So I have been thinking of moving toward taking about the economic effects of issues that we discuss here on mm. So I bring you, the economic effects of crack. We often do the moral. But rarely do we do the economic. I find that the economic anlysis provides a more nuanced view of an issue.
1. More county/state money devoted special ed in schools. You know babies born addicted to crack have crazy learning disabilites. The more kids w/ ld's in your district, the more $$ you gotta spend educating them.
2. No tax base in the hood, which results in poorly funded schools. School finance is tied to a districts tax base. D-boys don't pay taxes. If they ain't paying taxes, then the schools are getting less revenue. The less revenue they get the worse shape they will be in.
3. The county has to divert city funds to treating crack related crimes. For example, take Drive by victims. D-boys don't have health insurance. So. They get shot. They get taken to Highland or SF General or Harlem Hospital. Who pays. Tax payers. (I think I just sounded like a libertarian. Wierd. I hope this is not evolving into a legalize crack post...ohhhhweee, I just got the chills. What a weird idea).
4. Crackalicious neighborhoods tend to have depressed property value. However, this does not necessarily have to be true. As you can buy a $400K victorian in West Oakland, and STILL have d-boys on the corner. But the Bay is a housing anomoly. So lets just go with the rest of the nation and conclude that having crack sold in your neighborhood depreciates your properties value, which affects your families wealth and serves as a disincentive to buy in THAT neighborhood.
5. Crack time provided micro finance - seed money for various independent Hip Hop labels. They all know who they are.
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Wow. Writing that post was a tad bit depressing. But it is what it is, right!!?!?!?! I feel like I am missing one of the affects. Perhaps it will come to me later. I know yall know.
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19 comments:
Yo Mrs. Fierce excellent post. Ill be honest I dont think we can get past this crack thing until we black folk start looking at our problems in a honestly holistic way. Too far too many people in our communities its all about material shit, instead of substantive things. We spend to much time concetrating on the bling and clothes, cars and other extras that have nothing to do with what's really important. Friends, family, health ect. What annoys me about this situation is that the drug boys are giving sanction by the community by default the community dosent make it hot enough by tolerated neanderthal behavior. Grandmothers-fathers and mothers have all got to be tolerated this behavior in order for it to have lasted so long and to be so entrenched.
Black folk should have town meeting all over the country and aks themselves what is to be accepted and not excepted. It is time for another movement like the civil rights movement except instead of marching against the man we would be marching against the drug dealers, pipe heads and other foul element in our communities. To do this we will have stop blaming the man and take initiative and responsibility for ourselves.
Hi Mark,
I am glad you are back.
I have several responses to your post.
a. Black people have allways been enormously forgiving to those that have tresspassed against us.
b. It is important to realize that d-boys ARE also family members to folks in the hood.
In fact, a hallmark of black families is that they embrace folks, for better or for worse.
c. I feel you on the town meetings. However, I feel the time would be better spent educating parents of young children, regardless of class status.
Because trust. That you have cash, does not ensure that you will be a good parent.
There is an organization that was featured on NY 1, that does this, and I have been looking for them all summer.
I gotta say, you look real nice in that new photo sis. Keep up the good work.
@anonymous stranger.
Well thank you.
BL is talent with, ahem, the camera.
I too also feel bad..but its true though..crack has inadvertently funded a lot of stuff. You should do one on meth, which is the "new crack."
Just to echo what everyone else, solid post. You know what's very alamring and a tell-tale sign of black youth? How the word 'crack' has become an adjective (superlative) for description. For example, that song on the radio is crack. Scary.
RD
NEO,
WHERE YOU BEEN OCK!>!>!>!>!>!
I actually intended on mentioning how the crack cycle is about to get repeated, more viciously with the Meth Cycle.
@ rd,
I see you at 'cha site husslin'.
I ain't mad.
Re, crack as an adjective, young and old alike use it that way.
mrs.Fierce:a. Black people have allways been enormously forgiving to those that have tresspassed against us.
mb:Mrs. Fierce I would agree with you on this at least partly, but I dont know how important that is. We are now trespassing against ourselves and our families.
