines might be the side-effect of which you speak?"
ReplyDeleteThat dog simply won't hunt, Nikki...50 years ago the lines were much more dramatic and enforced (and as Hutch stated) most families in this nation had religious notions AND MORALS and had no compunction about giving their kids a good ass whipping when the occassion called for it.
We are spoiling our children to the point that young girls that mother half-breed children don't even live up to their responsibilities to care for the child (leaving it up to the WHITE grandparents to care for the bundles of diversity inspired bundles of joy)...
In many ways Drake is absolutely correct.
I have noticed that phenomenon of grandparents caring for grandchildren down my way as well! When I was at the grocery store I spotted five of them in fact today.
ReplyDeleteThe generation of 17-25 today was given everything by their parents. They were and are indeed spoiled. It isn't that children aren't cared for enough...they have been indulged to much enough as it is.
Let one of my kids fucking come home with a fucking mullato, expecting me to care for it, and see what I fucking do. Needless to say I won't be cleaning up after my kids who decide to bed down with something that isn't white. Needless to say I expect my children to take care of the children that they bring into this world regardless of race.
Too much is being asked of the 45 to 75 age segment of our society, and its high fucking time these spoiled fucking brats clean up their own fucking messes.
KEEP GIVING YOUR KIDS EVERY FUCKING THING THEY WANT...KEEP INDULGING THEM, JUST DON'T BE SURPRISED WHEN THEY SHOW UP AT YOUR DOORSTEP WITH A NIGLET A FEW YEARS LATER.
"We have a problem, for certain. But, looking backward won't fix it."
ReplyDeleteIt won't? You sure about that? It seemed to me like the "old way" of taking care of kids produced very productive members of society.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteLet one of my kids fucking come home with a fucking mullato, expecting me to care for it, and see what I fucking do. Needless to say I won't be cleaning up after my kids who decide to bed down with something that isn't white. Needless to say I expect my children to take care of the children that they bring into this world regardless of race.
So...am I to assume you would clean up after them if they "bed down" with something that is white?
Do you have a son? If so, would you make him marry the white girl he got pregnant? Would you insist that he get a job and support that mother and child?
Too much is being asked of the 45 to 75 age segment of our society, and its high fucking time these spoiled fucking brats clean up their own fucking messes.
Now, in many ways I couldn't agree with you more. I've raised more than my share of kids. And, I'm here to tell you that part of the problem is that we don't hold these kids responsible for their actions. That part of the "back in the day" mentality was the part we should have kept. Remember when, if a young man screwed up and got out of hand, he was given two choices - be put in reform school or join the military?
Anonymous said...
It seemed to me like the "old way" of taking care of kids produced very productive members of society.
And right you are. However, we can't regain what we have lost. No matter what you think - you cannot go back. Today is a whole different world. And in order to be successful, our children are thrown into a much more competitive and demanding society than the kids back then ever were.
You have to think on a global scale today. You cannot be an isolationist. You cannot raise children to be such, either - not if you expect them to be productive.
Most mothers can't afford to stay home and nurture and care for the family as in days past. Hell, a huge number of those mothers are working their asses off trying to keep food on the table without assistance from anyone - including the father. How are you going to fix that?
Those days are gone, folks. It's over. So...now we have this huge problem on our hands. What can we do about it? We are losing our children. Regardless of how bad you want those times back - you can't have them!
Let's deal in reality. And... beating the kid's asses isn't the solution.
Parental lack of discipline is child abuse. Pure and simple.
ReplyDeleteWhy does that idiot Drake have to related everything to racism. He needs to learn to shut his stupid fucking mouth
ReplyDeleteOff-topic, but you might be interested nonetheless. Self-appointed "hatewatcher" Raymond Franklin has just published an update to The Hate Directory, effective 1 November 2009.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, he's loaded it up with a bunch of defunct websites. Go to the section on Racist Weblogs, beginning on page 145, and you'll see at least one-third of the listed blogs NO LONGER EXIST.
He must have learned the fine art of exaggeration from the SPLC. Desperate to stay in business, the SPLC stopped restricting itself to monitoring violent racists, and cast their net wider to include mainstream figures like Dan Stein of FAIR and Lou Dobbs. The SPLC lost their credibility years ago.
