Violence and Shootings: Save Our Men

Last December, 20 year old Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 children and six adult staff members at an Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

A 12 year old boy steals his parents’ gun, shoots two students, wounding them, and kills a math teacher (and retired marine), before taking his own life in Navada.

14 year old Philip Chism stabs a math teacher with a box cutter, stuffs her body in a garbage can, rolls it out, and dumps it in the woods at the back of his school building in Danvers, Massachusetts.

What do all of these recent, severe cases have in common? All of the crimes were committed by young men, and they all had schools involved.

Why is this so important for all people to consider?

First we will consider why we should observe the young men involved.

Male Youth, Violence and Crime

Anyone is capable of committing a crime. I don’t care if you’re old, young, light-skinned, dark-skinned, man, or woman, anybody can be crazy or have a mental break-down.

However, we can’t ignore statistics. The United States Department of Justice compiled homicide statistics between the years 1980-2008, though the annual rates also cover 2009 and 2010.

http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/htus8008.pdf

Let’s first review a Wikipedia article that covers the sex differences in crime:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_differences_in_crime

From reading the article above, I’ve gathered these facts:

1) Among the people who committed homicides in the years between 1980-2008, 90% were male.

2) Young adult black males had the highest homicide offending rates than any other races (though I’m sure by now it has gone up for the other races as well).

3) Among the children under age 5 killed by a parent, rates for biological fathers were slightly higher than mothers. Yet, among the children under 5 killed by someone other than their parents, 80% of them were male.

4) Male murderers were more than likely to use guns, and 91% of gun-related homicides were committed by men.

5) Violent Crime statistics report that males are more typically openly violent and aggressive. While women are equally aggressive in verbal ways and in matters that damage property, men use physical aggression and are more likely to kill someone than a woman would, though in a domestic situation, the stats prove to be equal among the genders. Women tend to avoid direct physical aggression, and will more than likely stop socializing with a person, give the cold shoulder, reject others from social groups, gossip, and stigmatize a person.

They even tested same-sex marriage. Pop Center (http://www.popcenter.org) did a survey that showed “women living with men were more than likely to experience violence, than women living with women.” It also showed that 15% of men living with other men experienced violence and aggression within their relationships. This shows that men tend to be more violent than women.

These statistics reveal a problem that plagues America’s males: the need to solve most of their problems through violence and bloody murder.

These statistics do not even include the number of crimes committed by men that aren’t aggressive, such as stealing, drug dealing, carjacking, kidnapping, which the stats for those are also higher for men than for women. Young males are made to be America’s criminals, and are a threat to the peace of the nation.

Males and Disorders

Statistics also show that a shocking number of males are more than likely to suffer from genetic and mental disorders than females! They are also more than likely to hide the illness, and commit suicide from it! This also reveals another deep issue plaguing our males: They need help for their mental illnesses.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

http://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/facts-about-autism

http://www.cdc.gov/Features/childrensmentalhealth/

 Theories

This leads many, including myself, pondering over why so many of America’s men feel the need to take another’s life, and why so many males suffer from mental illness. What is going through their minds? Are expectations higher for men than for women? Perhaps society is too hard on them? Are men treated worse by society? Or do they simply just lack maturity, a sense of responsibility, and self-control? Can’t men, who are expected to be “problem-solvers” in our society, find other solutions to a problem other than taking the life of another? Do our men value life enough to spare someone? And does society encourage our young boys to be “bad”? Are men proud of their ways, to the point that they can’t accept criticism or help when they need it?

I have many of my own theories for some of the problems plaguing our male youth. As someone who works in a school building, I have been able to observe young males and their behavior patterns. Particularly, I work with special needs children. I can confirm that most of them are male.

Here are some things that I feel contribute to the male’s love of violence, aggression, and the increasing number of mental disorders.

Society Encourages Aggression in Males

In most movies, shows, video games, and music directed to males, males are often seen in roles where they must use some form of aggression.

Most of our video games require a male to kill something or someone else to save the day. Males throughout history have always usually played the role of “chaos”, and often don’t mind playing the “devil”, and glamorizing it. Movies such as The Omen, Dennis the Menace, and Problem Child are such examples. Boys are more than likely to side with villains, and men are more than likely to play the role of villain than females. This is not to say females do not play such games or get involved in such roles, but females are least likely to be influenced by these roles than men are.

