The Price of Black Lives

[Medusa]

Jordan Davis. Trayvon Martin. Oscar Grant. Richard Sherman. Chavis Carter.

There are a great many more names of youths of Color that could comprise a long list. I just read the Huffington Post article about the Michael Dunn verdict in Florida (who shot up a carload of kids over loud music and white rage) and felt an outrage and disgust that I can't describe. Another dead kid. Another inequitable verdict. Another shitty court case outcome from Florida (wtf is up with Florida these days???)

Several friends have posted on Facebook and Twitter about the perceived dispensability of the lives of folks of Color and it's hard to not argue that court cases and new laws such as "papers please" do anything more than reinforce institutional racism.

What is the answer? What is it going to take for young folks (and even old!) of Color to be as valued as young white folks? How many more lives lost? How many more people like George Zimmerman will walk the street?

A wise friend of mine posted about his rage on Facebook and was immediately met with a close white friend of his telling him that his rage was inappropriate and untimely. I asked her, "What other emotion would you have if this had been your child?"

I realize this is all over the place but wanted to open up the discussion about what I feel is an epidemic in this country.

[The_Lady_Snow]

First of all I want to take a moment, and ask all of you here and then you ask all your friends to take one moment, a few seconds, to celebrate the life of Jordan Davis who was unfairly taken from us all before his light fully reflected upon our world, Jordan would of been 18 today.

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This whole week I have been sitting by waiting, waiting with a sense of impending doom knowing that our justice system may fail another child of color like it did with Trayvon Martin, the longer the jury took the more unsettling the mood of Jacksonville became. It's in the air, the unspoken resentment of the upcoming verdict, the knowing, the impending disappointment.

When the verdict came, I felt like the wind was taken from my lungs, and my mind became confused with an array of emotions from desperation to anger. How can his life mean nothing?

75 years is nothing, it may mean something in the long run to most because Dunn will never see a day outside of jail, but he isn't going to not see the outsidie world as a punishment for the death of a 17 year old child, he will not see it because a jury could not find him guilty when it came to Jordan. Jordan's death is still unresolved, unpunished, Dunn has not been held accountable for the attack on a young child.


We have an epidemic in this country, a silent genocide where children of color are being gunned down as if it were open season by the WHITE PRIVELEGED MALE CULTURE. When a child can not play their music at whatever volume they wish, or go to a gas station, or hang out with more than 2 friends and not be deemed a *gang*, or go to the 7 Eleven in their neighborhood to buy candy and juice without having to worry about some guy having a shitty night or day is going to gun them down it becomes a social problem.



Children of color have a target on their backs, children of color are in a war that has been waged against them since the very beginning of this country's history and we turn a blind eye to it as much as justice does with each swift clank of her gavel.


I am angry, disappointed, and have a heaviness in my heart for his parents, today they wake up with the knowledge that their son was erased with the mistrial.

Something has to change.

[Gráinne]

This is surely going to be the wrong opinion.

Yes, I'm angry too at the outcome of this case. The justice system does not apply equally to all. If the races were reversed, forget it.

But while the outrage over Treyvon Martin and Jordan Davis is appropriate, there are hundreds of unnamed Blacks who are killed by other Blacks-94% of Black murder victims. And, crucially, it's something like 86% of White murder victims are killed by other Whites. We still live in a segregated country. But the last statistic is conveniently forgotten in order to "prove" that Blacks are more violent.

The high-profile interracial cases get the sympathy, but the rest of intraracial victims go unnamed. I would bet that Black murder victims make the news much less than White ones, though I don't have any evidence of that.

I feel the same outrage over the cases like Treyvon Martin. But where is the anger, and action, for the nameless hundreds killed?

[ProfPacker]

This is after all Michelle Alexander has done with new Jim Crow laws, does the government think that lowering the penalty on drug laws will curb the Jim Crow society we are living in?

Actually, that attempt to stem the tide of arrests for drugs is in the service of the Privileged society...we are bleeding money in the jails. It is not to look at the new Jim Crow laws and say hmmm racism is alive, well, institutionalized.

