bell hooks and African Americans

It is a scary thing when you are afraid to let a child go outside and play, because you fear that someone is going to drive by and start to shoot at someone else and hit your child on accident.  Unfortunately, things like this happen every day of someone's life.  bell hooks talks about how African American men would rather deal drugs and steal than work a 40 hour a week job.  These same boys are dropping out of school just so they can make more money faster and at a younger age.  This seems to be the normal day-to-day life of many people.  According to hooks, African Americans do not want to work a job, they want to party and fight instead.  They are disrespectful to everyone including their friends and do not care if they are hurting anyone.  Most think it is sexy or cool to be bad and mean.  They think there are more ways to make a living and that they can make more money faster than anyone working a job can.  Thankfully, not all African Americans have that mentality.  Most are great people that work jobs and raise kids just like anyone else.  There are some people black and white alike that need to stop thinking poor me and just live their lives.  They need to stop the drugs and violence and make this world a little safer for the children out there. 

Why is it so hard to be happy anymore?

Being a mother of two teenage daughters and a nine year old son, I have seen my children's difficulties on a daily basis.  It seems no matter how well they seem to be doing one minute, the next minute could completely spin in the other direction.  I have decided to do my paper on depression since it seems more and more teenagers are on medications for this every day.  When I was growing up, things were so much easier, or so it seemed.  These days' children are bullied on a daily basis and it is harder from them to get away from it due to cell phones and social networking sites like Facebook, bebo, my yearbook or MySpace.  I used to be able to go home and get away from it since I was one of the children that got bullied in school, however it is not so easy anymore.  When children get depressed and they are taken to the doctor, they are usually put on a medication, which then gives the bully even more to tease the teen about.  Unfortunately, they are teased for anything from what they wear to who they hang out with.  Teens should instead have someone to stand up for them at the school, but teachers are afraid to do anything in fear of losing their jobs for saying the wrong thing.  Life is stressful enough when you add in jobs, bills, relationships, peer pressure, and the list just goes on; it is no wonder teens are beginning to become depressed at an earlier age.