The reason for the season
February is Black History Month with some wondering why we spend so little time on diversity. Others wonder why we are spending any time at all. Racism exists or doesn’t exist in the eye of the beholder.
Situations always come up that make us wonder and we had another one crop up in New Jersey. Obviously, news organizations cover these events in their own way and it can vary some depending on the source. As you might imagine, social media responses run the gamut. At the very least, it demonstrates the need for a continuance of the national conversation.
For those that don’t care to go down the rabbit hole, two teenage boys got into a fight at a shopping mall in New Jersey. Police appeared to respond very differently to the two boys. The white participant is allowed to sit on a sofa until the confrontation was over. The black participant didn’t get nearly the same treatment.
Obviously, such videos create just as many questions as they do answers. What happened before the video began? Is one boy more responsible than the other for the fight starting? Did witnesses provide the police with their own perceptions that might have impacted how both boys were dealt with? Were they harder on the black boy because he appeared to be winning the fight? The coup de grace is the question of what happened immediately after the video abruptly ended?
These are all pertinent questions and I’m sure they will come up in an investigation. In many ways that will be unfortunate. I seriously doubt we will hear the results of said investigation. That’s especially true if they find other mitigating factors that can explain why the two boys were treated so differently.
The social media reaction is very telling. Those outside the country don’t necessarily understand the baggage that comes with another event like this. For what it’s worth, the white participant told authorities he didn’t understand why they were treated differently. Maybe that was a moment of honesty. Maybe just maybe there is a little hope for the future.
As for the here and now, it is another very visible example that we aren’t where we need to be. Whether those two officers were wrong or right, the video is proof that we are not equal. If Critical Race Theory can be defined as “systems laced with racism embedded in laws, regulations, rules, and procedures that lead to differential outcomes by race” then we could credibly argue that this video is proof that these systems are real and need to be studied and debated.
Of course, many states (including Texas) don’t want that to happen. At least, they don’t want it to happen in school. We aren’t racist anymore. We can all gather around the camp fire and sing “Kumbaya” and hold hands. Whether something makes our kids feel bad is not the standard we should be using. We know it exists. The video above is proof enough for most people.
The funny thing is that those two particular officers can credibly claim that they are not racist. They may even be able to prove that they reacted appropriately in that situation. That’s not really the point. The point is outcomes. If the outcome in situations like that seem to consistently create unequal treatment then that would be evidence of the very thing that CRT opponents want to sweep under the rug. Welcome to Black History Month. May these conversations not cease once the calendar strikes March 1st.
I had already gone a little way down the rabbit hole with this one; there’s another video that starts earlier than the one that was on TV. Guess what, we’re not wrong. Turns out the “white” kid (actually light-skinned Hispanic) was bigger, older, and bullying a group of middle schoolers at the mall when the Black kid stood up to him and tried to get him to stop. Light-skinned kid sticks finger in face, dark-skinned kid shoves it away, and they’re on.
After the cops double-teamed and cuffed the Black kid on the floor, the white kid put his hands up to them so he could be cuffed too, but they just walked past him. Apparently part of their Kenosha Training Manual.
1Thanks for the deeper dive #1 el lagarto.
For me it is just another one of those sick and tired of being sick and tired moments.
Once my brother called the cops on his neighbor who was beating up his wife. My brother and some other neighbors had congregated in the hall of the apartment building trying to get in and stop him but the door was locked. The cops finally come— and try to arrest my brother. I guess he looked guilty standing around in the hallway in a robe with a worried look like the rest of the neighbors. Only black.
2When the latest talks regarding police reform started some suggested the police needed further training in de-escalation techniques. While that wouldn’t hurt, what they need is firm adherence to policy and procedure. They’ve demonstrated they can arrest a Dylann Roof or any number of white people without a scratch. All it requires is for the police to apply the same techniques and standards to the arrests of ALL citizens.
Lordy the stupidity of Qcumber conservatives. When will they evuh tire of paying out huge settlements to the families of victims of police violence? Seriously. Wouldn’t it be both morally and fiscally responsible to demand the police stop assaulting and assassinating citizens?
3Any progress made in trying to make this country less racist, including in law enforcement, went down the toilet since trumpf unleashed white supremacists 5 years ago.
4I’m surprised some retrumplican governors and legislatures haven’t banned any public display of Black History Month, just like they’ve banned CRT, in case it makes some white person uncomfortable.
FWIW, Missouri law doesn’t officially recognize Black History Month — a fact that surprised several Black state lawmakers.
Rep. Sharp is sponsoring a bill to change that and make Missouri the seventh state to officially recognize it. You read that correctly, only 6 states recognize February as Black History Month.
https://t.co/H819KyCNCI
5And this from Indiana. This is reverse CRT:
6https://www.rawstory.com/indiana-school-faces-angry-backlash-after-highly-offensive-black-history-month-assignment/
Thanks for finding that Steve. I can’t really muster an intelligent comment to that one quite yet. Maybe tomorrow.
7I also read on Apple News that the Indiana school district sent a letter to parents allowing them to opt out of Black History Month lessons. They’re scared of the truth.
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