Children become the victims of this rage. They suffer most from welfare reform, which punishes women who have more babies by denying the children benefits. Factor in firearms, and the money available from selling drugs, and you have a deadly equation. The burgeoning drug trade represents for many poor youth in Baltimore the only viable economic option. Of course, the violence of the African-American poor doesn't happen in a vacuum.
Violence is an American inheritance, passed on from one generation to the next.
The increased availability of handguns, isolation, economic uncertainty, and a culture that has traditionally defended its inequities through the use of violence, all help perpetuate the cycle. A collective greed leads gun manufacturers, the media, the government, and any American who stands to benefit financially, to exploit a market driven by instability, low self-esteem, and a sense of worthlessness. This generation of youth is afraid. The gun violence is directly related to that fear. African-American lives have long been considered cheap in America, as demonstrated in countless beatings, lynchings, and burnings.