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4/28/2015 3:30 pm  #1


A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

 Donna Carol Voss
Donna Carol Voss is an author, blogger, speaker, and mom. A Berkeley grad, a former pagan, a Mormon on purpose, and an original thinker on 21st century living, her memoir "One of Everything" will be released May 2015. Contact: donna@donnacarolvoss.com.

Anger wasn’t enough to fuel the hurricane of destruction in Baltimore.

Not anger over the severing of Freddie Gray’s spine while he was in police custody. Not anger at the long simmering tensions between Baltimore police and the African-American community. Not anger over Michael Brown, or Eric Garner, or the man in South Carolina who was shot and killed by a police officer while running away.

No matter how hot that anger, no matter how fierce that rage, it produced only speeches, rallies, marches, and protests. Anger alone did not burn a CVS pharmacy to the ground, set cars and houses on fire, or loot liquor stores.

Utter disregard for self-control did.

Young thugs with neither the ability nor the desire to control anger let loose in destructive glee.
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Young thugs with neither the ability nor the desire to control their anger let loose in destructive glee. Toilet paper, flat screens, and snacks; OxyContin, liquor, and cigarettes; police cars, fire hoses, and reporters.

Self-control is a muscle that takes a lot of practice to use, especially when we’re angry. It is a muscle best developed when young; if we’ve had no reason to practice it, we have no ability to use it. Even if we could, why would we want to? Without any desire to control ourselves, the five-finger discount is so much more fun.

Late Monday night, Baltimore’s Police Commissioner beseeched parents, “Take control of your kids.” His call to parents presumes they had control of their children in the first place.

The mother seen smacking her son for taking part in the riots had control. Police Commissioner Anthony Batts used her as an example, saying, “I wish I had more parents that took charge of their kids out there tonight.”


Unfortunately, as noted by Commissioner Batts, that mother is the exception. Exceptional mothers can teach a young man to submit to authority, but even the most dedicated mother can’t do for him what his father can.

At least half of self-control is the desire to submit oneself to a higher authority: God, parents, teachers, law enforcement. A mother has the power to enforce obedience, but she is unable to model masculine self-control. The desire a young man has to emulate his father is the beginning of self-control; the daily dynamic between father and son is its practice.

The statistics on fathers in the inner city suggest that most of the young thugs in Baltimore don’t have one. Even if they all have exceptional mothers, it is only fathers who can model for them what a man can achieve through self-mastery.

One of the most powerful examples a father can set for his son is the act of going to work every day, whether or not he likes the job, whether or not he likes the boss. The son sees his father submit to something greater than himself, something more important than his personal likes and dislikes: providing for his family. And the self-esteem the father gains by financially supporting his family is modeled for his son as well, i.e., good things come from self-control.

Without a male example, it’s much harder for a young man to see any reason to control himself. And without self-control, law enforcement is experienced as coercive and only coercive, something for him to fight against.

Ben Carson, retired neurosurgeon and potential presidential candidate, recounts a time he was stopped by law enforcement when he had done nothing wrong. He was raised by an exceptional mother, and it was respect for authority, he says, that kept him polite and defused the situation.

Self-control would go a long way toward defusing tensions all over America between law enforcement and the inner city communities they serve. Recent cases of police misconduct are said to expose a pattern that is only being prosecuted now because of video proof.

That may be. What will always be is that good cops get as angry at bad cops as the rest of us. Maybe more so.

For now, national focus is on the bad cops.

Black Lawyers for Justice called for a Shut Em Down rally and march “against the brutality of the Baltimore Police Department.” Malik Shabazz, president of Black Lawyers for Justice, told the crowd he would “release them in an hour,” urging “Shut it down if you want to! Shut it down!”

The Nation of Islam brokered a deal between the Crips, the Bloods, and another gang to “take out” police officers after Freddie Gray’s funeral. Baltimore law enforcement acknowledged the partnership, calling it a credible threat.

With organized threats against them, frenzied mobs around them, and not enough officers to quell the violence, Baltimore police stayed on the job, in the streets, waiting for backup, waiting for the National Guard.

That takes incredible self-control.

Donna Carol Voss is an author, blogger, speaker, and mom. A Berkeley grad, a former pagan, a Mormon on purpose, and an original thinker on 21st century living, her memoir “One of Everything” will be released May 2015. Contact: donna@donnacarolvoss.com

Last edited by Goose (4/28/2015 4:58 pm)


 “We hold these truths to be self-evident,”  former vice president Biden said during a campaign event in Texas on Monday. "All men and women created by — you know, you know, the thing.”

 
 

4/28/2015 3:40 pm  #2


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

I'll give the author for mentioning all of the many factors that fuel rage within minority youths.

