Salaam sister Diane,
Nobody wants to hold themselves back. Every human being wants to be successful in this world. It's the system that's holding back the black and even minority community.
Sure people have a choice to make but when you surround the ghettos with drugs, prostitution, liquor stores, gun stores it's used to keep them with this environment which is a cage for destruction. Who does this? The government. It's only a few and I mean a very few that come out of this environment and become successful. I happened to live through this when I first came to America. Trust me it was not easy.
Islam has slowly crept into many ghettos. It has brought change. It has cleaned up neighborhoods. When a Muslim woman covered walks down the streets brothers quickly move out the way to show respect. Before, men would stare, grab, and even rape the girl.
Really, the ghettos will be the ghettos as long as this corrupt system exists. The only solution to GET OVER It is to implement Islam, because it not only cleans people individually, but collectively as a whole.
If the U.S. government really cared they would help crime infested ghetto neighborhood instead of spending billions for a ridiculous war. But hey, that's a topic of another discussion.
Here's a great example of how Islam has changed a ghetto neighborhood in Los Angeles, California:
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