Our professional, philosophical and theological society is full of right answers to wrong questions: To our knowledge and in many ways our shame as a nation, there are no absolutely accurate records of the numbers of killings by police officers or civilians on civilians annually in this country, but in general the estimated statistics shed interesting light on realities of concern. If we trace known records in the past 50 years, the rate of black Americans killed by police has dropped 70 percent. Im sure this is due to the Civil Rights movement and its ongoing affect on modern society in significant ways. Much precious blood and much suffering is to be credited for the progress from the days of slavery to an African American Commander in Chief living in the White House, as well as the highest law enforcement officer in the land, Attorney General Holder. Research reveals that in 2012, 123 African-Americans were shot dead by police. There are currently more than 43 million blacks living in the U.S.A. In the same year, 326 whites or non-blacks were killed by police bullets. These are the latest, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) stats available.”…Its important to note, that people who identify as Hispanic are also counted in the total of 326 non-black deaths. I also read that in the 513 days between Trayvon Martin’s dying and a jury’s acquittal of George Zimmerman for killing him supposedly in self defense, 11,106 African-Americans were murdered by other African-Americans. These numbers are alarming and fluctuate far too little. The majority of black and white people are murdered by someone of their own race. In 2005, there were 8,017 white homicide victims. In reference to my earlier posts titled, Don’t Take The bait” it may be an exaggeration to suggest that white racism is killing blacks disproportionately, since the numbers suggest, possibly due to close living proximities, whites habitually to kill whites and blacks habitually kill blacks. Most murders in which the race can be measured are intraracial. According to Professor David M. Kennedy, director of the Center for Crime Prevention and Control at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Homicides overwhelmingly happen among people who know each other, he said. There are relatively few absolutely straight-up stranger homicides. Homicide is a phenomenon of social networks. ... Most peoples’ relationships are primarily with someone of their own race or ethnicity. As long as anybody has studied homicide, this has been the pattern. However, thugs, black or white aren’t moved by protests or even prosecutions. Helping to change their thinking and recognizing that its not just the love of money, but also the lack of money is often the root of evil. Have we ever wondered what would happen if black America exerted even half of the emotional fervor and brainpower it does over cases like Travoyn Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner and others, to thinking about how to keep black boys from going and/or doing wrong? Why during times like these do so many get offended when we use these times to emphasis less victim consciousness and more self reliance and “physician heal thyself” discussions. As a man of color I ask: What kind of self-image do we have, to assume we can or should only change others, but not ourselves? An article I read by an African American professor doing research stated that “Young black men murder 14 times more than young white men. If these kinds of things were regularly done by whites, would their be an outcry among whites? And if so would race be an issue at all? The article goes on to suggest: It’s not that black communities are in complete denial about these statistics — Stop the Violence events are a staple of high-crime areas. But let’s face it: black America isn’t nearly as indignant about black boys killing one another or whites, as about the occasional white cop killing one black boy, even though the former wreaks much more havoc in black communities. There is no coordinated nationwide movement to change the national epidemic black on black murder crisis equivalent to the one Martin Trayvon or these most recent killings by blacks by white cops has galvanized. There are no thoughtful films “exploring” black-on-black crime the way Fruitvale Station treats the death of Oscar Grant, a young black man who was killed by transit police in Oakland, Calif. Jesus is recorded to have admonished his followers to “lay the ax to the root”, not just the fruit, the source, not just the symptom. I agree 100% that people in general and African Americans in particular must put our heads and hearts together and work out and on our own selves and souls to craft and aggressive and consistent plan to raise the consciousness of our people with regard to self worth, self help and self motivation even more than just racism and classism though both need and must not be ignored. There is a better way to see real change occur, by not just making a difference in the world, but by making the world different. What say you?
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 03:59:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015