Our
current
topic:		 In light of the atrocity in Littleton, Colorado, when should parents be responsible for the acts of their children?

Past discussion topics



Submit Date: 13 JUN 1999
Name: Stacy
Email: stacysway@yahoo.com
Response: I believe that parents should be responcible for their childrens actions at all times; But should also hold the child responcible for what he or she does. As a college student, 19 years old... I see first hand how important it is rto have strong ACTIVE parental figures in a childs life. That lack of involvement really determinds what can and can not be in a childs life. If parents would pay more attention to what their kids and doing and not everyone else's kids they would have more control over helping their child to be a respctable and responcible individual. We need to stop acting like its too late for change and concentrate on our own children and then help our neihbors, our childrens friends, and also help our childrens educators to educate our own.\ stacy


Submit Date: 4 JUN 1999
Name:
Email: Reidt@hotbot.com
Response: Parents should be responsible for their ALL THE TIME until they are of legal age (18 or 21). I can't believe that this is a question. I know we as parent can't be everywhere all the time. However, we can instill in our children moral and value and MAKE THE TIME for quality parenting (starting at birth).


Submit Date: 30 MAY 1999
Name: Randall
Email: B1MORE1@aol.com
Response: Parents should be responsible 24 Seven. But parents can not be liable for the actions of thier children 24 seven !!
It takes a village to raise a child for the obvious work and social circumstances. Yet are the work and social circumstances obvious? Some children are good as pie around thier parents, but trouble waiting to happen when out of thier sight. One child has no obvious issues related to being fatherless/motherless while another child acts out.
The village of extended family, parents, teachers, parishners, business people and others must act to positively groom the children. Differing economics and other resources available support the need for village participation. So, what responsibility to does the village have? I submit to you readers and Jazmanj that the village action can have profound impact.
In the American village Blacks during slavery was not permitted to have family, post civil war and During the Civil Rights era government split families as criteria for food and monitary support. Please note the Latter happened in the last 30-40 years. Comparing Non Black families to Black families is akin to telling two people to race. One person starts at the starting blocks the other starts off in a hole 20 feet deep and 3 yards from the starting blocks.
I offer the latter not as an excuse but a reason. Hopefully understanding this reason you can better judge progress.


Submit Date: 20 MAY 1999
Name:
Email: ChoirBoy_x@webtv.net
Response: So, white youth(hartzell2000@hotmail.com), you have joined ranks with White Girl...!!! You two Whites have disgraced yourselves before millions (on the internet) telling African-Americans how we should react to White Racism! Attempting to tell us what we should think!! (I'll be Damned...!!!) Before I go further with this, can you tell me - What the Hell you Whites think you are??? HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MINDS COMPLETELY...??? Racism and Prejudicial White Hate is 'WAR'...!!! And YOU, are out of your league - You little FART!! And you have the Audacity to Call Me Out??? You're not old enuff to need ARMPIT Deodorant! Do you think I'm going to waste my time figuring who is - and who is not, Prejudice? I don't think so... In the Eyes of Reality All Whites are Guilty! They just don't accept it!!! How many of you Goody Goody Whites have prevented White Hate Filled Cops from Killing African-American Men?? ...None?? And did any of you Whites ever Prevent the kkk from Hanging an African-American Man?? ...None?? When you work at a job that African-Americans cannot get - You're living White Hate Filled Racism!! And when you buy a home that African-Americans cannot buy - You're living White Hate Filled Racism!! Guess What, You're Sharing in the Opulence of White Hate, and What it Provides For Whites!! So Take The Heat and Shut Up!! You're as Guilty as Anybody!! And You're Crying about Stereotypical Comments????? This Tirade could last Ad infinitum!!!!! Why don't you have your Mommy Change your Diaper, Give you Your Bottle, and you Go Back to Sleep... I know this has been a Nightmare for you!! Sleep Tight little White Youth!!!!!


