more tipping point

Here is another small example of the tipping point. Al Sharpton, a self-proclaimed civil rights leader, a man who always showed up whenever a suspected racial crime occurred, whether justified or not, is now holding meetings in Chicago to try to reduce the black on black murder rates, that have plagued the city. This, in my way of thinking, is a step forward in solving one of the major problems facing blacks in today’s world. While his being there is a positive, I am concerned with some of the early conclusions they have drawn. The main point coming out of these meeting, is that having more jobs will solve the problem and that certainly is the case in some instances but not the real cause surrounding these crimes, which is the breakdown of the family unit. There are black males in these communities who view a job at a fast food place as a dead end, who see a factory job where you can make twice that amount as a dead end. They compare these jobs with selling drugs where you can make ten times that amount. Selling drugs leads either to using drugs or drug wars or both. Sharpton like other black leaders are unwilling to admit that the disintegration of the family is the main cause, even though statistics show this to be the case. Perhaps this is their first step to reaching out to reconnect to the family values that used to be a part of the black community. Throughout their history, where they have been discriminated against, they always survived by relying on family and church. Revitalizing these two powerful cultural units along with today’s more enlightened view of racism could go a long way to solving some of these problems. At that point the use of vouchers to get some of these young people into a more disciplined learning environment could help reduce the education gap. You might call this whole process, hope and change.