Music that most males enjoy tend to be of an aggressive nature. More men will claim to be into rap or heavy metal than females, and tend to show a lack of respect for softer genres, like Opera or pop music. Soft music has been said to lower blood pressure, therefore it’s not shocking that men have higher blood pressure than women.

Men are far more likely to use profanity in their households than women, and men use aggressive speech more often than females do in their day-to-day language.

Having entertainment glamorize such scenarios, young males are least likely to look at violence, aggression, or weapons realistically or seriously, even if they never harm anyone. Even with the recent murders, I’ve found that the boys in my class often respond to the crime articles in the news with solutions that involve violence. The young males also continue to plot tricks, plot harm to other students, and even tell me how they can kill someone in a day, despite what has been happening recently. They seem desensitized by all that’s going on, and their response is scarily excited by it all, in fact.

And it’s hard to convince a male that any of this is wrong or needs censoring. He may simply laugh at you, call you a retard, or attack your political viewpoint. His way of handling things is hardly civil as he seems to be in fear of surrender. Pride is a rope that hangs these young men. Society encourages men to stand by what they believe, without compromise. While in many situations, this quality can be an asset, in other situations this quality is foolish, and can be very unhealthy. Some may stand by something even if proven otherwise, just for the sake of pride. Many times, men can’t admit defeat for fear of being teased or mocked. Women usually don’t have such fears, and therefore can just drop a topic or reach a common thought that includes both ideas.

This could be in part because most young women have had moral shows, movies, books, and music geared toward them. They have had positive role models that teach them how to live with others, how to work as a team, how to be a good friend, how to react when one makes a mistake, including themselves, etc. Boys hardly have such positive material. The author Valerie Tripp also made note of that, and has been working on a series of books that give boys good role models. But sadly, our young men have been so entrenched in the world of violence and pride, they may not be able to swallow their habits.

Boys might think this sounds weak, but really self-control and morality are strengths, strengths that people today have given up because they are too weak to live up to such high expectations. Shows like Hey Arnold! show that a boy can be strong and a hero, and still have a sense of morale about him. Sadly, very few shows today are like this.

Interestingly enough, men also encourage the use of weapons and drugs more than women do in political matters. More men are against gun control than women are, and men are more than likely to purchase a gun before a woman does. Ironically, they also are more than likely to commit a homicide by gun. This leads me to question whether most men are responsible enough to own a gun. More men are more than likely to feel satisfied with killing someone than women, and will even feel the victim “deserved” it. They are least likely to show compassion towards someone who is gunned down, and are more than likely to want to copy the crime so they can settle issues in their own lives.

Even though women do not own guns, that would supposedly help them “defend” themselves, they are still least likely to be victims of crime!

We Don’t Protect Our Boys

Men aren’t expected to cry, show signs of depression, or any sort of surrender. Who is expecting this of them? Society. Their peers. Their parents, especially their fathers. Their girlfriends. Their wives. Why? Because we expect men to protect and defend. They are thought to have bigger bodies and deeper voices, and so we want to “hide” behind the presence of man. Fathers encourage it because many believe it will help a man become more independent and less whiny. Really, though, it’s truly counter-productive.

Not showing emotions or shedding tears can obviously be unhealthy. We were made to cry for a reason. Crying has been shown to be a healthy release, and lifts the mood. Tears remove toxins that build up from stress. Crying can also lower a person’s manganese level. If we restrict our men from displaying such emotions, we are in fact harming them!

http://www.beliefnet.com/Health/2009/04/How-Crying-Can-Be-Healthy.aspx

Fathers tend to be more protective of their daughters than their sons. Most parents usually don’t care as much about whose house their sons are going over to, where they are taking the family car, who they are dating at the current moment, and how late they are out as they do their daughters.

Young males are expected to get jobs much sooner than young women, where the pressure isn’t as intense for them. They are expected to “man-up” at an early age, when this is not a realistic expectation of children.

Boys are more than likely to hide feelings than to talk about them, and most parents brush off their son’s feelings, assuming he’ll “get over it”.

With the lack of attention, it’s no wonder young males have access to so many things and so much free time to get into stuff.

Why aren’t parents as protective of their sons as they are their daughters? This question is left without answers.

