John Edwards: We can’t build enough prisons for all of the black men.

[Highwayman]

Talk about sticking your foot in your mouth. Edwards just implied that all intercity black kids are going to be in trouble with the law. That’s a reach to suggest that there are no good kids coming out of the intercity. Where’s the NAACP, Jackson and Sharpton on this? If this was a Republican he’d never hear the end of this.

Question: What would you do to help eliminate inner city kids from partaking in violence?"

John Edwards: That's a good question.

...I don't think their's a silver bullet to this. We start with the president of the United States saying to America, "We cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem."

And, the idea that we are going to just keep incarcerating and incarcerating, soon we're not going to have a young African-American male population in America. They're all going to be in prison or dead...

It comes at the start of the video clip. In the context of his complete answer it doesn’t get any better.

Stopping Inner-City Violence | Video | John Edwards: The MTV/MySpace Presidential Dialogue | MTV

[pootsy]

Prison is just a playground to help criminals become better criminals.

[wordsmythe]

Hmmm

He said that if we keep things as they are there wouldn't be enough prisions to lock up all the blacks because they get much harsher sentences.

He also said that if you live in the inner city you are more likely to be charged, convicted and sent to prison longer.

He explained himself very well during his answer. Unlike Rush's excuses well after the fact.

[Army_of_One]

I'm glad John Edwards wants to stop inner city violence. Wonder how he plans on doing this? Perhaps afterschool basketball programs...lol

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by pootsy

Prison is just a playground to help criminals become better criminals.

Yeah...that's ALL it is...just a playground......

[tat2me82]

Originally Posted by Army_of_One

Yeah...that's ALL it is...just a playground......

Agreed!!!
My mom just started working at a prison in Colorado, and we got to take a tour recently. Although they have some good programs to try and help the inmates I still think they have it too good. The prisoners that have been really good, in their unit they have carpet, a big screen tv, plants, a foosball table and rights to the weight benches and stuff. I asked one of the guards how much it would be for me to start bunking there!! They got it made better than I do!! They didn't find much humor in that.

[tat2me82]

O and I heard quite a few of the guards saying that the busier they keep the inmates the less likely trouble will arise.. I agree w/ that to a point, but unfortunatley most of the inmates privilages are free, and out here in the "free" world it costs money. In my opinion if they had more kid/student/teenager related programs or hang out spots that didn't cost money and that the kids could have a say in things, they'd be more likely to go there.
When I lived in Pueblo there was a spot that the kids got to decorate w/ their different art abilities such as painting, grafitti, photography etc. Things were donated such as furniture, ping pong and air hockey tables, gaming systems etc. Kids got to wear what they wanted, express what they wanted, and everyone got along!! It was great to see.

[K C Muffin]

That IS a good idea, but didn't Dodge try that once with a teen center at the Carnegie building (old, old library)? Seems like it was great for a year or two, then it started being all gangs that attended and nobody else would go. That's what I heard anyway, since I don't live there.

[jeezeweeze]

Teen Centers are great, they even had them in "my day"( dad would take me over there on the dinosaur)
They didn't tolerate any misbehavior. You act up, you are banned. Such a simple thing, has turned into a lawsuit waiting to happen, plus liability in such a venture has caused most of them to go extinct.

[tat2me82]

Originally Posted by jeezeweeze

Teen Centers are great, they even had them in "my day"( dad would take me over there on the dinosaur)
They didn't tolerate any misbehavior. You act up, you are banned. Such a simple thing, has turned into a lawsuit waiting to happen, plus liability in such a venture has caused most of them to go extinct.

What kindof liabilities? Would some sort of waiver do the trick?? I agree for the misbehavior, one shouldn't ruin it for the rest.

All this talk makes me wonder why Dodge is so intrested in spending so much money in bringing new things here when we could use what we have to help the residents of Dodge!! I honestly don't think too many businesses would mind donating things (ecspecially if there name is going to be attached to it) for an idea that would better this town. School kids have way too much time on their hands and there's not enough in this town directed towards them
to keep them occupied besides sports to which not everyone is into. Granted, kids should be able to find better ways to keep themselves entertained and occupied, but obviously that's not working anymore.