If I had a nickel for every time I've heard somebody use the phrase "black on black crime" to justify racial profiling, longer sentences for black people or police killings of black people- I would take those 1000's of nickles and throw them at the next mf'er who makes that argument (just kidding, I'm gonna take that shit to coinstar and buy me some lottery tickets). Stop it though! It's a BS argument! I don't care how many times a host on Fox said it, it's complete bullshit and I'll tell you why.
The same people who love to make that thinly veiled racist ass argument, also are some of the same who like to quote MLK Jr's "not by the color of my skin but by the content of my character." The thing is, and maybe some people who make this argument haven't really thought it through, but the thing is.... Bringing up black on black crime as some kind of justification for police brutality or racial profiling, is the absolute antithesis to being judged by the content of your character.
Yes the vast majority or crimes against black people are by other black people, as they love to say. Did you know that this is true for absolutely every ethnic group? But yet we never hear the phrase white on white crime, do we!
When someone is racially profiled by the police, are they being judged by the content of their character? When a black person is shot by a police officer because they look like someone the officer was afraid of, is that person being judged by the content of their character?
I have been around white people who, in the all white spaces that make me itch like a meth addict, admitted that they didn't like or were fearful of black people, because of what they'd heard, or an experience that they had. These prejudices undoubtedly form and influence their actions, are these people likely to judge other black people by the content of their character?
So it's natural to prejudge people based upon experiences with others of a similar hue, right? No, it's learned behavior that needs to be unlearned. How do you unlearn this behavior, start with empathy. Start with seeing every person you meet as individual. Not in a faux color blind, I want to teach the world to sing kind of way. I mean in a real way, including acknowledging their race, fully equal humanity and the experiences they have had. Maybe start with, oh I don't... listening?
I have been white for 40 something years (I know I look barely 30) and the only time I've been racially profiled is when an officer thought I was Latino. I have only felt a fraction of what it must be liked to be racially profiled. Yet, I have a modicum of empathy and can at least try to put myself in someone else's shoes.
The plain reality is that, while white people get to be individuals, other groups have to be a community that is judged together, not as individuals.
The other night when a Wendy's was set on fire in Atlanta after yet another police killing of a black man, whose name was Rayshard Brooks, several black protesters took some video of a white woman who was alleged to have set the fire. The most striking thing to me (not shocking ,mind you), is that the protesters felt the need to say "it wasn't us, it was a white woman." Sit for a minute and ruminate on that statement, it wasn't us. What does it mean? What they are literally saying is that it wasn't a black person, please don't blame us.
It is taken for granted in this country that black people and other minority groups need to be judged as a community. It is so sickeningly accepted that we don't even question the logical fallacies or motives behind this unspoken reality. We have heard this story so many times that it has become almost gospel.
When a black person commits a crime, black people are expected to speak out, to condemn the criminal, to vociferously state "he is not reflective of our community as a whole," why? Black leaders are expected to come out and make statements that speak for the entire community, as we shake our heads and ask, who is the leader that can speak for the black community? Except there isn't one black leader who speaks for black america. This isn't The Highlander, there can be more than one.
When an Islamist group carries out an act of terrorism half a world away, moderate Muslims are expected to speak out, to apologize, to assuage the fears of a scared world, why?Islamic leaders are expected to come out with statements, ostensibly condemning the act, but really coming out to say, It wasn't me who did this, it wasn't us. It's as if we think, you know if ole moderate Joe had just talked to that guy about his life choices, he wouldn't have detonated that bomb.
If a white person guns down 50 children, I am not expected to get up and say, "he was not reflective of the white community. Yet again, is the bias really that hard to see? Is the differentiated treatment really that difficult to comprehend?
If we are truly judging each person by their own actions, arguments such as black on black crime become completely irrelevant. When George Floyd was alleged writing bad checks, do you really think that he was murdered for that alone? Do we really think that Eric Garner was killed for allegedly selling cigarettes? Was Breonna Taylor killed because she was sleeping? Did they really buy an unharmed Dylan Roof some burger king after killing 9 people, because of the content of his character? Were these people who should be alive but aren't, judged by the content of their character?
So many white people are waking up to a long, sad reality that has been played out time and time again. That is a good thing, it's not too late- we are all here to learn. If I could give these well meaning folks one piece of advice, it would be the following. STOP ACCEPTING AS FOREGONE REALITY, A CONDITION FOR SOMEONE ELSE, THAT YOU WOULD NOT ACCEPT FOR YOURSELF!
No comments:
Post a Comment