This family blog continues the one originally started by Luke. It is hoped through the sharing of stories, ponderisms, and pictures of family and events, that this online journal will serve to enhance and nurture our relationship and draw us closer to God and each other as we travel along life's road. Buckle-up!
Crime statistics can be misleading. In classist America, middle and upper class white crimes are often swept under the rug and not reported to avoid a scandal. They often occur among families or within churches, or within a social group of trusted individuals. Sometimes offenses are repeated multiple times before coming out into the open (Catholic priests, anyone? Sports coaches?). There was an attempted rape in our white neighborhood growing up, but the father of the girl was an employee of the rapist's father and wouldn't report it. Another friend of mine was molested repeatedly as a child by a renter at his home, but this person was relied on as a source of income for their struggling family. And I was molested as a child by a white male, but I doubt if it got out beyond the families or church/school group that employed my dad. We left the area. Not going to dig that up now, though. I've heard stories of boyfriends raping girlfriends, and girlfriends not reporting it because they wanted to stay friends. And boyfriends thinking it wasn't rape because the girlfriend's screams and struggles were interpreted as "playing hard to get". Class power and ambivalent sexist power really does exist, and our patriarchal and anglocentric history plays into the socialization process that programs people to avoid scandal rather than seek justice. It also programs people to think of women as sexual objects, and disempowers them by making them believe themselves perpetual proto-victims. It is a vicious cycle of violence and perceived heroism that first creates victims through psychological self imposed weakness, then creates nonheroes to protect them, which leads to their objectification and then to the self fulfilling prophecy of the antihero who rapes them, because they have made themselves vulnerable and are viewed as objects, rather than human beings possessing agency. But it is all just apish sexual rivalry sprinkled with holy water and generously peppered with niceties.
I would also fearfully suggest that the apparent objectivity of coldly reciting a litany of "facts" could have the same impact as the hypocrisy that led to the lynchings in the south. Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Let's admit that we are all sinners subject to sin and death, men, woman, and children alike. No culture can overcome that. The best we can do is create cultural scapegoats to take the blame off of ourselves. I pray for the eyes to see both myself in every criminal, as one who could easily be driven by sin and fear of death, or a neurotic fear of self diminishment, to hero systems of rivalry and violence, and then to see Jesus, the victim of a lynching mob, who put the social powers, the demonic principalities, to shame, by being the innocent insurrectionist. Charged with being a terrorist who said he would destroy the temple, he undid the social ties that gave people pride in who they were as a religious nation, their patriotic and familial superiority complex, whose self image was created by contrasting themselves with "those Gentile pagans", as well as the scapegoats within: prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, etc. And by his death opened the way for reconciliation by creating one new family of God from the two, by destroying the dividing wall of hostility in his own body. (Eph 2)
I am Trayvon Martin. And I am George Zimmerman. But only Jesus can make one man from out of the two.
That's some of the problem. From the Wikipedia review of Michele Alexander's book _The New Jim Crow_:
"The gangsta rap and generally culture of violence phenomena, which often involve behavior and displays seen as provocative if not intimidating and aggressive, Alexander interprets as psychological self-defense mechanisms practiced by those ostracized and rejected by the mainstream society. Embracing one's perceived "criminal" identity is an act of rebellion, but is essentially no different from the black is beautiful or gay pride points of view and expressions ("a severely stigmatized group embracing their stigma"). Embracing criminality serves however no affirmative purpose and is self-defeating and self-destructive to the already persecuted and subjected to constant surveillance and suppression black youth. The behavior of the trapped is a reflection of the society's failings, not of character defects, such as lack of "personal responsibility", on the part of African-American men, as it is often presented by the media. As the "War on Drugs" is claiming a second generation of its victims, deprived of proper parental role-models "many (black) youth embrace their stigmatized identity as a means of survival in this new caste system". The marginalized try to gain a measure of self-esteem by whatever means available, often turning for support to gangs and fellow inmates, while the criminal activity causes further damage disproportionally to minority communities and in particular to the perpetrators themselves.[73]
The "gangsta culture" is nevertheless pervaded by violence, decadence and misogyny, which gives rise to damaging for the black community "reality television" shows and other media presentations, that purport to represent the "authentic" expressions of black culture. Alexander considers such undertakings to be "for-profit displays of worst racial stereotypes", in an era when African Americans are repressed, criminalized, negatively portrayed and generally subjected to a societal character assault. She sees a parallel with the black minstrel shows of the past and wonders why would the young men, subjected to brutal oppression, want to glorify their predicament. The hip hop culture was originally predicated on a different set of rules, but had changed in part when the intensifying war on drugs swept large numbers of ghetto youth into prisons. The massive crackdown caused a rapid deterioration in the already highly stressed communities, while its primary targets and victims, young black men, demonized and outlawed (often also in their own communities), like other outcasts throughout history, struggled to find a positive identity by embracing their condition.[74]
Sad isn't it. I have met and liked so many black people. There are fine black families. Unfortunately these statistics are true. Pop grew up in a very black area and knows better than any of us how it can be. Woman just do not do as many violent crimes as men. It is very rare for a woman to rape a man!
