Baltimore

I guess I have to unpack it because I wasn't very clear. Sorry.

The south is far less of a shithole than it used to be and there are a lot more emerging service economy jobs/industries there than in the north, where the industrial base has crumbled or is crumbling, taxes are higher and it's not a tax giveaway party every time a third-party administrator company wants to add 55 jobs. (Although it'll eventually become that way, and in some states it's already become/becoming that way.) Companies build there because it's cheaper, tax breaks are more plentiful and suburban communities desire to build their own arenas/hotels/convention centers away from the city center (this is true of some places in the north, too). Those hotels/convention centers/surrounding restaurants, etc, for however many decades the shaky economics keep them open, need folks to work those jobs.

Blacks left the south in droves out of legitimate fears that there wouldn't be anything for them but violence, overt racism and deep, abiding poverty. Those industrial economy jobs? Hell, yes, I'd say they're better than the new service economy jobs in the south. But those industrial jobs are fewer and farther in between.

And, if we're being specific, some of that migration has already happened, years ago. That's how it "reversed itself." And more than just black Americans have migrated southward.

As to whether it's a "better life" these days in the north or south. I dunno. I know for damn sure the south sucked in the 1930s. Now, I suppose, it's more of a coin flip.

 

May 17th, 2013... the President traveled to, you guessed it, Baltimore. And the President visited an organization called the Center for Urban Families where he had the opportunity to meet with fathers and families who are working hard to get job-training skills, who are working hard to make sure that their kids were going to a good school, and were looking for some support from the local economy and from other local elected officials as they try to do the right thing and do right by their families.The President, over the course of that day that he spent in Baltimore, went to an elementary school where he learned about some early childhood education programs that were working to great effect in that city. He spent time at Ellicott Dredges, a local business in Baltimore that does a lot of business at the port, and then he finished his visit that day by going to the Center for Urban Families.

White House puts kibosh on critique that Obama is 'reactionary' on race - POLITICO.com

How can a family in Baltimore "work hard" to "make sure" their kids are going to a "good school"?

Is there some kind of school choice in Baltimore I'm unaware of? If your child is in a "bad school" can you move him/her out?

If a school is failing, do they close it down, or make wide ranging changes?

 

The public school system in Baltimore has been run from the top down by African Americans since 1971 and Dr Roland Patterson Sr. as the first black superintendent. African Americans have been superintendent since 1971. Most white families in Baltimore either send their children to attend private schools or move, except for a pocket of poor whites in enclaves in east and south east Baltimore, who attend equally shitty schools.

Baltimore is a pocket of exeptionally fetid excrement inside a prison septic tank.

 

I don't know the specifics of the enrollment policies of the Baltimore schools but I found a website that listed 31 charter schools in the district.

 

Being born out of wedlock isn't the problem. The problem is when both parents aren't involved in the child's life in a positive way.

A marriage certificate isn't a prerequisite to raising a successful child. Having two involved parents isn't a guarantee, but it's better than having just one parent.

 

The increase in violence that has followed the death of Freddie Gray continued through the weekend, with four homicides reported since Saturday, according to Baltimore police.

Ten people were reported shot on Sunday alone, including three who were shot to death within a span of 39 minutes.

The violence comes as the city prepares for the Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.

Ten people were also shot Thursday.

 

Aren't the odds of both parents being involved in a child's upbringing enormously better if said parents are married to each other?

 

Not necessarily. Two parents can be involved even if they are both single, or divorced.

 

The odds aren't better, though?

 

I thought Prince's concert was supposed to bring peace to Baltimore.

They should have brought in Lionel Richie. Perhaps Billy Ocean. THAT would have made it a 1A story.

 

They can be. But I'd be willing to bet the percentages are way, way higher on the married side.

 

I'm sure there are studies out there, with quantifying what involvement is. Seeing the kid once a day for 30 minutes while rushing out to work and another hour at night? Or not seeing the kid for two weeks and then taking him camping for an entire weekend? Or seeing the kid every day and beating him when he screws up? There are different levels of involvement. How is involvement quantified?

Which is better? Having two married parents fighting each other in front of the kid every day, or divorced parents who get along fine?