The Left vs Right Debate part 3: The State of Black Communities
“What occurred first, the high incidents of crime resulting in how we treat African Americans or the mistreatment of African Americans leading their culture to encourage a higher rate of crime?”
The current state of inner city, predominantly African American communities is very much like the ‘What came first? The chicken or the egg?’ scenario. Many liberals will cite the mistreatment of African Americans by police and our legal system and then conservatives will counter with statistics of police violence not substantiating those claims (when an incident does occur, it’s widely publicized, but uneventful incidents with Black Americans occur every day) and statistics of crime being higher in Black communities…hence the higher rates of imprisonment. But the issue that largely goes unaddressed is this: What occurred first, the high incidents of crime resulting in how we treat African Americans or the mistreatment of African Americans leading their culture to encourage a higher rate of crime?
“In fact, the first riot by African Americans in an African American community that destroyed the community was not until 1968…it happened because of Martin Luther King’s assassination.”
To help answer this question, I discuss in my article ‘Black Lives Matter vs All Lives Matter’ the state of Black communities after slavery ended in 1865. From the end of that century through the beginning of the 20th century many segregated Black communities were self-sustaining with factories, business districts (one town in Tulsa, Oklahoma was even referred to as the ‘Black Wall Street’) and African American owned businesses. At the turn of the 20th century Atlanta even served as the center for Black Americans and their involvement in politics, something many debaters recommend today as opposed to protests. The greatest threat in these communities then wasn’t black on black crime like it is today, but it was the threat of destruction and torment from neighboring communities. In my aforementioned article I list the communities that were destroyed and their importance to African American culture. In fact, the first riot by African Americans in an African American community that destroyed the community was not until 1968…it happened because of Martin Luther King’s assassination.
You cannot simply expect slaves to turn around and become affluent without access to the oil, steel, tobacco, gun and alcohol industries that are responsible for much of our modern wealth. It takes time, and history is littered with incidents of how progress in these communities has come to a halt as the result of outside influence. The path to wealth for African Americans today is typically found in sports and entertainment, consequently many Americans do not want to see their athletes and entertainers fighting for the rights of their communities…even worse, many of these entertainers mismanage their influence due to a lack of business and political ties/savvy that comes along with wealth in other industries.
When you look at the parts of African American culture that are vilified for resulting in the hindrance of progress in the culture, they all have one thing in common: they do not pre-date the civil rights movement and the culture degrading confrontations that came with the fight for equal rights. The heroin epidemic of the 1960’s marked the beginning of the high rates of imprisonment for African Americans (coincidentally during the Civil Rights movement) despite the equally widespread use and popularity of the drug. Then you have Rap music which began at the end of the 70’s and the beginning of the 1980’s after the nearly 30 years of rising crime and drug use in Black communities that occurred as a result of the heroin epidemic and the government’s effort to crack down in African American communities. It’s ironic since today the government is responding to the opioid epidemic by investing in treatment instead of arrests.
“If you believe African American’s can’t play the victim and make excuses if they want to succeed, you’re right. If you believe African American’s are at a disadvantage as a community due to the last 100 years of negative influence outside of their control (post slavery), you would also be right.”
When you look at Black communities today you will notice that many local stores/markets are no longer predominantly owned by local black residents. Also, there are no longer African American run business districts. I would argue that the era in which the country pushed back against African American Civil Liberties after the destruction of the most affluent Black American cities led to the culture that we have today. So the high crime/drug rates aren’t the reason we treat Black communities the way we do….the way this country has treated Black communities has resulted in today’s culture.
If you believe African American’s can’t play the victim and make excuses if they want to succeed, you’re right. If you believe African American’s are at a disadvantage as a community due to the last 100 years of negative influence outside of their control (post slavery), you would also be right. Hence the reason this country cannot find common ground on this topic. This article is by no means meant to be a tool to further the excuse that all Black Americans are inherently disadvantaged, because this is not true. This should also not be mistaken as a pitch to simply offer more opportunity African Americans, the opportunity to succeed exists for all who live in the U.S. The issue is that the communities and culture that Black American’s grow up in today (fatherless homes, widespread drug use, and poor education) make them under qualified for many of these opportunities or put them out of reach and this is what needs to be addressed.
“The truth is that there isn’t a specific school of thought or political party that can solely benefit a race.”
This topic is important for the LEFT vs RIGHT debate because liberals have used the woes of Black communities for so long to support their arguments. The truth is that there isn’t a specific school of thought or political party that can solely benefit a race (for example the KKK was once supported by the Democratic party towards the end of the 19th century as a means to overthrow the Republican dominated south and black leaders). Major political parties have fundamental principles on how the country should be run and they take sides on social issues to divide the country in an attempt to acquire as many votes as possible to establish power/dominance. The progress of Black communities is dependent upon the powers at be as well as the Black elite finding common ground to educate, empower, improve treatment and show compassion to America’s worst neighborhoods.
No matter what party you affiliate yourself with, the truth is this: we have a disproportionate number of African Americans imprisoned...if you believe that all races are equal then you must believe that the issue is rooted into how the culture was created and how the judicial system responds. It is also important to note that slavery was never fully abolished. The 13th amendment says “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime…”, so slavery does still infact exist within our prison system, and our prisons are mostly filled with whom???