Submit Date: 20 MAY 1999
Name: Sis. Sophia
Email: councilofmothers@thehelm.com
Response: A Mother¹s Confession
Where is the archtypical female presence in the world today?
Our physiology‹our wombs‹give us profound insight into our definition and purpose as the gatekeepers of the future. We are the ones who are given the holy task of nurturing and educating those who will keep the earth in the next generation.
But we have abandoned this sacred duty. We have turned the holy womb into a plaything for those who do not know God and have not committed themselves to bring forth children in the image and likeness of God. We have been prostitutes; we have been whores. We have used our sacredness to barter for money, for our livelihood, for protection, for affection, for power, and for pleasure. Yet it is only the trifling use of this sacred gift which has caused us to be reduced to this bartering, this allowing ourselves to be played with.
We have sold ourselves for thirty pieces of silver. We have lost our dignity somewhere in our bedrooms, stripping it off with our clothing. We find ourselves looking into the mirror on the ceiling at the object of hatred and violent lust, searching our faces for the inevitable signs of our fading value on the market. We invested for our future in our value as commodities, not in our sons¹ and daughters¹ value as the keepers of future generations. This is why females are incapable of giving their rightful leadership in the home, in the family, and in the nation. There is no other reason.
Because of this the planet is in a state of degeneration. We have not nurtured and educated the ones we have borne. We have taught them to be destroyers, participants in the death culture, by confusing their consciences with our hypocricy. They have no proof of the sacredness of the womb, nor of their own sacredness having been born of that womb to assure them of their innate value or to guide them in their choices.
There is nothing more agonizing to a male than to recognize his mother as a commodity and his birth as a bargaining tool or an accident. Our sons have become violators of females because females have first violated themselves, and this horrifying reality, we confess, has perpetuated the circle of violation.
We have been the ones who have allowed war. By turning ourselves into playthings and goods which we allowed to be bought and sold, we created the competitive atmosphere between brothers, sons and nations which has demanded our sons¹ blood as fuel. In order to appease our guilt at our vulgarity, we sacrificed the fruit of our wombs to grand blood campaigns.
These grand blood campaigns were said to be designed to protect our virtue. But war is not about virtue. It is about availability. It literally ³kills off the competition². In order to protect our availability as their private properties, men began killing other men, because when sex became currency, all men became predators, and all men became whoremongers.
We, who were designed to be the most sacred beings on the planet have become merely varying grades of meat for consumption by the men we have taught to be ravenous wolves.
We have lied and said that we were forced into this humiliation. In fact, however, it was only the abdication of our true position as mothers and guardians which caused us to earn the hatred of our sons, our husbands, our fathers, and our brothers.
If we had protected and guarded our duty to the future, the death and destruction we live in the midst of today would not be. We¹ve taught it in our disregard for the sacred. We have violated the ark of the covenant. We have sinned against our God.
We have put being toys for our husbands and lovers over the education of our children. Subsequently, our children use drugs to numb the pain of seeing their mothers abandon them as they hurry to make themselves available as playthings. They sell drugs and they are in prisons because their mothers don¹t see to the adequate preparation for their education, growth and development before their conception.
We have played the victim, blaming the ones we betrayed for their hatred of us, as if we had not reaped what we have sown. We have refused to be honest about our failures and crimes.
We are guilty for the state of the world today.
But we have the ability in this generation, in this moment, to choose again to be the keepers of the future.
October 16, 1999 has been set aside for a day of repentance and atonement for all mothers. We realize that no real atonement can possibly go on in our males and in our families until we first take responsibility for the problems and bring order to the planet.
There can be no sacred marriages or families until we as mothers make a conscious decision to set ourselves aside for the purpose we must serve for the sake of the future.
Therefore, we commit to abandon all forms of prostitution and to study and institute the laws of scientific marriage, family, education, economics, and government. We commit to love and respect, to truth, to righteousness and justice, and to the restoration of the sacredness of our being and purpose.
Let us join together on the 16th of October, 1999, for the Mothers¹ Millennium March, in Chicago, Ilinois, at Washington Park, on the Seven Hills, to confess and repent before God, our families and our nation, and to forgive each other for our historical and personal participation in the devastation of the world.
Let us mourn our crimes and our losses, and then go forward to plan a future fit for the new millennium.
If we have courage, we can be healers.
‹The Council of Mothers
c/o The National Office of Atonement
7508 S. Saginaw
Chicago, IL 60649
773/933-0521
773/928-2120
email councilofmothers@thehelm.com


