Odds on Beating the House
If there is one thing that I learned during my recent trip to Las Vegas, its that the house always wins. Always.
Up hundreds, down to nothing. Vegas makes the odds and breaks you off. At the opposite end of Sin City's cold shoulder is a hand that is waiting to give you cold cards and dice at any given moment.
With the release of a New York Times article yesterday on the deepening plight of the black male, the same pattern is holding true for this demographic's very survival. For many young men, life in the inner cities or off of the rural dusty roads is the model of the proverbial crap shoot, watched closely by the snake eyes of partisan politics and corruption on all sides.
Television and movies depict the oasis of the Nevada desert as a place where made men go to have fun. 'Viva Las Vegas' is the familiar refrain of a song celebrating the vibrant energy that pulsates through the city. Millions of dollars are pumped into that local economy in the name of recreation and excess.
At the same time, more than 2000 miles and three times zones away, sons and brothers are made men years before they are ready. The song of police and ambulance sirens plays its inharmonius melody, lamenting the drugs and violence that envelops cities and suburbs in a paralyzing haze. Millions of dollars for programs established to aid residents go unnoticed in the false sense of self-preservation and success.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit Vegas to see her sights and shows. Her attractions are world-famous; each turn of the head on Las Vegas Boulevard earns a look at a sign reading, "Best Slots," "Best 10 p.m. Show," "Best Buffet in Vegas." These same numbers of black men are cycled in, out, and back into the American prison systems. They are lured there looking back on the promises of "Best Rims," "Best Way to Get Momma Out of Here," "Best Way to Make Something of Myself."
The greatest similarity between the Sin City in the desert and the Sin Cities many of us know personally, is that there are choices to be made that can change the lives of those who are visiting one, or trying to escape the other. Most people choose to continue to sit at that card table in the lavish Caesar's Palace or Bellagio, knowing that they will not continue to win. The same is true for those who refuse education and the power it instills in those who hold it, or those who refuse to be fathers and leaders in their communities, knowing that the community will suffer because of it. The greatest similarity between the two entities is the House.
You see, the House knows that the cards will eventually go in its favor, and it bets against the temperance of the players at that table. The House doesn't mind losing, because it knows you will return to the table to give it right back, with interest.
Public education, the prison system, health care, affirmative action; they are all are designed for those disciplined individuals who are inspired to do more. A college education, a vocation, these are the cards that must be played to turn the House against itself. The House laughs at those who remark that it is the system that holds them down, and the few chips that those people have to play are quickly taken away in desperation, fear and self-loathing.
Whether or not we all agree on whose fault it is that some black men make bad choices will be an eternal debate. But the truth lies in the fact that in Vegas you can't see the other cards; there's always a chance. In life, we hold all of the cards, and it is us who determines what life deals us.
Why beat the house, when you can burn the motherf*cker down.
Up hundreds, down to nothing. Vegas makes the odds and breaks you off. At the opposite end of Sin City's cold shoulder is a hand that is waiting to give you cold cards and dice at any given moment.
With the release of a New York Times article yesterday on the deepening plight of the black male, the same pattern is holding true for this demographic's very survival. For many young men, life in the inner cities or off of the rural dusty roads is the model of the proverbial crap shoot, watched closely by the snake eyes of partisan politics and corruption on all sides.
Television and movies depict the oasis of the Nevada desert as a place where made men go to have fun. 'Viva Las Vegas' is the familiar refrain of a song celebrating the vibrant energy that pulsates through the city. Millions of dollars are pumped into that local economy in the name of recreation and excess.
At the same time, more than 2000 miles and three times zones away, sons and brothers are made men years before they are ready. The song of police and ambulance sirens plays its inharmonius melody, lamenting the drugs and violence that envelops cities and suburbs in a paralyzing haze. Millions of dollars for programs established to aid residents go unnoticed in the false sense of self-preservation and success.
Hundreds of thousands of people visit Vegas to see her sights and shows. Her attractions are world-famous; each turn of the head on Las Vegas Boulevard earns a look at a sign reading, "Best Slots," "Best 10 p.m. Show," "Best Buffet in Vegas." These same numbers of black men are cycled in, out, and back into the American prison systems. They are lured there looking back on the promises of "Best Rims," "Best Way to Get Momma Out of Here," "Best Way to Make Something of Myself."
The greatest similarity between the Sin City in the desert and the Sin Cities many of us know personally, is that there are choices to be made that can change the lives of those who are visiting one, or trying to escape the other. Most people choose to continue to sit at that card table in the lavish Caesar's Palace or Bellagio, knowing that they will not continue to win. The same is true for those who refuse education and the power it instills in those who hold it, or those who refuse to be fathers and leaders in their communities, knowing that the community will suffer because of it. The greatest similarity between the two entities is the House.
You see, the House knows that the cards will eventually go in its favor, and it bets against the temperance of the players at that table. The House doesn't mind losing, because it knows you will return to the table to give it right back, with interest.
Public education, the prison system, health care, affirmative action; they are all are designed for those disciplined individuals who are inspired to do more. A college education, a vocation, these are the cards that must be played to turn the House against itself. The House laughs at those who remark that it is the system that holds them down, and the few chips that those people have to play are quickly taken away in desperation, fear and self-loathing.
Whether or not we all agree on whose fault it is that some black men make bad choices will be an eternal debate. But the truth lies in the fact that in Vegas you can't see the other cards; there's always a chance. In life, we hold all of the cards, and it is us who determines what life deals us.
Why beat the house, when you can burn the motherf*cker down.
posted by Mr. Carter at 3/21/2006 10:52:00 AM
2 Comments:
Jarrett,
I heard you were getiing married!! Great! Now you can raise wonderful black male children that will be a positive attribute to our people!!
MSU ' 03
Great Website! I look forward to reading more of your work.
L. Nathaniel Rock
AfrianAmericanOpinion.com
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