By Adriano Cabral FORCV Editor


With the wave of killings that is assailing the community of Brockton, Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, and other poor neighborhoods, everyone is worried as some are shooting in the bush. Pointing fingers to which group or individual is the most at fault usually leads to the escalation of more problems than it helps to solve them. Capeverdean families have been heavily affected by the shootings in Brockton, according to the Enterprise. Eleven individuals have been killed in 2007, – said the South shore newspaper. Some say that working two jobs and less supervision of the kids is part of the problem while others add more to the issue saying the society is also part of the problem.

Struggle for power
One thing that is becoming more and more evident within the Capeverdean community is the struggle for power between parents and the kids. This has to do with the fact that some Capeverdean parents educate their kids the way they learned best, how to instill discipline, good values, and good neighborhood. Parents within the Capeverdean community, in most cases, are good working parents, but lack some skills to convey these values they aim to pass to their kids. Those values are no different from the average American families: Good education, respect to others, good citizenships, etc. If you look around, you will not see parents serving time in prison, doing drugs of any kind, but the younger generations. It is also important to understand that Capeverdean-Americans are immigrant to US since the 19th century. Many of the 2nd 3rd or 4th generation of Capeverdean-American are no different from the average American because they were born here and acculturated just like any other immigrant community such as Irish, Italian, English, German, African-American or Jews, with the additional factor that many still call themselves Capeverdean because that is what makes them proud, when in fact they are regular Americans. Many Capeverdean-Americans fought the World War II, Vietnam War, and so on, and have been distinguished with Medals of Honor by US government. Thus, many Capeverdean-Americans helped to build the America that exist today. Obviously, not all who call themselves Capeverdean were born here, and those are usually the ones with less of American culture assimilation. The ones that are petitioned to come to meet their relatives are the ones with a greater degree of difficulties because of the all too known barriers.

Why do they need help?
Many times in their endeavor to enforce good behavior on their kids, these parents use physical punishments, like slapping. A father who comes from work and found out that his son have been hanging out late with wrong crowd is eagerly going to be upset. Sometimes kids take advantage of the parents’ difficulties to use the system to make it work for them. How many times kids who in trying to impose what they want on their parents, respond to a threat of punishment like this: “If you do anything to me, I will call the police”; with the meaning: “if you stop me, I will call the police”. How many families have been incarcerated on a domestic violence issue because after listening to the kids and parents, the parents couldn’t explain themselves due to they don’t speak English well enough, and in most cases they look guilty? How many parents have been involved with the Justice System and DSS because in trying to discipline their kids, end up losing custody of their children, or forced to comply with other requirements demanded by these institutions, lost their jobs, and often been laughed at because the kids know better?

Physical punishment is not an option, yet many of these parents lack the necessary skills to implement other kinds of consequences, to direct and guide their kids to good behavior when there is a need for that. These parents are good role models to their kids, complying with all their duties of a good citizenship, respect to others, paying their taxes, buying houses, especially in Brockton where Capeverdean-American families are also responsible for a great part of real estate ownership and beautifying the city by reforming old houses or building new ones and thus contributing to the development of the city and local businesses.

Parents need help to become empowered and take charges back with their kids and their streets. When trying to enforce discipline and the kids say: I will call the police, they become scared because of the punishments that may derive from the struggle, usually not with the kids but with the parents. Maybe more ESL for parents is needed. Many parents gave up trying and as hopelessly as painfully it can be, they let the kids get away with so much to end up in trouble later. Some inadvertently say: I will let the police and DSS raise them because I can’t. Parents need guidance on how to discipline the kids without the use of corporal punishments. In the mean time, the law enforcement officers need to know that, in many cases of police calling as the result of the struggle for power that is going on within a family, but not child abuse or domestic violence of any sort, they are to become more aware and culturally sensitive of these kinds of struggle, and so more inquisitive before making the arrests.

It will change for you too my dear friend.Just think about it,50 years from now.

Manu Salah

As I told before, this is a problem related to the american society. It is linked with the prejudice, the white american society has against blacks. Very clearly the with america pictures the blacks as being violent, gangsters, living in gethos, listening to hip hop music.

The young blacks to please the whites try to fit this image. ..

That's why I allways send the message to cv-americans to stop to identify with blacks, this will only bring you problems (and you start to see them now), this will bring you problems based on the prejudices the white america has against blacks...you will end up stuck in the lowest level, with lots of gun and poverty. Keep identifying with your real culture...not the one american wants you to identify with...

you ask what is cv culture, when It is more easy to answer what is not cv-culture...the afro-american culture is not the real cv-culture...the american urban culture is not the real cv culture...the thugh culture is not the cv-culture...cv-people who embrass these cultures are being trapped by the white americans who during the last centuries have shown persistence in trying to exterminate what they call the blacks...cv have to be firm in claiming their real culture instead of claiming the black-afro-american culture otherwise they will follow the same fall...

What is culture?

Look up the word Culture.

If culture does not teach good manners's and kindness and harmony and being responsible and peace and true devotion for righteousness.

Look up the meaning of righteous.

And it is not about just one group of people regardless from what country or nationality.

True culture serves all humanity in justice and morality,genuine excellence.

Direction or course, as a movement to advance people into a life of peace,joy and happiness to remove suffereing and to have salvation in its true meaning not in the mythology as expressed by some.

We can work at making the transformation.

We might want to look at the book of Romans Chapter 12 verse 2 could be a step in the right direction. There are other means but we can think about that for a moment.

Chapter 13,but we might want ot think of Deus as dialectic-eclectic-universal-science. In a new mind set for our transformation.
Well just some thing to think about.

WE ARE WORKING AT IT.

Culture is more then just song and dress & food and language,it has far much more meaning.

Time to sing a new song my brother.

I hope we are not wise in our own conceit.

Jesus I surrender,Lord help us.

Who is our Lord? Is there more then one?

Manu Salah

digging to deep into concepts, is the best way to anihilate the meaning and the understanding, as tells the Boudha there must be equilibrium in everything, not too much, not too little.
The way you are trying to define culture is anihilating the meaning of this word making it to large.
Nevertheless, one fact is that the ones that have introduced the gun culture, the thugh culture, the hip-hop values into the afro-american communities are the whites, some of the whites hated the blacks and wanted to destroy them. One way to destroy one group of people is to infuse into them bad values and gun and drugs.
I ask the cv not to identify with the afro-americans because some whites have promised themselves to destriy this community with guns, drugs and luxure. We have a different and unique culture, lets just stick to it...the best way to survive