Submit Date: 19 MAY 1999
Name: Jason
Email: jjordan@modispro.com
Response: Being a parent myself, and taking into consideration that society has all but forgotten about our youg black children, it's not really that hard to figure out that the government does not care anymore, or ever did. But let me say this, as a parent, you have to give your child a certain amount of privacy and independence. Now, I'm not saying to just let our children run wild and build pipe bombs in the garage either, but we have to let our children develop their own niche, but at the same time monitor the development of knowledge and experience our children encounter. Adolescence is something we all have dealt with at one point in our lives, but it's up to the parents to be involved in their children's everyday life and guide them down the right path in an already violent and degenerating society. Values is the key to my point brothers and sisters, always remember that. Thank you, Jason


Submit Date: 19 MAY 1999
Name: Sharon Steinberg
Email: cd000910@mindspring.com
Response: Parents should always be responsible for the actions of their children, but parents also must know that early in the game, peer pressure can have a stronger influence on a child than parents can. I recently organized a discussion at the college I teach in about Columbine, and I began the discussion by reading this poem by Dorothy Law Nolte, that I'd like to share with you:
Children Learn What They Live
by Dorothy Law Nolte©
If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.

If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice

If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.


Submit Date: 18 MAY 1999
Name: Hartzell
Email: hartzell2000@hotmail.com
Response: __ Hi, Being a white youth and reading choirboys comments from, i believe May 10, insults me but yet at the same time makes me pitty his lack of itelligence. I have been growing up in a redneck town my entire life and my family and a few others are pretty much the only nonrascist families in our town. I defend my beliefs everyday against those infidels and i take much verbal abuse, and sometimes physical abuse, from some of my peers for it. do you know how much it hurts to read your comments steroetyping me like that? no you don't. Your almost as ignorant as the rednecks i put up with everyday, but yet i defend you. It gets harder and harder everyday to continue to be an active Anti-Rascist and espescially after reading this but yet i keep struggling to reach the goal of equality. feel free to respond to my email. Thank you for reading all of this; have a nice day.


Submit Date: 16 MAY 1999
Name:
Email: bradfo43@ccvax.mmc.edu
Response: BLACKFOLK, I know there is a raging debate about to heat up on this Littleton, CO massacre, but I need to interrupt for a moment and make you aware of an issue of urgency involving the Shabazz family. Read on, and my solution to the problem is that in case the injunction fails, and the auction proceeds, we as a community need to fundraise and donate $50,000 to Ilyassah Shabazz and family IMMEDIATELY so that they can rightfully retain their father's property once and for all. I don't know how to contact them, or get this started, but I'm sure that some of you intelligent, successful and well-connected Blackfolk out there do. If so, inform the rest of us, and maybe we as a community can help stop this grave injustice!
*** NOTE from Afro.com ***
Anyone interested in more information should contact Bradfo43 at his email address above.
Thanks,
WebMaster


Submit Date: 15 MAY 1999
Name:
Email: GY13@WEBTV.NEG
Response: Parents should be held responsible when they ignore obviously antisocial or illegal behavior.


Submit Date: 15 MAY 1999
Name: jazmanj
Email: jazmanj@hotmail.com
Response: Ok cut the crap! A child is a human being free to make choices. If one chooses, one make his own choice for result, benefit or consequence. Legally, if a child makes an illegal choice, the CHILD should be legally held accountable for his choice. Simple. However, a child learns at HOME how to respect authority, and abide by rules/regulations. If it is not learned at home it can not be transferred to school, or anywhere else they go. Leave the kids to be responsible judicially and legally, for their OWN criminal behavior. There are laws for criminal minors on the books, use them! Now, to expect the race card not to come up on a black website, for black discussion... hmmmm? A black kid a couple of years ago in Chicago at(I think) age 8 threw a kid out of a building window for a pair of Jordans. No one black or white talked about parents then. Black kids stabbing for court shoes all the time, but we want to talk about the white folk not being good parents! The average black family is without a black male father- teen pregnancy higher for us than any other culture. Are we in the position to talk about parenting. PLEASE! Maybe we need to sweep around our own front door. Peaceness jazmanj


Submit Date: 13 MAY 1999
Name: Carlos Morrison
Email: closmorr@hotmail.com
Response: As long as the child/children are living in the parent's home, the parents are to a certain degree responsible for their actions.


