(ThyBlackMan.com) A favorite dead horse is deglamorizing thug behavior. It’s tiresome seeing folks shovel themselves into the criminal justice system and afterward cry foul. Never saw the benefit of badly playing hands dealt from marked decks. Giving ourselves felony records and vacuuming money into correctional coffers is too costly. Instant access via crime information databases tells the tale too quickly. Simply, most low income people can’t afford to be thugs. Memo to thugs: step your game up to Wall Street status and ride from there.
Moral arguments to the side ( risky proposition ), the economic burden of criminal conduct should be stressed more. Especially in a down economy 
where jobs are few and far between. Self-employed folks should be acutely sensitive to how much crime costs. Ethical considerations are still paramount but many seriously heed the siren call of dollars and cents.
One misdeed allows police agencies; detention centers; judges; prosecutors; judges; defense attorneys; probation; parole; counselors, etc. to reach into your pockets- over and over again. Years worth create crime-induced poverty in turn producing vicious circles of continual offense. More offenses breed more financial penalties. Sympathy wanes against such self-destructiveness as community stakeholders cluck ” You should’ve known better. ” The more Old School dismiss them with a hissed ” Negro please! ” One segment of Black America stares in shock at crime dramas that is life for inner city residents. A noteworthy cliche’ is we’re not a monolith. Black folks who don’t live urban thug culture are as confused by it as White peers across the railroad tracks. Practitioners of Black Dignity are frightened by this berserker mindset. The more activist become mentor and promote social programs. The rest hope and pray the ‘Hood won’t make their families headline news. As a group we’re at the unenviable juncture where urban thugs scare us just like they terrify White folks. This sad state of affairs costs us immeasurably.
Being scared of ourselves proves being a thug is simply too expensive. Economically and culturally.
Written By Nadra Enzi
Official Websites;
http://www.captblack.info
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi