Recognize what this is,…..we are living in a moment……This is our Moment!
Hakim Crampton
2020 has been quite a remarkable year that will most definitely be written about in history books. In my 36 years living on this earth, I myself have never experienced anything close to what we are going through at this very moment. I have never seen so much love and unity amongst people from all walks of life. I have witnessed a new generation born. They are young, hungry, and tired of the old status quo. They reject the teachings and prejudices of their ancestors and they will lead the revolution into the future. A future that Dr King dreamed of. A future Malcom X never thought would be possible.
Recognize the moment. Nascar a predominantly white american sport has banned the confederate flag from being flown in and during their races. Turn on any sports radio show and there are broadcasters not talking sports but talking about black lives and the importance of black lives. Weird times I have to admit, as a black man I’m not used to it and it’s really sad. We had to watch a man die for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, experiencing trauma that cannot be unseen. As George Floyd cried out for his mother to help him every mother on this earth felt that. As a man I watched with tears welling up in my eyes wanting to jump through the screen to help this man. At that moment I didn’t see a criminal. I saw a man desperate for life. I saw father and I saw myself.
I am George Floyd
I’m always the first to admit my past and my former ways of thinking led me to many encounters with police officers. I have been treated fairly and with respect by some, and I also have been beaten by others. It really just depends on the person. Some take the badge as a pass for anything goes. Some hold the badge with honor. Either way our society has taken a job which is meant to serve and protect and turned it into the biggest gang in our Country. Some simply don’t understand politics and how much it plays a factor in the policing strategies enforced upon us. Our neighborhoods are patrolled more than others, and the most shocking fact is that our neighborhoods are being watched over by people we don’t even know. Officers from places we cannot afford to buy land in. Officers who don’t know the cultural differences of the people they serve. Officers that have no connections to the community they serve.
The United States criminal justice system is the largest in the world. At year end 2015, over 6.7 million individuals 1) were under some form of correctional control in the United States, including 2.2 million incarcerated in federal, state, or local prisons and jails.2) The U.S. is a world leader in its rate of incarceration, dwarfing the rate of nearly every other nation.3)
Such broad statistics mask the racial disparity that pervades the U.S. criminal justice system, and for African Americans in particular. African Americans are more likely than white Americans to be arrested; once arrested, they are more likely to be convicted; and once convicted, and they are more likely to experience lengthy prison sentences. African-American adults are 5.9 times as likely to be incarcerated than whites and Hispanics are 3.1 times as likely.4) As of 2001, one of every three black boys born in that year could expect to go to prison in his lifetime, as could one of every six Latinos—compared to one of every seventeen white boys.5) Racial and ethnic disparities among women are less substantial than among men but remain prevalent.6)
The source of such disparities is deeper and more systemic than explicit racial discrimination. The United States in effect operates two distinct criminal justice systems: one for wealthy people and another for poor people and people of color. The wealthy can access a vigorous adversary system replete with constitutional protections for defendants. Yet the experiences of poor and minority defendants within the criminal justice system often differ substantially from that model due to a number of factors, each of which contributes to the overrepresentation of such individuals in the system. As former Georgetown Law Professor David Cole states in his book No Equal Justice,
These double standards are not, of course, explicit; on the face of it, the criminal law is color-blind and class-blind. But in a sense, this only makes the problem worse. The rhetoric of the criminal justice system sends the message that our society carefully protects everyone’s constitutional rights, but in practice the rules assure that law enforcement prerogatives will generally prevail over the rights of minorities and the poor. By affording criminal suspects substantial constitutional rights in theory, the Supreme Court validates the results of the criminal justice system as fair. That formal fairness obscures the systemic concerns that ought to be raised by the fact that the prison population is overwhelmingly poor and disproportionately black.7)
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/un-report-on-racial-disparities/
We know All Lives Matter, but these black lives are being overlooked
Black people make up 14% of Michigan’s population but represent 40% of coronavirus deaths so far.
A lot of people look at these numbers and think the government is cooking the stats, or they inherently place the blame upon the Black people themselves chalking their plight up as cultural choices. Wrong! The Coronavirus had exposed America leaving us naked and vulnerable for the whole world to see. America doesn’t take care of it’s Black population. Now I’m not gonna bore you with meaningless stats but there’s a few key pieces that I would like to go over to prove my point. When you make a statement as bold as this one you have to have solid proof, but using some stats from our counties DHS it is very easy to see.
Healthcare Disparities
The biggest reason covid 19 is affecting the African American community is our healthcare system in general. Studies have shown that Blacks are less likely than whites to receive proper care and are also less likely to have the same access to proper care as their white counterparts. Studies show in Michigan the average life expectancy at birth for white males is 78.7, while black males 69.1. 10 year difference? Is this really chalked up to as poor life choices. Let’s look at some more numbers.
I know I said I wasn’t gonna bore you with stats but the numbers pretty much tell the whole story. Once you begin to studying the facts you can easily see some key factors that are at play to systemically that keep the black population unhealthy. Let’s look at the south side of Jackson where the African american community is largest. There are approximately 8 party stores within a 2.5 mile radius, while zero grocery stores. The public buses have a two bag limit so a person on the southside of town has no viable options for fresh fruit and vegetables leaving them with the processed food that is heavily marketed in these types of areas. We have party stores that sell fried foods for $1, as well as cigarettes, lottery, hot chips, and $1 shots of alcohol and beers. Walk on the street of any of these stores and you will literally see hundreds of empty $1 shots, cigarette butts, and bad lotto scratch offs. I know people have to do better at making choices but we also have to do better at providing us with better options. What drives me most crazy about our society is that we market so much evil to our and when they act upon the things they are taught then we turn around and call them monsters. Drugs, violence, and licentious sex dominates our children’s eyes and ears with every movie, video game, and music video. Yes we as a people have to do better with choices but society has to also show us that all lives matter. That every life has value, and equity. Help us by supporting us in first understanding why we are screaming black lives matter. Do not cause us further to be separated by society and it’s old ways.
As always spread love not hate. Positive energy over negative. Love you all
Community Soldier 