Submit Date: 13 MAY 1999
Name: Darnel Tanksley
Email: DarTanksle@aol.com
Response: I fear long comments in this forum. They generally go off in all directions, losing the theme to mindless batter. But BonJac (Bonnie Jackson) you hit a homerun.


Submit Date: 12 MAY 1999
Name: Bonnie Jackson
Email: bonjac@aol.com
Response: I tried not to respond to this question; yet, the intensity of the subject beckons me. I have shed tears over the incident that took place in Littleton. I cried because they were children and no child, Black or White deserves to have their bright lights dimmed in such a cruel way. In the midst of my crying, many thoughts tugged at my mind. Many are too selfish to be shared here and I won't. I listen to the scholars, educators, lawmakers, politician, doctors, etc share their feelings on what caused Littleton to happen. Everyone was pointing their fingers all over the place, none cognizant of the three pointing back at them. I have tried to not make this a "Black/White Story". It is. The very foundation, upon which we are built, makes it that way. Most of you won't agree. It doesn't matter. Somewhere in that old, ragged, lopsided, worn-out constitution, it is written that I can do this. Our skin color defines the village we are raised in. As integrated as we want to be or try to be, we are segregated in the mind. A Black Child recognizes this the moment he/she walks into any department store. I watched as a clerk in a toy store watched little White Children playing in the aisle with the many toys – she smiled at them, appreciating their glee. A group of Black Children joined in the merriment and suddenly, she begin picking the toys up, admonishing the children for removing the toys off the shelves. I caught her eyes for a moment and she quickly looked away, shamed. That moment became frozen in my mind. Two worlds, separate and unequal. Play this very scene over and over in your mind. As adults you can probably shrug it off. A child's fragile mind, living that scene over and over again begins to question his value. Los Angeles and Littleton are treated differently because of the value America places on the people in each location. Confused? You shouldn't be. Some one stated in this forum that killings take place in Los Angeles all the time. True. If you are consistently treated like those children in the toy store – you value yourself very little. Killing yourself becomes easy. Rejection is dealt with daily. Blacks kill each other because of the value they feel. They also deal with rejection much better than Whites. It is a natural occurrence in their lives. Littleton happened because Whites are not used to rejection. It is dished out but not handled too well. Those two young men killed because they were rejected. They became the little Black Children in the toy store. They couldn't handle it. Every incident of killings that have taken place (in our schools) was perpetuated by White (male) Children who couldn't handle the crunch of rejection. In each case, the schools were predominantly White. The children who rejected those two young men should share in the guilt. As well, the parents who taught them to look down on others should share the blame. It's a Village thing. In one village a life has been devalued (Los Angeles). In another village, life is wonderful, the world belongs to you, nothing will harm you (Littleton). Los Angeles may never happen in Littleton and Littleton may never happen in Los Angeles. Maybe it is time to stop setting traps that we might fall into ourselves, sometimes. My child, your child, they are all the same. It hurts when they must die such a senseless death. A death in Los Angeles is the same as a death in Littleton. Let us stop the two worlds, separate and unequal. Until the hating stops…we will continue to cry for our children, whether it is in Los Angeles or Littleton.


Submit Date: 12 MAY 1999
Name: Simon
Email: talib@swbell.net
Response: Parents are not responsible for the CHOICES a person makes. They are responsible for providing the tools that allow them to make the right choices. We all know the problem, we have seen, heard and lived the results. Here is a proactive move. It may not save the whole world, but it will make a difference. Make a pledge to tell some youth, whether the youth is your own child or not is not important; just pledge to tell that youth you care about them or you love them or you believe in them. Let them know they are important and have self-worth, not because you say so, but becasue God says so. (Psalms 139:4) Let's take back what is ours, Our Youth.


