The Problem with #30DaysNoKilling: Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
Thousands upon thousands of youth and Millennials, Black, White, Latinx and all the colors of the rainbow, marched on Sunday from the FedEx Forum until they filled and stopped traffic on the Mississsippi-Hernando Bridge (I-40). For six hours, young people stood their ground, demanding justice for Black Lives after the fatal shootings of two Black men in Baton Rogue, Louisiana and Minneapolis, Minnesota last week.
Not since the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the man who also marched on interstates, highways and bridges (but back to the main thing…) has Memphis seen a protest this massive.
And the moment was peaceful and non-violent. The protesters policed themselves. Memphis Police Interim Director, Mike Rallings, portrayed leadership by building relationships and creating a safe space with the protesters, but according to Pastor Earle Fisher of Abyssinian Baptist Church, “ He showed leadership. But he was also led by the people (protesters).”
It ended just as peaceful as it started. No injuries, no tear gas, no rubber bullets. Everybody went home.
Director Rallings held a small meeting that was televised with protesters in front of the FedEx Forum. While the protesters were adamant about the systemic and institutional racism had on Black lives from police brutality to education inequity and joblessness, Director Rallings pulled his respectability politics card and called for protesters to implement thirty days of no killing.
It’s a hashtag now (#30DaysNoKilling) as if it were an Instagram challenge which includes selfies and push-ups.
As if it’s the job of the oppressed to fix the problems created by the oppressors.
In his biblical memoir, Nehemiah leaves his day job as the king’s cup-bearer to return home to fix the demolished walls of Jerusalem. The children of Israel had returned from Babylonian captivity. Nehemiah led the effort to not only rebuild the walls, but return the children of Israel’s dedication to the Lord.
However, there was one obstacle: Sanballat the Horonite, Gesham the Arab and Tobiah the Ammonite. These weren’t just three men who were hating on Nehemiah because he had a new pair of Jordans. All three were public servants, regional governors serving under the king of Persia. They were enemies of the Jews and gloated during their times of exile. Their ancestors had bad history with the ancestors of the children of Israel, often finding themselves at odds and at war with God’s chosen people.
In other words, they were the reason the wall was destroyed in the first place.
And hearing Nehemiah planning to rebuild the wall which would keep the governors and their officials out of Jerusalem angered them. They tried many times to attack the Jews and ploy their efforts.
Until Nehemiah developed a strategy: the builders would continue building the wall with their tools in one hand, and their weaponry in another just in case they were attacked again.
And it was on like popcorn.
Needless to say, the Jews held their own (Nehemiah is a good book to read, Christian or not)
The creation and prevalence of “black-on-black crime” is not the fault of poor, blacks or gang members or lazy parenting.
The rhetoric and shallow argument of “black on black crime” is a cop-out of the oppressor, a dismissal for him to ignore his responsibilities, and stems not from the marginalized, but rather is a symptom of systemic racism.
#1: BlackLivesMatter is a movement and an organization, targeting systemic and institutional racism and oppression
Fact: Black-on-Black crime is more so an issue of poverty which is a product systemic oppression.
Consider the neighborhoods and the city we live. Memphis is 65 percent Black with a growing LatinX and undocumented people population. One can determine by the obesity of check-cashing and title loan places that Memphis is a majorly poor city. With a 50 percent poverty rate and an increasing childhood poverty rate, the city’s most disenfranchised people are those who live in communities with an absence of quality schools, quality banking options, food desserts, adequate public transportation, jobs and access to healthcare. That leaves people to fend for themselves by any means necessary.
Therefore, when 17-year-old Wallace (catch it) who was born and raised in poverty and whose mother works two jobs (or grandmother is disabled; or father is in jail -mass incarceration) has to find work to support himself and his family…
and his school just closed
and there is not a grocery store for 20 minutes
and he can not afford a car nor has a driver’s license
and the bus is normally 30 minutes later than scheduled
and he’s introduced to selling drugs and making quick cash…
Do you understand where I’m going with this?
BlackLivesMatter advocates for the liberation of all Black Americans and the dismantling of systemic and institutional racism.
Does BLM care about “black-on-black crime”? Yes!
However, BLM understands that crime is a proximate issue which can not be solved by respectability politics and “pull up your pants,” but having a sword in one hand and a hammer in the other.
#2: Black people have been protesting Black on Black crime since the 80s.
Who hasn’t attended a Stop the Violence or Keep the Peace rally? How many mothers have gone on local news and called for the end of gun violence? How many initiatives does the city and police department have to reduce gang violence? How many pastors have preached criminals to damnation if they don’t put down their guns? How many scholarship funds have been created in honor of someone who was innocently killed due to violence? How many documentaries? How many episodes of First 48? How many prayer vigils? How many churches hold block parties…How many….How many?
