Today, our Country and it's Citizens are in a better place because of the individual courage and perseverance of some great Americans. Great Americans like Dr. Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
Given the enormous challenges our Country faces today, many things were markedly absent from the President's address. During a Gallop Poll taken from January 7-10, 2013, Americans overwhelmingly chose the Economy as the most important issue facing America today. Specifically, the National Debt and Unemployment. Instead, the President focused on Civil Rights.
When it comes to non-economic issues, Americans polled that they were most concerned with their Dissatisfaction with Government and issues related to Guns. Where were the calls for real cooperation in Government to address these issues? Instead, the President once again chose to focus more on Civil Rights...
I think it's time the President recognizes he's representing more than specific segments of our society and not just those who support his agendas. Until the President recognizes this fact, and stops trying to circumvent the checks and balances built into our system, then this Country will continue to be paralyzed by the polarity he alone has created. Some have given him the title of, "Divider-In-Chief."
In lieu of the Civil Rights focus, here are some statistics:
- Black juveniles accounted for 51.6 percent of all juvenile arrests for violent crimes.
- 48.4% of all Adults arrested for Murder are Black.
- Black males have the highest incarceration rate of any ethnicity with 2.1 Million currently in Jail or Prison, but make up 6% of this Country's population and comprise 38% of all males incarcerated. (as of June 30, 2011)
- 24.1% of black families live at or below the poverty level
- 29.3% of black households are single mothers with children
- 46.5% of black families with children under 18, headed by a single mother, live in poverty.
- The abortion rate among black teenagers was FOUR times the rate for non-Hispanic whites
- The unemployment rate for blacks is 13.2% compared to the U.S. average of 7.7%
- Roughly 7,000 Blacks are murdered each year and 94 percent of the time
the murderer is black.
According to a study conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011 there were 279,384 black murder victims, which means that 262,621 were murdered by other blacks, resulting in the 94 percent figure. Even though blacks make-up only 13 percent of the nation’s population, they account for more than 50 percent of homicide victims. (Maybe this is an area where the President could focus his "gun control" problem)
“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
― Anne Frank
"Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal." -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Bureau of Justice Statistics
United States Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Justice Information Services Division
Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI): Uniform Crime Report
Correctional Population in the United States and from U.S. Census Summary File 1.
Black Demographics -Information from U.S. Census Bureau 2011, Community Survey
Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on sexual and reproductive health