Live (right now) - "Stop The Violence" - Knoxville Meeting on Solutions to Gang Violence

[Ray Z]

near as I can figure, 90% of gun violence in Knoxville is thug on thug,  the other 10% is people defending themselves from pill heads.

 

Thugs are the issue, nothing more.

I agree with Mike. But let's define what a thug is. A thug is a person that is protecting his corner for selling drugs. He does this with a gun. He has worked hard to build his corner sales.  He is part of a group. We are afraid to call this group a gang. The local residences are hesitant to get involved for a couple of reasons.There would be payback, and these are probably their children. Let's define children. Children are a produce of a pleasant moment. To be discarded as soon as they can be.

 

Answers?

• Don't breed them if you can't feed them.
• Denial  is not a river in Egypt.
• If they're yours take control.
• Homework is not the time to cut dope.

 

There! In the simplest of terms and the simplest of sentences.

[JAB]

Okay, the following opinions may not be popular but they are mine and so I will express them for others to consider.  Let me preference them by saying that for roughly 13 years (1990 to 2003) I lived on the 2300 block of East Fifth Avenue in Knoxville.  That was my grandmother's residence and she had lived there for several decades by that point.  I originally started living there, too, because I was attending college at the University of Tennessee which was nearby.  At the time, there was what I remain convinced was a crack house at the corner of East Fifth and Olive, you couldn't get into the alley that turned off of Olive and ran parallel to Magnolia and East Fifth half the time because so many hookers would be standing around and would try to get in your car - repeatedly yanking the door handle even with the door locked - if you stopped to keep from running over one of them and the old Park Theater where I saw a few movies as a kid, which by the late 90s stood abandoned at the end of that alley, was used as a drug and booze hangout for vagrants (it has since been torn down.)  While I lived there, there were at least two gang-related drive-by shootings at the house directly across and one house down from ours on East Fifth.  One of our black neighbors quite likely saved my life one day when I first started living there when she warned me that the doo rag I was wearing (this was back when pretty much every college aged guy wore doo rags) was the wrong color and would get me killed.  My grandmother had her purse stolen one Sunday evening after returning from church right in the back yard one day when I wasn't there and Mr. Colt and I had to persuade three 'urban youths' to stop trying to break in our front door at about 2am one time.  I say all of that to demonstrate that I am not just some rube from a rural area who doesn't know what living in such a neighborhood is like.

 

Let's be honest, here.  The gangs continue to operate because there is money to be made via their criminal activities.  Lots of it.  The possibility of getting killed while attempting to make said money is simply an occupational hazard.  The possibility of getting blown away or put in prison didn't stop gangsters like Capone or Gotti and it won't stop these 'ganstas', either.  To them, being dead is better than being poor (or actually having to work a steady job for a living, apparently.)  It is an economic as well as cultural issue and simply having a father there to tell them 'don't do it' won't stop the problem in the 'hood any more than coming from a good home and having good parents keeps supposed 'good' kids from suburbia from getting into drugs and so on.  Heck, there are 'good families' in the 'hood whose kids end up in gangs, too.  Further, having a bunch of well-meaning people get together to try and 'stop' the problem isn't going to do any good, either and I doubt any significant numbers of any real gang members participated in the discussions.  Going that route is akin to the members of this forum talking to each other about how irrational and short-sighted the attitudes of anti-gunners are - we are preaching to the choir and it will have little to no impact on the anti-gunners because they don't give a crap what we have to say.  Likewise, a bunch of non-gang members and 'community activists' trying to solve a problem which the main actors in the situation do now want solved is not likely to be very effective.  In other words, it boils down to pissing in the ocean.