The statistics are true, but why? Even black people and families have pushed for stricter penalties because their own neighborhoods are threatened by black crime. James Forman, Jr. writes (in a paper that both critiques and acknowledges some of Alexander's points in _The New Jim Crow_ called, "RACIAL CRITIQUES OF MASS INCARCERATION: BEYOND THE NEW JIM CROW")"Nor were white conservatives such as Nixon and Goldwater alone in demanding more punitive crime policy. In The Politics of Imprisonment, Vanessa Barker describes how, in the late 1960s, black activists in Harlem fought for what would become the notorious Rockefeller drug laws, some of the harshest in the nation. Harlem residents were outraged over rising crime (including drug crime) in their neighborhoods and demanded increased police presence and stiffer penalties. The NAACP Citizens’ Mobilization Against Crime demanded “lengthening minimum prison terms for muggers, pushers, [and first] degree murderers.”47 The city’s leading black newspaper, The Amsterdam News, advocated mandatory life sentences for the “non-addict drug pusher of hard drugs” because such drug dealing “is an act of cold, calculated, pre-meditated, indiscriminate murder of our community.”4 "
So there is not a single, unified voice even in black communities. Single stories and explanations are dangerous. What caused the thing called the ghetto? There are probably many explanations. Having black skin is not one of them. Free govt. handouts is one cause, but it can't be denied that large concentrations of people in inner cities, especially after manufacturing jobs went overseas, left food and housing deserts. Before the 1950's most blacks in the US were rural farmers, and there are many in our area still doing this and mixing quite effortlessly with white ones. But there was a peak in centralized industry, a mass move to cities, that then bottomed out and left lots of families struggling. Fierce competition led to unlivable wages which led to forced minimum wages and union formation which drove businesses looking for ever cheaper, unregulated labor overseas, leaving communities going from unlivable wages to government handouts. Hmm, I think we need some sustainable business models that are decentralized, cooperative, more in harmony with natural cycles, valuing people, families and community health as the primary form of profit. Like what this gal is doing in South Bronx, NYC- http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/publications/lectures/carter/majora/sustainable-south-bronx-a-model-for-environmental-justice
4 comments:
Crime statistics can be misleading. In classist America, middle and upper class white crimes are often swept under the rug and not reported to avoid a scandal. They often occur among families or within churches, or within a social group of trusted individuals. Sometimes offenses are repeated multiple times before coming out into the open (Catholic priests, anyone? Sports coaches?). There was an attempted rape in our white neighborhood growing up, but the father of the girl was an employee of the rapist's father and wouldn't report it. Another friend of mine was molested repeatedly as a child by a renter at his home, but this person was relied on as a source of income for their struggling family. And I was molested as a child by a white male, but I doubt if it got out beyond the families or church/school group that employed my dad. We left the area. Not going to dig that up now, though. I've heard stories of boyfriends raping girlfriends, and girlfriends not reporting it because they wanted to stay friends. And boyfriends thinking it wasn't rape because the girlfriend's screams and struggles were interpreted as "playing hard to get". Class power and ambivalent sexist power really does exist, and our patriarchal and anglocentric history plays into the socialization process that programs people to avoid scandal rather than seek justice. It also programs people to think of women as sexual objects, and disempowers them by making them believe themselves perpetual proto-victims. It is a vicious cycle of violence and perceived heroism that first creates victims through psychological self imposed weakness, then creates nonheroes to protect them, which leads to their objectification and then to the self fulfilling prophecy of the antihero who rapes them, because they have made themselves vulnerable and are viewed as objects, rather than human beings possessing agency. But it is all just apish sexual rivalry sprinkled with holy water and generously peppered with niceties.
I would also fearfully suggest that the apparent objectivity of coldly reciting a litany of "facts" could have the same impact as the hypocrisy that led to the lynchings in the south. Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it. Let's admit that we are all sinners subject to sin and death, men, woman, and children alike. No culture can overcome that. The best we can do is create cultural scapegoats to take the blame off of ourselves. I pray for the eyes to see both myself in every criminal, as one who could easily be driven by sin and fear of death, or a neurotic fear of self diminishment, to hero systems of rivalry and violence, and then to see Jesus, the victim of a lynching mob, who put the social powers, the demonic principalities, to shame, by being the innocent insurrectionist. Charged with being a terrorist who said he would destroy the temple, he undid the social ties that gave people pride in who they were as a religious nation, their patriotic and familial superiority complex, whose self image was created by contrasting themselves with "those Gentile pagans", as well as the scapegoats within: prostitutes, tax collectors, sinners, etc. And by his death opened the way for reconciliation by creating one new family of God from the two, by destroying the dividing wall of hostility in his own body. (Eph 2)
I am Trayvon Martin.