This verdict is akin to saying it is ok to continue to lynch. The disgust is palpable but the reality of what is being sanctioned by our legal system, our political system, the continued denial of our right to free speech and protest ( kids know now they can protest if they get permits and stay with in free speech zones) is chilling. It is subverting our constitutional rights. I think in another post on racism and privilege I did admit that I do not raise my voice as I used to when I was a youth...) I think that our system and maybe the internet's lull into our thinking we take action when we sign a moveon or change.org petition is enough has co-opted our ideas of what a "voice" is anymore. Ironic, isn't it that those in what we think are "repressed" societies like the Middle East and Russia have youth that express themselves in ways our youth used to: Arab Spring and Pussy Riot. When I was watching Pussy Riot on Colbert I said to myself "wow, we no longer have movements and protesters that will put themselves, their values and beliefs on the line anymore." I think we all need to wonder how we went from Black Panthers, SDS, King, Stonewall, etc to NOTHING. Even when we did protest Trayvon, are controlled by what the media will expose America to. Really, I love them, but Pussy Riot gets more press in US then white men controlling our reproductive rights or killing our youth. Sad

Where do we have a voice? How do we express that voice, will our voices be heard...one verdict after another giving rise to Jim Crow and with all the rationalizations that were present when Jim Crow was instituted.

[ProfPacker]

http://titsandsass.com/for-their-own...on-intiatives/

POC are being annihilated every day in many ways.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by Gráinne

This is surely going to be the wrong opinion.

Yes, I'm angry too at the outcome of this case. The justice system does not apply equally to all. If the races were reversed, forget it.

But while the outrage over Treyvon Martin and Jordan Davis is appropriate, there are hundreds of unnamed Blacks who are killed by other Blacks-94% of Black murder victims. And, crucially, it's something like 86% of White murder victims are killed by other Whites. We still live in a segregated country. But the last statistic is conveniently forgotten in order to "prove" that Blacks are more violent.

The high-profile interracial cases get the sympathy, but the rest of intraracial victims go unnamed. I would bet that Black murder victims make the news much less than White ones, though I don't have any evidence of that.

I feel the same outrage over the cases like Treyvon Martin. But where is the anger, and action, for the nameless hundreds killed?

It's always interesting, irritating and oppressing to me when white folk bring up black on black crime after a white man guns down a child of color.

It's a deflective excuse to use.

No one gives a shit when we (POC) gun each other down because systemic oppression has made *SOME* neighborhoods into war zones. That is until gentrification happens, then we take all poor, POC, differently abled, and stick them in even small areas, shittier schools and give them even less space to have and fight for to survive.

[Medusa]

I think there are definitely a couple of conversations to be had here.

I agree with you, Gráinne, about intraracial violence being as important. The thing that sticks out for me is that it folks of Color are punished with a much greater severity no matter the if it's black on black crime or black on white. And I should caveat by saying that I'd need to find a statistic to back this up but that in some cases, black on white crime is punished at a *much greater* severity than white on black crime ever is. Of course there are specific circumstances and of course this is not an infinite measure but I continue to be alarmed at how the only lives that seem to matter in the judicial system are the rich white ones.

The most recent case where that rich white kid got drunk and ran over a bunch of people and then his attorney claimed "affluenza" was flat out ridiculous. Had that been a black or brown child that had gotten drunk, stole his Daddy's car, and run over a bunch of folks they would have had him or her UNDER the jail by now. Oh, but because he is a white kid from the rich part of town, he is somehow absolved of his responsibility.

Also agreed about the hundreds of nameless deaths that have occurred that have never been reported on. There was a girl of Color named Cleashindra Hall who disappeared from Pine Bluff, Arkansas back when I was in high school. We were around the same age and she was never found. There were some blurbs on the news about it but her parents and the Black community in Pine Bluff were the main driving force behind keeping her name in the papers and still, she has not been found. Only a few years later, Morgan Nick (young white girl) disappeared from an Alma, Arkansas ballpark and it was all the news talked about for a year.

It's just insulting.

[The_Lady_Snow]

"In June 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was found nine months later — during which her story received enormous national coverage. According to Washington Post staff writer Howard Kurtz, "such factors as the missing children's race and social status matter."