 

Honestly, the attitude of these gang members is nothing new.  I have already mentioned Capone and Gotti.  Further, I think of a PBS special I saw the other day that was about Bonnie and Clyde.  Like the urban gang members, they started out as young people living in poverty.  Bonnie, at least, came from a 'good home' with a mother who 'raised her right'.  She was drawn into the life of a criminal, apparently, by dreams of it being glamorous and romantic - the same kind of glamour and romance a poor, urban kid might ascribe to having a nice 'crib', a car with an awesome stereo, nice rims and being able to afford flashy gold chains and the like.  For Clyde's part, he just couldn't stand being poor and apparently basically decided that he would rather be dead than poor or in jail.  From those simple motivations they went on to commit terrible crimes, murder innocent people and, eventually, die in a hail of bullets.  Further, they and other, similar criminals such as John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, et. al, were actually viewed positively or even idolized by other depression era Americans who also wished they could escape their lives of poverty and drudgery - even those who were law abiding citizens and who would never dream of actually doing such acts, themselves.  

 

So, if 'talking it out' and trying to fix the problem through intervention and so on won't work we have to ask ourselves what other solutions might be available.  As one comparison I have already made involved the mafia, let us look at that aspect of organized crime for an example.  Accepting that the mafia is still extant and that it isn't likely to ever completely go away, we can also see that there was a time period when they rose to the pinnacle of their power and profitability when their criminal activities seemed to be the most widespread and overt and, subsequently, a decline in said power and profitability.  Simply put, the mob made big money off of Prohibition and their nation-wide presence seemed to go into decline after Prohibition ended.  Why?  Because there was profit in illegal booze that was mostly removed once booze was no longer illegal.  To understand just how widespread and powerful the mob became during Prohibition we need only to look at some of the places we might least expect to see the mob represented.  Consider that there was a mob presence in 'backwater' places like Roane County and Cocke County, Tennessee because those were the places where much of their illegal booze was made.  I have even read that Johnson City was sometimes known as 'Little Chicago' due to the mob presence and influence there.  The mob was there because there was money to be made.  Take away the money = take away some of their influence.  Without the possibility of making lots of cash (in this case slinging dope) I would say that enthusiasm for getting killed or landing in jail for a street gang would suddenly become much reduced.  Now, does that mean that we should legalize all currently illegal drugs?  I can't say that.  I am just saying that as long as there is money to be made through selling such substances then there will always be those willing to take the risks associated with doing so as well as those who are more than willing to accept the deaths of innocent bystanders and community members, regardless of the victims' ages, creeds or skin colors, as 'collateral damage.'

 

I also think that there is another aspect of gang life that will be difficult to overcome.  It is the same type of mentality that causes young men (and, increasingly, women) of Middle Eastern lineage to be willing to strap bombs to themselves and blow themselves up in crowded, civilian locations.  I think that gangs make use of the same mentality and the same type of 'conditioning' used to achieve that mentality.  Further, while some, such suicide bombers undoubtedly come from troubled families there are also examples of those who came from good homes, some whose families renounce the activities of their sons and daughters and even some who never suspected that their child had gotten in to such radical ideology.  Likewise, I think that while there might not be such an overt 'religious' aspect involved for those young gang members I do think there is an aspect of gang life that includes the idea of being 'martyred' for your 'brothers' in the gang.  Do the higher ups in the gang really give a crap about those 'martyrs'?  I suspect that they do not any more than I suspect the various Imams, etc. give a crap about the rank and file 'martyrs' who blow themselves to bits for 'the cause'.  Maybe there is even some informal idea that one will end up drinking 40s with Tupac in some sort of 'gansta's paradise' of an afterlife (I am not trying to make light of this issue, I am actually being serious, here, even if my example puts a bit too fine a point on it.)  If anyone doubts the pseudo-religious idea of martyrdom as a result of living the 'thug life' (and dying a thug death) just look at the various, post-death representations of Shakur.  Here was a guy who had 'thug life' tattooed on his abdomen and who seemingly refused to distance himself from various criminal activities despite having success both as a recording artist and an actor yet many seem to beatify him as if he were the patron saint of gang bangers.

