pure and simple, the cycle has to be broken. it's repeated so often that many kids grow up with no hope of any kind of better life for themselves. that has to change.
i always applaud stories about people who pull themselves up out of terrible, unfair, impossible conditions and yet go on to make something of themselves.
we need a modern day MLK to come around and remind people that it's not okay to kill each other, steal, destroy neighborhoods, use drugs, join gangs, etc. I don't think that voice exists in a large sense today.