Monday, January 10, 2005
boyz in the hood
I just rewatched the movie, Boyz N the Hood and it brought up a couple of interesting points. The main one being that there was a news show about the problem people of the world and there was nothing about the USofA in it.
Think about it. Every day or so, you hear about a few folks being shot or bombed in Faluja, or Sri Lanka, or Chechnia, but when's the last time South Central (which has been renamed to make it less memorable - or swept under the rug maybe) came up in the news as a community deserving federal aid?
This weekend two kids got shot in our little town - and nearly 20 have been murdered during 2004. The look of downtown Saginaw isn't really that much different from Bosnia or Serbia. Half the buildings have been torn down and probably one quarter of what's left is in ruins. Homes all over town, not just the bad side of town are boarded up or full of trash and garbage. I took the wrong turn one night a couple of summers ago and actually feared for my life when a mob started towards my car.
You got babies raising babies and kids killing kids every day all across America. You got old folks trying to decide between their medicine and a cheap meal. You got soup kitchens in most cities that can't keep up with the demand and even young folks in pretty good jobs are putting off medical treatment because they can't afford it even with company supplied health care. And CEOs are getting fired but paid millions for bankrupting companies.
I know the US is a heck of a lot better than a lot of other countries, and I'm not saying the rest of the world doesn't deserve help, but I am saying there's a hell of a lot of folks right here in the USA who can use a hand as well.
L.A. or Third World? and Criminal Victimization
