The horrid cycle of inner city life

[LessasLashes]

Some people call it genocide... the life of an inner city.. it's that perpetual cycle of young people killing each other, drugs, poor education, prostitution, extortion, you name it.. There was a 60 minutes feature on "Stop Snitching" http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/60/stop_snitching that really portrays the "pop" culture of many of today's youths, and a belief system that you are a "loser" and a risk in a community if you are a snitch (reporting a crime to the police). So what's happening is crime is rising. People are getting hurt/murdered, and the authorities in these areas are having a difficult time gathering info because people who witness the crime will NOT report. They will end up dead if they do.

So.. today I go to work (private special ed. school in Vallejo.. in a relatively nice park area).. and the building was tagged terribly by a local gang. OUr kids were upset.. we all were upset.. The police told us it is "retaliation" time for one of the gangs due to a person being murdered a month ago. Well.. they are recruiting members..and we now have to be on high alert for "transients" on our grounds.. great.. Our kids try so hard to get out of this downward spiral of a community.. but I can see where there are few options out...
Thanks for reading.. had to get it off my chest!

[Lynette]

How frustrating to be in the middle of that cycle all the time hoping that your students will be the ones to break out of it but always bracing for the ones who won't. My aunt taught at Catholic school in Vallejo for over 25 years and she finally retired because even at that school the kids were getting so different (mouthy, aggressive, disrespectful, hyper) from when she started that she just couldn't do it anymore.