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When Will Adults Take Responsibility For Youth Violence?
A couple of weeks back, Attorney General Eric Holder, responding to the horrific caught-on-tape death of 16-year-old Chicagoan Derrion Albert, hoped it would serve as a "stark wake-up call to a reality that can be easy for too many to ignore as they go about their daily lives." More importantly, Holder poignantly explained why the ongoing onslaught of Youth-on-Youth attacks must be understood within a universal context: "Youth violence is not a Chicago problem anymore than it is a black problem, a white problem, or a Hispanic problem. ... It is an American problem."
What I wished the Attorney General would also say, which he failed to, was that as much as it is a national--and really international--"problem," it's also an adult problem. Often, when Youth channel their rage and righteous indignation unproductively, it is mostly a cry for attention and care, a tragic reaction to feelings of abandonment and invincibility.
For as James Baldwin once cogently wrote, "Every child's sense of himself is terrifyingly fragile. He is really at the mercy of his elders, and when he finds himself totally at the mercy of his peers, who know as little about themselves as he, it is because his peers' elders have abandoned them. ... But children, I submit, cannot be fooled." [...]
Read Full Article: http://thedailyvoice.com/voice/2009/10/when-will-adults-take-responsi-002356.php
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Adults Taking Responsibility for Youth Violence...
I tend to think that it is so often much easier for adults to turn their head when they see tides of truoble versus attempting to deal with the problem head on. Tragic incidents such as the one that took place with Derrion Albert a few weeks back made some adults open their eyes wide and have their mouths open in horror ,but unfortunately these sort of incidents are happerning right now even as I speak. Adults may read about it in the newspaper or hear about stories similar to Albert's via word-of-mouth but until it has a personal touch on their lives, I do believe that most adults do not care about the youth violence.
When youth violence takes place and there are especially neagtive results, adults have a tendency to develop and maintain the mindset that 1.) The victim probably had it coming anyway, or 2). The youths that were responsible will probably not be a menace to society much longer, especially if they are given plenty of time in prison. These are things to think about when discussing the lack of adults taking responsibility in our society for youth violence.
"That's not my child!!!"
The phrase always arise when a parent finds out that their child has committed an act of violence or placed in a situation in which the child is accused of a crime be it large or small, "that's not my child!!!" In actuality, I believe that parents who shield themselves from the realities that all children, especially their own, are capable of making bad decisions and therefore must accept the consequenses for their actions. When parents fail to realized that thier child has committed an act of violence, such as the incident in Chicago, the message that is sent out to other children is that their parents will believe whatever is said to them no matter if the child is the guilty party.
If every parent believes that thier child is not capable of making wrong decisions and try to defend their child every time he/she is in trouble, parents will not be able to have a their own personal lives to live. Parents will be too busy trying fighting thier child's battles and unable to maintain a steady job or close friendships with their peers.
Parents need to wake up and take charge of the way in which they raise their children. Some of these parents who believe in the "that's not my child" syndrome are either overprotective or not protective at all when it comes to parenting styles. Parents need to be supportive of their children and to also allow them to accept their consequences when in fact their child has been guilty in any type of crime.