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As a black Libertarian, who has spent majority of his life as a black conservative, I am no stranger to going against mainstream or accepted "black opinion" and viewpoints. And till this day, I have many positions about the black community that most black people would not agree with. Butt I have noticed a very disturbing viewpoint when it comes to addressing police brutality in the black community, and it's often "what about black on black crime".
Now at one time, I took this position. On the surface it seems quite logical. It's the old "clean up your own backyard, before you tell someone else to clean theirs" mentality. Except the argument doesn't hold up to deeper evaluation, and once one look deeper, it is unsupportable as a rational point of view. I do not attempt to speak for all black people who are against the entire "black on black crime" rebutttal, since I'm sure my POV is much different than theirs.
1. How EXACTLY do you fight black on black crime?
So I'm one of those people who actually sat back and thought about how someone solves an issue with black on black crime. What does this strategy look like? What is the gameplan? No one will answer this? Because stopping black on black crime is basically stopping crime itself. And if we could stop all crime, then what good are police? so this is where the argument breaks down.
Why are black people even responsible for stopping black on black crime? In theory isn't that what we pay police to do? So if it is up to black people to stop black on black crime, then essentially what you're saying that black people should police themselves? Since this responsibility OBVIOUSLY don't fall on cops, and falls on black individuals.
Actually I do support black people removing police out of their community, and policing themselves. But that's another topic for another time.
2. Black on black crime isn't ACTUALLY that bad
The bizzare narrative is that black on black crime hasn't been lower in over 50 years than it is today. As a whole black on black crime is down, and has gone down continously for 20 years. So the common rebuttle is this:
"Crime is still disproportionately high in the black community" - Except it's not, since crime is low overall in America relative to the population. This would mean that majority of black people aren't likely to be directly impacted by "black on black crime".
"Crime has gone up in Chicago" - This is also quite irrational. So because black on black crime is up in 1 city, does this automatically mean it's every black person's problem? So one has to ask, what is the assumed values of such a system?
Do we assume that because people in Chicago are black, and commit crime, and if you happen to be black, that crime local to Chicago is somehthing a black person could do anything about?
Again, how does a black person in LA fight crime in Chicago?
Isn't this more of a function of the failures of the Chicago PD than the black race as a whole?
3. There actually was a community effort to stop violence when violence was high in every black community
Before hip hop was just a whored out art form for corporate record companies, it was actually part of a huge social movement. It was an amazing way that people in the streets organized, talked about life in poverty, and mostly had positive messages. People who think rap has always been gangsta "shoot em up" should listen to 80s hip hop before it became mainstream. In many cases reformed gang members and gang leaders used hip hop as a medium for peace. And in many cases it reached out to black people, caused many cease fires in gang wars in LA, and I feel was instrumental in the drop in black on black crime from the 80s and 90s. Yet the main people who talk about black on black crime has no sense of history, because if they did, the black community does respond when black on black crime is at epidemic levels.
In conclusion. The "black on black crime" is a convenient rebuttal, and it speaks to ignorance about the history on black on black crime, unfair assumptions about black people's responsibility, and the lack of responsibility on the behalf of police.
Why are black people even responsible for stopping black on black crime? In theory isn't that what we pay police to do? So if it is up to black people to stop black on black crime, then essentially what you're saying that black people should police themselves? Since this responsibility OBVIOUSLY don't fall on cops, and falls on black individuals.
The environment many of these kids grow up in is horrendous, until that changes nothing else will. As long as some 20 year old thinks it's perfectly reasonable to go kill some ten year old as retaliation in gang war you will continue to have these problems. Part of the solution is policing but you can't have it both ways. The local NAACP leader in a city near me in one breath is complaining the city is not doing enough to combat crime and then complaining about profiling in the next. You either do or do not want cops to target high crime areas, take your pick.
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"Crime is still disproportionately high in the black community" - Except it's not,
If you had two communities of 100K, one white and one black. Annually there will be about 2 murders in the white community, there will about 12 in the black one. This enormously disproportionate. In 2013 the murder rate among blacks in the same city I mentioned above was so high a young black man would have been safer being the lead man on a patrol in Afghanistan.
Both black on black crime AND cop crimes are incredibly overblown by the media. A look at simple stats show that the overwhelming majority of blacks and cops are law abiding and wonderful people.
