Disturbed By Something.

alright i'm just going to vent about something that bothers me because this place is good for that sorta thing, it's quite long so don't read it if you don't want =]

I grew up in Northern NJ just about my whole life (until i was 19), i lived in an upper middle class neighborhood with very little crime, there wasn't much crime in the towns surrounding where i lived either... i used to walk home by myself (usually drunk), all the time, never thought twice about it, never had any problems with anyone approaching me or anything... and i should add that i grew up in a predominantly white town, maybe 90% white...

i would describe myself as a very OPEN MINDED person when it comes to people of other races and different socioeconomic backgrounds... going to a very diverse college helped open my eyes... one thing i'm proud of myself for doing is NOT falling victim to stereotypes... my goal as a human being is to be able to look at someone i've NEVER met before and NOT form any preconceived judgements about that person's character...

now i'm 23 years old now and i've been living in Maryland in the DC Metro area for the last year or so in a neighborhood i would describe as middle/upper middle class, a nice town... the main thing that's been bothering me has come from reading the local police reports... there's been a large number of robberies and assaults in the local area (my town and neighboring towns) etc, and within the past month 2 teenagers have been murdered in my town (one stabbed to death outside a party and one had his head blown off with a shotgun outside his home, unrelated incidents)...

now i know crime is nothing new but what's particularly disturbing to me is that the suspects in these crimes are predominantly teenagers... there was a string of armed robberies committed by kids as young as 14 and 15... when i was growing up i didnt know young kids committing felonies and assaulting peopel with knives and handguns... i simply cannot get over how young these criminals are... 80% of the police reports report the suspects as being between 16-22 years old... what is also particularly bothersome to me as a pseron who tries to combat stereotypes and remain opened minded is that the people comitting a majority of these crimes are African American youths...

i'm angry because these police reports, which are unbiased and simply just facts of known, reported crimes, are helping to do nothing but promote the stereotype as African Americans as criminals... while i'm not directly pointing the finger at anybody (either the individuals responsible for their own actions or society itself), i'm still pissed off about it... i DO NOT want to walk down my street, see a few black youths walking my direction, and automatically think i'm going to be assaulted... i'm angry because i want to treat each person i encounter with a clean slate, as an individual... but the more and more i read these police reports the more i feel i'm going to think about them when people approach me out in the street or wherever... that's what disturbs me...

i worked retail security at a Target store for 6 months, and let me tell you that stereotyping is an integral part of the job... if you treated everyone who came into the store equally, you wouldn't be very successful.... having worked with 4-6 other employees, i have to be honest to say that we watched African American guests predominantly more than we did white guests... now a partial reason for this had to do with the way people were dressed (wearng large baggy jackets with lots of pockets, backpacks, or typical urban clothing)... if anyone of any race wore that kind of clothing you can bet we had security cameras on them and physical surveillance... but what i hated about my job was that i felt i was starting to stereotype people, and it wasn't an easy thing to leave at work... it was creating a very negative thought process in my mind... because when you watch people for shoplifting in a store, you basically assume they are going to do something before they even do, that's what keeps you focused... even an 18 year old African American co-worker would predominantly "call out" other black youths in the store...

at 23 years old i have never gotten into a fight or physical altercation (outside of the hockey rink that is)... but the more i read these police reports the more weary i am of messing with just about anybody... if 14 and 15 year old kids are out carrying handguns and robbing people, who does that exclude from possibly carrying a weapon with intent to use it?? Now i don't walk around being paranoid or nervous or anything, but I am concious of teh fact that just about anybody could be armed with a knife or gun these days... and people just ****ing DO NOT THINK RATIONALLY these days, they don't think about the criminal consequences of their actions while in teh commission of these acts, it disgusts me... people are shooting and stabbing eachother over the wallets, hard looks, and minor disputes... i'm thinking the next driver i flip off on teh road is going to pull up along side me and fire off a few shots into my door... people don't just fight with fists anymore... i'm not a wimp by any means but i'm simply going to abstain from getting into any type of altercation with someone i don't know, because i have no idea what that person is capable of doing... in my mind i would never pull a gun or knife on someone, but lots of other peopel wouldn't think twice about it


i'm a very introspective person, so i'm very in touch with what i'm feeling and what i'm thinking, and why i'm feeling or thinking in such a way... i'm not sure if i'm bothered more about the suspects in the crimes i've been reading about all being young, or more about them being predominantly one race... i do know that i have 4 young nieces & nephews growing up in my town and the neighboring town... they are all under 5 years old but i'm nervous about them growing up, and what kind of things they'll be exposed to... i simply can't imagine them going to school with these individuals who are committing these felonies at such a young age... all of this just DISGUSTS ME... disturbing part is you'd think reading about my town that it was a high crime area, but it's not... i can't even imagine what my thoughts would be like if i were living in an inner city neighborhood...

here's the local newspaper that i read all my police reports from, here is the police report section... if you read it, you'll notice the ages and descriptions of a majority of the suspects...

http://gazette.net/policereports/

Teenager Stabbed To Death In My Town:

http://gazette.net/200524/damascus/news/280270-1.html

Teenager Shot Do Death In My Town:

http://gazette.net/200520/germantown/news/275285-1.html

Friend Of Murdered Teen Assaulted & Robbed:

http://gazette.net/200524/damascus/news/280271-1.html


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i should add that i was a Criminal Justice major in school and also took a large # of sociology/psychology classes, so I am well informed about crime trends, statistics, and the overall nature of Criminal Justice system and how it relates to people of varying socioeconomic statuses...

even armed with all this knowledge i am still bothered and preturbed by all that i described above...

 

are you spamming again? just joking

i live out in the country where you think none of that stuff would happen but i have been jumped by some kids here i could not even get done with high school because of the people here just this morning i got a call by someone looking to start a fight i have been thinking maybe it would be safer to move back to polk county FL even tho there is alot of gangs there i feel as i was safer there thin i do here. here i feel that one day i may even be shot by someone here the kids here think the laws dont aplay to them and that they can do what ever they want i have been chased down afew times when i was riding one of my 3-wheelers by the same people in the same truck and the cops would not do a damn thing it just pisses me off so bad when the cops wont do anything wtf is this country comming too so now i most of the time i stay in my house on my computer only time i leave the house is when i have to get something from town or to go ride my 3-wheeler and when i ride it i dont go but like 1mile from the house and dont stay gone for nolonger thin 30mins and i have a friend that will call the cops if i dont get back within that time and call them back thats how bad it is here.

you said you was a Criminal Justice major do you know of anything i should do?