 

So, due to the latter issue as well as the fact that there will always be people attracted to such groups, whether because they are bored or disaffected with their law abiding upbringing or because they come from broken homes and are looking for a surrogate family I believe that gangs will never go away any more than the mafia has completely gone away.  However, I also think that the only way to even curb the activities and reduce gang membership is to remove the potential economic benefits of belonging to such a gang.

Edited January 28, 2016 by JAB

[leroy]

near as I can figure, 90% of gun violence in Knoxville is thug on thug,  the other 10% is people defending themselves from pill heads.

 

Thugs are the issue, nothing more.

 

This is a great truth... The "inner city" population are gonna have to clean up their own messes... I stay away from these "problem areas" and i would advise everyone else to as well... Arm yourselves just in case they go to roamin a bit; and they do...

 

Non carin leroy....

[ken56]

I honestly believe that our justice system is so broken in administering harsh sentances for the very crimes this event was about that the problem will never get better. I found it kind of ironic that as the meeting was taking place you know that shootings were happening somewhere around K'ville. Until the perpetrators of such violence are delt with in the justice system by some very looong sentances then talking about is just feel good B.S. It takes money to lock people up, I know, and no one wants to be taxed more to pay for that. I don't and I am sure most others on here don't either. I would like to see a study of the city's courts and sentances and early releases  on violent offenders as to how some of these people may have been on the streets  when their crimes should have kept them behind bars. There is such a multitude of factors involved here that it may be impossible to find a solution. As for me for now, I will continue to carry and defend me and mine from those that would prey on others.

Edited January 28, 2016 by ken56

[Possumslayer]

Watched a documentary about the "seven five" in nyc.... one of the cops that went bad said " there's more money in the hood than hollywood...lots more".

[Spiffy]

True.  But the thug-factory is not recognizing themselves nor currently inclined to cease operation. Train them early, or shoot them later.  Either way, it seems the cost is great.

 

Not to sound like a Preacher or anything but Rap music has created a culture and sensationalized it to the point where inner city black kids emulate it. 

[R_Bert]

Not to sound like a Preacher or anything but Rap music has created a culture and sensationalized it to the point where inner city black kids emulate it. 

not really;  singling out a sub-industry that is spawned by gang-life indoctrination is incomplete; the process of culture is iterative, and the culture personified by rap music (and violence emulated) has much deeper roots of decay - - i.e. generational failure, and loss of family structure.  The rap industry and also gang life are replacements, filling a void left behind my missing dads and moms - decades and generations ago.

 

So while rap music may be motivational and inspirational (in this context), it's contribution to societal failure is only symptomatic.

 

Gangs in their own words - "are family". That pretty much says it all. 

 

The questions that need resolved by these communities - "what causes thugs?", "what causes gangs?", "what causes violence?", and dare I say  - "Who is responsible?"

Edited January 28, 2016 by R_Bert

[R_Bert]

Gangs to God (Knoxville pastor's story is pretty good, 25+ years) - http://www.wbir.com/news/local/stop-the-violence-pastor-turns-from-gangs-to-god/24158503

[diamondback]

I agree with Mike. But let's define what a thug is. A thug is a person that is protecting his corner for selling drugs. He does this with a gun. He has worked hard to build his corner sales.  He is part of a group. We are afraid to call this group a gang. The local residences are hesitant to get involved for a couple of reasons.There would be payback, and these are probably their children. Let's define children. Children are a produce of a pleasant moment. To be discarded as soon as they can be.

 

Answers?

• Don't breed them if you can't feed them.
• Denial  is not a river in Egypt.
• If they're yours take control.
• Homework is not the time to cut dope.

 

There! In the simplest of terms and the simplest of sentences.

Right on the money. The thing about don't breed them if they cant feed them is lots of people on the left fear losing the votes.

 

This is a great truth... The "inner city" population are gonna have to clean up their own messes... I stay away from these "problem areas" and i would advise everyone else to as well... Arm yourselves just in case they go to roamin a bit; and they do...

 

Non carin leroy....

