Jennifer, Why Didn't You Get Them Out of There?

Unfortuntely, some people don't want to be seen as a "sell-out" or "being better than" people in their family or to the people in "da hood." Unfortunately, this kind ghetto mentality is prevalent in the black community. As a black woman, I am totally embarrased by it and I don't accept it. Also her mom is an active member of her church community and she probably did want to leave that behind. As far as I am concerned, f*ck the hood, these leeches weren't there when you were down and out, they don't need to be there when you are on your way up. If my family couldn't understand that by moving away from the elements that could devour them and spit them out, the f*ck them, too. I can't be responsible for them if they don't want to make a better life for themselves. My husband and I got the hell out of Brooklyn nine months after we got married and moved to Long Island. He works in housing and I felt that it made no sense for him to live in the environment in which he works. I also made it very clear that I was not about to raise my child(ren) in an environment where drugs, guns, loud noises, lazy people hanging out on street corners with no job was the norm. I lived in a Cambria Heights, Queens for most of my life and I enjoyed not having to deal with cancer that is da hood. I enjoyed living in a one-family house, with a backyard to play in and neighbors who gave a damn about you and looked over you as if you were their own. I learned to appreciate seeing my parents and the neighbors I lived with go to work everyday and enjoy the fruits of their labor. That is what I wanted for my child(ren). It is only fair. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to put down those that have no choice in their situation. I am speaking of those that have the choice and do nothing. I too feel for Jennifer and her family. I can't even walk a mile in her shoes right now. I just hope that this will teach a lesson, regardless of race, that when you become a person of status and you come from the ghetto, you must leave the ghetto and the destructive mentality behind.