Mrs. Fierce:b. It is important to realize that d-boys ARE also family members to folks in the hood.
Mb: The drugs boys are friends and family memembers, but is family is doing something to bring down the homestead that is a different matter. Mrs. F you know as well as I do those drug boys would sell crack to your pregnant baby sister or your pregnant daughter and not feel one bit of guilt over it. Plus the drug boys bring a lot of blight, poverty and just general negativeness to our communities. My view is this if your oldest son is selling crack and your youngest son is seeing his idol (older brother) do this in front of his face do you allow the older brother to continue to live with you if he wont stop selling crack?
mrs.fierce:In fact, a hallmark of black families is that they embrace folks, for better or for worse.
mb: This is true, but embracing someone and allowing them to do illegal sh#t in front of the entire homestead is playing with the devil and we will never win that game, ever. Thier is too much illegal sh#t going on in the black community that kids see, so illegal sh#t becomes somewhat acceptable and normal. Which leads to our damaged minds in that regard.
c. I feel you on the town meetings. However, I feel the time would be better spent educating parents of young children, regardless of class status.
mb: Both can be down at the same time, we have these town meeting for want of a better word, also we talk about education at these meetings video tape them and put them on the net so all parents black, white, purple whatever will have an oppurtunity to use these tapes as a guide.
Because trust. That you have cash, does not ensure that you will be a good parent.
Mrs. Fierce let me just say this the drug boys live thier lives insulated by a community that gives them sanctions, let me ask you this would you rather see the drug boys in jail or dead or would you rather see them influences your son, nephew or those of your friends. Also the drugs boys activities deprives folks of money that could be used on homes, family ect. A lot of other crimes follws the activities of the drug boys such as robbery (sometimes of women comming home from work to take care of thier kids), rape, assualt, murder ect. Do you think any other group of people would tolerate this folks infesting thier communities the way the drug boys infest ours? Also if your answer to the last question is yes why do you think that is.
let me ask you this would you rather see the drug boys in jail or dead or would you rather see them influences your son, nephew or those of your friends.
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Come on now. I am a humanist and the answer to this is obvious.
Also the drugs boys activities deprives folks of money that could be used on homes, family ect.
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I can't believe I am defending d-boys.
Um. Of course the money could be used in different places.
I feel that your analysis lacks a pragmatic economic component.
Crack is sold in the hood, on the street hand to hand, and it serves a greater social and economic purpose.
Neighborhood crack heads get they weed/crack/hop but SURROUNDING LARGELY WHITE COMMUNITIES ARE GETTING THEY FIX TOO.
THERE ARE political forces that perceive that hand to hand drug dealing is to remain in the hood so that the surrounding communities can get their fixes also.
Detroit.
Harlem.
East Oakland.
Baltimore.
East LA.
South Central.
St. Louis.
East Palo Alto
All of the neighborhoods have been crack centers, AND are in CLOSE proximity to hyper affluent areas.
A lot of other crimes follws the activities of the drug boys such as robbery (sometimes of women comming home from work to take care of thier kids), rape, assualt, murder ect. Do you think any other group of people would tolerate this folks infesting thier communities the way the drug boys infest ours?
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Yes there are tons of crime associated with street drug culture.
I agree.
Would anyone else tolerate it.
Come on fam.
We are this countries Oldest residents and its most recent citizen (ie we have only had the right to vote since what, '65).
Its not really productive to compare negros to others.
Negroes are America's step children.
Negros AIN"T come here voluntarily so asking your question presumes that black folks started off from the same point of those who CAME HERE LOOKING FOR A BETTER LIFE.
Also if your answer to the last question is yes why do you think that is.
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I think I may have answered it above.
@ Mrs. Fierce
Mrs. Fierce:I feel that your analysis lacks a pragmatic economic component.
mb: Mrs. Fierce I sincerly respect your intelligence, but this last statement is one of those statements I feel that people make to context or excuse behavior that is hurting our people.