Sadly I think they do need to clean up their mess. If you think of those pants up don't loot guys complaining about cops you would almost think they don't want help sometimes. There are good people in the hood, but sadly many will take the side of the biggest thugs just because of their race like how a majority of the black community made Mike Brown out to be some type of hero. Even after the video of him with the clerk came out. I don't recall ANY white politician, official, or celebrity defending that rolfe guy who shot the people at that church in South Carolina. As long as some groups continue to defend the worst in their community it will never get better.

[JAB]

Not to sound like a Preacher or anything but Rap music has created a culture and sensationalized it to the point where inner city black kids emulate it. 

 

I can't stand the majority of cRap and generally don't consider it to be music (talking over an electronic beat box and "sampling" music that someone who has actual talent created is not music) nor do I consider cRappers to be singers - they are performers.  That said, there were gangs aplenty in this country - including street gangs - long before cRap became a recognized sub-genre and certainly before 'Gangsta cRap' came into existence.  'Gangsta cRap' is a result of the 'thug life', not a cause.  Does it glorify that life?  Sure but I don't think it can be said to be the reason inner city kids get into gangs.  Inner city kids don't need to look to Gangsta cRap to see examples of violence, thuggish activity and evidence that crime damn sure does pay - they need only look out their windows.  Think of it this way - the people who more or less created the Gangsta cRap sub-sub-genre grew up around gangs like the Crips and the Bloods.  As part of a documentary on gangs, I saw an interview with Ice-T - one of the original creators of Gangsta cRap (and, oddly, one of the few who has done at least some Gangsta cRap that I can stand listening to) says that he was never a member of the Crips but that he grew up around them and talks about knowing 'Tookie' Williams, one of the Crips' early leaders.   He talks about being a kid and looking up to Tookie who was just a few years older than Ice-T. The Crips and other, such gangs were founded in the 1960s and came partially out of the Black Panther movement, meaning that such gangs were already well established before Gangsta cRap came about in the 1980s.

 

I do think that Gangsta cRap likely plays a role in the spread of such attitudes but not among the inner city black kids you mentioned.  Instead, I think it has an influence on wanna-be suburban kids - especially suburban white kids who want to play at being ganstas. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by JAB

[diamondback]

I can't stand the majority of cRap and generally don't consider it to be music (talking over an electronic beat box and "sampling" music that someone who has actual talent created is not music) nor do I consider cRappers to be singers - they are performers.  That said, there were gangs aplenty in this country - including street gangs - long before cRap became a recognized sub-genre and certainly before 'Gangsta cRap' came into existence.  'Gangsta cRap' is a result of the 'thug life', not a cause.  Does it glorify that life?  Sure but I don't think it can be said to be the reason inner city kids get into gangs.  Inner city kids don't need to look to Gangsta cRap to see examples of violence, thuggish activity and evidence that crime damn sure does pay - they need only look out their windows.  Think of it this way - the people who more or less created the Gangsta cRap sub-sub-genre grew up around gangs like the Crips and the Bloods.  As part of a documentary on gangs, I saw an interview with Ice-T - one of the original creators of Gangsta cRap (and, oddly, one of the few who has done at least some Gangsta cRap that I can stand listening to) says that he was never a member of the Crips but that he grew up around them and talks about knowing 'Tookie' Williams, one of the Crips' early leaders.   He talks about being a kid and looking up to Tookie who was just a few years older than Ice-T. The Crips and other, such gangs were founded in the 1960s and came partially out of the Black Panther movement, meaning that such gangs were already well established before Gangsta cRap came about in the 1980s.

 

I do think that Gangsta cRap likely plays a role in the spread of such attitudes but not among the inner city black kids you mentioned.  Instead, I think it has an influence on wanna-be suburban kids - especially suburban white kids who want to play at being ganstas. 

Couple things.

1, I think most of those "white" suburban kids who want to play gangsta will see the light they get around some real gangstas. I think many many white liberals who go to Memphis for a time with no security would as well especially northern white liberals from places like Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

2, Part of the reason you might have liked Ice T is that he actually is influenced by music. I was reading he got into some Hendrix stuff when he was younger before getting into rap hence he had a heavy metal band body count.

