Guest Post: "...piss poor parenting is to blame."

Here is a great TKC comment--one of 200+ received by TKC's post on yesterday's events at the Plaza.

ChrisN...thanks for being a voice of reason. Unfortunately, piss poor parenting is to blame. Violence and crime committed by young Black teens has been a problem on the east side for quite some time. Now that the problem is crossing Troost and entering our a"Gem" of an attraction we are starting to dialogue about a solution.

Let's be clear. The answer is not to throw up a berlin wall to keep people out of the plaza or to create a militaristic type police presence that reminds us of the gestapo. Now that we are talking let's look at redirecting the traffic where mature young people can engage in mature fun. Is there an area on the Plaza that young people could be steered to that could provide musical entertainment and the like. Creating walls will create a more intense drive to break through it. The opposition from the East will meet greater opposition from the KCPD and the administration of justice and injustice will divide our city even more.

Second, create an intervention program for the parents of unruly youth. Haul the parents in and hold them accountable for their children's piss poor behavior. It should be educational and punitive. Give the parent strategies, a timeline to implement, and have a form of measuring success. Have some penalties in place. Bottom line, raise your child to respect authority and obey the laws of the land or the police will handle him as a criminal, lock him up, and lock you up with him. If we are assisting you already then its not a far stretch to have the two of you together in a place where you can be observed and hopefully realize the errors of your ways.

As a member of the Black Community and resident of the East Side, get these so called Black Leaders in a room, lock the door, and don't let them come out until they have a true action plan to affect real community engagement and change. Time out for photo ops with the Mayor, holding vigils, driving around in air conditioned cars and all the reactionary and pointless activities that produce nothing. Hold the leadership accountable ie. Pastors, NAACP, SCLC, Freedom, Organization Leaders, Fraternities, Sororities, SCLC, etc. Fuck the dinners and fundraisers and giving out awards considering the state we are in. The most pressing Civil Rights, Equal Rights struggle facing the Black Community is the right of Parents to effectively raise our children.

Finally, I am embarrassed at the behavior of our Black youth and it gives racist assholes a little false ammunition to shoot blanks. But here is the real tragedy, policies are being created and will be created locally and nationally because Black people are considered incapable of responsibility due to the errant behavior of some Black Parents and their children. That too is unacceptable and should be discouraged. So even the racist bastards spewing gross venom under the guise of free speech need to be publicly flogged. I am one Black Man that is not opposed to publicly embarrassing the parent to get their shit right.

8/14/11 9:06 AM