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Greed,
Crime,
Racial
Injustice
and
Desperation:
An Urban
American
Story
Op-Ed By
Edward
Foxworth
III/Tell
Us USA
News
Network
 (Tell
Us USA)
- It
doesn’t
take
much to
notice,
not only
the rise
in gas
prices
in this
country,
but also
that of
racism,
greed
and
desperation.
On one
hand and
mostly
in urban
communities,
senseless
crimes
continue
under
the
hands of
a cohort
of
desensitized
youth.
The
neighborhood
attitude
of “kill
or be
killed”
has been
around
for
decades
and
officially
commemorates
the
passing
down
from one
generation
to
another.
Whether
these
out-of-control
individuals
are
beating
and
carjacking
our
senior
citizens
or
shooting
haphazardly
into
homes or
cars,
hospital
emergency
rooms,
the
prison
system
and
funeral
homes
are and
will be
profitable
industries.
These
hopeless
mindsets
exist
where
pride,
self-respect
and the
overall
appearance
of a
prospect
versus
that of
a
suspect
have
been
lost.
The
unfortunate
sentiment
and it
has been
said
over and
over
again,
is that
those
who
don’t
understand
their
history
are
destined
to
repeat
it.
In the
midst of
this
desperate
struggle
to
escape
the
madness,
the rich
are
continuing
to get
richer
and
often on
the
backs of
this
unending
craziness.
Those
that
enjoyed
the
rewards
of a
collapsed
housing
industry
have
doubled
back to
buy up
homes at
some of
the
cheapest
prices
in
history,
only to
flip
them for
an
inflated
profit
or are
renting
them out
at rates
that
exponentially
increase
their
investment.
The
American
dream at
it’s
finest I
imagine.
Knowing
that
morality
is a
dying
characteristic
in
business,
homes
are
being
bought
by banks
and
investors
that are
not
stakeholders
in these
communities
positioning
them to
reap the
benefits
from
individuals
that
have
traditionally
not be
“credit
worthy”
enough
to
purchase
these
homes.
This
should
be a
place
for a
non-profit
organization
to exist
where
banks,
through
their
community
reinvestment
dollars
and on a
grand
scale,
could
contribute
to
revitalizing
neighborhoods
by
donating
and
helping
to rehab
foreclosed
homes,
not
prospering
as a
result
of their
demise.
Rearing
its ugly
head are
the
covert
and
sometimes
overt
efforts
by
individuals
and
organizations
alike,
to prove
how
their
money
puts
them in
a
position
of power
where
their
attitude
can be
as
insensitive
as it
wants to
be. The
growing
wealth
gap in
this
country,
even
among
working
professionals
and
those
trapped
in
unemployment
speak
loudly
to this
trend.
As a
result,
when
previously
intolerable
scenarios
take
place in
the
workplace
and
everyday
commerce,
ethnic
minorities
are
finding
themselves
with a
decision
to make.
Choosing
to
engage
could be
a matter
of pride
while
choosing
not to,
could be
a
growing
source
of
frustration
and a
fundamental
career
decision.
Learning
what it
takes to
be
courageous
in the
face of
adversity
is no
easy
task.
However,
gaining
a
clearer
understanding
of who
you are,
what you
represent
and how
you can
be
effective
with the
life
you’ve
been
given is
a
challenge
that
contributes
to your
legacy.
Despite
how busy
we have
all
become,
entrepreneurship,
mentoring,
faith
and
perseverance
were
foundations
that
moved
our
forefathers
through
their
toughest
times
and
should
be the
recipe
that
will
guide
our
endeavors
against
confrontations
of the
21st
Century.
Ed
Foxworth
is an
Entrepreneur
and
Author
of “The
Six
Routines
of
Self-Discovery”.
To book
him as a
Speaker
or to
pick up
your
copy of
his
books,
visit
www.edwardfoxworth.com.
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