The Search for Thugs

BTW I am black, I have never waved agun in someones face. But a white man has done it to me. Are all white people thugs?

TopCop35, I agree with you that black people need to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. I just hope you dont think only blacks commit murders, carjackings and violent crimes. White people wave guns in faces too. But they are not stereotyped. i think that is the point too be made. Yes there are some blacks that do violent acts. But no need to typecast them all. For instance, just because of your comments, I dont think all cops are shortsighted.

Comment: 1st off, Americans need to quit referring to themselves and anyone else as anything but Americans. I am not an Italian American, I am an American. If you need to refer to my race, I am a white American. Not everyone who is white, is Italian, or Norwegian, or German, and neither are blacks all African. Their black Americans.
2nd The hip-hop lifestyle, rap music, gangsta mentality is only a marketing ploy set in motion to get a previously untapped market that could and eventually would make IDIOTS millionaires. There is nothing productive about it, or it's mentality. There are no redeeming qualities, even though there will be those who argue that point because they either don't want to change, or they are benefitting monitarily from it. Young blacks have been SOLD this mentality and lifestyle as normal and mainstream, and they are paying heavily from it, as are their parents, and children. Do you think any of these perpetrators of marketing care in the least bit that people that are listening and living their hyped message are dying at an unprecedented rate? Do you think they care that the welfare systems are full of their listeners; that drug dealers and users are 95% of their champions. Resoundingly no! They are only concerned with how much money they can make without regard for how it is influencing people. Until we reject these products, people and organizations that are pushing these products (LIKE DRUG DEALERS), until we become, once again, offended by pimps, users of our children, and the marketing that goes on behind the scenes to perpetuate these things, we will continue to shake our heads and watch a race implode on itself, and a country stay in racial termoil.

i think if yoou haven't lived it, walked the life, or even stigmitized yourself how can you even post a comment on how, or what should be done. you, in essence, do not know what you are talking about! therefore yoou should stay quite. the stigma is real, we see it, as an african american woman that grew up with strong african american men i see it everyday. my heart is saddened by what they go through each day. you can not make sweeping generalizations about what you second-handedly experince, or by what you precieved. you have to be in it to understand it. you have to feel it, and feel the struggles that acompany them. just please stop! stop making comments on a forum that doesn't pertain to you. not even i have the right to say what they should or shouldn't do. or what they didn't have in life. i just want them to have the ability to reinvent themselves to the kings they are. so please let's give them the floor.

To Topcat53

Stop the???mass murdering, pedophilia, spousal murders, infanticides, sex with men in public toilets, ripping off decent citizens with deceptive business practices, allowing poisonous toys to kill our children, not securing our boarders, and getting us into illegal wars with lies,??? and perhaps we wont think of you as degenerate immoral egotist that are helping destroy American values!

Stop commiting murders, armed robberies, carjackings, and other violent crimes against anyone and you'll be surprized how fast the Thug, gangsta, and criminal stigmatism goes away. Don't blame it on "it's because of the white man I live in the getto". Alot of you have made it out of the poor, getto life and made a name for yourselves. Be strong in a positive way, not by waving a gun in someone's face. Don't be suprized if the one you're waving that piece of iron at doesn't pull his own out to protect himself and blow you away. Wake up and grow up.

I must agree with (Duluth2008). No FATHERS = not much hope. It is time to GROW UP and resist being such a burden on young mothers, grandparents, tax payers and services at ALL levels. The Asian community has 16% 'out of wedlock birthrate' and the African community is 70%! There's not much shame, but plenty of blame. Where are the fathers and husbands? Chillin'? It is time for "men" to men.

The article on Taylor posits the question "Why did commentators assume Sean Taylor was a gangsta?" Kelley answers her own question in the second paragraph: "In 2005, Taylor was arrested for aggravated assault and faced 46 years in jail for waving a gun and beating up the alleged thieves of his ATVs. He pleaded no contest to reduced charges, and was sentenced to 18 months probation. " While I believe Mr. Taylor did not deserve his fate, it is obvious that however much he had recently turned his life around he was a thug. What else would you call behavior such as this? This was in 2005, just two years ago. While his death is a tragedy and Mr. Taylor is not representative of young black men in America, it is little wonder why people assume he was a gangsta. Anyone familiar with his criminal record would assume the same.

I think its time for the media to shine a light on themselves. Who is the jackass that started digging into
his criminal record - Did you look at his academic record? Did you report on the facts and take into account
that his family is in mourning or show compassion to a father who has lost his son or a daughter who has lost her father. I hope when your name is in the obituaries the press will be kinder to you than they were to Sean Taylor - The bottom line is this - Not all black males are gangsters, and you need to be balanced in your reporting - I hope one day the media remembers who and what they are responsible for. Shame on your narrow minded, inept and unbalance reporting.

There's a lot here that could be gone over. But let's just say this- if a white man had made the same mistakes Taylor did, then turned his life around completely, the media would be focusing on the good parts. I'm white. I have no illusions about the unfairness of life, not just for blacks but for all other races besides mine. More to the point, I'm a white female- and there's still a glass ceiling for us out there. I guess the whole point that I'm trying to make is that Taylor hasn't even been dead for a week, and his little girl is about to celebrate Christmas without her dad. The media could stand to show a little compassion, for Jackie Taylor's sake if for no other reason. She won't remember the man who tried to turn his life around for her. That's a shame, and it's more important than anyone's personal agenda.

I think this case involves thugs, and Sean Taylor was not one of them. Sean Taylor was a young victim of a robbery perpetrated by thugs. Nevertheless, the media has tried to create another story other than the truth over the past few days. This murder/robbery had nothing to do with Sean Taylors DUI, assault charges, sportsmanship or errors of his youth. So we should identify this event as a random act violence against a man who did all he could to protect his child and fiancee. The media should be ashamed of themselves for trying to create a story made for T.V. instead of reporting the truth MINUS the conspiracy theories.

Quick question to all you bloggers --- Was the young Caucasian girl who went missing in Aruba, after straying away from her classmates, referred to as anything other than a victim over the past two years? Did the media dig up or "report" anything negative about her past --- surely she wasn't a complete nun. I was pretty straight laced in high school, but I'm sure you could dig up something in my past that can be reported negatively. I'm sure they could report something on a slant about her, but they DIDN'T. This young woman is referred to properly, as a victim and that someone should be held accountable for her disappearance. So why can't the media treat Sean Taylor the same respect way?

With older white men in power, it is easier to demomize Black men to maintain power.

An enlightening article.

life is hard itself...
i wish that we didn't have to use labels (acting black/acting white) to make life even harder...
it's hard just to live, period....
and adding stereotypes doesn't help...
i've been forced to live a lonely life mainly because i'm not cool or black enough...
i'm 28, decent job, love my son, would like to be married with familyl, yet i don't get respected until someone sees that i have a jumpshot/ball handling skills...
why do people need to see my athleticism to respect or accept me...or my car...
the sad part is that i'm not mad that we idolize this gangsta/thug culture...
what i'm mad at is that we are not even aware of the role these labels play in our lives...
mainly when it comes to education/employment, etc...

RIP to ya' 21...
you hadn't fully grown up yet...
your past and the birth of your daughter seemed to start a change in you...for the better...
i wish you would have lived longer, if only to stop another kid from making the same mistakes you did...