I recently saw a Chevy Blazer commercial and noticed one of the dudes referred to the vehicle as, "That's dope." I've heard that term for a number of years now, but thought it was kind of interesting that is was used in a national commercial. I looked up the etymology of the term and found that it appears to have come out of the hip-hop culture in the early 80's: https://english.stackexchange.com/q...gy-of-dope-meaning-excellent-great-impressive Anyway, I'm just a pasty white boy having never used this term in the course of discussion, but it caused me to wonder how many other "hood" terms have filtered into the mainstream of American conversation? I'm guessing "cray cray", "da bomb" et al, might be other examples....
As an aside (and somewhat of a generalization)....if Black dads would simply quit checking out of their homes/families...and keep their commitments/responsibilities to their respective wives (or baby mamas) and kids...the so-called "hood" would be in a much better place. /semi-rant
And the fall begins.... Ever heard of white trash? Its pretty prevalent as well just not picked on as much by the media, but there is plenty of it. And dont mistake redneck for white trash. Both have issues but not the same. Felony flats? Id rather live in the hood then there. But man, this is probably a conversation best left for person to person with whoever because hcp is right. This isn't going to end well...
Yes, I have two lovely grown/married step-daughters (and 4 awesome grand-babies) that I raised from ages 10 & 12. No biological children as my wife's tubes were tied prior to our marriage. When she related that to me (prior to our engagement), I told her that was OK, I would be content to raise her daughters as my own.....which I did. Unfortunately, the marriage ended after 16 years (I'm since re-married as I'm pretty sure my moniker pic reveals), but I still have a great relationship with both of my daughters and my g-kids. They live in the Olympia, WA area and I see them as often as I can. I'll also add, my son-in-law was one of my groomsmen. Their two children took part in the wedding, as well. It was awesome that the family all flew out to Nashville to participate in my new marriage/life here!
It seems as someone who “checked out” of their commitment, you would have some understanding of other people who do that.
Dude, I didn't in any way. I was there for the long-haul. I implored her for counseling....anything! However, it was her final words to me, "You are a great man,...and will meet a wonderful wife someday, but I don't want to be married anymore...to you...or ANYONE!" And she's not. That was 10 years ago. Meanwhile, it was kind of ironic that I was invited to my son-in-law's 40th birthday party (along with all their extended family) ....while my former spouse was not. She's kind of had a falling out with a lot of people...including her own children to some degree. Sad, really.
I took a clumsy path, but your relationship failed, for whatever reason, just like many others. To try to blame that on their skin color is...
No worries. I was simply pointing out an issue that, truly, has been a plague on the Black community for years. Statistics will probably prove-out that Black-on-Black crime is exponentially higher than White-on-White, White-on-Black, or even Black-on-White. Statistics will also point out that the absence of the Black fathers has had much to do with that...and it's become a generational issues. My stab at a solution here is if cities would establish, "market", and grow more Boys/Girls clubs, teen centers, and the like, filled with (Black and White, alike) volunteer mentors as to impart/promote positive and healthy habits and lifestyles...coupled with activities and classes to provide entertainment and teach skills. In Nashville, we have Rocketown, which was begun by Michael W. Smith, and is very successful. It's a Christian-based organization, but I'm not implying that they'd have to be. I'm simply speaking of giving these kids some positive alternatives. I think that's a great place to start.