Who Won the Debate Between Dr. Ben Carson & Rev. Jesse Jackson?

With the case of Micheal Brown all over the news and the media to working to further divide the the American people with the race war, Dr. Ben Carson stepped up and challenged Reverend Jesse Jackson to a debate in regards to this highly controversial issue on Fox News Sunday. During this debate, Carson said some insightful points as well as solutions that should be put up for discussion for not only our black youth but for the youth in all communities. Carson spoke of defining personal responsibility, working to get young Americans involved within the community, and teaching the necessary skill sets to keep kids out of a life of crime. These are solutions that will help to reduce crime, initiate the drive to be successful, and decrease government dependency amongst all Americans in our country.

One of the Oxford dictionary many definitions for personal responsibility defines the one we are discussing at hand as “a moral obligation to behave correctly towards or in respect of.”  For some people, taking personal responsibility for their actions comes immediately. For others it takes longer. Either way, in a politically correct society that has gone haywire and has allowed personal responsibility to be camouflaged with race, sexual orientation, and gender. As long as it suits the public interests, then the moral obligation to behave correctly to or in respect of people,laws, and general society will be pushed aside.

When we as a country, community, and society learn to reestablish this back into our youth, we will see a necessary change and decrease in the criminal climate rising amongst our youth. It is not about black crime, black on black crime, or white on black crime but about getting the kids in our society away from crime, period. But how does one evade the politically correct police in order to do that? How is one taught that the actions you take will bring about some consequence? When a black leader who is in position to set an example to the youth of his own community cannot accept responsibility for his actions without blaming prejudice or dismissing it as the white man’s game to thwart him, how can we rebuild this moral obligation back into any of our youth without being put through the political correct ringer and end up being branded a racist or a bigot? The number one way to beat the race card is to care enough to put an active interest forward and learning to be role models for children who cannot find one. While easier said than done, teachers, community center leaders, and church groups can set the tone by working as the foundation for the kids that have been left to fend for themselves and can replace the life of crime that seems to bond children of any race together in the wrong way.

The second point that Mr. Ben Carson made was about getting kids more involved in the community. This point makes a lot of sense because the more one is involved with something the more they care about the end result of that involvement. Sports and various community activities are ways to get kids back involved and shift them from the free time that often leads to crime and other dangerous activities. Sports bring an affinity with the town they are playing for. Whether it is baseball in the summer or football in the winter, the uniform and school mascot can help identify the young adult as part of that town. Another way to get our youth back involved in the community is politics. Holding a school office can lead students to bring other students together to do productive functions for the town they are living in. Once the affiliation for the place they are living in is established there is a higher chance for a sense of community and the bonds being built are not on race or ethnicity but on being neighbors and teammates. While this seems fanciful and idealistic this happens in communities across the nation why can’t it be delivered to communities that struggle with high youth crime rates and lack of involvement by role models? When we as adults stop caring then children follow suit. It’s up to us to bring our children back to being centered and create that rock within the community that they can hold on to.

Finally, Mr. Ben Carson addressed the issue of giving children in our society the necessary skill sets to be successful. This one is a little more tricky. In a school system ran by common core and where education standards have been dropped and teachers are underpaid it is explainable, but not excusable, why our youth is gearing towards a life of crime. Maimonides made the famous quote “Give a man a fish and you will feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime”. Give a child the skills needed to one day build a business, or the education to build a famous bridge in the future, even how to fix a car engine and then teach them the elements of running their own business so they can open a shop of their own and you will give them the skills that will feed them for life. Their reliance on government will be dropped and the need to participate in a life of crime can be avoided.

Would Micheal Brown be alive today if any of these played a factor in his life? We will never know. But we can look towards keeping kids out of situations that lead up these life alternating events. While the events of Micheal Brown death are still undermined the fact that he did rob a convenient stores of cigars and assault a store clerk have been proven to be true. Where was the personal responsibility of theft and assault from this young man? What can we do to give hope to children in similar communities who are taught to survive through the life of crime? Ben Carson has brought three great topics forward for people of respective communities to start looking at. What are we doing as individuals to keep this problem from perpetuating?

Whether it is a neighboring town or a town over a thousand miles away, whether is it the Black, Latino, or poor white communities, it is a nation’s problem not a community problem, and the quicker we start working towards solutions, the more likely we can aim towards building a stronger youth that hold personal responsibility and don’t use race, gender, and sexual orientation as a scapegoat. We need communities that work together to help build solid roots for children to take pride in, and ensure we are giving our youth the necessary skill sets to get them through life so that a life of crime is no longer an option.
Carson and the Reverend had two different styles of debating. Carson offered solutions outside the box of race and Jackson discussed race as the problem. Carson was focused on looking at all people involved as a human beings and the Reverend insisted on looking at the people involved as white and black. If we are going to get past the issues of race in this country we need to find ways to bring us together not as white, black, Latinos, or any other race but first as defining ourselves as human beings then as Americans. We can’t stand as one nation if we continue to divide ourselves. Taking Dr. Carson’s point of teaching personal responsibility, working to get all Americans involved in the community again, and teaching necessary skill sets are ways to reduce crime and bring up success rates in our youth and eventually our country.