"Alexis Patterson, a seven-year-old, African-American girl from a poor part of Milwaukee, also disappeared in 2002, after being walked to school"



>linkyloo<

[The_Lady_Snow]

"Although Whites commit more types of homicides in comparison to Blacks, Blacks are more likely to be arrested and convicted. Whites are just as likely as Blacks to commit crimes against people of their own race, but Blacks often receive longer sentences and are more likely to be incarcerated or sentenced to d***h when they commit crimes against people of their own race. It is a double-standard that Whites who commit crimes are more likely to be acquitted, and Blacks who commit crimes and are more likely to be convicted. This historical issue of racially disparate treatment in the criminal justice system is another reason why people rally for justice. Using the “Black-on-Black Crime” argument only serves as a means to distract people from macro-level issues of injustice."


>linkyloo<


I hope the above article explains why the "black on black crime" argument is not only not beneficial but also damaging when discussing the crimes committed against children like Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis... It continues to erase their very existence.

[The_Lady_Snow]

White on White crime more prevalent than Black on Black

When White on White crime takes place it’s never talked about the way it is when Blacks commit crimes.

In the United States, a White person is almost six times more likely to be killed by another White person than by a Black person, according to FBI homicide data. In 2011, there were more cases of Whites killing Whites than there were Blacks killing Blacks. However, the mainstream media obsesses over Black on Black violence and rarely mentions the problem of White on White violence.

These statistics have not led to a media outcry about the problem of White on White crime or the unique pathology of the White community. Nor has the White community stood up to demand change in their community like the Black community does when trying to tackle instances of Black on Black crime.

Most White people don’t kill White people. Yet media pundits, from Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly to CNN’s Don Lemon, have no problem using the phrase “Black on Black violence” despite the fact that most Black people don’t kill Black people.

When the news talks about gang-related deaths, they treat it as an almost exclusively Black problem. However, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, for the period of 1980 to 2008, a majority (53.3 percent) of gang homicides were committed by White offenders, and the majority of gang homicide victims (56.5 percent) were White.

When was the last time you’ve seen on the news, discussions about a White-gang problem?

Crimes committed by White people are explained as deviations of the individual but have nothing to do with race, but crimes committed by Blacks or Latino’s are somehow attributed to race. Gang-bangers from South Chicago have somehow become a symbol that Black men are to be feared, but you don’t get the same fear that one could attach to the brutal murders committed by Neo-Nazi skinheads.

According to statistics from the Justice Department, White men are more likely to kill than any other racial group. When it comes to how and why people kill, Black men do, in fact, outnumber Whites in gun-related homicides, but especially drug-related offenses. However, White men top the list in most all other categories.

When the Bureau of Justice Statistics collected homicidal rates from 1980 to 2008, they found that compared to Blacks, Whites were more likely to kill children, the elderly, family members, and their significant others. They commit more sex-related crimes, gang related crimes, and are more likely to kill at their places of employment.

So why does America still perpetuate the lie of Black criminality?

Is it because one in 15 Black men are in prison? That may not explain it. The racial biases in the War on Drugs contribute to the high incarceration rates. Studies show that Blacks are no more likely than Whites to use or sell drugs. Blacks actually only make up 14 percent of regular drug users. Yet Blacks are more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and receive longer sentences than Whites.

Should we blame gangster rap with the gun-toting rappers? If so, why can’t we blame a White man with a pistol being used to symbolize Second Amendment rights?

>source<

[Rockinonahigh]

I watched a fair amount of the Michael Dunn trial,my thoughts that kept coming up were that,why didn't Dunn just walk away from the whole thing and not even engage the kids at all.If he felt so threatened by the music and or the kids in the s.u.v,why didn't he just park somewhere else or just go to another place.All this could have been avoided,a young man with a whole life ahead of him would still be hear to celebrate his birthday.But no,he made the choice to do this awful thing in taking a life because of thinking he was in danger because of kids and music,how ever loud it was.
Through out the time he was on the stand he teared up over his girl friend,and the puppy,but showed not one bit of remorse for the life of Jordan Davis or his family.I can only guess how this will effect the other kids in the s.u.v,I hope they get the help they need to be able to deal with the anger/fear they must feel for the loss of their friend as well as having being involved in this situation.
Michael Dunn having owned and using a weapon,no matter what type it may have been isn't the start of this problem,it is the profiling of a group of black kids or black people in general by his racial views plus his holyer than thou attitude towards anyone he can look down on as not as good as himself,that his word is law cause he said so.
I do hope that we as people,no matter what race,learn not to put ourselves above another.When this becomes the way of life with respect to another person will we truly become peaceful nation that celebrates the diversity of all of us.

