[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 34381]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             YOUTH VIOLENCE

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                        HON. GRACE F. NAPOLITANO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 13, 2007

  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Madam Speaker, we have had an erosion of our family 
values and have neglected to help families whose children have 
dysfunctional lives at home and become prey to gangs and drugs. Our 
lifestyles have changed so dramatically that now when you pick up a 
newspaper, you only find details of shootings, homicides, murders, 
scandals and such. What happened to people doing good deeds? We have 
come to glorify gangsters on television and in music, and crime has 
become the new religion to be followed as a lifestyle.
  Gone are the dreams of becoming a fireman, a doctor, or of finding a 
decent job to earn sufficient money to take care of oneself and one's 
family. Instead our cities' poorest areas attract those who recruit 
youngsters with dreams of quick and easy money. We must work together 
to reverse this dangerous trend. Our education system is so overloaded, 
and overcrowded classrooms do not allow teachers to assist needy 
students. Businesses need to become part of the solution by mentoring 
or sponsoring youngsters who need to be trained in the world of work 
and earning honest dollars. Local elected officials must work with 
school districts to establish after school programs for latchkey kids 
and solicit volunteers to help tutor those in need of help.
  Sometimes the word is ``we need more money.'' If you believe this is 
the only solution, we have a problem. Millions upon millions have been 
infused in programs to deal with solving the gang and drug issue. We 
have not gained much ground. Yes, we do need funding. But what we need 
more is to awaken to the realization that we are all responsible for 
finding a solution, and start working on what that solution is.
  Drugs have permeated our society for decades. We have a war on drugs 
where again we have spent great quantities of money. We have also had 
red ribbon week. While it reminded us of some of the dangers of using 
illegal drugs, it went by the wayside in many areas. And to this day we 
find addiction to be a major problem, not only to prescription drugs, 
but to what are known as recreational drugs. Cost to society is 
immeasurable, when you quantify all that involves one human being's 
life: work, family, economy, hospitalization, and law enforcement, just 
to name a few possibilities.
  So we are left asking, ``what do we do?'' We must all reckon with our 
own view and again determine that we are all a part of this solution. 
We must work together to find commonsense solutions to get our youth 
back on track and help them become productive members of our society.

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