There's no shame in being jobless - Not for these people, it's a societal norm. There's no shame in asking for government handouts, blowing it on booze and drugs and gold chains and other luxuries, then complaining that you can't make rent and can't buy food. There is no shame whatsoever - just a continuing resentment that they are owed something by society that is not being provided, like everything else they have ever had.
I'm sorry, but this rings of such blatant ignorance that I couldn't help but respond.
Have you ever even been to a poor neighborhood, in your life? I've lived there. Everyone I knew growing up lived there. Poverty doesn't work that way. Blowing your money on booze and drugs and gold chains and other luxuries? Christ, you barely have enough money for food, let alone all of that. I don't mean "barely enough money to buy food after all of the other things", I mean that tonight you're having a can of chicken noodle soup, just like the last three nights in a row, so that on Friday you can go to McDonalds for two or three items off the dollar menu as a treat. The people you're talking about are dozens of steps above the people I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the people for whom if they made even $10k a year they'd be some of the happiest people on earth. There are millions of them, in America. And Christ, no shame in asking for government handouts? WHAT government handouts? Are you at all, even one iota, familiar with the welfare system of the United States? It's incredibly hard to get much of anything beyond for a few months unless you have some kind of job. A few years if you're a pregnant woman. And when you're jobless for this many years, well, too bad.
I'm sorry, but you couldn't possibly know less about what you're talking about. Your statement smacks of overt racism, and if you seriously claim "Well hey white people get gold chains too", I just hope you realize that you're not fooling a soul.
Setting aside the blatant and overt racism inherent in your statement, the studies on this topic are quite clear and directly contradict what you're saying.
I wish I could point you to full text articles, but they're all behind paywalls. Try googling 'joblessness black youth depression' to read some relevant abstracts.
I've seen my fair share of white people that have the same attitude described above. It isn't necessarily a racial divide, and not everyone is motivated to do/be better.
