Perfection Should Not be Requirement for Equality
Like other communities, the African-American community remains far from perfection.
But contrary to what opponents of the Black Lives Matter movement say, that imperfection does not solely rest at the feet of African-Americans.
Although gun violence continues to shatter African-American communities in Chicago and beyond, the systemic evils of racism and White supremacy that Black Lives Matter continues to fight against is the reason why many of these problems still exist in the African-American community in the first place.
Over the Independence Day Weekend, countless Chicago residents lost their lives to gun violence; while countless others suffered injuries from shootings.
Chicago’s CBS television affiliate reported, “Nearly 80 people have been shot in Chicago since [last] Friday night this July 4th holiday weekend, and 15 of them have been killed.
“Twelve of the weekend shooting victims were under 18. Two of the 12 were killed.
“Among the incidents were a shooting that left a 7-year-old girl dead while she was visiting her grandmother for a 4th of July party in South Austin Saturday night, and the two mass shootings—one of which left four people dead and four more wounded.”
New York has experienced similar carnage in recent days as well.
The New York Times reported, “A young father crossing a Bronx street, holding hands with his 6-year-old daughter. A 15-year-old who refused to talk to the police in Manhattan. A man in a Staten Island public housing complex, found prone in his apartment.
“They were among 64 people shot in a surge of shootings over [last] weekend in New York City, the police said. Ten of those shot lost their lives, including the young father and the Staten Island man—a wave of summertime violence that has given renewed urgency to a gun violence crisis that had been overshadowed this year by the coronavirus pandemic and the unrest over police racism and brutality.”
But what is the genesis of so much violence in inner city communities?
Contrary to the media’s misguiding message of Black-on-Black crime, the reason for so much violence in poor communities is the racist caste system that has existed in America since before July 4, 1776.
What happens when an entire community faces discrimination?
What happens when African-Americans have trouble getting jobs despite sometimes having more qualifications than the people who get the jobs?
What happens when a person does not have money to feed his or her children because of the lack of jobs?
What happens when a young person goes to a school with some teachers who do not care about their future because of what they look like or where they come from?
What happens when a system imprisons the male role models disproportionately because of the 13th Amendment and the desire to re-enslave the African-American community?
What happens when a community’s concerns go unheard because of gerrymandering and efforts to limit the voting power of minority communities?
What happens when racism in banks and loan offices makes it difficult for African-American families to purchase homes in safer areas?
With multiple strikes against an entire community, it is no surprise that people lose hope.
People with no hope for tomorrow often do whatever it takes to survive that day from stealing to killing
So while many people criticize the so-called singular solution that Black Lives Matter fights for, many of the things that plague the African-American community would disappear if America destroys the effects of its original sin of slavery and systemic race.
In addition, America has to stop acting as if African-Americans have to become perfect before she considers dismantling systemic racism, discrimination and police brutality.
Perfection should not be a requirement for equality.
Furthermore, African-Americans need to retire the term Black-on-Black crime because there is no such thing because never once have I ever heard the media mention Hispanic-on-Hispanic crime or White-on White-crime.
Decades ago, the media championed the term Black-on-Black crime to distract from African-Americans protesting the very same issues that we protest today with Black Lives Matter.
If the media can get the African-American community to focus on so-called Black-on-Black crime they can justify racist killings, police brutality and police killings.
While 90 percent of African-American murder victims get killed by other African-Americans (based on FBI data from 2013), the concept of Black-on-Black crime is totally fake news and needs to be ignored by the masses.
Although African-Americans definitely need to stop killing each other and the community needs to correct some of our own destructive behavior, 83.5 percent of White Americans are killed by other White Americans (based on FBI data from 2013).
Additionally, 88 percent of Hispanic murder victims die at the hands of another Hispanic American.
Furthermore, violence is more prevalent in poorer neighborhoods than affluent neighborhoods, so economics plays a major role in violent crimes.
Unfortunately, poverty hits African-Americans harder than other races.
But the fact that Black-on-Black crime is even a term is asinine to begin with.
Anyone who has ever watched a television show that focuses on murder investigations knows that murder investigations begin from the outside in.
If a man is murdered, cops often interview his wife or girlfriend first.
The officers then ask the children questions, then the parents, friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc., etc.
The reasoning behind that logic is that people that get killed often get killed by someone that they have beef with.
People often have more beef with people that they have a relationship with than strangers they run into by happenstance.
In many instances, America still segregates itself with many communities being largely White, Hispanic, Asian or African-American.
Therefore, if an African-American has beef with another person it is often going to be another African-American.
Couple that with the fact that more violence exists in poor communities and that is why so-called Black-on-Black crime is higher than that of other races.
Those high rates do not mean the African-American community is at war with each other.
If we were at war with each other, then the statistics for other races would mean they are at war with themselves too and how can the pot call the kettle black?
