The Criminalization of Our Black Men

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Reflection

By Nikhaule Martin

I’ve been black all my life. I have completed multiple papers throughout my academic career pertaining to institutionalized racism and oppression, police brutality, inequality and even colorism. And this daunting task never gets any easier. It is difficult for me to read the stories of what my ancestors and what my peers have endured throughout their life, all due to the color of their skin. It is tiring writing on a topic that should be as clear as day to people. I should not have to explain why racism is wrong. I should not have to explain why I am angry when a cop murders my brothers and sisters. I should not have to choose between focusing on “black on black” crime and cops senselessly killing my people. No matter how difficult the process may be I’ll do it all again without hesitation.

While writing this paper I have learned to listen and try to understand the views of other people. I have learned not to respond to ignorant comments with anger and aggression, but with information and personal experience. I cannot stop a racist from being racist but I can try to explain to them why their thinking is flawed. I am trying, and I believe everyone should try, to listen to the story of others. To understand their upbringing and their point of views. We can only write a story together if we understand the narratives of others.  

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Annotated Resources

By Nikhaule Martin

Boskin, Joseph; Sambo: The Rise and Demise of an American Jester:

Boskin in his book, does a good job of reiterating the history of minstrelsy       without sugarcoat history to fit a certain demographic. He discusses how minstrelsy came to be, as well as different traits the “minstrels” possessed. Boskin touches on the multitudes of minstrel acts that existed and how they were acted out.

Bouie, Jamelle; Actually, Blacks Do Care About Black Crime:

This article provides a lot of insight when regarding the age old argument that blacks should focus more so on black on black crime, then the brutality committed against us by crooked cops. It tells people, or suggests for people to stay in their lane when they are unfamiliar with what's going on within the black community.

Fields, Barbara J., Fields, Karen E.: Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life

Although this book has very few points that I agree with the book gave me the ability to look at certain situations through a different perspectivies. Fields and Fields thoroughly explained their idea of "Racecraft" and share many insightful studies that further explain the "race war" that exists today.

KovaleskI, Serge F.; Two Officers’ Paths to a Fatal Encounter in Harlem:

I found this article while reading Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. This article shares the story of Officer Dunton and Officer Edwards, and the unfortunate killing of Officer Edwards. The article was useful to me because I always thought of racism and stereotypical behaviors to be something that someone actively participates in. But like Fields and Fields stated in their book when regarding this story, an act of racism does not always require a racist.

 Spielman, Fran; Disgraced Chicago cop Jon Burge breaks silence, condemns $5.5 million reparations fund :  

This article was chosen to give me more insight on the Jon Burge case. I was able to familiarize myself with notes about the case I was not formally aware off.

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Suggested Solutions

By Nikhaule Martin

        Combating the inequality that exists in the world is no easy feat, for anyone. Standing up for those in need, for those discriminated against, for those who are oppressed, and deconstructing all the negative stereotypes that exist against our black men should a priority for us all.  For starters, it is essential that when we look upon communities of marginalized people, and that we place ourselves in their shoes. As of late tons of critics have been critiquing the black community for not standing up for their rights in a way they deem fit. One cannot judge a situation holistically if one brings their privilege to the table. Think about how one may feel if they were a black man living in America. Imagine committing the same crimes and offenses as your white counterparts but being 10 times as likely to be arrested and charged. Imagine growing up in neighborhood lacking the resources needed to excel in school such as; tutoring centers, quality books in school, and even after school programs. Imagine growing up in a neighborhood where cops watch your every move even without reason. Try understanding the struggles of others, and what they have spent their life going through before telling them “they have no reason to be mad.”

        After walking in the shoes of the oppressed and marginalized try educating yourself on the problems that exists when in their communities. Get better at recognizing racist incidents and microaggressions when they occur, and when they occur do something. If you are a beneficiary of white privilege, which is nothing to be ashamed of, use that privilege to your advantage. Your voice may hold more weight toward the oppressors than the voices of the oppressed, use it unashamedly. Take the many opportunities that will arise to educate others on the issues that exist within our world today. We do not ask you to be our spokesperson or our savior, we ask you to speak on what’s right and fair.

