Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Public Money For Churches To Fight Crime?


You may recall an attempt by a group of a couple of dozen African-American ministers last year to bully Mayor Bart Peterson into giving them $25 million of our taxpayer dollars under the guise of helping with the city's growing crime problem. Mayor Peterson wisely told the ministers to go take a hike. Today, IMPD Police Chief Michael Spears went with hat in hand to some of this same group of ministers asking them to submit grant proposals to the city to help combat the city' homicide rate. The Star's Robert King reports:

Indianapolis police asked about 100 faith leaders today to play a key role in helping reduce the city's homicide rate.

In a meeting at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department's Far-Eastside training academy, Police Chief Michael Spears asked faith leaders to submit grant proposals to his department that they think would help reduce violent crime. Other police officials even encouraged clergy to tell their followers to take guns away from children before they can be used to kill.

The impact of homicides was brought home to the group by the widows of Westside restaurant owner Clarence "C-Daddy" Williams Jr., and taxi driver Clarence "Chip" Hoosier. The two men were slain last year in crimes that sparked widespread revulsion.

"Until we take action everything will remain the same," Carla Williams told the assembly. The meeting with faith leaders is the first in a series of public discussions that will also tap leaders from business, education and social service groups. Spears said the faith community has a long track record of working with police to reduce violence.

"A lot of the problems that we see when we focus on suspects and offenders and these kinds of crimes often involve a lack of moral development," Spears said. "And this group is uniquely prepared to help us in that area."

Perhaps someone needs to remind our city leaders of what our Indiana Constitution says on this subject matter, such as "No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship; and no person shall be compelled to attend, erect, or support, any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry, against his consent." Or if that doesn't do it, how about, "No money shall be drawn from the treasury, for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." I trust the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana is preparing a lawsuit as I write to stop this ill-conceived idea in its tracks.

Beyond the obvious constitutional problems, it is simply incredulous for anyone to believe these ministers could possible take our taxpayer dollars and do anything more to help our city's neighborhoods than they obviously aren't doing with the money they raise from their parishioners. Can we permanently shelve this ill-conceived idea and move along with efforts to take back our streets from the criminals?
Incidentally, the man standing at the microphone who can't wait to get his hands on your hard-earned tax dollars is none other than Bishop Thomas Garrot Benjamin of the Light of the World Christian Church. This is a sample of one of his homobigoted rantings against gays and lesbians:
"The most dastardly thing about homosexuality is silly silly homosexuals going around trying to convince people that what they're doing is normal. That’s the sin; the abomination. Instead of saying I have a serious problem and I am struggling with it and I know that it is wrong . . . Homosexuality is a spirit of the underworld and you who collaborate with that spirit collaborate with the devil himself. But be careful on who you think is a homosexual and who is not. Everybody that is effeminate is not a homosexual, they just didn’t have the kind of parenting where a father said ‘son take that switch out yo' walk boy, son we don't walk like that, or bend like that either.’ The first time a father sees his son do his wrist like this he needs to take his hand and say .....uh............uh...........here. Your wrist goes like this. Men don’t talk up here (high). It’s a choice, you can change, you can choose, you can choose.Every effeminate person is not gay and every weight lifter is not straight. He might be the biggest girl in the city.” Uproarious laughter breaks out in the congregation.
Bishop Garrett assures us his recent sermon he called "The High Cost of Low Living" wasn't gay bashing.

28 comments:

Wilson46201 said...

AdvanceIndiana should be particularly incensed at Your Man Mitch for his permanent government office for giveaways to churches http://www.in.gov/ofbci/

(which is headed by a truly respectable Black Republican woman and former Indpls Deputy Mayor, unlike you-know-who)

Wilson46201 said...

Bishop T. Garrett Benjamin is famously one of the most prominent Black Republicans in Indianapolis ...

Gary R. Welsh said...

Nice try, Wilson, but I believe Chief Spears is appointed by Mayor Bart Peterson whose administration put on this press conference and invited Bishop Garrett. Isn't Peterson a Democrat?

Gary R. Welsh said...

Or I guess Spears now works for Sheriff Anderson after the merger. Isn't Sheriff Anderson a Democrat?

Wilson46201 said...

Fighting crime seriously is nonpartisan. All Indianapolis community leaders should be involved and concerned.

You seemed so upset at T. Garrott's homobigotry -- I just felt it important to remind folk that he's another one in your party. Sadly, pro-LGBT-equality folk like you are the exception to the rule in the GOP...