But.....the left wing media and Democrats have a vested interest in portraying it otherwise.
So I'm one of those people who actually sat back and thought about how someone solves an issue with black on black crime. What does this strategy look like? What is the gameplan? No one will answer this? Because stopping black on black crime is basically stopping crime itself. And if we could stop all crime, then what good are police? so this is where the argument breaks down.
Why are black people even responsible for stopping black on black crime? In theory isn't that what we pay police to do? So if it is up to black people to stop black on black crime, then essentially what you're saying that black people should police themselves? Since this responsibility OBVIOUSLY don't fall on cops, and falls on black individuals.
Actually I do support black people removing police out of their community, and policing themselves. But that's another topic for another time.
Are you seriously saying blacks are actually doing police a FAVOR by causing crime and violence to keep cops busy and employed?? >_>
Blacks are responsible for stopping black on black crime because ITS THEIR CHILDREN who are injuring and killing each other as well as causing never ending violence and crime in not only their own communities but in other communities as well. If many black people were so nice and friendly to live around, everyone wouldn't feel the need to move away from them including other black people.
As for what black people could do to lower crime in their communities, how about raising their kids properly in the first place with some morals, compassion and respect for their fellow human being? And how about ratting out all the criminals and thugs that are causing so much trouble in black communities instead of hiding them because they're your homies or family members or you just plain don't want to turn them in because EFF DA POLICE?
As an example, just recently here in Toronto there was a man running around in several neighborhoods sexually assaulting women. Then on one or two occasions he was caught on camera and the video was put on the news and very quickly he was identified with the help of tips from the public and he was eventually arrested. The suspect was a black male, but the point is THAT is how you clean up the streets and neighborhoods, when you have people who are willing to help police get criminals off the street, something which unfortunately all too often blacks DO NOT want to do.
As for allowing black people to police themselves while getting cops out of their communities? I'm ALL FOR THAT except chances are high that that would turn into a crapshow very quickly. And hey if it somehow turned out great and it worked for them then that's wonderful, but I'm not holding my breath on that when so many black people who don't give a crap now will suddenly change just because its people from their neighborhoods are now policing them.
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2. Black on black crime isn't ACTUALLY that bad
The bizzare narrative is that black on black crime hasn't been lower in over 50 years than it is today. As a whole black on black crime is down, and has gone down continously for 20 years.
While I agree black on black crime is much lower than it use to be, its still MANY TIMES HIGHER than in most non-black communities. So in the last couple of decades, its gone from absolutely horrible to still pretty damn bad. And it affects pretty much every black community of significant size in the ENTIRE US. Namely there's not one, ONE black community that's 100,000 black people or more in the WHOLE of the US that has crime and murder rates that are even at the national average let alone below national average.
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Do we assume that because people in Chicago are black, and commit crime, and if you happen to be black, that crime local to Chicago is somehthing a black person could do anything about?
YES you can by simply reporting what you see. If you see someone getting shot, let police know about it. If you see someone get robbed, call the police. That's all you really need to do and if every black person did that consistently I GUARANTEE crime and violence would've gone down by a TON a longtime ago.
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Again, how does a black person in LA fight crime in Chicago?
Isn't this more of a function of the failures of the Chicago PD than the black race as a whole?
No its not a failure of police when as I said there's not ONE SINGLE peaceful large community of black people in ALL OF AMERICA. How you can put all the blame on police when you can't look on the map and say 'See right here. 500,000 black people living together peacefully and with low crime rates right here. So not all large black communities are violent and dangerous. So there!!' Except such a place DOES NOT EXIST because blacks are violent EVERYWHERE where they settle in large numbers.
And to your question how does a black person in LA fight crime in Chicago, the answer is THEY DON'T. All they have to do is take care of and clean up their own neighborhoods and help their local police to do that and that's it. So blacks in LA help clean up their neighborhoods there, blacks in Chicago clean up their neighborhoods and so on and so forth. But apparently few if any black communities anywhere are capable of that.
The bottom line is 'black crime' and 'black on black crime' exists and is labeled as such because it describes the group of people who are most affected by crime, violence and murder much, MUCH more badly than most every other race/ethnic group of people and have been for decades now with no end in sight.
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