Submit Date: 11 MAY 1999
Name: sambarella
Email: sambarella@webtv.net
Response: EVERYDAY IN AMERICA, AND I KNOW FIRST HAND SINCE 1972, WHEN I WAS A RUNAWAY, LIVED ON THE STREET OF CHICAGO, AND WATCHED THE YELLOW STONE RANGERS AND BLACK STONE RANGERS KILLING EACH OTHER OVER TURF, NEIGHBORHOODS THAT WEALTHY WHITES OWNED AND COLLECTED REDICULOUS RENTS FROM THE POOR, CHILDREN HAVE COLOR FALL DAILY TO VIOLENCE, AND NOT ONE BLACK THAT I AM AWARE OF OWNS, MANUFACTURES OR EVEN DISTRIBUTES ANY KINDS OF WEAPONS, BUT WHEN THE WHITE CHILDREN DIE, THEN IT IS A PROBLEM. NO, THE PROBLEM IS WHEN ANY CHILD DIES IN THIS COUNTRY, OR ANY OTHER. IT IS SAD THAT EACH TIME SOMETHING LIKE THIS OCCURS, ONE VARIABLE CONTINUES TO SURFACE; RACE. Our Black children need to be made aware of the historical model of gangs. In Rome, gangs were paid by military officials to terrorize those living in ghettos, especially the Jews, to keep them under control. This condition is not much different today. If the children actually knew who was manipulating them, they would likely stop killing each other. Not one shipping line, or airline carrier that brings controlled substances into this country is owned by anyone of African origins, to my knowledge. MY PET PEEVE FOR TODAY: "Success Magazine" page 26, February issue has a picture of two very tall, and wide, Black males, one with a knife, about to pounce upon two, very skinny, white tourists. IN CONCLUSION: The next time some poor, none white youths in South Central, or around 63rd and Halstad shoot it out, the government should stage a big media event like they do each time poor, little, middle class, white children get bored and kill off a few other bored little white children. This is meant to sound hard, and even a little cold. It is exactly how the judges, law enforcement, government and other authority figures, including predominately White teachers in public schools, universities, etc. view, by actions, little, lower socioeconomic none white youths, not just the Black children, but any child who is not of the so called superior race. Problem, three quarters of the world's population is now of yellow, not pink skin tones, and it is my prayer that, one of the pink ones who has done so much dirt for so long to so many of different looks, and origins does not loose it, and take us all out!


Submit Date: 11 MAY 1999
Name: Mike
Email: mskembo@hotmail.com
Response: Parents should be the people teaching their children right from wrong, schools should be teaching academics. The problem is to many people want to have the schools teach everything. I am responsible for my children's spiritual well being, not someone else. That is the answer, here is the problem. Parents used to value time with their children, they used to take responsibility for their children's actions. Now if their child does something wrong it's like they don't know what happened. Maybe they shouldn't be sitting in front of the TV five hours a night watching "Jerry Springer" and other shows that thrive on animosity. We as a nation have asked our schools to take up the challenge of teaching our kids right from wrong. Now we have schools telling children that homosexuality is not bad, that science can prove that there is not a God. Is this what you want? My children are not yet of school age, when they are me and my wife will be active in the education of our children. That is the way we were raised. I would hope that everyone of you would do the same. Mike


Submit Date: 11 MAY 1999
Name: Mike
Email: mskembo@hotmail.com
Response: Many of the posts here scream out, "Why isn't their this type of reporting when we have a drive by in LA". Answer: It happens all the time, it's not news worthy anymore. Also, people need to stop playing the race card in this one. Yep, one of the kids killed was black. Twelve weren't. No one else is screaming "They singled out my child cause he was white" sometimes there isn't a race card to be played. No matter what the color we morn for our children when they die. It's not the press's fault, we as a nation are not being protective enough of our greatest resource. Mike


Submit Date: 10 MAY 1999
Name: Frances Murphy
Email: FrankieLou@aol.com
Response: There are two key words in this question-- they are "parent" and "chldren." In far too many cases the law defines what a child is but fails to define what a parent is supposed to do. This is not the first time this parental responsibility has come up.. If you will check you will note that there have been numerous articles written on "tough love," "training adults to be parents," "the right age when a child goes from childhood to adulthood" and why "bad behavior at the age of two or three should not be considered cute'." I believe that as long as a son or daughter lives in your home without paying rent etc.,he/she is your responsibility. If you cannot control what goes on under your own roof, there is something wrong with the way YOU raised that child. Yes, I'm old fashioned. I believe that if you bring up a child the way he/she should go, when he is an adult he will not depart from it.We are all sorry about Littleton but let's hope, if nothing else, it has made many parents sit up and take notice about what goes on in their own homes.