And I am George Zimmerman.
But only Jesus can make one man from out of the two.
That's some of the problem. From the Wikipedia review of Michele Alexander's book _The New Jim Crow_:
"The gangsta rap and generally culture of violence phenomena, which often involve behavior and displays seen as provocative if not intimidating and aggressive, Alexander interprets as psychological self-defense mechanisms practiced by those ostracized and rejected by the mainstream society. Embracing one's perceived "criminal" identity is an act of rebellion, but is essentially no different from the black is beautiful or gay pride points of view and expressions ("a severely stigmatized group embracing their stigma"). Embracing criminality serves however no affirmative purpose and is self-defeating and self-destructive to the already persecuted and subjected to constant surveillance and suppression black youth. The behavior of the trapped is a reflection of the society's failings, not of character defects, such as lack of "personal responsibility", on the part of African-American men, as it is often presented by the media. As the "War on Drugs" is claiming a second generation of its victims, deprived of proper parental role-models "many (black) youth embrace their stigmatized identity as a means of survival in this new caste system". The marginalized try to gain a measure of self-esteem by whatever means available, often turning for support to gangs and fellow inmates, while the criminal activity causes further damage disproportionally to minority communities and in particular to the perpetrators themselves.[73]
The "gangsta culture" is nevertheless pervaded by violence, decadence and misogyny, which gives rise to damaging for the black community "reality television" shows and other media presentations, that purport to represent the "authentic" expressions of black culture. Alexander considers such undertakings to be "for-profit displays of worst racial stereotypes", in an era when African Americans are repressed, criminalized, negatively portrayed and generally subjected to a societal character assault. She sees a parallel with the black minstrel shows of the past and wonders why would the young men, subjected to brutal oppression, want to glorify their predicament. The hip hop culture was originally predicated on a different set of rules, but had changed in part when the intensifying war on drugs swept large numbers of ghetto youth into prisons. The massive crackdown caused a rapid deterioration in the already highly stressed communities, while its primary targets and victims, young black men, demonized and outlawed (often also in their own communities), like other outcasts throughout history, struggled to find a positive identity by embracing their condition.[74]
Sad isn't it. I have met and liked so many black people. There are fine black families. Unfortunately these statistics are true. Pop grew up in a very black area and knows better than any of us how it can be.
Woman just do not do as many violent crimes as men. It is very rare for a woman to rape a man!
The statistics are true, but why? Even black people and families have pushed for stricter penalties because their own neighborhoods are threatened by black crime. James Forman, Jr. writes (in a paper that both critiques and acknowledges some of Alexander's points in _The New Jim Crow_ called, "RACIAL CRITIQUES OF MASS INCARCERATION: BEYOND THE NEW JIM CROW")"Nor were white conservatives such as Nixon and Goldwater alone in demanding more punitive crime policy. In The Politics of Imprisonment, Vanessa Barker describes how, in the late 1960s, black activists in Harlem fought for what would become the notorious Rockefeller drug laws, some of the harshest in the nation. Harlem residents were outraged over rising crime (including drug crime) in their neighborhoods and demanded increased police presence and stiffer penalties. The NAACP Citizens’ Mobilization Against Crime demanded “lengthening minimum prison terms for muggers, pushers, [and first] degree murderers.”47 The city’s leading black newspaper, The Amsterdam News, advocated mandatory life sentences for the “non-addict drug pusher of hard drugs” because such drug dealing “is an act of cold, calculated, pre-meditated, indiscriminate murder of our community.”4 "
So there is not a single, unified voice even in black communities. Single stories and explanations are dangerous. What caused the thing called the ghetto? There are probably many explanations. Having black skin is not one of them. Free govt. handouts is one cause, but it can't be denied that large concentrations of people in inner cities, especially after manufacturing jobs went overseas, left food and housing deserts. Before the 1950's most blacks in the US were rural farmers, and there are many in our area still doing this and mixing quite effortlessly with white ones. But there was a peak in centralized industry, a mass move to cities, that then bottomed out and left lots of families struggling. Fierce competition led to unlivable wages which led to forced minimum wages and union formation which drove businesses looking for ever cheaper, unregulated labor overseas, leaving communities going from unlivable wages to government handouts. Hmm, I think we need some sustainable business models that are decentralized, cooperative, more in harmony with natural cycles, valuing people, families and community health as the primary form of profit. Like what this gal is doing in South Bronx, NYC- http://neweconomicsinstitute.org/publications/lectures/carter/majora/sustainable-south-bronx-a-model-for-environmental-justice
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