Gangster culture leads to violence

R.J. Palyo, Henderson

Sunday, July 21, 2013 | 2 a.m.

In response to Eugene Robinson’s article, “The right to be young,” was Trayvon Martin profiled? Yes, but can you blame George Zimmerman? The youth of this country — no matter what ethnicity — seem to have a love for a so-called gangster mystique. In the clothes they wear (hooded sweatshirts, low-hanging pants, etc.), in their mannerisms, in their attitudes and even in their music. Somehow being affiliated with a criminal element is hip and cool.

So when people see a hooded person looking out of place, it’s easy to become suspicious.

Even Jesse Jackson said, “There is nothing more painful to me at this stage of my life than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery, then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

Robinson goes on to state “how black men, even black boys, are denied the right to be young.” He implies this is white racism. Black youths are dying every day at the hands of black youths in cities around the country. I quote the Chicago Reporter: “In Chicago, more than 530 people under the age of 21 have been killed since 2008 and many more have been shot or have otherwise suffered violence—often at the hands of their peers and particularly in the city’s African-American and Latino communities.”

Where is Mr. Robinson’s concern and outrage over this?