Funny, but I think what he does is just keep adding to his list. A lot of the blogs that do come up haven't been updated in years while others no longer exists. That's been true of this directory for many years now.
ReplyDeleteIf every time Drake opens his damn mouth someone would stick a fist in it, he'd learn to shut the fuck up.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how some of you leftists try to act like you've got some nuts but when it comes down to it you're all talk, no action.
ReplyDeleteNothing but a bunch of cream puffs and puddin pops.
It's funny how you're such a pussy you have to post under different sock puppets.
ReplyDeleteRun Chris Drake's fingers through a meat grinder: NO ONE HOOCH.
ReplyDeleteMe and Chris Drake like to cuddle in our tent and play hide the sausage.
ReplyDeleteSINCERELY,
COLD BUTTER
Here is an idea for a theme of a show for Nikki:
ReplyDelete"How close are we to a revolution in America?"
No, I don't feel it has anything to do with race, but rather the oligarchy financially raping the nation.
That would be an interesting show to be sure.
Personally, I think if things don't change soon the nation could face a revolution similar to that of the French Revolution.
And no, this isn't something I am looking forward to. We should be talking about ways to avoid this.
American is no where near close to revolution. A bunch of stupid right winged idiots crying isn't revolution. Grow a brain you fucking moron.
ReplyDeleteOn the Important side of things: Vikings took care of business today.
Part 1
ReplyDeleteI have a few things to say and I hope folk head the warning:
Our government is no longer concerned with protecting the public... our government now exists to benefit a select few and the rest of us are wage slaves. Listen, even though things on the surface seem normal, they are not. It’s the calm before the engineered storm.
Part 2.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that conditions in this country are going to deteriorate RAPIDLY once the right “event” triggers a crisis.
Unfortunately, the framework for martial law has already been put in place by the last two administrations and now only needs a "trigger".
Interestingly enough, this country has a long history of evoking martial law, all of which will make it easier to declare the next one. The problem is that all the previous declarations of Martial Law will pale in comparison to what our rulers have planned very soon! Here are some previous examples:
**Martial Law was declared by General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812
**President Lincoln declared it again during the War Between the States, arresting anyone who dissented from his war-time policies, including newspaper editors and legislators!
**In 1931, Texas Governor Ross used National Guard troops to enforce limits on the size of private property!
Part 3
ReplyDeleteEven worse, our country already has a history of the domestic use of the armed forces without a declaration of martial law.
**In 1871, President Grant sent troops into South Carolina to confiscate all private guns.
**In 1914, President Wilson ordered the infantry into Colorado to disarm everyone involved in a labor union dispute, including members of law enforcement and the National Guard.
**In 1993, the US Army provided advice, tactical support and military equipment to the FBI and the BATF to raid the Branch Davidian Compound in Waco, TX, resulting in the deaths of 74 men, women and children.
Part 4
ReplyDeleteIn the first 130 years of our country’s history, federal troops were used more than 100 times without a declaration of martial law! The truth is that the unprecedented economic crisis afflicting the nation, along with building resentment over the new President’s socialist policies and questionable eligibility for office has the central government looking for a reason, ANY REASON to pull the trigger. But trust me...
WE ARE NOT PREPARED FOR THE EXTREME VIOLENCE THEY HAVE PLANNED FOR US.
And this is something Nikki could talk about on a program. This is certainly more important than "what about the children" stuff we read here from time to time. It is going to affect not only our children but all of us.
Part 5. Closing thoughts.
ReplyDeleteThe government agents that will be implementing Martial Law know that they must find examples to make of any dissenters, in order to keep the masses cowed like sheep. The question is will websites such as this one be one of those sheep and remain silent, or perhaps cheer the silencing of dissenters? Only time will tell.
You are so full of shit. Anytime that hard times arrives there is going to be discontent but American is no where close to a revolution. You really are a fucking idiot.
ReplyDeleteBoa, hows bout supplying some facts to back up your saying "it's all bullshit".
ReplyDeleteAnon, great post and all 100% accurate.
ReplyDelete