Although we didnt come here willingly, the folks back home have a much worse quality of life in Africa that is a fact. Also even poor black people in this country have a better quality of life than most human biengs that have ever lived. Thier is no magic pill that is going to make black people whole, or to quote my mother after a long dispute between my cousin in which I felt I had been completely wronged " If you want your cousin to admit she was wrong and apologize and accept responsibility for treating you like crap you will be waiting until the day you die it aint never going to happen". What she meant was I had to move on whether or not my cousing would ever apololigize for wronging me or not.
I am not unaware of reality, but reality of crime is one that is killing our Tupacs, Biggies and a whole lot of other great and profound black men. Ill end by saying this yeah america is racist, yeah we didnt come here by our own choice, and yeah we have been truly wronged by america but the we have a choice to make either maintain the status quo and stay on the bottom or make painful and honest choices. Even if white people or the goverment are actively doing things to hold us down, we still need to make some different choices or continue going through the same thing and bieng on the bottom. This is something that white people cant fix it is our problem to fix eve if they contributed greatly to it.
@ Mark,
I make no excuses.
I only ask that you consider the larger context of what contributes to Black folks situation in this country.
You strike me as a prototypical boot strapper and I love that.
You have to realize that I am a big picture thinker.
I am all for accountability on a Macro level and on a micro level.
But I also think of the implications in a larger context.
Perhaps what is coming across in my writing is that while,the change in black/brown lives begins at home, the changes cannot be sustained without the help of the majority.
Now. I know that is going to incense you. It should. But it is a refelction of the world that we live in.
After intergration occured, we can't go back to that pro black isloated self sustained jawn.
It is not going to happen.
Not on this soil at least.
In fact there is a great FEAR of that happening honestly.
The majority cannot perceive that brown/blacks have too much.
I call it the Nat Turner syndrome.
And trust, I am not being sarcastic, I have never been good at it.
On that note.
This is all about power.
I have been mulling a post idea which basically says that Public Education will improve when the Brown/Black/White Middle class wants it to improve.
In addition to that.
Gay/Lesbian's, Tropical Women and White women, our model minorites will have access to power on Wall Street, at Fortune 500 firms and at Park Ave firms when the people in power decide that it is time to share. The people in power are white men.
I am not saying that it will be "handed over" because trust IT WILL BE FOUGHT FOR.
However, it is only UNTIL the folks empower, for what ever REASON peep that the power will need to be conceeded, will it in fact happen.
(This post is inspired by two articles I have come across.
a. About black women leaving top 20 law firms in droves.
b. About Wall street activly recruiting gay and lesbian recent MBA graduates to enhance their bottom lines. Gays and lesbians have a disporportionate amount of disposable income.)
At the end of the day it is about a struggle for power.
(((I wish I would have known you have had me thinking this hard, I would have made some coffee;)
I say da man be puttin crack in Popeyes chicken! Anotha way ta keep us down. Ya don't blieve me? Try havin jus one piece a Popeyes chicken... N dem biskits n dat dare gravy... Krack I tell ya, KRACK! Dat shit be good too. Specialy fomulated fo black folk. Da man don't sleep. He jus be cookin up shit ta keep us down... But I jus love me some Popeyes. mmm mmm mmmmmmm. I need me some right about now...
Now on a more serious note: I find the absence of true black leadership in this country both troubling and curious. I, as an individual, have no need for such, but surely our communities perish for lack of knowledge. Where are the black men who live by a code and are willing to die for a cause? They are on the corner of MLK Blvd and Malcom-X Ave. Bang bang is the code and bling bling is the cause. Who will step into the breach? Is there no one?
mrs. Fierce: Perhaps what is coming across in my writing is that while,the change in black/brown lives begins at home, the changes cannot be sustained without the help of the majority.
mb: Mrs Fierce I live under the belief that no one is going to help us, or that we cannot count on anyone to help us, just like during the civil rights movement we are going to have too take responsibility for ourselves.
