Guys, my wife and I were having this conversation last night and it's something I just don't understand.

They have made four arrests so far and from what I've read, it appears to be a shootout between two gangs with innocent bystanders killed. I think all arrested so far are under 20 or under. In a matter of a few minutes, these young people have just thrown the rest of their lives away. How does that happen? This is not like stealing a car or shoplifting. These are aggravated murder charges and most likely they will spend the remainder of their adult lives in a nasty, overcrowded, violent state prison.

Those of you in law enforcement, how do these kids respond when separated from the rest of their gang friends and the reality of it all sinks in? Is "respect" provided by the gang so powerful that it outweighs any possible consequence? Do they believe there will be no consequences for their actions? Are their lives so dire that prison is not an unthinkable situation that most of us would believe?

I just don't get it.

Short answer: the average young black male feels like they have nothing to live for. A large portion of them have been raised in single parent households with absolutely no positive male role models. Their heroes are athletes and rappers. This cycle was set in motion in the mid-60’s and has been steamrolling downhill ever since. It’s only going to get worse.

Spot on.

I think the black community refusing to even admit black on black crime is a problem also contributes. When a strong black male stands up and says, hey this is a problem, what happens? He is called whitey or an uncle Tom.

Good short version!

it also doesn't help that their music glorifies this type of behavior
along with what BCLC said

JA I’ve had the same question. I can not comprehend the mindset of discharging a gun into a crowd of people. What on earth did they think would be the end result? The only thing I can come up with is complete lack of impulse control and zero ability to think beyond 5 seconds ahead. As in zero on both items. They must experience life through an entirely different lens than the rest of humanity.

Y'all are thinking rationally when you ask "Why? What were they thinking?"

They -- "they" being white, black, old, young, rappers, postal workers or whomever -- who do this sort of thing do not think rationally. They're somehow aggrieved, a victim, part of a something-done-to-me situation (real or imagined), mentally ill, or they maybe literally just get tired of the chit and snap.

They don't think rationally. Who the hell gets "disrespected" and drives 40-60 minutes or however long to come back to a party to start shooting? Who pulls out a gun on a car turning around in a driveway and fires at it?

Rational, logical, intelligent people with sense don't and can't think this way, and cannot understand how or why something like this happens.

Yes!!!

When that type of life, thug and drug, is romanticized and glorified in music, movies and social media, there is a certain element that is drawn to it. And, let me tell ya, it ain't just the young black men - I know some young white men the same way right down to thinking they are gonna be the next big rap star flashing the Benjamins and firearms in their social media posts.

You're talking about a group descended from people with an average IQ of 66. There's no point to being involved with them at all. (I had to search for that, btw. I remembered it as being in the 80s.)

Clem and BCLC nailed it.

"Here and now" based on poor or nonexistent leadership as young children and youth, inability to define or rationalize how anything that happens now is going to affect their future, and idolizing the celebrity and aggression of certain genres of music and lifestyles they see and listen to on various media.

JMO

They're representative of a failed society and sadly it is not going to get any better. Protect yourselves

They are sociopaths and you cannot reason with them.

This is the perfect statement! Yes. It is going to get much worse! When the welfare cheese runs out, we will see bloodshed like we have never seen in this country! The current political scenario is going to turn this hate mongering into a civil warhead! They are using the black community much like they did slaves in this country. Using them to do the dirty work for their gain.

But I will say, there is still hope! At my church almost every week I see inner city young black men who have no father come and find Jesus! The only hope I have isn’t in Trump or the Republican Party. This is a much bigger problem than any of us can fix. At this point, only Jesus can fix this situation! To do so, all men, even the ones here must reach out to the black community and give them hope. That courage is tough to find! I myself am working on finding that courage! But I know and see men who are making it happen!

You want to know how to fix it? Look in the mirror! There is the answer!

When you're that stupid violence is your only means of accomplishment.

Skip to the 1min mark, this dude is DEAD ON. Told it like I've never heard before and quick!

On a side note, he can lick my balls as he wants to ban "Assault Weapons", but he is dead on about black violence.

There is not one single thing that a non black person can do to understand or change what is happening in black society. They have to change from within and I just don't think that the last couple of generations want to change. It is a culture. You nor I can change their culture, just like like a 20 year old gangster crack dealer from shucks hole Chicago will never change the culture of people who read and post on aldeer.

A 70 % bastard child rate will help it get worse no doubt.

I don’t feel it s a matter of courage but instead a matter of time. A person only has so much time they can share. I choose to invest my time in my family. If others wander into our life then so be it as we will follow that path. That has happened on multiple occasions, some have worked out and others not so much.
We had a young black kid at my son’s school that became good friends with him and he was tagging along on most things we done. At some point, under what seemed to be the guidance of his mother, he left our school because he had the victim mentality. He was in no way a victim of any kind and was very disturbing to watch that situation unfold.