         My next suggested solution, although it may be the most difficult of solutions, is to lend a listening ear and remain open to criticisms. This step is to not be completed alone but in tandem with other steps to fight against inequality. When confronted about different racist incidents, or comments one may have said it is easy to become defensive, especially if the initial intent was not meant to cause any harm. My suggestion is to listen and understand where the criticism is coming from, and to learn from the criticism for future reference.

        Lastly, it is crucial that we all get up and fight. We need to speak out against injustices every time we witness them occur. We need to petition. We need to protest. We need to fight for what is right. The process that one will go through to fight against racism, oppression, police brutality, and inequality will never be an easy journey. But it should be a journey that we all should take.

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Summary

By Nikhaule Martin

Picture: https://www.popularresistance.org/camera-training-is-revolutionizing-protests-against-police-brutality-in-ferguson/

        The issues pertaining to the black community and the issues that affect the black community have been in existence more than a lot of people would like to admit. People are so quick to say that slavery was so long ago and that we, people of color, should just get over it. People are so quick to say that Jim Crow laws and segregation no longer exists and that we, people of color, have this perpetual chip on our shoulder. Black men are unjustifiably being gunned down by cops and the actions of the cops being defended because of all the negative stereotypes that make up black men. Jon Burge, convicted felon and former cop, was responsible for arresting and torturing hundreds of black men into making confessions for crimes they did not commit. Few people barely batted an eyelash because these black men were surely guilty of something. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel offered $5.5 million dollars to the torture victims, which does not even begin to pay for the tortures these men faced. Jon Burge was enraged and was quote in the Chicago Sun Times article Disgraced Chicago cop Jon Burge breaks silence, condemns $5.5 million reparations fund by Fran Spielman saying “I find it hard to believe that the city’s political leadership could even contemplate giving `Reparations’ to human vermin.”

        As sad as it may be to say, Jon Burge shared this thought with thousands of other people. People all across social media defending his actions, refusing to acknowledge his wrong doings because of the people he committed the crime against. Throughout this project I’ve started to understand the point of views of others, even if I do disagree with them. I have learned to be more patient when listening to the stories of others because I know that we did not all have the same reality growing up. So by default is it more difficult for the privilege to recognize their privilege, it is difficult for the privilege to empathize with a people that have been demonize and dehumanized through the media.

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Description of how the problem is an intersectional issue

By Nikhaule Martin

        Throughout this paper I’ve discussed things pertaining to racism, oppression, cultural appropriation, and police brutality. These are not issues that are specific to black men.  In class we’ve talked about street harassment and how that affects both women and men of all different races. We even discussed the ideas of oppression and hyper masculinity and how it related to different cultures, to different people. It is important that we take our personal experiences and struggles as well as the struggles and experiences of others, and come together to think of solutions that will benefit us all.

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Something to look at and think about.

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Discuss of an Institutional Example

By Nikhaule Martin

       Growing up I had this goal to make it the hood. A goal many minorities growing up in an underprivileged neighborhood once had, a goal many still have. For many, going to college is a way to achieve that goal. Go to school, get a degree, get a job, make money and move away. A process that's fairly self-explanatory but so extremely difficult for some. Especially if you're a minority going to a predominantly white institute, most commonly referred to as a PWI.

           Within the past month or so the spotlight has been on The University of Missouri, most commonly referred to as Mizzou. Throughout the fall semester of 2015 at Mizzou there were quite a few racial incidents that took place on campus, as well as racial slurs directed towards the minorities on campus. Not only were these things going on in 2015, they were taking place on a college campus students pay to attend. Meanwhile the schools president, Timothy Wolfe, did nothing. As Fields and Fields mentioned in their book Racecraft, racism does not always require a racist. Wolfe may not be a racist but he had a job that he utterly failed to do. Since the students of color were obviously not cared for or protected by school officials they took matters into their own hands.            The protests at Mizzou gained public attention when student Johnathan Butler decided to go on a hunger strike. Shortly after Butler began his hunger strike the black students on the football team decided to protest as well. They refused to play another football game until Wolfe resigned. And without the football team the school was at risk for losing millions of dollars, all because these young men decided that enough was enough.            These young men were not, are not, your stereotypical black men. They were all in college, fighting for justice and equality. It was because of the negative stereotypes set against them that they decided to fight. Think of the protest at Mizzou to be a breaking point for students there, for students everywhere. Those racial incidents that sparked the Mizzou protests were not the first and only racial incidents that occurred. If they happened at Mizzou they can happen anywhere and this is something we should all be concerned with.

