Once a crminial, always a criminal

Discuss the December 2015 book of the month Burn Zones by Jorge P. Newbery.
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panada_
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Re: Once a crminial, always a criminal

Post by panada_ »

It's definitely true that racism and discrimination still exist to this day, and it's become especially obvious with the recent events in America. But when I read the book, I was still shocked to learn that interracial marriage was still illegal in some states in the year Jorge was born! I guess that shows that while there are a lot of continuities (police brutality, etc) there are at least some things that have progressed. Hopefully, we can continue to see improvements.
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anaplasticCerebrum
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I think we can all agree that differences in melanin content don't cause differences in violence or temperament or judgment. So much of the situation so many black people face is a result of horrible government practices like redlining and the introduction of drugs into certain black communities for political benefit. I also agree the criminality is so often circumstantial and derives from poverty. Sometimes when there are no legal or feasible ways to survive, people resort to crime. We shouldn't blame them for their actions, but work to eliminate whatever circumstances necessitate crime.
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Post by anaplasticCerebrum »

panada_ wrote: 06 Jul 2020, 12:29 It's definitely true that racism and discrimination still exist to this day, and it's become especially obvious with the recent events in America. But when I read the book, I was still shocked to learn that interracial marriage was still illegal in some states in the year Jorge was born! I guess that shows that while there are a lot of continuities (police brutality, etc) there are at least some things that have progressed. Hopefully, we can continue to see improvements.
Yeah, when Jorge brought that fact up I had to pause reading! Racism seems like such a thing of the past, but it's unfortunately not. It reminds me of the fact that Anne Frank and Martin Luther King Jr. were born the same year, but we don't think of it like that.
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Post by anaplasticCerebrum »

LyorBoone wrote: 28 Aug 2019, 12:37 Schools need to have an honest discussion in the classroom to get past this issue. Sure we have the Black History month to celebrate historical figures and we learn about what went on then, but people often see that as distant. We don't think about it until somebody on the spectrum gets wronged. There are stories where big businesses are afraid to fire a minority person because of a lawsuit, even if the employee in question is a truck driver that shops on the job. But then there are the more popular stories. Sometimes the discussion is around things that meaningless to some like actors to play a certain role. In the world of constant remakes, this gets a lot of discussion on the internet when everyone talking is an adult that seems to have forgotten how to listen and civilly debate points. Give and take in information for a unified conclusion. But instead, these issues get categorized into the unspeakable topics like religion and politics that can "ruin friendships if simply brought up."
Great points. We do need to stop being afraid to talk about issues like race. We need to tackle the issues minorities still face. The Internet is powerful but provides perhaps too much anonymity.
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People change. However, the things that one had done leaves a mark. This mark can't easily be erased so it stays with that person.
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I agree that this bias is still a huge problem in our county. There are no people created on this earth that are greater or lesser than another innately. Our choices are what make us who we are. Our circumstances can shape those choices greatly. It saddens and sickens me that people judge and hurt others for such differences. Awareness and conversations like these will open our eyes and help us to see that we are not as different as we claim to be.
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