I dont say this to hear myself talk or to belittle black people having a tough time right now. But if we want to be taking seriously as a group by the world then we are going to have to change the brutal reality that we live under ourselves to wait for others or for some sign to tell us when it is time to change will only result in the improsement and deaths of thousands of more young black men.
If we act like we dont care about ourselves no one else will care about us, its not about rhetoric its all about comming up with ways we can began to change our reality. Blamming the system, the man, black men or black women is not going to change any of the problems that plague our community at higher levels than other communities.
Whether or not black people have been wronged or even saying that black people have been wronged is not going to do anything for young black men who grow up with the worst role models in the country, what will make a difference is comming up with solutions and ideas on how to work on these problems, when you do that by deffination one is pulling themselves up by thier bootstraps and it becomes more than just rhetoric. Talking is never going to do anything we need to come up with ideas that engage our people and make them dream and believe that a better world is possible. We must give black people different ideas on how to live and be able to demonstrate through studies and good old common sense that the way we have been doing things will only lead to us being on the bottom. Also we need to have a massive programs that promote the value of black people inherently. Sorry for the long as post. Peace
Zay,
BL is doing the Lemonade fast and all he can talk about is those damn Popeyes biscuts.
I never had them so I don't know.
But I loves a good biscuit/scone for that matter.
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The serious reply.
The people that step up won't be us.
It will be one of the ones that we cultivate.
Right now I see that as the challenge.
We can do what our parents didn't and hip some young cats to the game.
Mark,
We must give black people different ideas on how to live and be able to demonstrate through studies and good old common sense that the way we have been doing things will only lead to us being on the bottom. Also we need to have a massive programs that promote the value of black people inherently. Sorry for the long as post. Peace
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I feel this way re under resourced people around the world.
Trill talk.
You seen Brazil lately.
Congo.
Thailand.
All bad dude.
mrs. Fierce Im not exactly sure what you mean with this last post because thier are lots of places on the planet with people who have lower living standards than even black people in this country.
I was talking about america, also none of those places have a strong democratic infrastructure in place that allows as many people to prosper as in this country. Also Mrs. Fierce I thought your post was about blacks in america specifically not blacks in Brazil, Congo or Thailand.
We are deffinately on the bottom in this country, unless black people take steps to change that I think we will remain on the bottom. Also I am not talking about leaving black folk alone to do the hard intellectual work it will take, Im talking about another progressive civil rights type movement aimed educating and empowering black people, it will take volunteers, business folk ect. It will have to be a collective effort amongst black folk. I would like to see job trainign programs for folks in prison as opposed to outsourcing those jobs. That way prisoners can give back to thier families even thought they are locked up.
I would like to invest in the black community finacially, spiritually and socially, I would like to do things such as wide spread debate, reading and writting programs to teach black people who to read, right and use language to get ahead. I got a lot of ideas Im just searching for folks who will be willing to role up thier sleaves and get down to work using brainpower, these problems we face have solutions, but it will take patience (something I dont always use)to come up with ideas and then strategies on how to best implement those strategies. Complaining about the man, the system, growing up without a father, in a bad neighborhood will never change anything. Also Mrs. Fierce if you are as serious as I am about changing and helping black people just know this you, me or anyone else dont have to be scholars to come up with revolutionary ideas to make life better for black people and all americans. I not sure exactly were you were comming from with the last comment but I can see that you have made intellectual skills which I respect for.
I guess where Im going with this is I would like to be a part of the formation of a think tank designed to come up with ideas and implementation strategies to help our people. In fact I am not interested in pushing my point of view, I am more interested in pushing the best most applicable ideas for change.
If I sound like Im insane please forgive me, I find this type of convestion to be enjoyable and I really do believe that we ( a small or not so small group of serious individuals) can change the world. Peace Mrs. Fierce
Mark.
Dude.
I am friend. Not foe.
The point of my post ( and I do concede I have a special language ) is that I feel the same way about brown/black people around the world.
Its a global game mayne.
It aint just here.
As for you and I, while we have some minor differences re our analysis, we are on the same page for the most part.
Its all good.
-mf
W
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