re: Serious Question About the St Louis Outrage

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Having said that I think a lot of the problems you see in large urban areas and some rural ones stem from black folk being marginalized through racist laws and policies. However, I also feel that after the large scale fight for civil rights ended a lot of the "talented tenth" turned their backs on the people in the "hood". Some of the best and brightest left, while the worse off stayed behind.

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That requires a lot of leaps for me. I do agree that mandatory minimums and incarcerating generations is a problem and a disproportionate impact on black men.

Nonetheless, blaming laws for someone's actions that are entirely unrelated to the laws is a really big stretch. Contribution I may buy, causation I do not.

The idea that people are turning their back on others in the hood is interesting. What should they do? Why stay in a bad neighborhood with bad schools, bad housing, bad crime, etc.? I think there is some legitimacy to the argument that more people should, but if I'm an educated black man with a family to care for, I'm not focused on changing my neighborhood, I'm focused on making sure my kids are able to surpass what I've accomplished.