Anonymous said...

Mayor Peterson does not have the answers to the problems in this city. Peterson is committed to the Colts, building bricks and mortar and it shows while the city goes to hell in a hand basket. He doesn't address the corruption in his own administration.

No mention of illegal drug addiction and sales in the city as one of the main causes to the increased crime and murder rate. Who is reaping the profits from the drugs deals in the city? Youth unemployment, safe recreational programs and facilities are lacking. Yet, he expects the people with the least amount of resources to solve the big problems he created with spending too much money for new development projects and not enough money allocated for law enforcement.

Bail bondsmen, attorneys, private prisons and the investors in the drug trade. Our elected officials seem to avoid this conversation in public.

Members of churches pay their tithes and offerings from already taxed income to support their religious programs. The government is suppose to budget and spend the tax revenue collected on services to its citizens. Now the mayor is placing the job of public safety on the backs of the churches.

Our tax dollars should pay for good law enforcement, but Peterson and the Democrat controlled City council will not honor a decent contract agreement or give pay raises to the men and women who place their lives on the line every day to keep this city safe. Hypocrites!

In the middle of this debate, the call to keep government and religion seperated has dominated the legislative bodies by anti-christ supporters.

The church communities have been doing their job the whole time which is to win souls to Christ, while the Mayor's priority has been giving millions of dollars of rebates to private developers.

Now, the mayor needs the votes from church members to get re-elected, he focuses on the churches. I say to him, turn to your wealthy developer friends to garner the votes he needs.

The lives of our youth are worth more than a meager $500,000.00 federal grant. Find the money Mr. Mayor!

Anonymous said...

i hope the ministers can fight crime and put out fires because if bart spears gives them a bunch of money and police and firefighters don't get their raises. it will be one ugly summer in indy.

Anonymous said...

Isnt that Ajabu in the background? You know, the man of God whose son slashed the throats of 3 people a few years back, the man who spoke out against those who attempted to prosecute him, the man who threatened and intimidated witnesses all in the name of Black Power? Now he's going to help us solve the crime problem. Hahahahahahaha.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I don't even know where to begin to respond to this.

AdvanceIndiana sums it up in a nutshell:

"Beyond the obvious constitutional problems, it is simply incredulous for anyone to believe these ministers could possible take our taxpayer dollars and do anything more to help our city's neighborhoods than they obviously aren't doing with the money they raise from their parishioners."

It is physically tiresome trying to keep up with and react to the chicanery of this state.

Wilson46201 said...

The Federal Government under George Bush and his Rubber-Stamp Republican Congress have designated billions of dollars for such "faith-based" initiatives. Your Man Mitch has a fully staffed office to dole out millions for "faith-based" initiatives.

When the city tries to get more community leaders involved in fighting crime all of a sudden some folk develop "the vapors" about separation of church and state.

The Republicans have been working hard for years to eradicate this constitutional wall so as to buy the votes of the evangelicals and other rightwing religious entities.

It was NOT Bart Peterson and the Democrats trying to ram SJR7 through the legislature but the GOP under the leadership of Brian Bosma and Eric Miller with the acquiescence of Your Man Mitch.

Anonymous said...

Although some of these clergy may have a sincere and unselfish desire to help the community they will ultimately fail.Even if it was within the scope of the law to provide them with $5mil,$25mil or even $50 million dollars they cannot reverse or even stem this tide of violence because they cannot eliminate the poverty.They cannot replace the jobs that have been lost over the past two generations.
People need to realize that Indianapolis has extreme concentrated urban poverty.

Wilson46201 was kind enough to provide me with some population numbers over on Abdul's site. Currently,the district boundaries of IPS are the Old Indinapolis City Limits (pre-Unigov). Old Indianapolis has the highest crime rate, the highest concentrated urban poverty and the highest number of minorities.

Before Unigov the original or old city of Indianapolis had a population of approximately 486,000.

Today, the population of the original or old city of Indianapolis is approximately 330,000 (figure provided by IPS).

What these numbers mean is that within the original or old city limits of Indianapolis there has been a staggering loss of population. The Old Indianapolis, pre-Unigov population has declined by approximately 156,000 people!

Tossing Unigov aside as if it never existed the city of Indianapolis has lost 32% of it's population since the late 1960's.Most of this population moved to the outlying townships first and are now moving to the donut counties.

By comparison, the city of Detroit (which does not have Unigov) has seen a decline in it's population of just over 50% during roughly the same time period that the original or old city of Indianapolis lost 32% of it's population.

