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Criminologists at Northeastern University in Boston, MA have recently released a report…yes, another report. This latest “report” indicates that the rate of young African-American men and teenagers who’ve committed or were victims of murder have increased significantly since 2000.
In addition, the FBI data used for the study also indicated that murders nationwide have leveled off.
Each time I happen upon a study like this, the responses to it are predictable if not laughable (on both sides). On one hand, you have those who will use this data as “proof” of the inherent criminal nature of African-American males and plaster the internet with such commentary accordingly.
Not so fast there…
On the other hand, you have the other extreme who use this data as “proof” of the inherent injustice of the American capitalistic machine and the latest call to arms...
uh…the latest “call-to-action” to lobby Washington for more expansive funding of inner-city programs. In fact, the study found the Bush administration was partially at fault for grant cuts to local police and juvenile crime prevention programs.
Not so fast there either…
If you didn’t notice the picture in the upper left-hand corner of the page, I am an African-American man. “Young” is more a relative adjective to describe me these days, and less an objective truth. Also, I live, work and attend church in violence-infested communities. In other words, there is a level of familiarity with this problem that FBI data and Northeastern University criminologists do not and can not address.
Far too often, studies like the aforementioned one are misused as opportunities to assess “blame” in a singular and definitive direction. Studies like these do more to codify the problem in neat and statistically digestible morsels, and less to identify the root issues.
There are two simple areas that must be addressed and addressing problems is a forward-looking approach, one far different than retroactive blame.
Responsibility and accountability.
Young Black men are more likely to kill and be killed due to an absence of responsibility and accountability. That is not to be confused with inherent criminality. If Black men were predisposed to crime, then historically Black men would always have sought their own “water level” of violence. Knowledge of the fullness of American history proves this not to be true.
The responsibility of caring for young Black men has been lacking, if not non-existent with the gross number of absent fathers in our community. We as African-American men must be responsible for our sons. “Responsibility” is not the same as blame and shouldn’t be treated as such. I don’t need the FBI or a group of criminologists to highlight the statistical correlation between the percentage of violent offenders and the percentage of those without a stable father-figure presence in the home.
Common sense does that job just fine, thank you very much.
Children (irrespective of color) without guidance, instruction and discipline will likely have their lives bear these realities out upon reaching adolescence and adulthood. We live in a society fascinated with guns and violence…of course this is the inevitable result among young people. It’s not unrelated to why the best soldiers to fight any war are closer to age 18, not 38. Although murders nationwide may have leveled off, the core group; those most likely susceptible to society’s negative influences have responded accordingly.
We as African-American men with good sense have been fundamentally lacking in terms of responsibility.
I said it I mean it and have no desire to take it back.
We may not like the way in which comedian Bill Cosby “lectured” to us on this topic or were irritated in the way then Senator Barack Obama “chided” us…but the truth does not change.
At the same time, let’s not forget about accountability. If we can agree that poverty, drugs and violence are inextricably linked, then those individuals who are disproportionately housed…or imprisoned if you will in a generational sense in poverty; there can be only one likely end-result. Any discussion of accountability should also include the factors which negatively contribute to these generational realities.
Disparities between crack and cocaine sentencing laws speak to waning judicial accountability and must be woven into the narrative of this generational disconnect. One “father” convicted of crack possession and another of cocaine possession will have widely disparate impacts on the length of the subsequent separation from the child/ren. Crack is available on virtually every corner in urban America, as are liquor stores. Of COURSE violent crime among Black men is up. Of course there are more Black men in jail for longer periods, meaning longer periods of separation from the child/ren.
Yes, it’s the “responsibility” of the “father” to not engage in drug use/distribution first and foremost, but our society must be held accountable for our disparate treatment of them and the unintended consequences that also come with it. Disparate sentencing is only one of many variables in how we've come to this point and we must hold our political leadership accountable in that regard; the judges we elect and the propositions we pass.
Going further in the study, it also indicated that young White men who’ve committed gun-related homicides also rose, though not as sharply as African-American males. As they say, “tell me something I didn’t know.” Again, we live in a society fascinated with guns and violence.
In our never-ending quest to someday coexist peacefully inter and intra-racially, let us begin to talk more about responsibility and accountability and less about blame. Blame is only motivated by absolution of guilt. Accountability and responsibility are motivated by pride and self-worth.
The Mo'Kelly Report is an entertainment journal with a political slant; published weekly at www.eurweb.com. It is meant to inform, infuse and incite meaningful discourse...as well as entertain. The Mo’Kelly Report is syndicated by Newstex and Blogburst. For more Mo’Kelly, http://www.mokellyreport.blogspot.com.
Morris W. O'Kelly can be reached at mokellyreport@sbcglobal.net and he welcomes all commentary.
3 comments:
One again Mo, you speak the truth!
I'm with you Brother Morris. All human beings are equally capable of doing both good and wrong. It just depends on a couple of factors:
1) Our environment, 2) how we respond to our environment, and 3) if people outside of environment can come off their f'in high horse and relate to us!
Discussions like this are the first step to making progress. Thank you for showing us how to do so.
Excellent, as always, MoKelly. One of the other things I think the "blame game" does that continues the apparent pattern of deliberate misunderstandig; I think it narrows people's perspective on these problems.
"Studies like these do more to codify the problem in neat and statistically digestible morsels, and less to identify the root issues."
It seems as though the tendency toward acknowledging a few or only one cause of a social issue makes people misunderstand the scope of these issues. Attributing one cause to an issue oversimplifies the problem and leads people to think that the solution is uncomplicated.
But that's ridiculous. There are few things as complex as a society, and the issues that develop from a society are just as complex. Yet, the oversimplification of issues continue....
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