Anger wasn’t enough to fuel the hurricane of destruction in Baltimore.Not anger over the severing of Freddie Gray’s spine while he was in police custody. Not anger at the long simmering tensions between Baltimore police and the African-American community. Not anger over Michael Brown, or Eric Garner, or the man in South Carolina who was shot and killed by a police officer while running away.No matter how hot that anger, no matter how fierce that rage, it produced only speeches, rallies, marches, and protests. Anger alone did not burn a CVS pharmacy to the ground, set cars and houses on fire, or loot liquor stores

But she seems to immediately discount them to make some other point. That's too bad because they all warrant discussion and remedy. Perhaps more justice would lead to more "self-control". Just a thought.

One thing  gets short shrift, in my opinion.
Policing is a difficult, and at times thankless job. True.
AND, apparently, some aren't doing a very good job of it.

We need to address this. I am not sure that the author is correct when she writes,,,
 "good cops get as angry at bad cops as the rest of us."
It seems to me that police departments and unions often close ranks rather than disavow bad officers.
 


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/28/2015 3:45 pm  #3


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

Goose wrote:

I'll give the author for mentioning all of the many factors that fuel rage within minority youths.

Anger wasn’t enough to fuel the hurricane of destruction in Baltimore.Not anger over the severing of Freddie Gray’s spine while he was in police custody. Not anger at the long simmering tensions between Baltimore police and the African-American community. Not anger over Michael Brown, or Eric Garner, or the man in South Carolina who was shot and killed by a police officer while running away.No matter how hot that anger, no matter how fierce that rage, it produced only speeches, rallies, marches, and protests. Anger alone did not burn a CVS pharmacy to the ground, set cars and houses on fire, or loot liquor stores

But she seems to immediately discount them to make some other point. That's too bad because they all warrant discussion and remedy.
One thing  gets short shrift, in my opinion.
Policing is a difficult, and at times thankless job. True.
AND, apparently, some aren't doing a very good job of it.

We need to address this. I am not sure that the author is correct when she writes,,,
 "good cops get as angry at bad cops as the rest of us."
It seems to me that police departments and unions often close ranks rather than disavow bad officers.
 

That could very well be true, but don't you believe all close knit communities do the same thing whether it be ethnic or professional (ie-some believe doctors and lawyers just to name two do the same thing) ? 



 


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

4/28/2015 3:47 pm  #4


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

tennyson wrote:

Goose wrote:

I'll give the author for mentioning all of the many factors that fuel rage within minority youths.

Anger wasn’t enough to fuel the hurricane of destruction in Baltimore.Not anger over the severing of Freddie Gray’s spine while he was in police custody. Not anger at the long simmering tensions between Baltimore police and the African-American community. Not anger over Michael Brown, or Eric Garner, or the man in South Carolina who was shot and killed by a police officer while running away.No matter how hot that anger, no matter how fierce that rage, it produced only speeches, rallies, marches, and protests. Anger alone did not burn a CVS pharmacy to the ground, set cars and houses on fire, or loot liquor stores

But she seems to immediately discount them to make some other point. That's too bad because they all warrant discussion and remedy.
One thing  gets short shrift, in my opinion.
Policing is a difficult, and at times thankless job. True.
AND, apparently, some aren't doing a very good job of it.

We need to address this. I am not sure that the author is correct when she writes,,,
 "good cops get as angry at bad cops as the rest of us."
It seems to me that police departments and unions often close ranks rather than disavow bad officers.
 

That could very well be true, but don't you believe all close knit communities do the same thing whether it be ethnic or professional (ie-some believe doctors and lawyers just to name two do the same thing) ? 



 

Yes, they all fall for the temptation from time to time.
And, it's a problem in the medical field, in teaching, in political parties, as well as the police.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/28/2015 3:48 pm  #5


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

Let's say for argument that the premise is true (absent dads) .... how is it fixed ? 




 


"Do not confuse motion and progress, A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress"
 
 

4/28/2015 3:53 pm  #6


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

tennyson wrote:

Let's say for argument that the premise is true (absent dads) .... how is it fixed ? 




 

Good question.
Let's explore this.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/28/2015 4:33 pm  #7


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

[size=100]This is rather thought provoking. The article has some interesting interactive graphs and tables which I am not smart enough to post here.[/size]

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/20/upshot/missing-black-men.html?abt=0002&abg=1


1.5 Million Missing Black Men


By JUSTIN WOLFERS, DAVID LEONHARDT and KEVIN QUEALY    APRIL 20, 2015

For every 100 black women not in jail, there are only 83 black men. The remaining men – 1.5 million of them – are, in a sense, missing.

In New York, almost 120,000 black men between the ages of 25 and 54 are missing from everyday life. In Chicago, 45,000 are, and more than 30,000 are missing in Philadelphia. Across the South — from North Charleston, S.C., through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi and up into Ferguson, Mo. — hundreds of thousands more are missing.

They are missing, largely because of early deaths or because they are behind bars. Remarkably, black women who are 25 to 54 and not in jail outnumber black men in that category by 1.5 million, according to an Upshot analysis. For every 100 black women in this age group living outside of jail, there are only 83 black men. Among whites, the equivalent number is 99, nearly parity.

