'Black-on-black' Crime

I already thought my soul was on fire for this topic when I asked the dean of my seminary if I could spend my J-term on Black Lives Matter, but these two weeks into January have shown me that the fire in my soul has a lot of room to spread. And spread it does. The problem of black lives traditionally NOT mattering to/in this country opens up ones eyes into the ways in which this country has failed it's people. It is SO disappointing.. its maddening.. it demands change! That's what the marchers for Black Lives Matter are out on the streets for. NOT to promote violence, looting, or bad intentions. But to open the eyes of Americans to the world they live in and to demand change. Demand justice. Demand that all lives MATTER in America - even black ones! And the fact that that is so off-putting to so many people should be proof enough that we have a problem. A very deep, scary, and ugly problem.

America - lets be real, white America - is getting defensive, just like we all get defensive when something uncomfortable is pointed out and brought up to us. We're getting snotty, we're putting our sassy pants on and we don't care how stupid we sound, we are not going to admit our faults.

We all know this is the wrong way to handle it. We all know we can only act this way for so long. But our president elect promotes this behavior so hey, if he can do it so can we! (sigh)

One of the things being said a lot is that black lives don't even matter to other black lives so before they call us out for making them "disposable" they need to check themselves! Black on black crime kills more people in the streets than cops do!

First off - this must be clear - the Black Lives Matter movement has brought to light the injustices of State Violence. They are not anti-police and they do not want cops to die. Period.

What this movement is calling for is an end to systemic racism that allows the injustices of that state violence. Whether it's cops, senators, lawyers, judges, or what have you - we want people to realize what has historically happened and what continues to happen that "keeps black and brown people in their place." My other posts have outlined a few of the ways in which this happens.

Now, black on black crime is a real thing and is most prominent in street crime. My last post talked about life in the streets and the ways in which crews are formed as a means of survival and suppression of fear. A quick run through without extensive explanation and citing of resources is this: The "hoods"/"ghettos"/"streets" of America are predominantly inhabited by people of color because white America has put them there. These are not good places to grow up and most people do not have the basic necessities of life. The education system is failing. They are aware of what they are up against in the world so to suppress these fears they pretend like they have no fear. They put on their armor and they "run" their town - making sure everyone around them fears them so that they have less chance at being killed even if it means they have more chance at being the ones to do the killing. It is easier for them to get their hands on a gun than for them to escape life on the streets through a job or through education. Way easier.

Last night my husband and I watched the movie "Chi-raq" about the street crime in Chicago. The number of Americans killed in Chicago have exceeded those killed in the war in Iraq. In this film the black women of the neighborhood take the initiative to end the killings and bring peace to the city. A lot of the things I have talked about were touched on in the film and I was reminded by just how important it is for this to be a grassroots movement. For change to come from within. (but that doesn't mean people who do not live in the streets of Chicago have no role to play) But yet one line from the movie haunts me.. one woman in the movie recalls that Malcolm X once said "The best way to hide something from black people is to put it in a book." How hauntingly true and how badly do I wish it were false.. These kids in the film on the streets weren't focusing on an education system that wasn't focusing on them. America doesn't WANT them to be educated! The less we know the better! This is true all across the 50 states. But man, it effects those in the streets the most. Life or death.

Coates in his book Between the World and Me talks about how in order to escape the streets you had to survive them. "We could not get out. The ground we walked was trip-wired... Not being violent enough could cost me my body. Being too violent could cost me my body. We could not get out." And "..for a child to be marked off for such a life, to be forced to live in fear was a great injustice."

Coates also writes, "To yell "black-on-black crime" is to shoot a man and then shame him for bleeding." America has created the mess and then put all the blame for the mess on black lives. It is as simple as that. Then, by blaming black lives for the mess, they criminalize black lives through the media - increasing the fear, the racism, the stereotypes. This produces a society that says black lives don't matter. Black lives are harmful and should be "disposed" of.

I do not live in the streets of Chicago and I cannot waltz in from the outside and make everything better. Change does need to come from the inside, too.

But from the outside, from here, I can do something.

I can talk about the problem. Be educated and educate others. I can wake people up to the real world.

By doing this one small action the hope is that the more people that are woke, the more people will organize to change the American narrative.

To change society's minds.

To change policy and law.

To change the way we treat one another.

To move towards justice. For human rights. For black lives.

Because Black Lives Matter. And once black lives matter - all lives matter.

But not until then.