 

I wonder am I the only one who does not understand why the government does not go after the bloods and crips with RICO statues like they do businessmen ( the Cosa Nostra), motorcycle gangs and even anti-abortion protestors at times? The bloods and Crips, latin kinds and so forth are definitely groups who are continuing criminal enterprises. The ms-13 as well. They just had a big bust up in Boston. It did not mention legal status of them. I am curious though and will admit it.

 

Curt Henning ( RIP) said it best

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHihfxE0ZTk

[JAB]

Couple things.

1, I think most of those "white" suburban kids who want to play gangsta will see the light they get around some real gangstas. I think many many white liberals who go to Memphis for a time with no security would as well especially northern white liberals from places like Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

2, Part of the reason you might have liked Ice T is that he actually is influenced by music. I was reading he got into some Hendrix stuff when he was younger before getting into rap hence he had a heavy metal band body count.

 

I wonder am I the only one who does not understand why the government does not go after the bloods and crips with RICO statues like they do businessmen ( the Cosa Nostra), motorcycle gangs and even anti-abortion protestors at times? The bloods and Crips, latin kinds and so forth are definitely groups who are continuing criminal enterprises. The ms-13 as well. They just had a big bust up in Boston. It did not mention legal status of them. I am curious though and will admit it.

 

Curt Henning ( RIP) said it best

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHihfxE0ZTk

 

1. I actually saw a talk show, once, where the guests were a bunch of wanna-be ganstas from the suburbs and a group of real, inner city street gang types.  At one point, the 'spokesman' for the real ganstas cut loose on the wanna-bes.  He said something to the effect of (not a direct quote but close as I can get, from memory), "Why in the hell would you want to be in a gang?  You have parents who love you.  You have a good home.  You can go to school without worrying about someone capping you on the way.  I and the rest of the people you see here aren't gang members because we think it is fun.  My dad took off when I was little and my mom is an alcoholic and crack addict who can't get off the couch most days.  I had to raise myself and the gang was the only option I had for family, for someone to watch my back.  I've seen my friends gunned down.  I've been shot at, myself.  It ain't fun.  If you think it is, if you think you're hard, come to my 'hood, sometime.  You wouldn't last five minutes.  I'd cap you myself and not feel even a little bit bad about it."

 

2. Yeah, I liked Body Count and you are right - most of the early Ice T rap songs I actually liked had metal-sounding music tracks rather than just some bass boom nonsense.  For me, though, even the ones I liked were more interesting as 'a look into a life that is different from mine' rather than something I ever wanted to emulate.

Edited February 1, 2016 by JAB

[Volphin]

I saw this post about a year ago and saved a copy of it.  It paints an interesting picture of what is happening in the court system.  Once again, this is pasted from another source:

 

I am a public defender in a large southern metropolitan area. Fewer than ten percent of the people in the area I serve are black but over 90 per cent of my clients are black. The remaining ten percent are mainly Hispanics but there are a few whites.

I have explanation for why this is, but crime has racial patterns. Hispanics usually commit two kinds of crime: sexual assault on children and driving under the influence. Blacks commit many violent crimes but very few sex crimes. The handful of whites I see commit all kinds of crimes. In my many years as a public defender I have represented only three Asians, and one was half black.

As a young lawyer, I believed the official story that blacks are law abiding, intelligent, family-oriented people, but are so poor they must turn to crime to survive. Actual black behavior was a shock to me.

The media invariably sugarcoat black behavior. Even the news reports of the very crimes I dealt with in court were slanted. Television news intentionally leaves out unflattering facts about the accused, and sometimes omits names that are obviously black. All this rocked my liberal, tolerant beliefs, but it took me years to set aside my illusions and accept the reality of what I see every day. I have now served thousands of blacks and their families, protecting their rights and defending them in court. What follow are my observations.