What was the economic, social and educational impact of 32% of the population of old Indianapolis leaving? Staggering! When 156,000 people, mostly white and middle class left the boundaries of the old city limits of Indianapolis they left behind what is now concentrated urban poverty. The left behind a huge segment of the Indianapolis population hardest hit by the closing of factories and ensuing loss of good jobs.Entire inner ring neighborhoods of old Indianapolis were left to die a slow painful death.

While the new urban pioneers and developers who have taken to getrifying various selected areas of downtown Indianapolis the fact is that they represent a miniscule number in terms of the entire population living within the original city limits of Indianapolis. Yet it is strictly within these small gentrifying downtown areas that the administrations of Lugar, Hudnut, Goldsmith and now Peterson have chosen to direct billions of taxpayer dollars over the past few decades. This all has been done while the inner ring neighborhoods that made up the original pre-Unigov Indianapolis have been largely ignored and left to deteriorate further. Many of these neighborhoods will become urban prairies in sight of twenty years because they are simply beyond revitalization and are of no interest to developers.Point to the Fall Creek Development as a success if you wish but Indianapolis needs 100 more Fall Creeks and even then there will still be a huge population that cannot even afford to live in these neighborhoods. When the original buyers start to sell their property in Fall Creek for twice what they paid then how many poor people from The Meadows area can afford to buy there?

The sad reality of Indianapolis today is that it cannot possibly replace it's economy of yesterday no easier than can Detroit. Many in Indianapolis have simply been left behind with passing of nearly three generations since there were good jobs to build a life on. Those factories of past boom years in old Indianapolis are never coming back again and it would take 10,000 life-science and tech companies to replace them.

I find it absolutely incredible that the original city of Indianapolis, the pre-Unigov Indianapolis, has lost 32% of it's population. That 32% took a lot of money out of the city with them when they left.

A small group of ministers can take all the money they want to help address the issue of crime in this community but they cannot build factories or create the type economy to provide good jobs. They can PROMISE a better future but they cannot CREATE one any easier that they can replace those 32% of the people and money that left the original city limits of Indianapolis.

To address crime Indianapolis the city has to address the concentration of urban poverty and why this urban poverty came to exist in the first place.

Good jobs provide hope. Without hope there is no future for those left behind. Without hope and a future many turn to crime and violence. It has become a cycle that cannot easily be fixed in a day,a year or even a decade but it must be fixed. There are no other options and a few million bucks to ministers for outreach will not build a new economy for the underclass.

Anonymous said...

I have not seen the "plan" that these ministers put forth. But you are really mistaken, AI, to think that the religious community cannot help with this issue. At least, you are consistent in wishing that our society could rid itself completely of organized religion! That just happens to be where so many of us disagree with you.

You are also mistaken in your understanding of our Constitution. You seem to read those lines as indicating that nothing involved with a religion in any way whatsoever can ever receive a dime of state financial support. That, of course, is not what is says. Otherwise, not one dime of Medicaid and Medicare dollars could be spent at St. Vincent Hospital or Methodist Hospital or St. Francis Hospital.

Again, I have not seen the ministers' plan. If it asks the City to fund the administration of their churches, then you might have a point. But if it asked the city to fund programs that will help individual citizens, then your analysis is dead wrong - even if the church helps to administer those programs.

Anonymous said...

I think 10:35 is pretty accurate in his or her analysis. But one important thing left out was the impact of a dismal education system. A lot of those families fled primarily in search of a better education.

Whether the do-gooders of this town want to admit it or not, IPS is playing a huge role in killing this city. Until that issue is addressed, the pattern described by 10:35 will continue. Too bad that the Mayor, the ministers and others in this town are so unwilling to address that obvious fact.

Anonymous said...

10:46, The current condition of IPS was as direct result of the de facto sgregation that came as a result of 'white flight" and then with the subsequent gradual closing of businesses and factories.
Indiannapolis Public Schools were among the finest in the US prior to years just preceeding Unigov. Those 156,000 people or 32% of the old city's population did not leave Indianapolis in the pre-Unigov years because of poor education in IPS. They moved because they did not want their white kids to go to school with black kids. The white's did not want blacks to live in their neighborhoods (brings down property values they thought). These two things may sound strange in the year 2007 but that's the way white's felt back at that time. Even today, a vast majority in the far township burbs and especially the exurbs in the donut counties feel very much the same today.
The IPS we know today was not created on it's own. It was created when 156,000 white middle class people and their money and the ensuing loss of tax base left the old city limits of Indianapolis.Many schools did not even exist when the white flight began but were built as a result.
These following schools were initially built or enlarged for the white's and some are in IPS and some are not:
North Central High School
Arlington High School
Northwest High School
Ben Davis High School
John Marshall High School
Southport High School
Pike High School
Warren Central High School
Northwest H.S.
Lawrence Central High School
*Lawrence North (later)

These schools listed above were built for white families who moved to what were white suburbs at the time. Most had very few if any blacks attending them at the time. One could also include Broad Ripple H.S. as well which had students who later went to North Central after it was built.