African-American men have long been more likely to be locked up and more likely to die young, but the scale of the combined toll is nonetheless jarring. It is a measure of the deep disparities that continue to afflict black men — disparities being debated after a recent spate of killings by the police — and the gender gap is itself a further cause of social ills, leaving many communities without enough men to be fathers and husbands.

Perhaps the starkest description of the situation is this: More than one out of every six black men who today should be between 25 and 54 years old have disappeared from daily life.

“The numbers are staggering,” said Becky Pettit, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas.

And what is the city with at least 10,000 black residents that has the single largest proportion of missing black men? Ferguson, Mo., where a fatal police shooting last year led to nationwide protests and a Justice Department investigation that found widespread discrimination against black residents. Ferguson has 60 men for every 100 black women in the age group, Stephen Bronars, an economist, has noted.

Most blacks live in places with a significant shortage of black men.But most whites live in places with rough parity between white men and women.

The gap in North Charleston, site of a police shooting this month, is also considerably more severe than the nationwide average, as is the gap in neighboring Charleston. Nationwide, the largest proportions of missing men generally can be found in the South, although there are also many similar areas across the Midwest and in many big Northeastern cities. The gaps tend to be smallest in the West.

Incarceration and early deaths are the overwhelming drivers of the gap. Of the 1.5 million missing black men from 25 to 54 — which demographers call the prime-age years — higher imprisonment rates account for almost 600,000. Almost 1 in 12 black men in this age group are behind bars, compared with 1 in 60 nonblack men in the age group, 1 in 200 black women and 1 in 500 nonblack women.

Higher mortality is the other main cause. About 900,000 fewer prime-age black men than women live in the United States, according to the census. It’s impossible to know precisely how much of the difference is the result of mortality, but it appears to account for a big part. Homicide, the leading cause of death for young African-American men, plays a large role, and they also die from heart disease, respiratory disease and accidents more often than other demographic groups, including black women.

Several other factors — including military deployment overseas and the gender breakdown of black immigrants — each play only a minor role, census data indicates. The Census Bureau’s undercounting of both African-Americans and men also appears to play a role.

The gender gap does not exist in childhood: There are roughly as many African-American boys as girls. But an imbalance begins to appear among teenagers, continues to widen through the 20s and peaks in the 30s. It persists through adulthood.


The disappearance of these men has far-reaching implications. Their absence disrupts family formation, leading both to lower marriage rates and higher rates of childbirth outside marriage, as research by Kerwin Charles, an economist at the University of Chicago, with Ming-Ching Luoh, has shown.

The black women left behind find that potential partners of the same race are scarce, while men, who face an abundant supply of potential mates, don’t need to compete as hard to find one. As a result, Mr. Charles said, “men seem less likely to commit to romantic relationships, or to work hard to maintain them.”

The imbalance has also forced women to rely on themselves — often alone — to support a household. In those states hit hardest by the high incarceration rates, African-American women have become more likely to work and more likely to pursue their education further than they are elsewhere.

The missing-men phenomenon began growing in the middle decades of the 20th century, and each government census over the past 50 years has recorded at least 120 prime-age black women outside of jail for every 100 black men. But the nature of the gap has changed in recent years.

Since the 1990s, death rates for young black men have dropped more than rates for other groups, notes Robert N. Anderson, the chief of mortality statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Both homicides and H.I.V.-related deaths, which disproportionately afflict black men, have dropped. Yet the prison population has soared since 1980. In many communities, rising numbers of black men spared an early death have been offset by rising numbers behind bars.

It does appear as if the number of missing black men is on the cusp of declining, albeit slowly. Death rates are continuing to fall, while the number of people in prisons — although still vastly higher than in other countries — has also fallen slightly over the last five years.

But the missing-men phenomenon will not disappear anytime soon. There are more missing African-American men nationwide than there are African-American men residing in all of New York City — or more than in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Houston, Washington and Boston, combined.

Last edited by Goose (4/28/2015 4:37 pm)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/28/2015 6:25 pm  #8


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

Where did the original post go from Common Sense?

I didn't necessarily agree with it, but there wasn't anything in there that needed removed.

 

4/28/2015 6:50 pm  #9


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

Brady Bunch wrote:

Where did the original post go from Common Sense?

I didn't necessarily agree with it, but there wasn't anything in there that needed removed.

 I tried to quote from it, and everything but the quote disapeared.
Sorry.

Here is the original article.

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/a-few-more-fathers-could-have-saved-a-baltimore-cvs-pharmacy/

Last edited by Goose (4/28/2015 6:53 pm)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

4/28/2015 6:54 pm  #10


Re: A Few More Fathers Could Have Saved a Baltimore CVS Pharmacy

No problem.  I presume as moderator all it takes is one wong click and it all just goes away.

 

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