[TimilDeeps]

White Americans are the architects of racial oppression.

Any statistics that are trotted out about black on black, brown on black, brown on brown etc. violence are all skewed because the system itself is inherently racist. The system is designed to make that happen!

In every aspect of daily life, white privilege is palpable; from education, politics, economics, health care, housing . . . and the list goes on to include the legal system in this country. I say legal system because if it were a justice system we wouldn't be having these conversations.

It is the history of the United States; white people in power have thrust their culture onto people of color and at the same time have diminished and tried to destroy the cultures of people of color.

Today we have racial profiling, race is still on the census, social services, jobs, political representation and all of these things and more are continually reinscribed to perpetuate our racist systems.

Speaking directly about the verdict in the Dunn trial, since he was not acquitted of first degree murder he can be retried for first degree murder and I do hope that is the path that the attorneys for the Davis family will take.

[*Anya*]

I work in a county behavioral health system.

I have no official statistics for you.

What I bring is my personal experience and how much it troubles me. I am more than aware of white privilege every day.

I run group counseling sessions for young men with primary mental illness and co-existing substance abuse diagnoses.

In this very rich county that I work, in every group of 10 males from 18-years-old to 50-years old, 8 of the 10 are Hispanic, one is white and one is African-American.

They are on probation or parole (Hispanics or blacks). The white males are on probation.

50-70% of the Hispanics in my group have been in jail or prison multiple times.

The white males, even if arrested a couple of times have had no prison time-just very short stints in county jail (if that).

The arrests? For all, possession or sale of methamphetamine or heroin, or paraphernalia or for all at the same time.

When I read about their cases or talk to their PO's, I don't hear much difference in their cases.

The main difference that I can see is their socio-economic status, skin color and the outcome of their trials.

[Martina]

Elephant in the living room -- gun violence. The vast majority of these lives are lost because of gun violence.

We as a culture value our guns more than we value the lives of our children. The fact that so many of the dead and incarcerated are young men of color makes it easier for our racist culture to ignore. But even when twenty white six year olds die, we still ignore it. Guns are more important to us than the lives of any of our citizens. But we are more than happy to allow the destruction of families of color. No problem. We don't care.

[RockOn]

Enraged? YES!!
Keep in mind:
This idiot knew he had protection (gun) ... did he actually think teen-agers would turn down their music at his request?

Frankly, I think he was looking for any "excuse" to pull out his gun and use it. His actions are inexcusable!!! A young man is dead!!!

[fatallyblonde]

Others have already addressed Grainne's post with what I would've said so I'm not going to. I am so glad and grateful for those who said what needed to be.

Losing these young men is a tragedy. My heart is aching for their lost lives and for their poor families, who have to deal not just with the grief of losing them but with blow after blow after blow adding insult to injury from white society. Everything about this is wrong. My prayers are with their loved ones.

[lamuymuyfem]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

"In June 2002, 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart was kidnapped from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was found nine months later — during which her story received enormous national coverage. According to Washington Post staff writer Howard Kurtz, "such factors as the missing children's race and social status matter."


"Alexis Patterson, a seven-year-old, African-American girl from a poor part of Milwaukee, also disappeared in 2002, after being walked to school"



>linkyloo<

Don't get me started on the Alexis Patterson thing! I still vividly remember the day she disappeared. I pray they reopen the cold case and find out what truly happened to her. Seven year olds should be safe to go to school, no matter their race/ethnicity…

[Paradox]

I had to think about the best way to respond. This is highly sensitive and very complex. I will outline my views.

