From: dan@ORTTA (Daniel C. Cummings)
Subject: Re: Is it starting again?
Organization: U of Mn
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 14:10:43 GMT


Carl>I hope, my comments help to open the eyes. If there is 1 in a subway
Carl>wagon, who carries a knife, that is one to many to kill somebody because
Carl>of the skin color. Well, admittedly, he is a minority. And this happens
Carl>these days in Germany. It can't be denied or belittled by whosoever or
Carl>whatsoever. It's a fact.

Carl>If you or you wife happens to have another skin color than white, I
Carl>would strongly recommend to stay away at least from East Germany.

Actually, we're both very WASP, german and scandanavian.  But the thought of 
living in an area of extreme intolerance, even if we are in the "safe" race 
is scary.  I'm sure you've heard the old adages, the basic point is that if 
one race or group of races is singled out for persecution, we are all in 
danger.

Carl>BTW, what do you do to adress the "bigger problems", which had the LA
Carl>symptoms in your country?

Well, my own personal bias is towards early childhood education and 
guarentees of economic opportunity.  In many of our inner cities, the 
dropout rate amoung high school students is over 60%  Many of today's youth 
are raised by one parent or by no parents.  Today, African American males 
under 25 have a greater chance of being killed by a gun than by any other 
means.  13% of all American children live below the poverty line, and 
America has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the western world.  
All of this points to a very basic breakdown of societal structure and a 
devaluation of children.  The basic cruel fact is, Americans don't seem to 
care a bit about minority or poor children.  The violence you see on the 
street is a very rational choice for many of these people....consider this, 
this segment of society is basically forgotten about, has no political 
voice, and no economic power.  After the riots, suddenly they had national 
news media attention, new construction, political representation, new 
economic incentives for small business.  I'm not saying that this is moral, 
or right, or even all that effective, but the point is that SOMETHING 
happened and something changed.  Therefore, their collective action, 
although abhorent, resulted in the only attention these problems have seen 
for decades.  This is amazing!!!  The even more amazing fact, is that our 
politicians seem to STILL be looking towards increased law enforcement, 
jails, etc. to treat the problems and keep it from happening again!  You 
can't just lock these people up!  Our societal neglect has created a 
generation of criminals because they have no other viable means of support!  
Take a drive down an inner city street in America during the morning or 
afternoon.  You will see thousands of idle people sitting on corners, 
ambling around, just doing nothing!  My god, even peddling drugs is a step 
up for these folks!  There is no opportunity and no ambition to use it if 
there was!  You can't make up for destroyed chlidhoods.

The answer, IMHO, is to assure ALL children of adequate food, shelter, 
education, and to empower their families to provide for the child's basic 
needs.  I am convinced that properly raising children and giving them a good 
start and a hunger for a better life will keep them on the progressive 
course.  And I am NOT talking about this ridiculous blather spewing from the 
Republican party about "family values".  I am talking about a government 
that takes a basic responsibility to empower caregivers, of many types, as 
an investment in this world's future!  Economic opportunity will follow, 
because a generation of intelligent and empowered individuals will not be 
denied in our system....at the very least, they'll vote which is more than 
they do now (final depressing statistic.....only 50% of Americans vote).  

To paraphrase Emma Goldman...."Go to the houses of the rich and powerful and 
demand work!  If they refuse you work, demand bread!  If they refuse you 
bread, take bread!"