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Discussion of an Everyday Example

        By Nikhaule Martin

        Racism, discrimination, and oppression has been seamlessly sewed into our society. Acts of racism defended and treated as the norm. The issue of hyper surveillance that occurs within neighborhoods filled with minorities has been defended. Black men doing and selling drugs at the same rate as white men, but black men are more likely to be arrested. Families missing their fathers, brothers, nephews, cousins and friends because they were arrested and charged for petty crimes. Hyper Surveillance is an issue that affects minorities everywhere, not just blacks and not just black males. Minorities everywhere are at risk. Take the story of Jon Burge.

        Jon Burge, a former officer and leader of a torture ring, tortured many innocent black men into confessing crimes that they did not commit. Jon Burge, to this day, still believes that he was doing the right. These black men served time for crimes they did not commit and it was okay, because they were thugs who obviously done something wrong. These negative stereotypes caused these men to waste way in jail for crimes they did not commit, as it’s nothing new.

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Analysis of a Second Scholarly Source

By Nikhaule Martin

Picture: http://errmahgawd.weebly.com/background-information.html

        It is close to impossible to discuss racism without discussing the issue of cultural appropriation. Cultural appropriation, if you haven’t learned from Iggy Azalea, is the act of stealing something from one culture and then passing it off as your own. The act of cultural appropriation has existed for years, but before cultural appropriation “existed” we had minstrelsy. Minstrelsy was the act of dressing up in cloths, and rags and blackface to mock the features of slaves. In the book Sambo: The Rise and Demise of an American Jester by Joseph Boskin, a history professor, Boskin discusses the rise and fall of the minstrel character Sambo. Sambo was, and still is, a stereotypical image of black men used solely as a form of entertainment for white people.

        In chapter 4 of the book, “Ladies and Gentlemen: Your Attention, Please! Would You Welcome The First American Entertainer Sambo!!” Boskin explains exactly who Sambo is, and the many roles he played. Minstrels, just like Sambo, were often portrayed by whites in blackface, with large eyes, and even bigger lips. Minstrels were also portrayed as unintelligent and loud. As stated by Boskin, “Sambo could talk on relevant matters, from politics to religion, so long as it remained within the limits of the image” (Boskin 73). Although minstrelsy may have died out, to a certain extent, what Boskin said about Sambo is still relevant. Black men are able to do as they please, whenever they please, and say whatever they would like as long as it does not affect white people.  As seen with the young men that were on the football team at Mizzou. These young men were seen as athletes and nothing more. There was no media attention drawn to the campus when all these racial incidents first occurred, but all hell broke when the football team was refusing to play.

       Why is that people were more upset at the football players for not playing as opposed to be understanding why they refused to play? Why were people simply referring to these young men as athletes as if their identities as black men was completely irrelevant? These black men are looked to only for a source of entertainment, looked down upon for standing up for the racism that occurred on their school campus.

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Analysis of a Scholarly Source

By Nikhaule Martin

        My first time reading through Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life by sociologist Karen E. Fields and historian Barbara J. Fields, I found myself appalled by some of the concepts mentioned in the book. The concept of there not being a genetic marker for race is nothing new to me. Race, in a sense, is a social construct. According to Fields and Fields, racism is what creates the illusion of race. This practice is what they refer to as “racecraft.” I do agree with the fact that they is no genetic marker for race. What I disagree with is the order in which Racecraft occurs. The “illusion” of race is the main source of racism, not the other way around. Race, a difference in skin color and cultural roots, will always vary from person to person. But it’s important to separate ones skin color from any characteristics they may possess, both negative and positive.

