No matter how often I attempt to put the pain of racism in America out of my head and my heart, the understanding that it is still here alive and well remains. A friend of mine once likened raising a Black man in America to a “social experiment.” I laughed initially when she said it, but then as I thought about it, I really wanted to cry. How on earth could I consider raising a Black son in a country that merely tolerates my blackness as a female but targets the life of the black male with one mission - destroy? All my life, I was taught the history of Black people in this country and was forced early on to understand how much that history had a direct impact on the daily lives of Black people then. As an adult who has experienced racism in a number of settings personally and witnessed the systemic racism that exists in many parts of this country, specifically in criminal justice and education, I am saddened more and more every day at the state of the world the next generation will inherit. I was not inspired by what the election of Barack Obama meant for America, for its racism has become more evident since his election. It is more inspiring for all those little Black boys out there, so they can have a better image of the possibilities.
I have always had a thirst for knowledge. So when the opportunity presented itself for me to attend a speech by Kevin Powell at NYU regarding the “State of Young Black Professionals in New York”, I jumped at the chance to hear someone who I admire speak about a group a consider myself to be a part of, I had no idea my thought process would be changed.
During his very riveting speech about the state of young Black professionals in New York, Kevin Powell recounted his own experiences being a young professional in a very different New York City twenty years prior. Along with the great experiences of getting his dream job at Vibe magazine, Powell spoke about the impact of his race in his climb through the ranks of journalism and how that impacted his desire to be socially active and responsible as young black professional. He spoke specifically about the fact that we do NOT indeed live in a post racial society. To further that point, he suggested his audience read the book “Brainwashed – Challenging the Myth of Black Inferiority” by Tom Burrell. I took that note down and decided to take the speaker up on his suggestion. As soon as I got home, I purchased the book on my kindle and decided to see exactly why Mr. Powell suggested a young black professional read this book.
As soon as I read through the first pages of this book I began to absorb its message that black inferiority is indeed a myth, but one that black people participate in perpetuating and by doing so are complicit in our own inferiority complex. The book forced me to take a close look at the TV shows I watch, the movies I pay to see, the comedy I laugh at, the ideas I promote in my writing, the businesses I support and most importantly (and the hardest of all) the music I listen to. I will not go into the details of what hip hop music is doing or has done to the psyche of black people in America, but I will say that it has played its part and I can admit that even as a lover, fan and product of the hip hop generation. I continued to read this book that referenced in detail the atrocities commented against my ancestors as slaves in this country and at times I had to put my kindle down for fear it would magically land on the head of the person riding on the train next to me who happened to have white skin. I speak from a place of truth when I say that what happened in the past, the way that my ancestors were dehumanized, degraded, mistreated and disregarded for the financial and social gain of America as a whole and specifically white Americans makes me very angry. Slavery is indeed the original sin of this country, one for which it built its entire empire upon. But what boils my blood is to witness how those acts beginning some 400 years ago have a direct correlation to the way Black people in this country are currently being dehumanized, degraded, mistreated and disregarded. The only difference is that there used to be a blatant acceptance of this treatment, wide out in the open for everyone to see. Now because the slave master has been replaced with the prison warden or Jim Crow laws have been replaced with laws that seek to disenfranchise people or school segregation has been replaced with segregated schools; the majority of Americans, both Black and White are complicit in this racism. I, for one am disappointed by that, but not at all surprised.
As if reading this book about Black inferiority, its root and its impact wasn’t enough, I decided to go to a forum discussing the impact of the NYPD’s practice of arresting 50,000 young people (under 30) for marijuana possession (which under a certain amount is NOT a crime but a violation not requiring arrest if it is not in plain view). The vast majority (87%) of these young people are Black and Latino. Although according to the most studies on drug use, white males between the ages of 16-25 use marijuana at higher rates than their black counterparts. Yet in New York City, 87% of those arrested for possession of marijuana (in an amount for personal use) were Black or Latino. Something about that is skewed. When asked about this policy, the police commissioner defends these actions by stating the crime in New York City is down. And by the measures of FBI Crime Index, crime in this City is indeed down. But arrests in this City are up. So with the major crimes down, but arrests continuing to climb (only misdemeanor arrests are growing), it leaves me to wonder, what is the human cost of crime in this City being “down.”
It is evident by the stop and frisk policy and other racially charged incidents in past years, that the NYPD believes the only way to keep the City safe is to heavily police Black and Latino males. The impact on the lives of these individual males is tremendous. It forces them into a criminal justice system at an early age, one that is racist and sexist. By placing these young people in the system for offenses that do NOT require an arrest let alone time spent in jail, the City in complicit in setting up a vicious cycle for these young men, one that prevents them from growing and flourishing beyond their youthful indiscretions in the same way their white counterparts do. The criminal justice system is designed to target black males from the methods of the policing, to the methods and laws regarding incarceration, to the laws in place that prevent a successful transition into society post incarceration. This system that young Black males are being placed into unnecessarily sucks them in and spits them out on the other side damaged physically, mentally and emotionally. And with little hope that this occurrence of police harassment and racial profiling is an anomaly, the long term destruction to the psyche of these young boys as they become men makes it all quite understandable how some of them end up living on the wrong side of the law later on in life. This system, this country is set up to target this population. The City of New York is all but stating that the safety of the entire City is contingent on keeping a very small population in line. For if left to run free - free from illegal stop and frisk policies, free from racial profiling, free from false arrest and imprisonment, free from discrimination and free from staring down the barrel of a police issued weapon, they may actually flourish, wise up, pull themselves up and change not only their circumstances but the entire world. Now why exactly would the City of New York or America be interested in that?
~Maliek~
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