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Originally Posted by DNinja69
Let go of? Based on what?
I hear this myth spoken on literally every day. Mostly in person but absolutely online and in the media. When I look at daily arrest info for areas where I and other family live (mostly RED states) the truth is right there for anyone to see. Identity theft. Prowling neighborhoods pilfering anywhere that isn't locked down and many places that are. Meth production. Pill peddlers in Wal Mart parking lots. Sexual assault. Shootings. This is a serious issue for me maybe those who live in the supposed Republican safe zones just aren't speaking up so we won't want to move there lol..
Telling people to shush why? Is the subject painful for you? Does a little light being shed on Conservative political dysfunction upset your apple cart? We need some reform in this area across the board. More accountability. Better training. Less emphasis on 'find a way to lock them up' which feeds the attorney pool and generates lots of billed hours but at the expense of making better actual impact on what is happening in our neighborhoods.
If you feel its just a political agenda then that is my point in a nutshell. Can we not set some politics aside and for the good of everyone find some common ground? I won't be moving to NYC, SF, etc. But we are not going to see much change when 'back the blue' chants are used as campaign slogans while fingers are pointed to the left as we are seeing done today. Your doctor doesn't use a procedure manual from 1972 why should law enforcement?
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Conservative? VitaMan is more liberal than you are. He and I have been on your side more often than not since you started posting in the political forum. But we're not in this thread. That should tell you something.
In your original post, you appeared to blame violent crime in America on conservatives, and we responded in kind. (I'm not including VitaMan in "we" here.)
The situation is indeed more complicated. Why do cities in states like Louisiana, Alabama and Arkansas, run coincidentally or not by Democrats, dominant the list of the most violent places in America, in your link in your OP?
Look at the larger picture. The countries with the highest homicide rates in the world are in the Caribbean and certain Latin American countries. As you say, it's not a function of melanin though. Most countries in Africa have much lower homicide rates, with certain exceptions like South Africa. As do South American countries that had small indigenous populations.
What places with high homicide rates have in common is a history of exploitation and oppression. The Spaniards exploited the natives in the New World. They were little more than slaves. And the slave owners and slave traders did the same in the Caribbean and the American South. It was a brutal life for the oppressed.
The end of slavery in America was followed by 100 years of further oppression, with Jim Crow laws and the like.
And who was responsible for this? Who enabled it? Well, the Democratic Party. A Republican government ended slavery with the Civil War, and Republicans overwhelmingly voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Now, in 2023, the racists in the Democratic Party are mostly dead and gone. My friend Adav8s28 argues they just joined the Republican Party, but he's wrong IMO. I think the problem now is what we have left over from history, not racism and exploitation in today's America like what we had in the past.
So how do we move forward? What's the long term solution? Well, McCain had a good point, look at poverty. Two things that would help,
1. Better schools that prepare people for the real world. Give kids the ability to become plumbers, mechanics, doctors and lawyers instead of gang members.
2. More help to poor kids and poor single mothers.
The Democrats could do more to promote "1", and the Republicans could to more to help with "2".
It would also be great if most poor kids had both parent involved in their lives when they were growing up. That would help them economically and developmentally. But how to accomplish that is way beyond my paygrade.
One other comment, about another topic you brought up, incarceration rates. DucButter linked to a video of a speaker who formerly was a Progressive who worked for George Soros. I'll link to it below. Anyway, the guy now calls himself a liberal instead, and he shares our view that incarceration rates are too high. However he believes progressives missed the boat, when they just started turning people out onto the street. His solutions are more emphasis on helping prisoners and others with mental health, and drug rehabilitation. And also instead of locking people up, using probation and the like more frequently. All good ideas IMHO.
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Originally Posted by Ducbutter
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