No, it’s not scholarly - it’s racist.

My head is reeling from reading an article on the National Review site tweeted by Jeffrey Wright about the importance of proactive policing and the significant positive implications of gentrification. 

“A black New Yorker is 50 times more likely to commit a shooting than a white New Yorker.” Hmm…I’m slacking. https://t.co/Sj8YgxpgJi’

The overarching theme of the article is that gentrification is the reason for the crime drop in New York City and that ‘cop critics’ don’t have any justification for their outcry against police brutality because whatever the cops are doing is directly influencing the decrease in crime rates- this includes stop and frisk and other unsubstantiated practices. The whole article is an insult to anyone with a comprehensive- no with an ounce of understanding of the history of violence perpetrated by police at alarming levels against the black community. Anyone who grasps the history of this country can surmise that the relationship between the black community and police is not a spontaneous manifestation of tension- this article talks about the Black Lives Matter movement in such a cavalier naive way. This sentiment about injustice when it comes to condemning black lives has been incubating for centuries. It’s also known there is a direct correlation between crime and economic hardship. When this country understands that slavery has been and continues to be a blemish on our history and its affect are felt present-day will we ever get passed these putrid allowances of ignorance that everything is so simple (no pun intended) - black and white. 

There were a few passages in this article that really feeds into the rampant racism that the president has encouraged in this country. And that’s another thing. This presidency. It has ripped open wounds and incited crimes of hatred like no other presidency in history. There’s no way that reality can be disregarded at this point. Anyway, I digress. Here are some of the most blatantly racist passages I’ve seen on a national publication:

This demographic transformation has enormous implications for crime. A black New Yorker is 50 times more likely to commit a shooting than a white New Yorker, according to perpetrator identifications provided to the police by witnesses to, and victims of, those shootings.

(This is about the gentrification of Bed-Stuy. Barf.)

——

When the racial balance of a neighborhood changes radically, given those crime disparities, its violent-crime rate will as well. (This racial crime disparity reflects the breakdown of the black family and the high percentage of black males — upwards of 80 percent in some neighborhoods — being raised by single mothers.)

(I mean, I honestly thought she was just going to come out and say the N-word at this point. I’m not even sure what this is supposed to convey to support her argument. It’s just an empty generalization that was thrown in here to infer some nefarious ideas about black families.)

——

It is that gentrification which is now helping fuel the ongoing crime drop. Urban hipsters are flocking to areas that once were the purview of drug dealers and pimps, trailing in their wake legitimate commerce and street life, which further attracts law-abiding activity and residents in a virtuous cycle of increasing public safety. 

(It’s like she’s saying, gentrification is wonderful for crime since it means pushing POC out of neighborhoods so white people can ‘virtuously’ live their lives. I CANNOT.)

This article had my head spinning and I was at a loss at how something so blatantly biased could be published under the guise of journalism and not OPINION because that’s what this sounds like to me. The facts presented are rolled up into a self-righteous, pious assortment of conjecture and perspective. It’s beyond disrespectful/insulting and solidifies what everyone already knows- racism is alive and thriving in America.

Maybe If...

I’m tired of hearing about us being executed every week/day. It’s an ongoing struggle to stomach the news of another shooting accompanied by footage and numerous eye-witness accounts attesting to the gross misconduct FATAL interactions police officers are having with unarmed civilians without any sort of accountability.

I’m tired of having to defend the reality that we are living in a society full of racism and prejudice that nobody wants to outrightly address in a constructive or compassionate way. I feel helpless, contributing to this discussion yet again with another article, with more words, but words aren’t protecting the young black men and women from being slain in the streets, in their homes, in their cars, words aren’t keeping police officers from abusing godlike tendencies to terrorize and intimidate, words aren’t enough to console the families who have lost loved ones way too soon and have to face the world with an emptiness no one else can imagine.

I think the hope is that these words will change the hearts and minds of a population of people who refuse to see beyond their close-minded notion of what this country stands for in their warped heads as opposed to the reality of its past, present, and future if they don’t consider the immense harm that’s been done and continues to be done to not only people of color but everyone living in this country. It’s baffling to me that people can live in such a bubble that another human dying, regardless of race, is not enough to alert them to a very serious issue plaguing this country.

Maybe if words are used just so, the people who condemn Colin Kaepernick’s protest will understand that it’s coming from a place of exhaustion not disrespect. Maybe if words are used just so, the people who scrutinize the video tapes of black people getting killed, looking for a fault of the civilian rather than face the fact it’s open season on a population of Americans. Maybe if words are used just so, those people who believe we no longer have a race problem will understand the problem never disappeared, but manifested itself in more subtle ways, buried within state policies and procedures, creeping in judiciary and political systems, manipulating basic human rights, and recently exploded onto the world’s main stage disguised as the Trump campaign. Maybe if words are used just so we can have a discussion about why prejudice is such a pervasive, yet utterly uncomfortable topic and actually try to reverse some of these stereotypes fueling the hatred. Maybe.

