ù Quoting Rich Willbanks from a message to Ryan Bagueros  ù 
RW> If poverty causes crime then why wasn't crime rampant during the 
RW> great depression?  A lot more people were a lot poorer then than they 
RW> are now.
Well, first of all, there was a lot of crime (a lot less when prohibition 
ended). But things have just gotten worse and worse since then. People during 
the Great Depression did not have it as bad as people today. Then, there were 
huge communities of poor people and there were active unions that fought it 
out
in the streets for equal rights for workers. Today, the unions have been 
commercialized and the story of poverty is the story of stratification, not 
community.
If you have trouble establishing a link between poverty and crime, pick up 
*any* basic sociology book, because its pretty much an established fact.
RW> Have you read any history?  A lot of the Founding Fathers fought long 
RW> and hard to have slavery outlawed in the Constitution.
Yeah, well they didn't fight hard enough. I guess it was easy for them to 
compromise on the issue, though, because they weren't slaves themselves. As 
for
your contention that some of them died poor, I'd like to hear which ones 
rather
than just take your word on it. All of them that I can think of were rich 
aristocrats. Remember Shay's Rebellion.
RW> Have you ever live in a TRULY racist surrounding?  I was born and 
RW> raised in the South, I didn't even know there was another word for a 
RW> nigg** until I was well into my school years, well there were the 
RW> other non-PC words. By the time I reached high school I had several 
I live in one right NOW. I've lived with racism my whole life. Do you think 
all
of these problems have been solved in the last 20-30 years? Do you even think 
its *possible* to solve those problems in 30 years? 
It does no good to tell me who you invited over for dinner 30 years ago. What 
are you doing NOW? Complaining about all those whining blacks on the Cop 
ho.
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