Of course, parents may talk about issues they feel boys should know, like drugs and sex, but what about other problems that plague youth? All problems considered important for girls should equally be considered for boys. Otherwise, you’ll end up with more young men taking advantage of these gray areas so that they can do some serious harm to others. We shouldn’t wait for our sons to come to us, because they won’t. We should be coming to them, hounding them about their day, encouraging them to pour out their hearts. We shouldn’t only encourage sports in young men, but creative outlets, outlets that encourage self-expression, like music and art. But I can say this until I’m blue in the face, and the pride of man will never go for it. Why not? What is so threatening about this?

Maybe men associate these “peaceful qualities” with women. Maybe they think women expect men to be like women. And I understand that men aren’t like women in every way. But there needs to be some way to bring the crime rate down. There needs to be some way to end the violence and the love of violence in the real world.

I do understand that it’s harder to discipline a young male than a young female. But I believe this is because of the influences in their lives. Fathers must show examples of self-control and responsibility. This will show a young male that he can’t just do what he wants and not take responsibility for it. He will want to imitate the disciplined behavior if he sees his father or other male figures acting in such a way.

If men were exposed to people who are less fortunate than they are, were encouraged to show a sense of compassion, and were taught to do good deeds for others, they would feel better, and it could help them to take less aggressive approaches. Scientists show that when we truly give to others, our brain rewards us with chemicals that make us feel good. This reduces stress, and produces more of a positive outlook on life.

Unfortunately, there are more social programs that protect women than there are programs that protect men, and men are least likely to seek out the programs that do exist for them.

Lack of Spirituality

Interestingly, more men lack the belief in a higher being. Many men have a hard time answering to someone greater than themselves, this can even translate to authority figures. Men often find religion too restrictive. They often can’t see the benefit of religion, neither do they feel they can live up to the expectations or requirements set by religions. Most may feel lied to.

But belief in something higher is not about being a part of a religion, but the realization that someone is in charge of your fate, and that someone can “save” you from your problems. It gives a person hope and helps them learn the power of letting go and putting burdens in the hands of someone else. While, many men may say this sounds like I’m asking them to believe in lies, fairy tales, and to be brainwashed, I simply am saying that men lack the ability to surrender, and have more of an ability to resist. Rather than allow themselves to be moved or shaped by someone else, allowing change to occur within, they usually refuse to accept advice or influence, and therefore, they become stubborn and stuck. They lack the ability to accept things as they are when they can’t surrender. They begin to lack contentment. They also become hopeless, believing that they only have one life to live and that there is nothing for them in the future, whether it’s true or not. Simply, they don’t care.

Ironically, their pride becomes stronger. They begin to feel more “right” and less able to accept their own “wrongs”. They become unapologetic for their actions, feeling that there is a thin line between “right and wrong”. Their morals become guided only by their own thinking, without awareness of others. Therefore, when they perceive someone being mean or threatening, they don’t take into account that it may simply be a perception, and not an intentional threat.

Schools Aren’t Safe

With all of these crazy individuals in and entering schools, many no longer see school as a safe haven. People are in fear of sending their children to school, and this shouldn’t be. School should be a place of learning, where children feel safe in an educational environment. Teachers have enough to deal with than having to worry about the safety of the children.

But these shootings do bring up one major concern and issue that even I have regarding schools: Is security tight enough?

In the schools I worked with, the person that usually let’s others in the building are secretaries…unarmed, unlicensed, and untrained in combat. The person who is in charge of locking these doors are the janitors. But the secretary usually can’t tell who’s a parent, sibling, auntie, or relative, and ends up letting anyone they see in the building.

There are no security guards or police in elementary schools, and there are no scanners before one enters the building. So basically there’s just no way of knowing what nut has entered a school building. It’s time for people to stop ignoring these issues. Schools need tighter security.

Another issue is that classrooms tend to be left wide open for people to just walk in, steal something, and use it as a weapon, as in the Danvars case. Particularly, boys are mischievous enough to want to pull these idiotic pranks. So teachers need to be aware that their classrooms are locked up at the end of the day, and that all of their utensils are put away. Though you can’t possibly manage every child that walks and breathes, you sure can put a tighter hold on what goes on in our schools by making sure everything is sealed.

Male Youth can be a threat to the school environment.  If we don’t do something to change their behavior, they will serve as a danger to other students, as well as to themselves. The vast majority of homicide cases deal with young males, especially African Americans. Should we allow males to be taught in a learning environment where there’s too much to get into?

