Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/super-cool-ad-inserter/inc/scaip-shortcode-inserter.php on line 37
Every year, I spend some time in Jackson, Miss., at the Veterans of the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement Conference. This year, I stood shoulder-to-shoulder with real, live human beings who were much older than me now, but who had been my age and younger when they became activists. They were black and white, male and female, educators and students, abled and disabled, and gay and straight.
What united them were not corny phrases, or their desire to sit next to one another in restaurants. What united them was an idea of hope, an idea whose gravitational pull drew them all to Mississippi.
Some grew up there. Others had transferred due to a job, family or school. Still others chose to leave their relative Northern comforts, jumping on the bus as “Freedom Riders” and risking their lives for the idea that all human beings are, truly, created equal. But they all believed they could change the infrastructure of a city: Jackson, Meridian, Biloxi. And guess what? They not only changed a city, or even a state … they helped change the country and inspire the whole world.
Still inspired by their energy and vision, I am confused by the fact that we are so confused by the violence permeating our city, especially its black neighborhoods. Really, folks, there’s no need to play mystery dinner-theater on this issue: People are getting shot in record numbers because they are dealing drugs and/or are in gangs.
They are getting killed because the gun trade is obviously quite successful here, and because young kids are being recruited into this lifestyle by predatory uncles, older brothers and male “friends of the family” who would risk ruining the life of a child rather than get caught and sentenced as an adult.
Black women, meanwhile, fill the prisons by protecting their boyfriends and husbands by hiding drug paraphernalia or other such items in their purses — and, in extreme cases, inside their bodies. Young white folks from the suburbs, meanwhile, fuel the death and destruction of young black men by purchasing the extreme violence, selfishness and misogyny of so-called “gangsta rap.” For them, it’s a perfect tool for sublimation — just as long as they don’t actually have to live out any of these ridiculous fantasies.
Let’s call all victims of the resulting violence “casualties of war” — an economic war and the lost war on drugs. It’s a death march with an entire soundtrack.
Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s seven-pronged approach to curbing violence concerns me. Certainly, seeing cops “on the beat” in our neighborhoods has the potential to be helpful, just as the presence of cops Downtown every day assures commuters that their trip to their vehicles won’t be filled with the horror of victimization. But to not immediately address the relationship between education and crime, or the lack of (real) job opportunities that can compete with the paranoid lifestyle of always watching one’s back … it stretches belief.
I am confused by the confusion over what is causing this deadly phenomenon. It looks like denial. We all know there is an element of every neighborhood — an element of the human species — intent on living “on the edge” and committed to a lifetime of criminal activity. But I get the distinct impression that most young black men who are falling down faster than domino tiles are not that deeply committed, no matter how many times they might blast 50 Cent’s “Get Rich or Die Tryin'” through their speakers.
African Americans, in particular, need to be the vanguard for the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement. It wasn’t completed. We failed to organize the final push for our human rights. And the hopeless have remained so as a direct result of our collective inactivity.
Pittsburgh is behind other cities in the United States. But the United States is behind the rest of the world in figuring out how to do justice to a diverse population of inhabitants. We still haven’t figured out how to shake ourselves out of the legacy of public-policy neglect, or how to stop criminalizing the poorest and darkest of our population.
If we can figure out how to do that in the city of Pittsburgh, PA, there should be no doubt that we can change the entire world — again.
Dr. Goddess says: Thou shalt shake thyself out of denial.
This article appears in May 17-23, 2007.
Dr. Goddess,
For the most part I think this article is right on, but I also think it needs to suggest some solutions. Here are some thoughts. I hope you agree or can propose others.
I do agree that drugs, guns, the cultural mileiu are to blame. For the most part, these issues are difficult to address in Pennsylvania because we lack citizen referrendum. That is to say, the citizens in this state cannot directly get new laws placed directly on the ballot. – only our politicians can propose them. So, that being said, it is more difficult to get the laws that we might want. Boycotting politicians who won’t fight for citizen refferendum is a good start.
Certainly gun control would be a huge help. The NRA, however, is very powerful, and their PAC dollars pretty much guarantee that polititions will not pass laws to hurt them. See how citizen refurendum would help here?
Then we have drug laws. In my opinion, the most racist laws we have are drug laws. The laws criminalizing marajuana use, for example, are in my opinion designed to make fellons out of african americans. Throughout the years, state governments have been very “successful” in keeping black voters away through marijuana fellony convictions. Look at how Jeb Bush’s voting schemes kept blacks from voting in Florida. George W. Bush would not have been elected without these laws. Decriminalizing drug USE only – with very stiff penalties for dealing – would go a long way to stopping this voting gimick. And once again, citizen referendum would go a long way to getting this type of law passed.
I do disagree with your exclusion of women as preditors who get young kids to sell drugs. Many a young man boy has fallen into crime because an attractive woman batted her eyebrows. It’s not just men who are the preditors, but let’s not get too far off base.
A decent minimum wage, rent control, and real social welfare would go a long way to making young people of all races feel that they have alternatives. A fair socialist system would, in my opinion, solve a great many social woes. Forming a real socialist party should be in everybody’s list of “to do’s.” It truly amazes me that we are not allowed to have one. Marching for campaign reform is no doubt a good idea.
“Gangsta rap” is a problem, but I believe that free speech is more important. To live in a free society is tough. It requires that we think for ourselves. Once again, however, I must say that in my opinion, greater economic oportunity would give young people more hope; and these songs appeal primarially to the hopeless. In Pittsburgh we do have an excellent jazz station as an alternative to rap. More music appreciation classes in the schools is an inexpensive way to give children a choice. Volunteering to teach one after hours works too.
Cops on the street should help, but there also have to be community leaders who can make a bridge between the local police and the members of the community. If caring, loved leaders can make sure that trustworthy police are on their streets, then the community will learn to trust them. Insist on a a deal with the police department to have a citizen review board for your communities. Help hire the police you put into your community, and they will be more effective.
Let’s all work for a better world.
I agree with most of what you had to say, except the part about “But the United States is behind the rest of the world in figuring out how to do justice to a diverse population of inhabitants.”
Most of the world isn’t very diverse at all. As segregated and racially divided the US is, it is still leaps and bounds more diverse than most of the world. One great thing about our country is how mixed it is.