In the meantime, I hope people with friends who “don’t get it” will continue to use words to educate and persuade those people to take the time to “get it.”

Sigh. Love each other.

#Blacklivesmatter

Another Video

There are so many videos of police violence circulating the internet lately and today another one makes its rounds, depicting another person of color, Alton Sterling,  gunned down by the insufferable group sworn to serve and protect, and another family is torn apart because police officers, yet again using completely unreasonable excessive force, can execute a human for whatever reason.

When is this going to change? When will significant, actionable efforts be made to protect innocent people from a prejudicial system maintained by the government, perpetuating hate and violence in the name of the law? 

We are at our wits end. Continuously, excruciatingly, angrily mourning as a community, desperately trying to grapple with the frequency of these morbid recurrences. The countless families who have painfully lost loved ones, lost a piece of themselves, lost any semblance of hope and won’t get justice because a brown body has no rights and there is no amount of justice that can assuage the hurt of having someone you love die at the hands of senseless brutality.

It doesn’t seem like anything can stop these officers from terrorizing the black community. They’ve been doing it without consequence for years. What will it take? Not cameras, not protests, not town halls, not evidence. 

No justice. No peace.

*EDIT* 7/7/2016

Hours after writing this another video was put up. A live stream of a traffic stop where a woman WITH HER LITTLE GIRL IN THE BACK SEAT was filming her boyfriend, Philando Castile after he was shot by a police officer after he was asked to produce his license and let the officer know that he was carrying a legal firearm. I watched that video last night. Staring at the man’s blood-soaked shirt, hoping above all hope he was going to make it out of this violent interaction alive. The woman in the video was panicked, looking over at her boyfriend as he slumped further into his seat, blood pouring out of him. She pleaded, in shock, he wasn’t dead. There were comments of support throughout the entire happening, beneath this unbelievable, horrific event, but no one’s prayers or words of comfort could save that man’s life and today, I read, he died. TWO black men have been taken from their families within 48 hours and who knows if they’ll get answers or justice, though, we all know how that usually goes. 

I saw a note posted on Facebook and it said, The violence is not new, it’s the cameras that are new. And it’s so true. This kind of violence has been plaguing the black community for years and it hasn’t let up, but is now being broadcast to the world. In the age of social media, these instances aren’t being swept under the rug or happening in a vacuum. Real people are trying to curtail this carefree reign of terror police have been putting the black community through for years by desperately hoping to hold these police accountable. However, now that attention has been brought to this issue, I think we’re all asking, what’s next? How can we put an end to these senseless deaths?

We can’t. Civilians can’t. There have to be real steps taken within the police force, within the judicial system, to ensure the lives of people of color are not going to be threatened by personal prejudice or flat out hate. It’s time to start holding these men and women who are slaying innocent people accountable for their actions. Paid leave is unacceptable. Firing is unacceptable. They need to prosecuted to the fullest extent. Officers should go through rigorous training and tests before given a gun and license to kill. The good cops need to come forward and start being true heroes by pointing out the lunatics on their force. This cannot keep happening.

Again, no justice. No peace.

Indecision

I’m not sure what to even say considering I’ve feverishly written about my frustrations with the way American society sees black people. This decision, though sadly not surprising, has left me in a state of utter hopelessness for the justice system. Though, the justice system has never really offered any sense of solace. It is the justice system that has many times been the justification for mistreatment and condoned racist behavior. It’s hard to think of myself as being an individual or citizen of the world, when events like this turn my world upside down. It’s hard to not feel like an afterthought. On top of that is the feeling of being disenfranchised and irrationally criminalized just because my skin is darker. It’s one of those things that if you truly think about it your head will explode.

With 200+ years of inequality, mental and physical torture, prejudice, and let’s not forget the inescapable pain of racism, black citizens are still fighting for humanity. All the while living in a country, as W.E.B. Dubois so candidly put it, whose systems were not built to protect us. He said this about 100 or so years ago, and it still holds true today.

Except today more people are outraged. Today there are more people who are tired of holding their tongues and following the sordid status quo. Today people are ready for change, fighting for change. Today people are tired of these unforgivable, senseless systems that do more harm than good. Today there is a consensus that America cannot continue on this destructive path of apathy and ignorance. Though it’s hard to hold on to and it seems to be a constant ebb and flow more than a constant feeling, I still have hope for humanity. I still have hope that change will come. Big change. Meaningful change. It has to. It has to or I honestly don’t know how we could progress as a society on all sorts of levels.