Responses to my open letter
There were, predictably, a number of responses to my open letter. Many of them demonstrate the same myopic or incurious attitude that perpetuates the problem. Others attempt to shift blame, or minimise, or deflect from the core issue, rather than seek to reflect or learn. Some further thoughts on those below.
Glomming on to your piece, while the police actions in many cases are reprehensible, where is the outrage for black-on-black gun deaths in places like Chicago? In 2012, 80% of the gun deaths were African-American or Latino.
Sigh. Raising the strawman of “black-on-black” deaths is not “glomming on” to my piece, it is missing the point entirely, and distracts and deflects from the core issue. Read Gary Younge’s excellent piece to understand why.
Briefly, “black-on-black” crime is not a thing, any more than “white-on-white” crime is a thing. It’s just crime. And it’s entirely besides the point of institutionalised and systemic injustice.
These guilty white man confessionals are getting kinda old, but it is worth mentioning that skin color isn’t the only thing that could get you into trouble.
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Granted this was never a daily concern, but there has always been additional risk associated with appearing to be different than the mainstream.
You misunderstand me. I don’t feel guilty, I feel angry. And my anger isn’t mitigated because the police treat some other “non-mainstream” people badly.
Why is it whenever I see someone talking about how terribl racism is…it’s always a white person?
Our existing structures tend to broadcast white people’s voices over others — as they have in bringing my piece to your attention — even when the conversation would be better served by hearing from the people who actually experience these problems.
But, that’s no excuse. If you’ve never heard any non-white person talk about how terrible racism is (which, frankly, bullshit), that’s because you haven’t haven’t had the minimal amount of curiosity necessary to find and read literally anything black people have ever written on the subject.
Here’s some examples. As Allene Swienckowski outlines in her excellent response, there are many more stories, other than those of the most famous people I’ve listed who had the tenacity, talent and luck to be favoured with a platform by the establishment.
If you looked at the Tweet streams of any one or two of the people I suggested in the original post, or did any kind of research, you could not fail to see that this conversation is ongoing within black communities. You just don’t care enough to find out. You should care.
I agree that there are many privileges that exist, white privilege is one of them. There is also a poverty privlege, minority privilege, female privilege, male privilege, etc.
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Why don’t they hype up the events where a minority cop is unfair or shoots a white citizen? They happen all the time too, they just aren’t covered the same way.
Minority privilege does not exist. Female privilege does not exist. Poverty privilege especially does not exist. Giving the destitute food stamps, or a cellphone — both necessities in the modern world — is basic human decency, allowing for a modicum of dignity. It is not a privilege to have to live on $133 per month.
Show me a link to any shooting of a white person by a black cop where race was considered a factor. The black community has been telling us for decades and more that injustices like this are a frequent occurrence. You can hardly now call it hype because one or two news stories finally leak out into the mainstream media.
Some great points, but I really fail to see why people keep saying that Ray Tensing MURDERED Sam Dubose.
Because depraved-heart murder, or that of “death by reckless endangerment” or “callous disregard for the value of human life” perfectly describes Ray Tensing’s actions.
Jonathan Lawry writes in a note:
Were you polite to the cop? Did you turn on the dome light and put your hands at “10 and 2” so he could see them? Did you stay in the car and not flee? Did you NOT reach for your glove box before being instructed? Yes, some cops are racists, and all cops have guns. My “privilege” was being taught to cooperate fully, and all my 10 stops have ending w/o beatings, but only 1 without a ticket.
Cops have a difficult job, requiring instant judgment calls, which are often wrong. ALMOST all of these recent tragic incidents involved poor choices by BOTH parties. If you are stopped, why push it?
That’s victim-blaming, and is entirely beside the point. In the United States you have a constitutionally protected right to shout at cops if you want to. Cops do not have an easy job, but their role is to serve and protect, and to do so dispassionately and professionally, remaining calm and de-escalating. They’re supposed to be trained to do that. All of the recent cases demonstrate a failure in this regard.
I’ve never shouted at a cop, but that’s largely because the couple of times I’ve had to talk to them, they’ve been entirely right. I wasn’t getting pulled over on some trumped up charge, or attacked after asking them for help. If I was accosted unjustly, you better believe I’d be shouting at them.
Being impolite to the police should not get you beaten or killed.
