Ebony [5]'s Michael Arceneaux says that the GOP vice presidential hopeful managed to be both offensive and confusing with his recent comments on urban crime.
When asked if this country has a gun problem, Ryan said in response that the matter is a "crime problem" and alleged: "The best thing to help prevent violent crime in the inner cities is to bring opportunity in the inner cities. Is to help teach people good discipline, good character. That is civil society. That is what charities and civic groups and churches do to help one another make sure that they can realize the value in one another."
Because there are no churches in inner city neighborhoods, right?
Meanwhile, a study by Chicago police showed that suburban gun shops are a main source of guns used in crimes in the city. Last month, a public high school in suburban Seattle was closed after someone posted an anonymous online threat to kill students with a submachine gun. James Holmes, the man responsible for the horrific theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, resembles Paul Ryan a lot more than he does me. Holmes was a Ph.D. student in neuroscience, thus he probably had "good discipline," too, only that clearly didn't stop him from acting out on his impulses.
But by Paul Ryan's logic, apparently suburban murderers and their victims are more virtuous than those in the inner city.
It's all a crock and a pathetic way of glossing over the lack of gun control, systematic racism, growing social inequality, a prison industrial complex, and a lingering avoidance to give the nation's collective mental health the chat it deserves.
Read Michael Arceneaux's entire piece at Ebony.com. [5]
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