From my experience, young males tend to do better when they’re home schooled, where they aren’t influenced by others, where they can work at their own pace, and where competition isn’t as high. They also can receive the appropriate attention from their parents and the correct discipline to suit their needs. At home, they are less of a threat to school environments.

It has also been noted that boys do better in school when they are raised in traditional households. I find conservative households to be much stricter than liberal ones (I’m not talking about political parties here). From my experience, grandparents tend to raise the best boys. They make sure the children have their hair combed, shirts tucked in, oiled skin, well-bathed, well-fed, and well disciplined. Those children get spanked for using profanity, instead of the more freedom-loving parents, who allow their children to “express themselves”. Those children who are given more freedom tend to become belligerent, selfish, and rebellious, feeling defied more often and a sense of self-entitlement. In traditional homes, those boys more than likely have a spiritual background. They also give boys responsibilities at an early age. To add, they treat the girls and the boys similarly.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8959489/Boys-raised-by-traditional-families-do-better-at-school.html

Single-parent homes with no fathers also play a role in a male’s performance. Mothers devote less time to their sons, and are more emotionally distant with them than their daughters. Therefore, this must contribute to the statistic that African American males are more than likely to commit homicide crimes than all the others because the great majority of single parent homes are among African American families.

Boys are now less likely to move on to University.

With parents who support educators, the teacher and parents are able to strike fear in the youth together, making sure he knows the consequences of his actions. Parents who are too defensive (or rather, protective) of their child’s behavior end up with the above three criminals mentioned in the beginning. Parents who attack teachers, feeling threatened that a teacher is “picking on” their child, or feeling that a teacher is “dealing with their child wrong”, or “gave their child a bad grade” tend to end up with children who commit crimes. This is actually most prevalent in the African American community, where parents are involved with their child’s school the least, but complain about the institution the most. Therefore, the number of homicide cases among young African American males isn’t shocking.

What’s sad is that Chism is now added to this number. It’s bad enough no one wants African Americans in their community, but with young men like Chism, this isn’t a racist issue. This is a danger issue. African Americans had better learn to live with others in a civil environment, or no one, not even their own people, will want to live with them. They will constantly lose businesses, constantly live in low-income areas, and constantly suffer from violent acts.

In conclusion, I urge people of America and the whole world to wake up, especially African Americans, and help our young boys who are being put in jail with no future ahead of them, and who are dying everyday as victims of crime. We want to pay attention to them and their needs. We want to be aware of the mental illnesses that are so prevalent among our young boys. Please, it’s what we should do so that our boys can flourish and prosper into fine adult men that we all can be proud of.

‘Black Power’: Useful or Abusive?

Today, I came to a resolution: Black people can and do ruin things.

I am African American myself, so I think that it’s fair for me to say this about my ethnicity.

First and foremost, yes, I think a small portion of it has to do with black culture colliding with white culture. Is that not the problem? Since the beginning of time, Asian, Native American, African, and European culture have been distinctly different from one another. But unlike other nations who came into the US to live in a new country, and so they even gave up some of their old country’s ways to adapt, most African Americans didn’t come on their own free will, and so didn’t really want to give up African ways. This made African culture a part of American culture largely because it just wasn’t given up in their hearts or minds, and instead, made an impression on society, just like the Native Americans. Of course, back in the history of America, slavery caused bitterness, and then later prejudice, segregation, injustice, inequality, and racism did as well, which people who have never gone through it would never understand. They would simply say “Get over it”.

But let me tell you why it’s not easy to GET OVER things like that. What if you were forced to be in a relationship with someone for 20 years, and for 20 years they abused you by beating you, spitting on you, calling you names? Just because you were short/ugly/pretty/fat/slow/fast etc? No one here could say they would accept it. Many would say they couldn’t forgive that person. And say for instance you were forced into a nice marriage…is it still not force? What if you loved someone else? What if you didn’t want to be tied down just yet? What if you didn’t want children, but they forced you? But you were still forced to follow the will of someone else? Someone you barely knew? And you were forced to live with that person? And no legal laws could get you out of it? How would YOU feel?

American slavery is similar to the banking system now…the more I think about it…

Anyway, some people can say the following things: 1) Slavery is over and so is segregation 2) Generation today never lived through it, so why should this generation bring it up?