Like Nehemiah and the Israelites, Black people have always been trying to repair and rebuild the walls of their broken communities. The lacking element is the systemic factors that continue to tear down the progress.
How many schools are closed in the intercity? How many community centers and youth programs were underfunded by the city council? How many summer youth jobs are available? How many restorative justice programs are sponsored by juvenile court system? How many mental health centers are in impoverished neighborhoods? After school programs? Mentoring organizations? Grocery stores in walking distance?
Black people have always cared. Black people have always taken responsibility to heal their community. However, is it fair to say that Black people and organizations aren’t doing the work it takes to salvage their communities or systemic racism prevents us from making significant breakthroughs in our work?
#3: Black-on-black crime is no more of a thing than white-on-white crime:
Crime is an issue of two things: proximity and relationship. While most organizations, churches and media spaces are concerned with the number of Blacks killing Blacks, we often completely ignore whites killing whites. You have never heard anyone say, “The number of white-on-white crime has…” NEVER! According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, almost 86 percent of crimes were committed against whites, by whites, coupled with 94 percent committed against blacks, by blacks.
Said all that to say, “STOP SAYING THIS!”
Since Memphis is a predominately Black city, it’s only logical that most of the crime will be committed by blacks, against blacks.
To the Commercial Appeal, stop the fear-mongering and take down the homicide tracker.
But the number of police killings against Blacks is disproportionate to those against whites, considering Blacks are only 13% of the U.S. population and whites are 77%. Blacks are 2.5 times more likely to be killed by the police than whites.
#4: If one Black person kills another Black person, they are going to jail. Period.
End of discussion. When PJ kills Pookie, he’s going to jail. Soon. More than likely. However, when a police officer kills a Black person, they’re swept into safety, given a vacation, PTO, a Gameboy Advanced, Ching’s and told to remain silent while the person’s background and life’s narrative is smeared across news stations nationwide. We will usually know the blood type of the Black person before we know the name of the police officer who killed him.
Like Sanballat nem, police officers, city council people, the mayor and state representatives are public servants who take an oath to protect and serve the citizens of the city where they live. When they do not abide by that oath, public servants should be held accountable. It’s not rocket science, but it is democratic. Public servants have a duty to the tax paying citizens of which they serve, not just the ones who make them feel comfortable.
#5: Excuse me?
Rallings seriously expects the protesters from Sunday to bond together and perform a 30 day murder-less ALS challenge? Where’s the ice water because he needs to wake up.
If we’re going to reduce the seriousness of Black equity and Black lives to a thirty day challenge, then we already know the value of life is not taken seriously.
Fixing these issues will take more than 30 days and a few people jumping in the middle of brawls to prevent gun violence.
Our safety is not conditional. If a student breaks a rule in the classroom, they should be disciplined, but not at the expense of their education, safety and well-being.
To Director Rallings and others who believe our safety should be contingent on good behavior: You got the game twisted. Do your job. I expect Director Rallings to sit down with the mayor just as much as we expect citizens to vote. It’s not solely on citizens to fix these problems, but our leaders. YOU’RE A LEADER! You took the job, now work!
Hold tutoring sessions for kids after-school in police precincts.
Fund our schools, County Commission.
Re-open and adequately fund our community centers and libraries, city council.
Add more bus routes, repair the buses so we can have some air in the summer, and take the money from the trolley’s and put it back in the buses for the 80 percent of Black mothers and children who need public transportation.
Pass stricter gun laws, state senators and representatives.
Haslam, what you doing?
The feeling that Black people have not been doing enough for their communities is what W.E.B DuBois called another form of slavery:
…there was in 1863 a real meaning to slavery different from that we may apply to the laborer today. It was in part psychological, the enforced personal feeling of inferiority, the calling of another Master; the standing with hat in hand. It was the helplessness. It was the defenselessness of family life. It was the submergence below the arbitrary will of any sort of individual. It was without doubt worse in these vital respects than that which exists today in Europe or America.
You have and are doing enough. The meetings are enough. The social media posts are enough. The summer camps at church are enough. The ‘Stop The Violence’ summits are enough. The home day cares are enough. The extra uniform pants and granola bars you teachers spend your own money for the kids who don’t have are enough. And so much more we’ve been investing in our villages.
But it’s time to see our government as part of that village or an outside force that continues to destroy our village and leave the remnant for us to repair.
If we’re going to continue to expect Blacks and marginalized people in this city and country to work to eradicate “black-on-black crime,” we should also expect the same to protest, run for office, file lawsuits, and do everything within our power to be sure crooked cops, disengaged politicians, and systemic racist patterns are dismantled.
Which means…
We’ll be rebuilding our communities with one hand
and holding a sword in another…
Is that what you want?
Get. It. Together.