Submit Date: 10 MAY 1999
Name:
Email: ChoirBoy_x@webtv.net
Response: When you speak about parental responsibility over their children, you're indicating complete control!! No one can control another totally. What I see here is the White House, and the various White city officials in America are reluctant to continue putting white youths in prisons!! They will lock up our Afro-American youths with no indication of concern, even when they're not guilty! Even inventing ficticious crimes so as to 'Jail our African American People'!!! California is contemplating building 32 (I believe) new prisons!! And we all know who they want IN those prisons!!! The problem is - White parents are not real parents!! Their children will actually Curse and Strike them, and the parents will not do anything about it. If White parents would kick their asses, it would straighten them out!!! So, when you speak about responsibility, I would never assume responsibility for anyone!! White youths already think they own the World and everything in it!!! So who do you think they will listen to??? African-Americans usually harm themselves. Whites will Kill anybody, it doesn't matter to them!! Whites will kill you and then kill themselves!! That in itself tells you who is the most vicious!!


Submit Date: 10 MAY 1999
Name: Mphasis
Email: jlebron@hotmail.com
Response: I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade. By all means, parents SHOULD be held accountable to some degree for allowing their children to be delinquent with no controls in force. But, again we are evaluating an issue that has a number of sides. If we start holding parents accountable (and we already have), how long is it going to be before you stop seeing white families on EXTRA!EXTRA!, talking abouot divorcing their kids, and start seeing Black parents on TV for "allowing," in effict, the "Thug culture" to blossom into a respectable title, given often (Not Always) to young men who commit violent crimes, who are underachievers, who are juvenile delinquents. The government restraints on our people have been in place for so long, we can't even see the welts they have left on our arms as they have bound our hands to do anything but submit...Please don't fall into the trap of the 20th century, and believe that MORE government influence in our lives will HELP us. I beg to differ. My parents are in their fifties, and I've heard a lot of stories of children who acted up "Back in the day." Needless to say, there was absolutely no need for a parent to go to jail or be fined for something their child did. Because back then, a Black mother would have told a policeman, "You gonna fine me for something MY BOY did?!?! Oh, well you might as well go ahead and lock me up, cuz when you leave here, I'ma kill him!"


Submit Date: 8 MAY 1999
Name: pmaynard
Email: 14kdesigns@mailcity.com
Response: The job of parenting does not stop at the are of 17. It is the parents responsibility to be aware and involved in their childs extracuricular activities. How could the parents not know that something was seriouly wrong with the two boys that shot up the high school? They should be held liable.


Submit Date: 7 MAY 1999
Name:
Email: BRADFO43@CCVAX.MMC.EDU
Response: Yes, but why wasn't anyone asking this question when drive-by shootings became the norm in inner-cities from D.C. to L.A.? Are we only concerned when suburban white kids commit random acts of violence, yet distance ourselves and exonerate the parents for the acts of their children when it happens in OUR community? Tell me, just what is our stance on this?


Submit Date: 7 MAY 1999
Name: lands
Email: rlands@netscape.com
Response: God placed Adam and Eve in a place, with all their needs met, security and belonging. They were free to do as they wish. There was however one choice with negative consequences. God told Adam what the choices were and the rewards and consequences. God is the parent, Adam and Eve are the children. Was God responsible for Adam's choice to disobey God and CHOOSE to eat of the tree of good and evil? Parents have a job. To take take care of the gift that God has given them. They are to train up a child so they won't end up at hell's gate. A child has a job. To obey their parents. Both have choices. If a parent does not do their job, it limits the choices with rewards the child has. If a child does not do their job, it limits the parents in providing choices with rewards. They both must choose and the will either receive the reward or consequence based on their choice. The bible says disobedience leads to a short life. When are parents responsible for their children? All the time, but not the action of ttheir children. Just becasue you throw the parent in jail or make them pay does not relieve the child of their responsibility. Just remember children imitate who they hang around, so if you are sneakin' and creepin so will your children. If the TV baby sits your children then they will be what ever the media master wants them to be. If your children are exposed to people who do not demonstrate a consitent high moral character, then your children are going to lack high moral character. As information becomes easier to digest your children will apeear to be mature in a lot of areas, but if you fail to provide right choices then they are living in a fantasy world.


