>>The issue is so complex that no single solution will fix it. The government programs need to be retooled to stop encouraging single mothers. Schools need to teach, not be caregivers, and the black males need to "man up." They are the ones who can fix this, by being fathers instead of sperm donors. For that to happen, hip hop, gangstah rap, thuggery, gangs, etc have to become a bad thing in the black community. Calling your girlfriend "my bitch" is normal in the hood right now. Would you have tolerated that? I doubt it, so the females have a hand in turning this around too. I don't think us "white boyz" can have much impact, other that trying to be supportive of programs that are measured, and tweaked when the intent doesn't deliver the desired results.
>
>Unquestionably, it's a systemic problem that needs to be addressed systemically. What's interesting, of course, is that even in those neighborhoods, there are families that succeed in raising good kids. Some of them are traditional families, but some are single parents or even grandmothers raising kids. It would be interesting to know what makes the difference there. I suspect it's a mix of native ability with some other factors.
>
>Tamar

I think it may be tied to "cleanliness". I swear, I can count on one or two hands the number of houses in the hood that were clean. On those rare occasions, where we went to such a place, it was almost always occupied by grandma, and grandma was a woman you wouldn't have minded being your grandma. Almost all the others had nothing but filth, dirty clothes piled knee deep, roaches, food laying out, empty beer, wine and whiskey bottles everywhere, etc. They couldn't afford "anything", yet they could afford booze and dope and ciggies. I guess ingesting all those wonderful substances took their energy, which is why their crib was a pig sty.