ù Quoting Tom Rightmer from a message to Ryan Bagueros  ù 
TR> high  points. Parents nearly always figure into the equation. There 
TR> have been many  studies done on this subject, many with the gang 
TR> members themselves. Many  lack an adult role model in their homes 
TR> they can respect. If dad is adope  dealer and mom is a prostitute, 
So what you are saying is that poverty, violence and abuse are generational. 
But this conflicts with your idea that race/class are not the cause of these 
things. Why do they lack an adult role model? Maybe prison. Maybe a bullet. 
Why is dad a dope dealer and why is mom a prostitute? If we aren't talking 
about class, why didn't you say "if dad is a financial consultant and mom is 
a 
surgeon"? 
TR> who lived  in a poor neighborhood would belong to a street gang. The 
TR> vast majority of  the kids who live in the poor neighborhoods don't 
TR> belong to a street gang, so  how do you explain this? There are many 
TR> street gangs who live in rich  neighborhoods, so how does this effect 
TR> your class and poverty ravings?
You missed the point: gangs, drugs, and violence do not exist on the scale 
they
do in poor neighborhoods. You would truly have to be a moron to think that 
life
in the ghetto is the same as life in Beverly Hills. Yes, there are drugs and 
fights in rich neighborhoods, but there is a definite difference, both in 
what 
goes on and how far it goes. Period. 
TR> risk" kids.  Mentorship, Big Brother, Big Sister, and many other 
TR> programs help to provide  an adult role model these kids can respect. 
TR> Many other programs attempt to  get these kids off the street and 
TR> involved in constructiveactivities. Sports  would be an excellent 
TR> example. Tutoring to keep a kid in school would be  another excellent 
I see. So for those poor black kids, its off to the 'special program,' and 
sports or whatever - never stopping to think about the social conditions that 
these kids are growing up in, and if that is right or not. 
--- FMail 1.22
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