910wolf said:
Civilized, I want to hear your take specifically addressing some points others have made that seem to have been lost in your replies. Apologies if you did respond to this specifically and I missed it.
In my opinion, I think the family life and upbringing plays a HUGE role in someone's future. The stats of African American's being raised in one parent households with no father figure is very alarming to me, along with not taking education seriously and dropping out of high school and no desire to attend college.
I know and believe there are instances of racial injustices out there, so please don't go on a tangent with that. But how big of a role do you believe these apparent lack of family morals play in an individual's future, and how do you think those trends can be changed?
Yeah man. Childhood instability is a huge, huge determinant of future success or strife in life.
Food insecurity and housing insecurity are probably the two most severe and commonly-discussed types of instability but family instability plays a huge part. Two parent households have much better outcomes on average. Divide and conquer, right? More time and resources to spend on each kid, more financial stability, a little more in the savings account, on and on. It's normally quite advantageous.
The thing is, you can't just pat black Americans on the butt and say, "Now y'all run along, stay married, and make sure your kids value education and go to college!" and expect that to be effectual. It would clearly be beneficial, but that's not a plan of action.
If you've been married, think back to the hardest times of your marriage. Now imagine layering on top of that significant financial stress, job instability, lack of family wealth to fall back on (and wealth doesn't mean being rich, just having some resources on the sidelines), lack of eduction yourself, very young children in the house, etc. You start drowning before you realize you're in trouble.
That's how the cycle of poverty keeps pulling you back in. It's like getting stuck in a rip current and then desperately to keep your head above water while fighting to get back to shore. There are so many forces pulling you under from a very young age.
You've got to get to kids early and often with resources and opportunities to improve those situations. You've got to get them while they're still playing in the tidal pools...once they wade out into the breakers it gets so much harder.
. Someone ****s on your for onwards of 30, 40, 50+ years, you're going to have resentment and lash out. 
fords.org/gun-laws/state-law/50-state-summaries/assault-weapons-state-by-state/