The Black Informant | African American Commentary, News and Community Building

I’m not too fond of this fanatically religious administration & how they’re trying to force Christianity down on our throats, but I do have to agree with you on this. I usually like Cynthia’s pieces.

Too many of these kids are simply not ready to have sex. They’re too embarrassed to buy condoms or get on birth control & they don’t know how to approach their parents about sex. Plus, it doesn’t help when these kids are looking to their equally ignorant friend for advice. What also doesn’t help are when parents are naive about their kid’s sex life or uncomfortable with having a sit-down.

My first sex ed lecture was back in the 6th grade & that didn’t stop some of my friends from experimenting &/or having kids. I’m 26 now & I’m happy to have never made their mistakes. & I didn’t make those mistakes because my parents wouldn’t have any part of that.

Cynthia’s assessment would be fair if she were talking about a 3rd world nation where a woman doesn’t have control over her body. & I think she’s way off by suggesting that our culture is saturated with sex & that it influences kids. What would she say about Europe? They’re very comfortable with sex & their teen pregnancy rates are much lower.

I agree that Bush is not responsible for EVERYTHING… But only funding abstinence-ONLY programs is dumb… I’m sorry. It makes absolutely no sense to me.

Should we blame the crack cocaine epidemic that spread during the 1990’s on then-President Bill Clinton?

Come on now… Lets not rewrite history to prove a point. Crack blew up in the mid 80′s… If you say he didn’t do much about it then I can agree with that.

A some point every governement must decide what it considers to be in the best interest of it citizens. It is the governments responsiblity to set a tone for the country to follow.

Or put a better way the government can help out in these situations by publically stating it opinion on the matter.

The question is, Is our federal government in favor of having teenage mothers give birth to children they are ill prepared to care for or does our federal government wish to set a policy in place to actively discourage this type of behavior?

Look the abstinence approach does work in some communities and needless to say it does not work in others. What you need to ask yourself is does this policy work in your coummunity? Or are the children actually running around and having sex with each other. Are you really sure that all of the sex eduaction you talk about and condom distribution you claim to exist does in the communities that need it?

In fairness what the governement says in our community does carry some weight. Just listen to what people say about certian situations, take the whole teenage pegnancy issue as an example. Rather than tell young girls that their lives will be screwed the hell up if they have a baby they love to push the silly arguement that somehow an immature, uneducated 16 year old boy is sopposed to successfully play the role as a father and provider. GET FREAKIN REAL!

It is time to stop whining about the NONEXISTENT parents in our community and except the fact that they AINT there or truly do not care! That is a fact that aint gona change anytime soon. By simply pointing the finger at an entity that does not give a damn we are doing NOTHING to fix the problem.

These parents dont care! They will not educate their children to “do the right thing”! Maybe they do not know what the right thing is? Now that we have that on the table what do we do about it.

Come on now… Lets not rewrite history to prove a point. Crack blew up in the mid 80’s… If you say he didn’t do much about it then I can agree with that.

Teen pregnancy has been around longer–much, much longer. So to pin the rise and fall of the rate on an American president is asinine.

It is time to stop whining about the NONEXISTENT parents in our community and except the fact that they AINT there or truly do not care! That is a fact that aint gona change anytime soon.

Then this is a message that should also be applied to government for attempting to play the role of mommy or daddy by offering security in the form of endless programs. Once folks get the message that the taxpayer is not going to be their for them every time they “accidentally” have a child, trust me, folks will straighten up real quick.

The reality is that both these issues are not the disease they are only the symptoms of the real problems in America, lack of morality and failure to accept responsibility. Allow me to tackle the morality issue for a moment. In the 50′s you didn’t see a lot of teenage pregnancy because it was unacceptable (or unwed pregnancy). If a girl did get pregnant she either quickly married the father or was shunned by her community. In today’s society anything goes. When anything goes everyone pays. The second issue is that people blame others for their problems. It is okay to be a drug addict and abandon children because it is a “disease” It is okay to get on welfare because my mother was on it. Until we as a community learn both morality and responsibility we will continue to see rises and falls in teen pregnancy, drug addiction and a host of other social abnormalities. but that is just my opinion!!!

Once folks get the message that the taxpayer is not going to be their for them every time they “accidentally” have a child, trust me, folks will straighten up real quick.

What evidence do you have of this?? I disagree. People are going to have sex and have babies regardless. As my evidence I point to the MANY third world countries and slums around the world. This is what our already messed up ghettos are going to become. Sex is free, easy, and feels good. People are not going to just stop. Our neighborhoods are going to deteriorate at a much faster rate into slums similar to Brazil and other places.

I’m with “Give it a rest”…… Preach Bro!! Everybody hear already know the damn problems… We see it everyday! What’s the solutions!

Wizz, man please lay off the caffeine

Third world countries are that way not because of out of control births, but because there are very little opportunities for these folks to move ahead in a way that can seriously compete with a first world country like the US. Many of these folks are only educated in agricultural practices that are hundreds, if not thousands of years old. The incentive for self-improvement in many cases for these people just does not exist. On the other hand, cities like New York are in no danger of becoming a real life portrait of the movie “Escape from New York”. There is too much opportunity here which is why folks from all over the world are still beating down the door to come here to take advantage of it. Folks who continue to choose to be lazy will either continue to isolate themselves or conform to what most Americans have been doing for a long time: working for a living.

Everybody hear already know the damn problems… We see it everyday! What’s the solutions!

This is one of the sayings that continuously get repeated in the blogosphere, but very few either want to hear it or put it in practice out of fear of not being popular. You are a grown man with a family–You already know what the answer is to what we have been talking about here. It is neither a great mystery or something that requires a particular political solution. What worked for your situation (you don’t have to answer that question here)? Now take that and help others to do the same.

I must warn you, from time to time you will run into folks who are just going to do what they want to do and no matter what, you cannot force them to better themselves. Those people you leave alone and channel your energies to those who want to improve themselves. You also got to be patient with folks. Folks are not going to change overnight. It takes time (something that is contrary to any political solution because time is limited to 4 year increments–election cycles).

Wizz, man please lay off the caffeine

I tried… It don’t work. I was miserable. Caffeine is the smart man’s crack… Once you are on it you are stuck with it.

Good points btw… I still don’t think you can’t just get rid of all government programs and let people fend for themselves though. There are times when people need assistance and no one like you is around and willing to help.

I tried… It don’t work. I was miserable. Caffeine is the smart man’s crack… Once you are on it you are stuck with it.

LOL!