Indianapolis, prior to the white flight had ten schools:
Washington H.S (closed)
Tech H.S
Shortridge H.S. (closed)
Crispus Attucks H.S (closed)
Wood H.S. (closed)
Manual H.S
Broad Ripple H.S
Northwest H.S.
Howe H.S. (closed)
Arlington H.S.

Today IPS has these schools left:
Arlington H.S.
Tech H.S.
Broad Ripple H.S.
Manual H.S.
Northwest
(Washington and Howe are Academies)

So during time time before the civil rights era, during and immediately thereafter the white flight was not brought on as a result of poor education in the Indianapolis schools. In nearly all the areas where whites were moving to at that time there were NO schools even built for these whites to go to, they had to build them!
When the Brendonwood area was developed in Lawrence Township the whites who moved their had Arlington H.S. built as their own even though they all were in Lawrence Township. When desegregation took hold in the housing market and Arlington H.S. saw it's first blacks attend there, the Brendonwood community petitioned for their kids to go to Lawrence schools. Lawrence turned their request down. Many whites then began to move out of that area or began to send their kids to private schools.

When 156,000 primarily white people representing 32% of Indianapolis' original population move out because they do not want to live next to black people or want their kids to go to school with them then how in the hell were Indianapolis Schools and businesses supposed to make it.
Unigov was created to specifically exclude the township schools which kept the township schools rich and white. IPS was left poor and to rot. How could IPS not rot. The township schools now had all the money and IPS was left on life support. IPS is still on life support but it was not because they created it! It was created for them by pure racially prejudiced actions by whites two generation before today.

The Mayor wants consolidation of the townships but he will never consolidate the township schools. Why should the whites who are still left in the suburbs share any money with IPS? We created IPS's current condition and we sure as hell aren't going to pay any of OUR money to help them now! That's the attitude now in the townships but in due time as more flee to the donut counties then all of the township schools will be consolidated and the blind will lead the blind all over while the exurb schools replace the township schools and the whites with money can still continue their de facto segregation outside the county limits. Sooner or later there's no where left to run but by then it's probably too late.

Yes, IPS's current condition will cause people to not want their kids to attend school there but that's not the complete doing of the minority or poor in that community. Had white flight and Unigov never happened you would not see IPS in the condition it is today. Unfortunately IPS cannot be fixed, it's too late. In fact, it's two generations too late. When 32% of a school district's human population takes their families and money and leaves what did people think would happen to the IPS school system.
IPS could have been home to poor,middle class and rich kids in one place at one time with all sharing together to bring each other up for the betterment of all. Now all IPS has is primarily the poor to help bring up the poor and a negative culture has emerged.

It didn't have to happen that way but it did and the same mindset of those whites in the far county burbs and the donut exurbs of today haven't changed any more than their parents or grandparents who preceeded them

Now crime is a HUGE PROBLEM. I can't understand just exactly how that happened can you? Think about it as you leave downtown Indy on the way to your home across the Marion County line. Unfortunately we can run but we can't hide from the problems that we have helped create ourselves. What happens when there's no where else to run?

It wasn't IPS's fault. We are all to blame. Some more than others. A handfull of ministers and all the king's horses and all the king's men will not put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Anonymous said...

It is INDEED Mmoja Ajabu. I know him. He has truly found God, and is remorseful over his son's disgusting crimes.

My God forgives those who are truly repentent. Mmoja is. He is heartsick about his son's activites, but he loves his son.

That's Olgen (Mumble) Willliams on the left. People might be in favor of or against things he has to say, but honestly, it's like the old Jackie Chan Chris Tucker movies: "Nobody Understands the Words that are Coming out of your Mouf." Damn man...enunciate!

Federal grants to churches like TGBenjamin's are a waste. But, true to form, someone will get a job off this, make a few house payments, siphon off some cream.