        A little further on in the book Fields and Fields explain the story of officers Omar Edwards and Andrew Dunton. According the 2009 New York Times article “Two Officers’ Paths to a Fatal Encounter in Harlem” by Serge F. Kovaleski officer Edwards, a black cop, drew his weapon out against a man and began chasing after a man who attempted to break into his car. Officer Dunton, who was currently patrolling through the neighborhood in an unmarked cop car, noticed a black man with a gun in hand and shot him dead. After explaining the story Fields and Fields go on to say that “the fellow officer was devastated by his error and its fatal consequence… Racism did not require a racist” (Fields and Fields 27). I do agree with the Fields’s when they say that racism does not always require a racist. But should we overlook the officers reasoning for shooting down an innocent man because of his guilt? Before the trigger was pulled all Dunton saw was black man holding a gun, ignoring Omar saying “police.” Yes, Officer Edward’s death was an accident but we should take his death and turn into a lesson for all cops. Let this be a reminder for all cops to abandon any prejudices, and hidden racism that may cost the life of another human being.

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Analysis of a Web Source

By Nikhaule Martin

Picture: http://www.ryot.org/why-black-lives-matter-is-more-than-just-a-hashtag/946915

        As of late, my Facebook feed has been covered with articles and photographs telling the many stories of the minorities who fight against racism and oppression on a daily.  The powerful #BlackLivesMatter movement has been everywhere; on the news, on the radio, all over every form of social media. Just to be clear, the #BlackLivesMatter movement is not a movement aimed to negate the lives and experiences of others. By saying “Black Lives Matter” we are NOT saying that our lives matter more than the lives of others we are saying our lives matter too. But there are a plethora of critics who claim that blacks are too worried about the few people murdered by cops, and not about the crime and killing that occurs within our own communities. As a black woman I can tell you that nothing is more aggravating than someone telling me what I should be concerned about.

        While scrolling through the many of articles plastered on my Facebook page, I stumbled upon the article Actually, Blacks Do Care About Black Crime by Jamelle Bouie on Slate.com. The author of the article, Jamelle Bouie, completely deconstructs the myth that black people are not as concerned with blacks killing blacks, as they are with whites killing blacks. Bouie unashamedly mentions people such as; Joe Scarborough, Deroy Murdock, Rudy Giuliani, and Juan Williams who all believe that the outrage and anger of the black community is misplaced. People often look at the conditions that exists within our communities to justify the senseless killings committed. To justify all the racism and oppression in our society. People become too comfortable with accepting all the negative stereotypes that regard our black men that when our black men are killed, no one thinks twice about. We are being told that we need to focus on what’s happening in our own communities, as if what happens in our own communities is our fault. As Bouie mentioned in the article non-blacks have a bad habit of “attributing violent criminality to blackness—rather than particular conditions faced by some black people” (Bouie.) Bouie goes on to correct and inform all critics that there are protests that occur even when the crime happens intra-racially. Why? Because “Black Americans—like everyone else—are concerned with what happens in their communities” (Bouie.)

        Throughout the entire article I found myself agreeing with everything the author said in the article. I highly appreciated the fact that the author took the time to thoroughly explain and say that, yes, blacks do care about what occurs within their own communities. Blacks, specifically black men, are being labeled as thugs, as being ignorant, reckless, and bestial. Stereotypes like this result in the lives of black men everywhere. It is these stereotypes that cops carry around in their pocket next to their gun. They look at the skin of our black men and justify all the wrong doings of crooked cops. Blacks are often stereotyped without ever being offered the opportunity to prove themselves.

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The Effects of Stereotypes on the Attitudes and Actions of Black Men

      Photo from: https://niastories.wordpress.com/2014/03/07/april-12-understanding-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-101/

        The Effects of Stereotypes on the Attitudes and Actions of Black Men

               Michael Brown. Darrius Stewart. Albert Joseph Davis. Brandon Glenn. David Felix. Brandon Jones. Walter Scott. Eric Harris. The list of people, black people, killed by the police just goes on and on and on and on. The criminalization of our black men is a problem that has been going on for years, decades even. Our black men are being killed, referred to as criminals to justify their deaths, but justice for many has yet to be served. Black people, focusing specifically on black males, have been facing injustices and negative stereotypes since birth. Being a black woman I find myself interested in the livelihood of my brothers, my nephews, my cousins, my uncles and my friends. The criminalization of black men has found its way into our communities and our schools, and people still fail to observe the underlying issues. Criminalizing our black men and killing our black men does nothing but continue the school-to-prison pipeline. Our youth are being corrupted way before they understand the world they live in.