Submit Date: 7 MAY 1999
Name: simon
Email: talib@swbell.net
Response: That's not the real question. No person can be truly responsible for another persons CHOICE of action. The question is when are parents going to stop buying the lie and be REAL parents? When are men going to stop going after the dollare and be REAL men. When are women going to stop chasing the need to be accepted by men and be REAL women. Our children, African-American, Euro-American, Native American, Asian-American, etc. are dying, becasue we have to get paid, get props, get respect. So instead of being parents we become friends. We give children there freedom to express themselves. This society is screwed up, Malcolm X said (at least in the movies) something to effect that the chicken have come home to roost. What was done to the African, the Asian, the native is now coming back on the European. It is sad none the less. If you have a child and they live in your house, then have only five rights. To do the RIGHT thing, the RIGHT way, for the RIGHT reason, expecting the RIGHT results to glorify God and to benefit their community. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.


Submit Date: 6 MAY 1999
Name: Darnel Tanksley
Email: DarTanksle@aol.com
Response: Until the age of about 14, parents of course should be responsible if their child breaks a glass in a glass store. But the most responsible parent in the world can't stop a child from "springing" into the street and being killed by a car and causing a bad car accident. This issue of what to do about suburban kids playing "real life video games" kinda upsets me. Urban kids have been killing each other in masse (altough not in one spot) since the 60's and the solution was to move to the suburbs. NOW America wants to take action and find the cause and effect and who's responsible. Perhaps these questions should of been asked in the 60's when it was just an urban thing.


Submit Date: 6 MAY 1999
Name: Nora
Email:
Response: When the child is no longer a child. Soon after child starts to make own decisions.


Submit Date: 5 MAY 1999
Name: Jennifer
Email:
Response: Parents should ALWAYS be responsible for CHILDREN. Any time before the individual reaches 18, the parents should be responsible. I hate to say it, however, the issue in Colorado is NOT ONLY about parental responsibility. It is about societal disregard for the YOUTH in our country. The youth in our country have been SCREAMING out to be heard, ADULTS have NOT listened. We can look at Colorado a NOW, however, black kids have been killing each other in GANGS for YEARS, where has the media and all the government attention been? Where has the media, government attention and individuals been, when kids have gone into schools in POOR communities and threatened teachers, raped girls and beaten other kids? I'm not trying to belittle the massacre in Colorado, I'm just trying to say, ALL and I repeat, ALL children in America are caught up in a critical situation. Colorado WILL happen again. Please don't be fooled. WE HAVE WORK TO DO. Maybe the next question shoud be: HOW CAN WE COMMUNICATE WITH OUR CHILDREN?


Submit Date: 5 MAY 1999
Name: RJFord
Email: robynrich@hotmail.edu
Response: Parents should be responsible when they were a part of the crime (encouraging their children to do it), when they had knowledge of the crime and did nothing to prevent it, and when their illegal behavior resulted in a crime being commtted by their children. Ex. If a parent gives the child a gun and encourages them to rob, they should be held responsible. If the parent doesn't know where the child got the gun, but somehow finds out that the child is going to rob and doesn't alert authorities, they should be held responsilbe. And if the parent has a gun that by law should have been locked up and was not, even if the parent had no knowledge that the child was going to commit a crime, he/she broke the law by now storing it ilegally and should therefore be al leaset partially responsilble. Of course, the issue gets tricky when children break the locks to get the guns, or when children make the bombs in teh basement without the parent's knowledge. From the news reports out of Colorado that I've heard, it doesn't seem that the parents should be held responsible. Some might say that they should have known what their children were doing in the basement, or that they should have known what was on their kids web page - but not knowing is not illegal. The parents of the boys seemed to be good parents, but I'm sure all parents can be better. However, if we are going to start holding parents repsonsible for not paying enough attention to their children, we don't have to go to Colorado to make the first prosecutions.


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