There are other ways to do it, without using tax dollars.

One prosperous northside church just adopted IPS School 20. They provided over 20,000 volunteer hours and thousands of dollars toi tutoring and mentoring programs there. It is a partnership that will continue.

That's the right way to do it. And the only tax implication is the deduction parishoners took for their contributions made to the church, then funneled to the school.

I'd even be in favor of a mayoral office that helped channel those kinds of partnerships. That expenditure of tax dollars, for a salary of a staff person to shepherd partnerships, is a better way to do it.

AMEN to that.

Anonymous said...

Nice story, 1:34, but your writings are absolutely riddled with factual inaccuracies. Most importantly, Unigov did absolutely nothing to change the school boundaries in Marion County. So tying the two together makes absolutely no sense. That fact, alone, destroys about 90 percent of what you have written.

"The Mayor wants consolidation of the townships"

I'd love to know where you got that little tidbit. He sure hasn't talked about it publicly. Care to reveal something here in the blogosphere? Or are you just trying to read the mayor's mind?

And just a minor clarification: the Brendonwood folks sought to join Lawrence in the late '90s (long after all the racial flight that you describe). And they sought that move from the legislature - not Lawrence Township. Of course, it was the ISTA and the school administrators associations who killed it, just as they oppose all other forms of parents making choices.

You also seem to have overlooked the huge amount of black flight that occurred throughout the 1990s. If you have noticed, Pike Township now has a greater percentage of minorities than IPS.

You see, this is not just a "racial thing," as people like you like to portray it. The bottom line is pretty simple: IPS sucks. And it is sucking the life out of this city. Just ask any realtor in town who has helped move families of ALL COLORS out of IPS. Most of them are fleeing the school system, above all else.

Finally, I will note that I simply don't buy the view that blacks are incapable of learning. Of course, that's precisely what you are saying when you claim a school district is bad only because all the whites have left. Frankly, I don't know how a view could be any more racist than that; and yet, you hear such views espoused so openly these days.

Frankly, that is really shameful.

Anonymous said...

2:10, Your knowledge of the history of Indianapolis is downright laughable.
Your knowledge of the historical basis of Unigov is not even worth discussing.
Go take a few years to educate yourself a wee bit more and then perhaps you would understand what 1:34 wrote.
The facts are quite clear and I did not read that blacks are incapable of learning anywhere in their post. Hard to learn when you're playing against a stacked deck of cards.
BTW, realtors today seem to profit handsomely off blockbusting using IPS as the scapegoat. Of course, the suburban developers in the late 50's and early 60's were more open and direct about it.
As for your comment on the Brendonwood area and Lawrence, check your references. I live there.
Interesting, 32% of the original population is lost prior and immediately following Unigov and race wasn't a factor?
Like I said, you're ignorance is laughable.

Anonymous said...

Frankly 2:53, your post is far too typical of a response from someone who thinks they know so much, when they really know so little. Also typical response of someone who can't see their own racist bigotries. Did 2:10 hit too close to home? Sure sounds that way. There certainly is nothing in the 2:10 post that is factually inaccurate. And the implications of subtle bigotry also seem right on target.

Anonymous said...

2:53 said: "I did not read that blacks are incapable of learning anywhere in their post."

Oh really?!? How about:

"When 156,000 primarily white people ...move out ...how in the hell were Indianapolis Schools...supposed to make it."

Indeed, that sentence seems to sum up all that 1:34 had to say (other than getting several facts wrong).

So tell me: How is it NOT racist to say whites moving out result in bad schools? And don't try shifting this to an income argument, because that is not what the post said. 1:34 talked about WHITE flight, not income flight. If income flight were the issue, then he would have noted, as 2:10 did, that Pike is now more minority than IPS.

Isn't subtle racism such a nice thing? Yeah, the white hoods and crosses are gone. But the views of those below the hoods remain.

Anonymous said...

1:34 writes: "We created IPS's current condition and we sure as hell aren't going to pay any of OUR money to help them now! That's the attitude now in the townships"

I really don't understand this statement. IPS spends more money per student than any other district in the 9 county area. And most of that money comes from the state, not local taxpayers.

Are you saying then, that we should pay MORE for IPS? How much more? They already spend over $13,000 per student, which is a couple thousand more than any of the districts surrounding them. Should the townships reduce their spending even more so IPS can spend $15,000 per kid? If not that, then how about $20,000?

Please explain how the townships, which spend far less, are short-changing IPS.

