Youngstown, Ohio has a poverty rate of 49.7%, the highest in the nation. It's unemployment rate is also higher than the national average. Not many people are willing to give these kids their first job. The majority of their parents are unemployed. They are behind academically. The school system is failing and has minimal supplies and resources. People with college degrees aren't getting jobs so telling these kids to get jobs is a joke. They are living on what the welfare system provides which is well below the poverty level and take whatever housing is available, whether it is on the Southside, in the projects, or wherever they can get. Their parents are not parenting them and no one is making them. Their families all live right here too so it's not like they can leave the area to go live with someone else. Getting someone to respond to complaints of neglect and abuse is a joke - get in line. So tell me, without a job, any chance of getting a job, parental support, a place to go, an education, or a trust fund, where are these kids going? Like I said before, they can go as far as the WRTA takes them which is right inside the same sad city they were brought into with no way out because people believe they choose to be there and close their minds to the misconcecption that they have no potential. Isn't believing in sub-standard individuals and lesser humans as a whole how we got Hitler?
Lifes2Short, I think you missd my first sentence where I wrote "I WONDER HOW MANY OF THESE KIDS ASKED TO BE BORN INTO GENERATIONAL POVERTY..." They are born to parents who aren't parenting them and just continue the cycle. When this is all they know, have no resources to change it and have no one to show them another way - people like you who judge them and say they have a choice, how are they supposed to get out? What way out do they have? I ask you if you were born to a situation just like theirs, complete poverty, drug-addicted parents or parents who abused and neglected you, no resources, no support, how would you get out? It's not a choice, it's not a "lifestyle." I agree that it is parenting, or a lack thereof, but it certainly isn't to be blamed on these kids who never asked to be born into these situations in the first place. A choice? Definitely not a choice. If it was a choice I am guessing they would choose the suburbs with a safe place to sleep, running water, electricity, no gunfire, parents who were parenting them and futures. Who are you holding accountable? Kids? Really? My point is to discount the fact that these are kids dying and the disregard for human life so many of you have is sickening, no matter how you feel about society and who is responsible.
I wonder how many of these kids asked to be born into generational poverty to single parents, some who are drug-addicted with no chance of change who can only get as far as the WRTA will take them. The cycle of abuse and neglect is all they know and they continue to get trapped into the lifestyle that no welfare, educational, or judicial system can get them out of. It's nice that everyone can point fingers from their suburban neighborhoods or perhaps be one of the 1% who actually made it out of one of these situations but I would love to know what chance anyone thinks these KIDS really have without someone actually coming to the South side and picking them up, relocating them, giving them resources, social skills, parenting, education, motivation, and a whole new beginning. Throwing some food stamps at them and hoping they survive in the same cycle and God-forsaken neighborhood with the same parents who were raised just like them while they watch their friends get shot in front of them isn't working.
Youngstown police probe South Side shooting
Youngstown, Ohio has a poverty rate of 49.7%, the highest in the nation. It's unemployment rate is also higher than the national average. Not many people are willing to give these kids their first job. The majority of their parents are unemployed. They are behind academically. The school system is failing and has minimal supplies and resources. People with college degrees aren't getting jobs so telling these kids to get jobs is a joke. They are living on what the welfare system provides which is well below the poverty level and take whatever housing is available, whether it is on the Southside, in the projects, or wherever they can get. Their parents are not parenting them and no one is making them. Their families all live right here too so it's not like they can leave the area to go live with someone else. Getting someone to respond to complaints of neglect and abuse is a joke - get in line. So tell me, without a job, any chance of getting a job, parental support, a place to go, an education, or a trust fund, where are these kids going? Like I said before, they can go as far as the WRTA takes them which is right inside the same sad city they were brought into with no way out because people believe they choose to be there and close their minds to the misconcecption that they have no potential. Isn't believing in sub-standard individuals and lesser humans as a whole how we got Hitler?
February 28, 2012 at 5:22 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Youngstown police probe South Side shooting
Lifes2Short,
I think you missd my first sentence where I wrote "I WONDER HOW MANY OF THESE KIDS ASKED TO BE BORN INTO GENERATIONAL POVERTY..." They are born to parents who aren't parenting them and just continue the cycle. When this is all they know, have no resources to change it and have no one to show them another way - people like you who judge them and say they have a choice, how are they supposed to get out? What way out do they have? I ask you if you were born to a situation just like theirs, complete poverty, drug-addicted parents or parents who abused and neglected you, no resources, no support, how would you get out? It's not a choice, it's not a "lifestyle." I agree that it is parenting, or a lack thereof, but it certainly isn't to be blamed on these kids who never asked to be born into these situations in the first place. A choice? Definitely not a choice. If it was a choice I am guessing they would choose the suburbs with a safe place to sleep, running water, electricity, no gunfire, parents who were parenting them and futures. Who are you holding accountable? Kids? Really? My point is to discount the fact that these are kids dying and the disregard for human life so many of you have is sickening, no matter how you feel about society and who is responsible.
February 28, 2012 at 1:33 p.m. permalink suggest removal
Youngstown police probe South Side shooting
I wonder how many of these kids asked to be born into generational poverty to single parents, some who are drug-addicted with no chance of change who can only get as far as the WRTA will take them. The cycle of abuse and neglect is all they know and they continue to get trapped into the lifestyle that no welfare, educational, or judicial system can get them out of. It's nice that everyone can point fingers from their suburban neighborhoods or perhaps be one of the 1% who actually made it out of one of these situations but I would love to know what chance anyone thinks these KIDS really have without someone actually coming to the South side and picking them up, relocating them, giving them resources, social skills, parenting, education, motivation, and a whole new beginning. Throwing some food stamps at them and hoping they survive in the same cycle and God-forsaken neighborhood with the same parents who were raised just like them while they watch their friends get shot in front of them isn't working.
February 27, 2012 at 7:22 p.m. permalink suggest removal