Marc Steiner at Goucher

Buz went to hear Marc Steiner speak at Goucher College last  Wednesday. His topic was: the state of the city.

Marc emphasized the state of "hopelessness" of the black community today. Buz felt pretty hopeless by the end of the talk. He remarked that the streets of the Inner City are different now than they were when he was growing up. There used to be a certain amount of respect for old people, women, the church and police,  now there is little to none.

He asserted that a "prison culture" has taken over the streets, with something like a 90% chance that a black male will end up eventually on parole or probation, or in jail.

Buz sees that in his everyday dealings with citizens and clients. The long white T-shirts and no belt with your pants hanging down is "prison": they only order one size of T-shirts (large), and they take your belt away. Plus there is the sexual component of prison life, with your pants hanging down below your belt. I wonder how many of the young people I see (and adults who still haven't grown up yet) wearing this garb realize where the ideas came from. And how many young guys showing off their butts for "fashion" realize what that signifies in a violent  prison culture where normal sex and women aren't available. 

 buz thinks: The juvenile justice system often sends kids the message that there are no consequences (except for a few); thus, when they become adults and rack up 2 or 3 arrests, some with convictions, they arre shocked when they cannot get a real job. When they could get a real job, there are often surprised when the boss is displeased when they miss work, or are late, or start fooling around.

Marc said that some hip-hop and rap which idolizes violence and contempt for women (ho's), is a degradation which pulls America down. And more than 95% of that music is bought by white suburbanites.

Marc believes the solution to these problems is WORK: turnaround can only occur if families have stability through jobs. But he said the changes must be systemic, and he pointed out that many advances in this country occurred because government funding fueled them. He cited as examples the past building of canals, railroads, and highways, not to mention space flight and the New Deal programs.

Buz sees no large systemic improvements such as these on the way, and feels most of the blame lies on the silence of so-called "leaders", failing to follow Bill Cosby's call for some sense of parenting and responsibility. 

Baltimore's a hotbed of crime news!

Man, there's a lot going on with crime in Baltimore!

• Buz was interested in some recent plea bargains in Baltimore's Court. In one a doctor driving drunk the wrong way on I83, crashed into a car and caused the death of one woman who died at the hospital and seriously injured another person, who has had several surgeries, and will probably never fully recover. The doctor whined and cried and said "I'm sorry". What BS. He's only sorry because he got caught. He'll only do a year in jail. Betcha: 7-1, he will not successfully complete his probation and go back to the juice, but he'll not go back to jail. And the judge said he could get his "conviction" erased!
• The woman pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the methadone poisoning of her daughter and got a completely suspended jail sentence; the prosecutors went for this because they couldn't prove she actually gave her daughter the methadone. Then her lawyer gets out front in front of the cameras to say the poor thing didn't do it, and had to plead guilty to get some help. Well, duh, the lack of responsibility here is astounding. One of the things a judge reads to defendants when they plead guilty is: "you are pleading guilty, because you are in fact guilty". Betcha: 24-1, she won't get the help she needs, without the push of  some actual jail time. (Many people sentenced to treatment stop coming to it.) Her lawyer would have better served her by having all but say a year of jail suspended, then after a few months taken her to Marian House, so she has an inpatient type of support system to help her break out of the miasma of ills in the Inner City. Of course, the good sisters at Marian House will not introduce her to birth control, though. But otherwise she would have what she needs there, along with a drug treatment regimen. Betcha 5-1 that she gets arrested again, but does not complete what a reasonable person would call a successful probation, and betcha 8-1, she still does not get violated. Betcha 3-1, she'll get pregnant again.
• Buz notes that in the two above cited cases Baltimore prosecutors declined to take their chances with Baltimore juries, in the first case thinking the jurors might have felt the doctor did not cause her death because the family is suing the hospital for negligent treatment. Well, she would not have been in the hospital if the doctor hadn't slammed into her car. In the second case, the defense would have said one of her many boyfriends at the party might have given the baby the methadone--by mistake of course.
• Buz heard Marc Steiner out at Goucher last night, and agrees with him on the sense of hopelessness which pervades the inner city now. And for young adults, especially, it's the thug culture of toughness and fighting and contempt for the rest of us. Marc stated that conditions for the black underclass are probably worse now than at any time since slavery. Dunno about that, but it is pretty bad.
• Read the Sun article today about comments Judge David Young said at the sentencing for the bus beaters and one becomes overwhelmed with anger, contempt and hopelessness oneself.
• A friend was driving back from Columbia the other day, and cut thru the West side and was driving along North Avenue, when she was shocked by the thugs driving All Terrain Vehicles all over the streets: "terrifying" in their intimidation of  all others.

Marc Steiner and his firing

The firing of Marc Steiner reminds me of the firing a number of years ago of Davey Johnson, one of the strongest managers the Orioles ever had. He was one of the few who would get in the face of these spoiled, childish, superstar athletes and make them perform in a team-like way. However, the owner of the team, Peter Angelos, and Johnson clashed and Davey was shown the door.

I don't think the Orioles have had a winning season since.

Same thing happened in New York when Giuliani's Police Commissioner, William Bratton, became more popular than him.

Buz believes that Steiner was a truly outstanding jounalist who knew a lot of the players in the city; I'm sure that the right-wing fire-breathers on the other talk shows hated him. But he really had some great shows: his five-part series on Vietnam was very moving and enlightening, and his interview with Felicia Pearson, Snoop, was thought-provoking.

I think WYPR will go the way of the Orioles. Their big mistake, in my most humble opinion was expanding to 50, 000 watts and buying stations on the Eastern Shore and Frederick. People, listen, ain't nobody in Ocean City or Frederick gonna care about what happens in Baltimore--which they all hate and fear. People interested in listening to public radion in YPR's format don't really care what's going on in Frederick or OC, either. Management just drove up their fixed costs to satisfy the mantra that bigger is better, and missed their niche of the sophisticated urban, urbane listener. There are plenty of suburban oriented stations to cater to those audiences.

Oh, I'm sure Marc could have been a difficult fellow to handle, but he was your main, maybe only big product.

By the way, the introduction of this show the Signal, on Fridays in Marc's time slot, was the beginning of the end. This poor dumb retired guy could never figure out what they were talking about: I guess one had to be one of the Creative Alliance types to really get into it. I dunno.

By the way of crime tip: don't go walking too far north of the Creative Alliance at the Patterson at night. It's bandit country.