First I would I put it out there, I dislike the using the term POC and try to avoid using it when/where possible. From my perspective it’s a soft gentle mask that hides the dreadful truth of bigotry, and racism. This post is to really express the issues of racism as it is based on skin hues (tones). The underlying truth the darker the skin colour the worst the racial backlash.

There exists a continuous vicious circle where racism flourishes. How to keep the likes of them away from the likes of me;

1) Institutional racism and slave mentality. Each feeding off of each other. Keep people of African descent (darker skin tones) at bay, and people of darker skins belief the system is against them so why bother trying - lack self worth and self esteem. (broad overview - simplification).
— This may seem primarily American, but Canada is not far behind. Canada’s is hidden and subtle.

2) Education system: There isn’t a strong national system requiring everyone to have equal and adequate education. Poor neighbourhoods (primarily of those of mid-dark skin) have schools that operate at extreme sub standards. Support point number 1. Canada and Europe for most part have a stronger educational stance.

2.1) Education system: In affluent or healthy neighbourhoods, they often do not apply enough of humanities into the curriculum. Very little if any exists on people of mid-dark skin. Most of ‘light skin’ cultures is what is taught. And if any education is provided about African/African descent it is to emphasis the ‘poor, unfortunate’ mid-dark skin experience, war, famine, slavery etc. Hardly anything of achievements (outside of sports). Supporting point number 1.

3) The media, marketing, advertising: How many people of African Descent are seen in day to day advertising/ marketing. Or on TV that’s isn’t ‘stereotypical’. I can’t remember the last calculations but it was merger. Further creating a separating system and dehumanizing a group of people by indirectly emphasizing worth. Promoting stereotypes.

4) Hiring principles, requiring affirmative action policies, fostering resentments. I.E - This person is not qualified but needs to be hired to fill a quota.
Both good and bad aspects. Good that it can force doors to open, bad that it can be perceived as again lesser than me - quality/worth.

5) People don’t look or apply effort to get to know someone. Society has instilled ‘fear’, where branching out beyond your nose is deemed punishable by death. We have created ‘caged’ animals from all ends. Along with a lack of basic social graces and common sense. Do you know 2-3 people outside of your racial circle who are quite visually different from you? Often the answer is no. And yet we claim to be multicultural.
Why should I? I don’t ’need’ to. That type of question/comment goes without explanation.

6) We have fostered a society where not caring is the norm. It’s too bad so sad for you attitude. The privileged are quite happy they are not ‘targets’.
Many can sympathize to hell freezes over, but bottom line in most minds ‘it’s not my problem’. Until something does happen and then you read/or hear stupid question/comment as always; Why are ‘they’ ’so angry or ’still’ angry?

7) People of African descent diaspora. Their only ‘actual’ bond is the inherent discrimination. Resulting from atrocities that have left a society challenged with major difficulties of rebuilding itself. Self hate, internal/intra-racial conflicts, all the points above, living stereotypes. Some ethnicities have similar struggles but none as heart breaking as found within the African/African descent.

Will these crimes continue - sadly yes without question. This is far from the only issues people of African/African decent (mid-darker skin) face on hourly/daily basis. And this post does not look to diminish the success and achievements the communities has made so far and will continue to make.

This simplistic post was to outline two things;
1) A person of darker skin must face the day ‘shielded’. Because that is our reality.
2) Our society (black white and everything in-between) we are not even close to where we could or should be.

Solution;
Only one that comes to mind to start with, improve the educational system and really educate. Create thinkers and not robots.

As philosophical thinker I don’t think the gods/spirits (if you are of faith) or universe would be impressed. I doubt this was what they had in mind when we came into existence.

[Martina]

Originally Posted by Paradox

The underlying truth the darker the skin colour the worst the racial backlash.
. . . .
2) Our society (black white and everything in-between) we are not even close to where we could or should be.

I think it's offensive to group other POC as "everything in between," to tell you the truth. It implies a lot of things, but mostly -- along with your comment about skin color -- that they are exposed to lesser forms of racism. Living in California might make you rethink that one.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Reminder to don your hoodie, light your candles, turn on your porch lights, and hold a moment of silence with us at 7:17 PM, to show respect for Trayvon.

#justicefortrayvon