Although blacks are only a small percentage of our community, the courthouse is filled with them: the halls and gallery benches are overflowing with black defendants, families, and crime victims. Most whites with business in court arrive quietly, dress appropriately, and keep their heads down. They get in and get out--if they can--as fast as they can. For blacks, the courthouse is like a carnival. They all seem to know each other: hundreds and hundreds each day, gossiping, laughing loudly, waving, and crowding the halls.

When I am appointed to represent a client I introduce myself and explain that I am his lawyer. I explain the court process and my role in it, and I ask the client some basic questions about himself. At this stage, I can tell with great accuracy how people will react. Hispanics are extremely polite and deferential. An Hispanic will never call me by my first name and will answer my questions directly and with appropriate respect for my position. Whites are similarly respectful.

A black man will never call me Mr. Smith; I am always "Mike." It is not unusual for a 19-year-old black to refer to me as "dog." A black may mumble complaints about everything I say, and roll his eyes when I politely interrupt so I can continue with my explanation. Also, everything I say to blacks must be at about the third-grade level. If I slip and use adult language, they get angry because they think I am flaunting my superiority.

At the early stages of a case, I explain the process to my clients. I often do not yet have the information in the police reports. Blacks are unable to understand that I do not yet have answers to all of their questions, but that I will by a certain date. They live in the here and the now and are unable to wait for anything. Usually, by the second meeting with the client I have most of the police reports and understand their case.

Unlike people of other races, blacks never see their lawyer as someone who is there to help them. I am a part of the system against which they are waging war. They often explode with anger at me and are quick to blame me for anything that goes wrong in their case.

Black men often try to trip me up and challenge my knowledge of the law or the facts of the case. I appreciate sincere questions about the elements of the offense or the sentencing guidelines, but blacks ask questions to test me. Unfortunately, they are almost always wrong in their reading, or understanding, of the law, and this can cause friction. I may repeatedly explain the law, and provide copies of the statute showing, for example, why my client must serve six years if convicted, but he continues to believe that a hand-written note from his "cellie" is controlling law.

The risks of trial
The Constitution allows a defendant to make three crucial decisions in his case. He decides whether to plea guilty or not guilty. He decides whether to have a bench trial or a jury trial. He decides whether he will testify or whether he will remain silent. A client who insists on testifying is almost always making a terrible mistake, but I cannot stop him.

Most blacks are unable to speak English well. They cannot conjugate verbs. They have a poor grasp of verb tenses. They have a limited vocabulary. They cannot speak without swearing. They often become hostile on the stand. Many, when they testify, show a complete lack of empathy and are unable to conceal a morality based on the satisfaction of immediate, base needs. This is a disaster, especially in a jury trial. Most jurors are white, and are appalled by the demeanor of uneducated, criminal blacks.

Prosecutors are delighted when a black defendant takes the stand. It is like shooting fish in a barrel. However, the defense usually gets to cross-examine the black victim, who is likely to make just as bad an impression on the stand as the defendant. This is an invaluable gift to the defense, because jurors may not convict a defendant--even if they think he is guilty--if they dislike the victim even more than they dislike the defendant.

Most criminal cases do not go to trial. Often the evidence against the accused is overwhelming, and the chances of conviction are high. The defendant is better off with a plea bargain: pleading guilty to a lesser charge and getting a lighter sentence.

The decision to plea to a lesser charge turns on the strength of the evidence. When blacks ask the ultimate question--"Will we win at trial?"--I tell them I cannot know, but I then describe the strengths and weaknesses of our case. The weaknesses are usually obvious: There are five eyewitnesses against you. Or, you made a confession to both the detective and your grandmother. They found you in possession of a pink cell phone with a case that has rhinestones spelling the name of the victim of the robbery. There is a video of the murderer wearing the same shirt you were wearing when you were arrested, which has the words "In Da Houz" on the back, not to mention you have the same "RIP Pookie 7/4/12" tattoo on your neck as the man in the video. Etc.

