Some of the most adamant folks against gang violence are completely oblivious to the fact that their spanking, popping, pinching, yelling selves set the stage for their young people to be violent with their peers. I am a zero-tolerance of corporal punishment girl. I am against hitting a child for ANY reason. I tell adults to RAISE THEIR SKILLS AND NOT THEIR HANDS when rearing children.
Where do we expect urban youth to get negotiation skills, where they'd "talk things out" with their adversaries? If parents don't allow their children to speak their minds, let alone speak at all, then the skill to negotiate never develops. A child does something the parent doesn't like, and they get smacked upside the head. Lesson? Something displeases you...go knock the person upside the head. Trouble is, today's youth just may shoot instead of a simple smack. Thus the loss of hundreds of lives in the inner city.
If today's adults want young folks to be better...THEY ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE BETTER! Sit on the back of any inner city bus at 3pm when school lets out and listen to the content of young folks' conversations. They are angry, disgruntled, resentful, bitter & fight-ready. And many of them left the house that morning with all that baggage.
So adults...time to check ourselves before we wreck oursleves...and our futures.
Asadah
Author
Beating Black Kids