Around town
Eddie Dade
“I think poverty is to blame. What can be done about it is to have plain-clothed police go door to door and ask if they have guns. Is it registered? This will put the fear into them to know the police can come to their door anytime.”
Carla Haynes
“I think it’s the people and law enforcement. Law enforcement keeps putting the people, the drugs, and the guns back on the streets. The violence will be stopped if they start putting more time into catching these guys and giving them more time.”
Look Carpenter:
“I think it’s the parents’ fault because of the way they bring up their kids. Some parents try to be friends with their kids, and this need to stop. They need to be parents and teach them the value of growing up. A lot of it has to do with going to church and believing in the lord. These kids today want fast money, and fast money is in gangs and drugs. The parents need to take them by the hand and explain to them that the fast life will only get you in jail or killed.”
J.J. Jones
“I think the people doing the shooting and killing are to blame. What should be done is, they should be locked up. Guns aren’t killing people — people are. If they lock them up for a long time, that will get people off the street and stop the violence.”
Charis Goodman
“I am not sure who is to blame. But I think what can be done about it is parents can change the way they raise their children by applying more parental care and concern starting in early childhood. They can use more affirming language, which reinforces the child’s belief in his or her goodness. Parents need to give their child more nurturing and love so that they grow up to be happy people and not angry. Anger is what causes a lot of the violence.”
Ernest Wiley, Jr
“We (African-Americans) are to blame. We have only been out of slavery about 150 years. We did not learn how to be supportive of one another or how to care about one another. We didn’t raise our children up right. Other races were enslaved, but they bound together and supported one another and overcame. We only think of ourselves as doing badly and that our lives aren’t worth anything.”