If you tell a black man that the evidence is very harmful to his case, he will blame you. "You ain't workin' fo' me." "It like you workin' with da State." Every public defender hears this. The more you try to explain the evidence to a black man, the angrier he gets. It is my firm belief many black are unable to discuss the evidence against them rationally because they cannot view things from the perspective of others. They simply cannot understand how the facts in the case will appear to a jury.

This inability to see things from someone else's perspective helps explain why there are so many black criminals. They do not understand the pain they are inflicting on others. One of my robbery clients is a good example. He and two co-defendants walked into a small store run by two young women. All three men were wearing masks. They drew handguns and ordered the women into a back room. One man beat a girl with his gun. The second man stood over the second girl while the third man emptied the cash register. All of this was on video.

My client was the one who beat the girl. When he asked me, "What are our chances at trial?" I said, "Not so good." He immediately got angry, raised his voice, and accused me of working with the prosecution. I asked him how he thought a jury would react to the video. "They don't care," he said. I told him the jury would probably feel deeply sympathetic towards these two women and would be angry at him because of how he treated them. I asked him whether he felt bad for the women he had beaten and terrorized. He told me what I suspected--what too many blacks say about the suffering of others: "What do I care? She ain't me. She ain't kin. Don't even know her."

No fathers
As a public defender, I have learned many things about people. One is that defendants do not have fathers. If a black even knows the name of his father, he knows of him only as a shadowy person with whom he has absolutely no ties. When a client is sentenced, I often beg for mercy on the grounds that the defendant did not have a father and never had a chance in life. I have often tracked down the man's father--in jail--and have brought him to the sentencing hearing to testify that he never knew his son and never lifted a finger to help him. Often, this is the first time my client has ever met his father. These meetings are utterly unemotional.

Many black defendants don't even have mothers who care about them. Many are raised by grandmothers after the state removes the children from an incompetent teenaged mother. Many of these mothers and grandmothers are mentally unstable, and are completely disconnected from the realities they face in court and in life. A 47-year-old grandmother will deny that her grandson has gang ties even though his forehead is tattooed with a gang sign or slogan. When I point this out in as kind and understanding way as I can, she screams at me. When black women start screaming, they invoke the name of Jesus and shout swear words in the same breath.

Black women have great faith in God, but they have a twisted understanding of His role. They do not pray for strength or courage. They pray for results: the satisfaction of immediate needs. One of my clients was a black woman who prayed in a circle with her accomplices for God's protection from the police before they would set out to commit a robbery.
The mothers and grandmothers pray in the hallways--not for justice, but for acquittal. When I explain that the evidence that their beloved child murdered the shop keeper is overwhelming, and that he should accept the very fair plea bargain I have negotiated, they will tell me that he is going to trial and will "ride with the Lord." They tell me they speak to God every day and He assures them that the young man will be acquitted.

The mothers and grandmothers do not seem to be able to imagine and understand the consequences of going to trial and losing. Some--and this is a shocking reality it took me a long time to grasp--don't really care what happens to the client, but want to make it look as though they care. This means pounding their chests in righteous indignation, and insisting on going to trial despite terrible evidence. They refuse to listen to the one person--me--who has the knowledge to make the best recommendation. These people soon lose interest in the case, and stop showing up after about the third or fourth court date. It is then easier for me to convince the client to act in his own best interests and accept a plea agreement.

Part of the problem is that underclass black women begin having babies at age 15. They continue to have babies, with different black men, until they have had five or six. These women do not go to school. They do not work. They are not ashamed to live on public money. They plan their entire lives around the expectation that they will always get free money and never have to work. I do not see this among whites, Hispanics, or any other people.

The black men who become my clients also do not work. They get social security disability payments for a mental defect or for a vague and invisible physical ailment. They do not pay for anything: not for housing (Grandma lives on welfare and he lives with her), not for food (Grandma and the baby-momma share with him), and not for child support. When I learn that my 19-year-old defendant does not work or go to school, I ask, "What do you do all day?" He smiles. "You know, just chill." These men live in a culture with no expectations, no demands, and no shame.

