Most of the killing of young black men is by gang warfare. Their problems with the police are largely due to gang culture also.

But the fact that so many black youths choose gang life is a sign of a racist society. They choose gang life because unequal educational and employment opportunity leaves them with little hope for a better option.

Society should correct that, and should take whatever steps are necessary, regardless of cost, to ensure that African-Americans have as much hope and as much stake in civil society as anyone else. Only long-term, deep-seated racism stops us from doing that.

Africans were brought to this country against their will, and were robbed of their culture and families. Nothing has ever been done to compensate for that loss. All other ethnic groups came here with family and cultural ties intact, but we disregard the tremendous importance that plays in human development, and the great advantage all other sub-cultural groups therefore have over African-Americans.

As John Gorka wrote:
If the wind is at your back,
and you never turn around,
you may never know the wind is there;
you may never hear a sound.