I enjoyed reading “Legacy of Violence.” However, even as “one answer” for urban violence I find it rather convenient to target an institution (the “slave South”) that no longer exists in our society. After all, our nation itself was founded in violence, with many social, economic, and political institutions having long served as role models for violent and criminal means.

An explanation for urban violence that emphasizes an obsolete institution and a people with whom most of us today don’t identify will tend to legitimize or obscure the many ways in which we all (nationally and individually) use or have used brute force to achieve our most immediate ends. The urban thug is more likely mimicking these social traits than that of the slave South.