If you tell a black to dress properly for trial, and don't give specific instructions, he will arrive in wildly inappropriate clothes. I represented a woman who was on trial for drugs; she wore a baseball cap with a marijuana leaf embroidered on it. I represented a man who wore a shirt that read "rules are for suckers" to his probation hearing. Our office provides suits, shirts, ties, and dresses for clients to wear for jury trials. Often, it takes a whole team of lawyers to persuade a black to wear a shirt and tie instead of gang colors.

From time to time the media report that although blacks are 12 percent of the population they are 40 percent of the prison population. This is supposed to be an outrage that results from unfair treatment by the criminal justice system. What the media only hint at is another staggering reality: recidivism. Black men are arrested and convicted over and over. It is typical for a black man to have five felony convictions before the age of 30. This kind of record is rare among whites and Hispanics, and probably even rarer among Asians.

At one time our office was looking for a motto that defined our philosophy. Someone joked that it should be: "Doesn't everyone deserve an eleventh chance?"

I am a liberal. I believe that those of us who are able to produce abundance have a moral duty to provide basic food, shelter, and medical care for those who cannot care for themselves. I believe we have this duty even to those who can care for themselves but don't. This world view requires compassion and a willingness to act on it.

My experience has taught me that we live in a nation in which a jury is more likely to convict a black defendant who has committed a crime against a white. Even the dullest of blacks know this. There would be a lot more black-on-white crime if this were not the case.

However, my experience has also taught me that blacks are different by almost any measure to all other people. They cannot reason as well. They cannot communicate as well. They cannot control their impulses as well. They are a threat to all who cross their paths, black and non-black alike.

I do not know the solution to this problem. Whatever solutions we seek should be based on the truth rather than what we would prefer was the truth.

[FUJIMO]

Great piece Volphin.it's a shame of all those that experience identical situations so few voice it due to the racist badge that's hung on them.

[diamondback]

Great piece Volphin.it's a shame of all those that experience identical situations so few voice it due to the racist badge that's hung on them.

Liberal whites allow this to happen because that is where other groups get their power from. The Money and power hungry whites. See the left gets to use the race card. With the election coming up its amazing how brazen the left can be in pandering for black or latino votes yet if the right tried that with their base all hell would break loose. I do think that trump would not be afraid to take the gloves off. I have no doubt their will be ads or direct mail pieces that basically say that if a republican wins blacks will be shot unarmed in the streets. I believe in the NC elections in 2014 they did a flyer that said as much that was put on windshields at black churches. The democrat "claimed" no involvement.

[diamondback]

How that lawyer can still be liberal after all that is beyond me. Kind of like knowing a room is boobie trapped and walking in and setting off anyway. That is the problem with liberals. Most intelligent people would shift to the right after seeing the results of the left's policies.

[FUJIMO]

Liberal whites allow this to happen because that is where other groups get their power from. The Money and power hungry whites. See the left gets to use the race card. With the election coming up its amazing how brazen the left can be in pandering for black or latino votes yet if the right tried that with their base all hell would break loose. I do think that trump would not be afraid to take the gloves off. I have no doubt their will be ads or direct mail pieces that basically say that if a republican wins blacks will be shot unarmed in the streets. I believe in the NC elections in 2014 they did a flyer that said as much that was put on windshields at black churches. The democrat "claimed" no involvement.

The mighty O said with great certainty there would be a Democrat in the white house next term.

And to stay on topic of this thread, he made sure to comment about the violence as it related to the ZD drive by. I'm sure he would have chimed in if the victim were Hispanic ! Edited February 2, 2016 by FUJIMO

[diamondback]

The mighty O said with great certainty there would be a Democrat in the white house next term.

And to stay on topic of this thread, he made sure to comment about the violence as it related to the ZD drive by. I'm sure he would have chimed in if the victim were Hispanic !

Mob rule instead of a republic gives us our current electoral system. I don't know about 100% a democrat. I will say much depends on conservative voters staying home or voting third party.