Anonymous said...

4:11, You need to understandd the effect "white flight" had on all cities not just Indianapolis. I do not believe that the intent of 1:34 was to be racist at all and their facts match nearly every study I have read of the causes and consequences of "white flight",especially their impact on the old inner city schools and neighborhoods.
Historically, scholars agree that "white flight" meant a very large "income flight" as well. Loss of the more affluent segment (mostly white) left cities with smaller and poorer populations. The tax base eroded as a result. This is not racism, it's simply what happened. Poor white as well as poor blacks were left behind.
With regard to Pike township, they have only seen an increase minority population in historically recent years. The first influx of minorities into Pike were primarily middle class black families with the means to leave the old city limits.
I have lived within the old city limits of Indianapolis for 63 years. I have also seen exactly what 1:34 said happen to the old city of Indianapolis. The history of Unigov is fact. It's not something 1:34 made up. The schools that were built in what were originally new white suburbs and the closing of five old city high schools, including mine (Shortridge), did not just happen.
The problems we are faced with today effects everyone regardless of color, economic or social status. How we got there is one thing. How we fix it is another.
Calling this person or that person a racist is not the solution. It simply adds to the problem.
And 4:29, you need to recheck your numbers on money being spent on IPS relative to what is being spent by the townships for their schools. The facts do not support your statement by any stretch of the imagination. Outlying townships do not contribute a dime to IPS. Those monies in the townships stay in the township.IPS is currently spending just a little over $8,000 per student. If money was not a problem then some IPS High Schools would have football stadiums like Franklin Central and air conditioning.

Anonymous said...

Is it time consolidate the township schools under one county school board?
The Mayor has been trying to consolidate all townhips services so why not consolidate all the county schools as well?

Anonymous said...

"It was created for them by pure racially prejudiced actions by whites two generation before today."

Save your blissninnie ideas for someone who cares. Sorry, but if wanting to escape to an area that is not surrounding by folks with morals of "It is ok to be knocked up at 14." "It is ok to use your skin color as the reason why you have it so hard." "It is ok to solve every issue by pulling a gun." "It is ok to want the government to steal from others to give to us." etc. etc. makes one racially prejudiced, then I guess that is what my family is.

Sorry, but it is those liberals who think they are so multi-cultural that are predudice. They only bussed black kids to the township schools, the poor white kids were stuck with IPS. Nice. I am lucky my parents saw that hundreds of kids with poor morals were being shipped to the townships. This allowed them to move just outside the county line. When it comes to raising kids, every little bit helps. Putting them in schools where a higher % of people have good moral values and beliefs goes a long way. Why roll the dice with your kids lives?

Anonymous said...

7:02, It couldn't have been said better than by D.C.Stephenson himself.

Anonymous said...

"What happens when there's no where else to run?"

There is always a place to run. Only those people who paint themselves in a corner have no place to go. Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, etc.

Hell, if your willing to do with making a lot of money, but living in a small town, move to N. Alberta. They are paying $100K CND for folks to work the oil sands.

As long as the layabout and bum population growns, the decent folks will move away. Eventually there will be no place to go, then we have chaos.

Anonymous said...

"7:02, It couldn't have been said better than by D.C.Stephenson himself."

Living the gutter lifestyle is not just confined to certain races. All races have their lazy, their worthless, their thieves, their layabouts, their bums, and their mopes.

Why is it when middle class folks want to move to avoid living and socializing with such folks, they are painted a racist and snobs? This has been the way of humans since the start of humanity. Feel free your buy yourself a nice little slice of gutter lifestyle, just leave the rest of us alone.

Anonymous said...

>IPS is currently spending just a little over $8,000 per student

WRONG.

2006 IPS Total Budget: $518,255,00
2006 IPS Enrollment: 36,957
Expense per student: $14,023

Source? IPS. If you don't believe me, go here: http://www.about.ips.k12.in.us/Communities/about/Assets/pdf/factSheet.pdf

So how about somebody answer the question: HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH????

Lalita said...

Yup. The pastors who believe homosexuality is a choice (simply because they couldn't fathom themselves being wired a different way) and that women are to be seen and not heard (because Timothy, who wasn't Jesus by the way, says that our men don't even have to allow us in church and that we can't be pastors). The same ones who have given a pass to black on black crime and a growing culture of non-accountability.

I wouldn't trust many of the current crop of black religious leaders to lead me to a cup of water if I were dying of thirst. I don't trust anyone who says I don't count.