Today we live in a society that glorifies the wrong thing in any and every situation. We are numb to the violence that continues to plague our cities but we are surprised to see the outcome of such destructive behavior. It seems that while other groups of people want a better life, a nice neighborhood and a top school district for their children we are content with the hood. The hood is our life and we don't appear capable of moving in a direction of prosperity. We've set up shop and staked our claim to the hood as if anyone else wants it. We remain loyal to our hood and are proud to give it a nickname as in the "Concrete Jungle," "Chiraq," "BodyMore," "CashVille," or "Vietnam." I understand the reasons for giving cities these names, I understand that we feel as though we are under siege by the violence and how it seems that we are at war but who are we at war with? Does the thought of going back to slavery scare us? Is the abuse just from the police? Is the brutality handed down from the steps of the House and Senate? Is this the directive coming from Pennsylvania Avenue? Or are we the very source of stress and strain on our own community? Dare I say it; but yes we are. We are largely to blame as black men because we do not get involved with our own community. We do not work with political leaders in our neighborhoods. We do not care to clean up our own community and we mock our own police departments. Its ok to sell drugs next door to us...rape and rob our own people but the thought of a citizen reporting this nonsense to the police is somehow ludicrous. The thought of one of us wanting anything descent out of life seems to scare everyone else in the neighborhood. The thought of a black man making it out of the neighborhood and moving on to a better life is looked upon as selling out. The amount of pressure it takes to make it out of a bad neighborhood is hard enough but the amount of scrutiny from your own people to stay is overwhelming.