Well for starters, the Civil Rights Movement didn’t end until about 40 or so years ago. Slavery and Segregation lasted over 100 years. That’s 100 years of oppression versus 40 years of freedom. It would take about another 60 years or more before the seed of it is completely vanquished. Many of the people who lived through it are still living today, and teaching their children about what they went through during those times. These are grandparents and mothers who still live today that went through it. My mother was born when the Civil Rights Movement was taking place, and my great-grandmother, with whom I am so close to, went through it. So, yes, our generation didn’t go through it, but it is painful when someone you love has gone through it, and to think about them being treated wrong is hard itself. It will take a lot of action to make up for the mistakes America’s ancestors made. ‘You Break it, you gotta fix it’ America.

And racism still exists. Maybe not at the magnitude it was, but it still exists. Racist attitudes exist. Observe the comments’ section on Youtube while watching videos about “Africa” or even “Salt N’ Peppa”. There ARE white people who truly think they’re superior to black people. There are white people in power who take their racist ideas and try to subtly hold other minorities back.

I have experienced real racism in high school in 2006. My sibling was in a class with a white teacher, who hated Asians, Latin Americans, Islamic, and African Americans/Black people. She would sit all of the people of color at the front of the classroom and would subtly allow white people to sit wherever they wanted. She gave them an assigned seat to cover her tracks in case someone turned her in, but whenever they moved around the room, she wouldn’t say much. But when any of the people of color moved even slightly, she would scold or write them up. She wrote up the valedictorian, a black girl, because she “thought” she was talking, and the girl never EVER said a word!

When white students didn’t complete their assignments, she would give them extensions. But when a person of color accidentally forgot their COMPLETED assignment in their locker, she would count it as an F.

I remember there was one boy who was half Mexican, half white. For most of the year, she thought he was white. But when he celebrated Mexican Independence Day, she found out he was Mexican. Guess what? You know what. She began to treat him differently after that. That’s when he began to realize this.

This woman was so racist, she wouldn’t even ask to see the parents of the minorities on Parent-Teacher conferences, even if the student was failing and poorly behaved! That’s how racist she was. And it was hard to prove that she was racist, too. She definitely covered her tracks.

For me, racism is real. Many people may think that I’m exaggerating or lying. No, it’s real.

I just wanted to add that this teacher also hated Jews and Catholics, so if she found out you were affiliated with those religions, she would also treat them like crap. But many of the white kids in this class didn’t associate with any religions. I can’t imagine if they had…But this made it even harder to prove. We didn’t have the full support of every kid in the class.

So, see? I’m not just a self-hating black person, who is excusing racism like so many of my readers may think. I’m not ignoring issues, and yes, my life matters.

But that goes for in the WHITE community AND the BLACK community.

I must admit, though, that the idea of segregation, discrimination, and racism has really been taken too far among the black race. It has no longer really become about the black race anymore. It’s just about power and money, the ruination of the whole world. It has been taken out of context so much, it isn’t taken seriously anymore. And this makes people ignore when it REALLY happens.

To add, black people have far greater issues than White-on-black crime.

Instead of elevating, coming together to combat our problems so we can combat greater issues, the black race is still in the state it’s in. And yes, we can say it’s because other cultures who came to this country and were able to start their own businesses and ground family businesses. They were able to prosper. But whatever happened to bouncing back up from a crisis? And the new immigrants that come every year who have to start over? There were plenty of black people in the past who were able to make changes and start their own business, and they LIVED in the days of segregation. So what is the excuse?

We can blame gangsta rap, because ever since the inclusion of it, blacks have been encouraged to fight for equality by using their own methods and using violence to do so. However, blacks aren’t fighting for equality against the police for racial reasons nowadays. They are too busy shooting each other.

So who is to blame anymore? If you look at statistics, shall we get a peek, and embarrass this ethnicity? :

http://www.afropunk.com/forum/topics/2059274:Topic:79518

Anyone and everyone has witnessed black people having the following problems in the following areas:

1) Crime increases when black people move into neighborhoods. Especially gun violence. Black people also always fight anytime they get together for any event. The Black Expo in Indiana seems to have a shoot-out every year. It’s the reason the Black Expo was cancelled in Chicago. Black people don’t seem to know how to act in public, in private, and they don’t know how to run productive communities without messing it up. They don’t clean their communities, show up for community meetings, or pay taxes or give other donations. The schools also become violent and dangerous, and as much as parents try to move their kids, more than likely it could be your kid causing most of the problems. Drugs are always the main foundation for businesses if there are any productive businesses. This is very true in my own neighborhood.

