Thread by @IDoTheThinking

People tell the Oakland white acab kids: "yall say defund but live in gated communities!"
Well, yeah! Have you been to Montclair? Rockridge? Oakmore? These areas have no violent crime. And no police patrols or cops on every corner! Why? Because wealth determines crime, not police

Yes, an officer walking the block deters crime says research but criminals will just wait until they leave. How much of the city budget is available to put cops on every block to ensure safety? It's not fiscally coherent. You're reacting to a problem, not solving it.

East Oakland's been traumatized by gun violence for many decades. How many decades will pass where the underlying problem isn't solved? Oakland's safest, most peaceful communities do not have cops. We think they do but they're just at the gates to keep us out.

Its obvious that the not-Black acabers dont get that their non-Blackness means they're not a target for violence. They wont be mistakenly ID'd & shot, their parents wont worry about them wearing the wrong colors, no gang cares about them so they can play poverty tourist harm-free

Cop violence is morally worse since is public sector but the acabers aren't OUSD kids going to Youth Radio after school every day and sleeping in the basement because they're afraid to go back to deep east where there's shootings happening in the apartment parking lot.

But from East Oakland to Richmond: drop what you're doing, look at the crime-free hills and draw some conclusions. Either
A) Black people are inherently inferior, in which cops are necessary
B) Poverty, not race, predicts crime and increasing our wealth would solve it
Ans: B

I've lived in an affluent white community so I know why they have no crime. These kids come from households where they cant lose. Once they're born their parents have the job security to read them advanced literature, and pay for early education math tutoring that puts them ahead

The whole concept of school is misunderstood by poor communities. It's not there to teach your kid, they test your kid. The learning happens at home and the Pre-K years, piano lessons, tutoring aren't designed to cram information but instead train these kids to be good academics.

By the time a kid is in the 5th grade their lives can be predicted and their academic performance constant. Sure, someone overcome, but when they're behind by the 5th grade in math and reading proficiency the trajectory is unlikely to be changed.

When Parent A in a poor community sits their kid in front of a TV or smartphone because they're exhausted from work or have to work extra hours, the kid is put at a disadvantage over affluent Parent B reading them Harry Potter nightly and taking them to Kumon after school.

School isn't really based on creating upwards and even mobility for all, it really acts to perpetuate existing inequities but ensure basic competency while doing so. The poorer kid grows up without after school programs and even if they did, are exposed to the trauma at home.

Everyone wants to fix the achievement gap in high schools but by this point its too late. The key early age, habit-learning years where the home environment is key is currently privatized (Pre-K) or depends on shit like homework which doesnt reflect on the student but the parents

When these kids are teenagers, the affluent kids are put in ritzy sports programs, SAT prep programs, or doing low-wage jobs knowing full well their employment in the lower class is merely temporary, likely for a college app and generating an income for added leisure.

When a poor kid is confronted with a job application for some low wage, low protection high turnover work, they know this is likely their actual career paths in life. Most of them will accept it without complaint....

But some kids will have a drug dealing neighbor, get pulled aside and be like "hey boy, go sell this for me real quick." Then they see the money flow! In poor, job free communities this is a career!

Other kids at early ages will be exposed to violence and therefore will internalize it as normal. Their friends got shot. Their other friends didnt, but they had a gun. You need a gun to protect yourself. The affleunt kids aren't exposed to violence so they have no use for this.

Then in a couple years, that same kid who witness his friends warding off violence with violence, mother being beaten, dad killed, dealer on the block the only one making dough, will follow the path and inevitably get killed or kill himself.

This can be stopped.

The key years are 0 - 10. There are practical solutions to stopping these problems such as universal Pre-K; eliminating homework till they're older; giving communities dignified employment; letting people build generational wealth.

I went off on a rant but the point is, i've seen both wealthy and poor communities close up.

The police have nothing to do with whether your community is violence-free.

Regarding the dissolving of homework at early ages, think about the appeal of AP and Honor courses. Why affluent parents work to put their kids ahead of the standard curriculum.

Because they did the learning at home or after school! The standard curriculum didnt do anything.

Giving a 2nd grader a homework assignment doesn't tell you how intelligent that kid is. It tells you more about their parents and the household. If anything it should be used as a measurement to determine what kind of instruction that kid needs.

Foot patrols, shot spotters, and more presense are all popular ideas especially with older Black folks. Im not gonna gamble people's sanity telling them to drop everything for an experiment

But if crime prevention exclusively focuses on more police then its already too late

A famous Black teen tiktok star Swavy was shot dead by this boy in the video. Note the beats I mentioned in this thread are present:
- He's a drug dealer
- He had a gun to fend off people trying to fight him (allegedly)
- Thats been his life forever

https://twitter.com/Talksandthought/status/1412512487547801600?s=20