CIVIL RESPONSBILITY?

Posted by Tom

President Obama placed the struggle for Civil Rights and equality at the center of his Inauguration address.  He cited examples of these struggles when quoting "Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall."  These are indeed historic examples which symbolize the fight for Civil Rights and Equality.

Today, our Country and it's Citizens are in a better place because of the individual courage and perseverance of some great Americans.  Great Americans like Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.

Given the enormous challenges our Country faces today, many things were markedly absent from the President's address.  During a Gallop Poll taken from January 7-10, 2013, Americans overwhelmingly chose the Economy as the most important issue facing America today.  Specifically, the National Debt and Unemployment.  Instead, the President focused on Civil Rights.

When it comes to non-economic issues, Americans polled that they were most concerned with  their Dissatisfaction with Government and issues related to Guns.  Where were the calls for real cooperation in Government to address these issues?  Instead, the President once again chose to focus more on Civil Rights...

I think it's time the President recognizes he's representing more than specific segments of our society and not just those who support his agendas.  Until the President recognizes this fact, and stops trying to circumvent the checks and balances built into our system, then this Country will continue to be paralyzed by the polarity he alone has created.  Some have given him the title of, "Divider-In-Chief."


In lieu of the Civil Rights focus, here are some statistics:

• Black juveniles accounted for 51.6 percent of all juvenile arrests for violent crimes.
•  48.4% of all Adults arrested for Murder are Black.
• Black males have the highest incarceration rate of any ethnicity with 2.1 Million currently in Jail or Prison, but make up 6% of this Country's population and comprise 38% of all males incarcerated.  (as of June 30, 2011)
• 24.1% of black families live at or below the poverty level
• 29.3% of black households are single mothers with children
• 46.5% of black families with children under 18, headed by a single mother, live in poverty.
• The abortion rate among black teenagers was FOUR times the rate for non-Hispanic whites
• The unemployment rate for blacks is 13.2% compared to the U.S. average of 7.7%
• Roughly 7,000 Blacks are murdered each year and 94 percent of the time the murderer is black.
  According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 black murder victims, which means that 262,621 were murdered by other blacks, resulting in the 94 percent figure.  Even though blacks make-up only 13 percent of the nation’s population, they account for more than 50 percent of homicide victims. (Maybe this is an area where the President could focus his "gun control" problem)

Where is President Obama, Jessie Jackson, Al Sharpton and the myriad of other Reverends on this?  I hear a lot about how everyone else needs to do something to help, but very little about what can be done to help yourself. 

These problems are certainly NOT unique to the black community, but represent an overall BIGGER problem in America today - America's MORAL decline.  A place where anything goes, to each their own, and it's become the land of someones elses responsibility to take care of me.

The problem starts with how we're raising children.  Far too many parents aren't actively engaged and involved in their child's life.  They're either too busy trying to make ends meet or simply absent, leaving single Mother's to struggle on their own.  The meaning of "for better or worse" has turned into, "until I'm tired of you."  When children do poorly in school, it's the teachers fault or the school needs more money.  It should be about not goofing off, studying hard and parents investing the time to make it happen.  Meaningful discipline and consequences have gone out the window.  We now have this generation of entitled brats who believe it's in the Constitution that they have "The Right to an I-Phone."  These same children struggle to hold a basic conversation, because it's not taking place in a text message.  It's OK to think I-Phones are a Right, after they've EARNED the money to buy it, have their parent's over site and permission, and understand the responsibilities that go with it.  Instead of being plugged in and talking about the importance of making responsible choices, our society is now offering the morning after pill.  In addition, a "higher power" isn't something that is rewarded to you in a video game.  I can think of one book that lays out the basics for any topic I can think of.

It's time for parents to pull their heads out of their Blackberries and realize that the behavior YOU model is far more important than anything you or anyone else can say.  If you don't raise them right, rest assured the streets will!  If you don't like the situation you're in, stop whining about it, look at your choices and do something to change it!  This is still America.  With HARD WORK and COMMITMENT you can achieve anything!

Personal responsibility ensures the continued Civil Rights of everyone in America.

The Right to help yourself

“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
― Anne Frank

"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sources:

Bureau of Justice Statistics
United States Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI): Uniform Crime Report
Correctional Population in the United States and from U.S. Census Summary File 1.
Black Demographics -Information from U.S. Census Bureau 2011, Community Survey
Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on sexual and reproductive health