2) Businesses begin to close down because businesses are afraid of being robbed and killed through gun violence. To add, they are afraid of drama, like fighting, loud and flip-mouth customers, and other disturbances within the community. Plus, the value of the store decreases and people stop shopping in areas where violence is prevalent.

3) Black people are the laziest workers, the least willing to make changes on the job and in relationships, they never want to commit to anything, neither do they want to take up more responsibilities,  and often are amongst the least friendly when it comes to people who are different from them. Black people love to complain about their jobs, they complain about who is getting more money, but in the same breath don’t want to do any work and come late in and leave early out. Black people want to deny this, but at every school, job, or other important event, I have experienced the same pattern of behavior. And I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s there.

4) Black people always want to pull racism into everything, which not only takes the joy out of freedom of speech for everyone, but makes people walk on egg shells every time someone of a different ethnicity comes around. And I blame comedians for this one. Anytime a white person does something, it doesn’t make them racist. Nigger is not used as a derogatory term anymore, especially if used like “What’s up, Nigger?” Simple as this: Black people can say it, so can everyone else. But oh no, black people are so ignorant, you’ll hear the ignorant people in the comment sections saying “That’s the way it is, black people say nigga, no one else.” Technically, that would be make Black people racist.

And this list doesn’t apply to ALL black people. But this is the spirit of the neighborhood. This is something that has been prevalent in the city of Chicago, Detroit, Ferguson, and basically, many communities that are dominated by black people.

Black people even tried to pull racism in the Princess and the Frog! They changed the freaking story because BET said it made black people look bad.

As much as I liked the new story, the old story would’ve been far deeper. They should’ve been thankful they made a black princess movie AT ALL. But black people are never satisfied as long as a white person is making the movie. Nowadays, black people have become the most bias and prejudice ethnicity ever. Now, they just hate white people because they are white. It’s sad. Hate the white people who TRULY hate black people. That is NOT every white person.

Maybe they just really don’t trust white people. And it comes from how they are taught by their parents and grandparents, who grew up not trusting white people. And anybody can be easily persuaded by words from loved ones. To add, who can blame black people for not trusting white people? You just can’t tell the good ones from the bad. Still, you can’t go wrong by getting to know someone first and finding what they are about. I’m not saying become best friends, but see what people are about by observing. Sitting back, and watching.

And goodness, why kill your own race with guns and violence and ruin your own neighborhoods? Soon you’re going to kill so many black people, the only people around will be white people (over-exaggeration). Why? You make yourself look dumb because in one breath you say that you hate white people because they treated blacks wrong, but the same people who cried that they hated white people, killed other black people. Contradictory, much? You’re leaving black people into the minority category by killing them off! By robbing and stealing from other black people, you are taking from other black people who are struggling. This happened to me in my neighborhood. I was robbed by OTHER black people. Not a white person, a BLACK person. If #BlackLivesMatter, why didn’t MY life matter in the eyes of this other black person?

And no, it’s not ALL BLACK PEOPLE, as I said before, but it must be a vast majority, because when a group of black people come together, our communities become destroyed.

I will say this: The black race is a powerful race. The darker colors are associated with “Scorpio” or “The sign of power”. With that being said, power is a black man’s tool, and its use or abuse will prove the black man’s worth.

Black people can use their power for good, just as they did in the past when they built the city of Tulsa, or marched for Civil Rights for all Americans, or just as they came together to vote for the first black president. Even in the way they support their music artists and actors and actresses, like for movies like Dreamgirls and Tyler Perry movies, or singers like Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Beyonce. Most of the biggest talents have been supported, sponsored, or produced through some very successful black people. If you are working with a black person, like Justin Bieber is working with Usher, black people will support you, and you are bound to be famous. If anyone wants to get famous, find a black person. Disney really became the icon for teen shows especially when That’s So Raven came out and she started the children’s sitcom trend that continues today.

But when they use their power for bad, woe is the person who is around them, because it can bring devastating and disastrous results.

I conclude this by saying that people of Generation Scorpio may really admire black people and their way of gaining power. But there is a warning for all people of all ethnic backgrounds: Learn to direct your power so that you can benefit everyone and help EVERYONE elevate, not just you, or your mother, or your grandmother, or your best friend, or your “kind”. Until people learn to do that, there will always be problems in the United States of America and in the black community.