tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post4663934477998470173..comments2024-01-20T10:54:27.399-08:00Comments on The Democratic Afrosphere: Black-on-Black Crime: No one is saying anything - including the DemocratsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-36611983133237023972007-08-05T19:57:00.000-07:002007-08-05T19:57:00.000-07:00I, too, support the abolition of the Second Amendm...I, too, support the abolition of the Second Amendment. It's anachronistic. One only need look to countries that don't permit such gun ownership (like France and Japan) to see that murders are far less frequent there. <BR/><BR/>The United States has the highest rate of gun ownership AND the highest murder rate AND the highest imprisonment rate, because the Second Amendment is utterly inappropriate in the 21st Century.Francis Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862777385923656061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-60146855444619172992007-08-05T19:31:00.000-07:002007-08-05T19:31:00.000-07:00i've taken a lot of flack from conservatives and c...i've taken a lot of flack from conservatives and constitutionalists, but i still support the abolition of 2nd amendment (the right to bear arms...)! we are no longer a fledgling country where a "well armed militia" is needed to defend the states against federalist aggression!<BR/><BR/>but that removal of the 2nd amendment would take "an act of Congress" and it is obvious that you'd be hell-bent to find even ONE Congressman who would touch such an initiative with 10' pole!<BR/><BR/>the Democrats, the Republicans, the Independents - NO ONE is going to touch gun control until we have a Columbine or Virginia Tech massacre on a weekly basis in middle America! the deaths (of Black people) in urban America means NOTHING to lawmakers because that is a disposable constituency that has no lobby in Washington or in our state capitals.plez...https://www.blogger.com/profile/03637930826560736172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-49435379683350512742007-08-04T17:14:00.000-07:002007-08-04T17:14:00.000-07:00Yes, it finally came down to Boston or New Orleans...Yes, it finally came down to Boston or New Orleans, believe it or not. My mentor convinced me that I would have more of a support network if I stayed closer to home, and he was probably right. I ended up with a very strong support network to help me complete law school successfully, in Boston.<BR/><BR/>Of course, there's no way at all to know how things might have gone in New Orleans.Francis Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862777385923656061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-58006008471148635902007-08-04T17:01:00.000-07:002007-08-04T17:01:00.000-07:00Francis, you spoke about a part of town I grew up ...Francis, you spoke about a part of town I grew up in. Yes it was not easy growing up in Boston. Back in the day, people in the neighborhoods came out and took care of each other. It's really bad here in the states as you point out. But times are going to be changing. I'm hopefully that the AfroSphere will be able to get the Democrats to address the critical issue of crime in communities throughout America, specifically - black America.<BR/><BR/>I didnot realize you attended law school in Boston, my brother did as well.AAPPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13527473930364231547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-71384155365208843682007-08-04T00:48:00.000-07:002007-08-04T00:48:00.000-07:00That's a powerful video above. As though jail has...That's a powerful video above. As though jail has become a normal part of the environment for many Black men, almost as normal as school and more normal than college.<BR/><BR/>Although it affects Black men most, I don't think it says something special about Black men. I think it's a symptom of a very sick society - the same sort of society that lets makes guns as normal as toasters and television sets, that denies its citizens health care while providing them with wars, that issues pollution permits so that BP can increase its pollution of Lake Michigan by 25%. <BR/><BR/>It's a terribly sick society.Francis Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862777385923656061noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2700647842766418549.post-11597511549322035042007-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:002007-08-04T00:34:00.000-07:00It's really scary. When I was applying to law sch...It's really scary. When I was applying to law school in 1990, there was a terrific murder wave going on in Roxbury, Massachusetts. I was very reluctant to go to law school in Boston, but I did anyway. I lived on East Springfield street in the South End, a ten minute walk from the Dudley Square area that you discuss above.<BR/><BR/>But, when my sister was in school in Boston, the Dudley Square stop was where we got off the train to go to her apartment two blocks away.<BR/><BR/>It's terribly scary, what's going on. And it's apparent that the American "system" isn't going to do anything about it. In other industrialized countries, there are strict controls over handguns. It's unthinkable that there would be machines guns on the streets of Japan or France or Belgium. They simply wouldn't permit those guns to be manufactured and sold there in the first place. Those guns are illegal and highly unusual. <BR/><BR/>The massive number of killings in America is directly related to the massive number of cheap and available guns. If there were not so many guns on the streets, then those who wanted to kill others would be forced to run after them and stab them, which would require so much effort that many who are now victims would get away, many who are unintended victims would never be hurt at all, and America would be a much safer place.<BR/><BR/>With a knife, it is simply impossible to "drive by" and kill somebody, or even ten people. Even if you have excellent aim, you can only kill one person with one knife.<BR/><BR/>That's why guns need to be outlawed. They're simply too effective at killing.<BR/><BR/>What would Black neighborhoods be like if there were no guns? Would they be safer? I believe they would be, because people rarely stab children to death, but children are often the victims of gun deaths.<BR/><BR/>But, America loves guns, loves violence, and some sub-cultures among Black people don't seem to be very different in this respect. We will probably NEVER get a handle on gun deaths until we get a handle on the guns themselves.<BR/><BR/>You cannot control obesity while flooding the streets with Twinkies (strange analogy, I admit), and you cannot control gun deaths while flooding the streets with guns.Francis Hollandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11862777385923656061noreply@blogger.com