Originally Posted by kane

Some people can make the choice to stop the abuse with them. Another good example is the Jews. How many of them were killed and brutalized by the Nazis yet it doesn't look like they have an entire generation of victims living today.

If a former slave was freed and got out of there with his/her family and they chose not to pass the violence that was done onto them to their children then cycle can end there. But I would argue there are still some African Americans out there that are allowing the violence of slavery to effect them. Black people make up about 12% of the population, but they make up about 25% of the prison population. 12% of black men will spend time in prison where only about 1.5% of whites will ever serve jail time. So the question is why? some would say there is still such racism in this country that black people are not given a fair trial and they are convicted of things that white people are not. Others may say that the cycle of violence never ended for some black people and they choose to carry out violent acts against others and this causes them the trouble they get in. I'm sure there are a lot more reasons I can't think of.

I recently watched a documentary called Gang Wars where the filmmakers went to Little Rock, Arkansas and talked to gang members and then went back 10 years later to see who was still alive and who wasn't. In almost every one of the cases the kids say they got into a gang because they had a bad childhood, abuse or neglect at home and the gang was the only family they had. It's a interesting film and looking at it and this topic it makes me think that for people like this, they may still seeing the effects of something that happened generations ago.