The murder of 15 year old honor student Hadiya Pendleton on Chicago's South Side drew national attention because she performed at President Obama's inauguration. Her murder defied the well-worn and infuriating pattern that when a black is gunned down in a poor or any other neighborhood it draws barely a public yawn and scant press mention. Because of the press attention to her murder, the clamor started for Obama to speak out on the carnage in his hometown, and other inner city neighborhoods.
But this is not the first time that some have called
for Obama to put White House muscle behind an anti-violence campaign in ghetto
neighborhoods, starting with Chicago. That's the same muscle he's put behind the
gun control fight and his willingness to travel to Aurora, Colorado and Newtown,
Connecticut and express symphony to those who lost loved ones in the mass
killings there.
While it's a commendable and certainly appropriate
idea for the President to call for a national anti-violence campaign in black
communities, it still
begs the question of why so many young black males strap guns to their waists
and wantonly kill or are killed by each other. Recent reports on the murder
violence show that the murder rate among blacks is seven times greater than
among whites. The disproportionate rate is even more staggering since it comes
at a time, despite the heinous, and media sensationalist mass shootings, the
overall murder rate has plunged nationally to the lowest since 1961. Even more
astounding if the black murder rate was excised from the U.S. murder rate
figures, the country's murder rate would be comparable to the rock bottom
murder rate in some European countries.
The hard
fact is neither Obama speaking out on the violence, plopping more police on the
street, legions more prosecutors, the still pervasive three strikes and
mandatory sentencing laws, the death penalty, and putting more than 1 million
Blacks behind bars have done little to curb the black-on-black carnage. Nor
will simplistic calls for tougher gun control curbs, though they should be
made. Chicago has one of the toughest gun control statutes on the books and it
didn't save Pendleton.
Despite the pet theories of liberals and conservatives, Blacks aren't killing
each other because they are violent or crime-prone by nature,or solely because they are poor and oppressed. Or
even because they are acting out the obscene and lewd violence they see and
hear on TV, films and gangster rap lyrics.
The violence results from a combustible blend of cultural and racial baggage
many blacks carry.
In the past, crimes committed by blacks against other blacks were often ignored
or lightly punished. Many studies have confirmed that the punishment blacks
receive when the victim is white is far more severe than if the victim is black.
The implicit message was that black lives are expendable.
This perceived devaluation of black lives by racism has encouraged disrespect
for the law, and has forced many blacks to internalize anger and displace
aggression onto others.
Many young black males have become especially adept at acting out their
frustrations at white society's denial of their "manhood" by adopting
an exaggerated "tough guy" role. They swagger, boast, curse, fight
and commit violent, self-destructive acts.
When many black males indulge their murderous impulses on other black males,
they are often taking out their pent-up frustrations on those whom they
perceive as helpless and hapless. This is a twisted and warped response to
racism and deprivation, blocked opportunities, powerlessness and alienation.
The other powerful ingredient in the deadly mix of black-on-black violence is
the gang and drug plague. The reported suspects in the murder of Pendleton in
Chicago were gang members, and as so many other young blacks in inner city
neighborhoods they were just hanging out with seemingly nothing to do and nowhere
to go. But with a high probability that drug dealing was their only perceived
avenue for getting by. That further fuels the murder plague since innocent
victims such as Pendleton are often caught in their shootouts.
President Obama can deplore the violence that
claimed the life of Pendleton and so many other young persons in black
communities, and he can call for action to damp down the gun violence. But he's
only one voice. It will still take a
coordinated effort by educators, health professionals, drug counselors,
violence prevention specialists, gang intervention activists, victims of
violence and local community activists and leaders, and most importantly
parents to stem the violence. They must devise and coordinate short- and
long-term strategies and programs to provide jobs, training, better education,
and boost the self-esteem of at-risk young blacks. Public officials must
provide the political muscle and resources to implement these programs.
If young whites were killing other whites in the same appalling numbers as blacks,
the public and policy makers would declare a national crisis and rush to
address it. The murder of Pendleton and the dozens of others in black
communities demands the same response.
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a weekly co-host of
the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and
Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host
of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network, and
KTYM Radio Los Angeles.
Follow
Earl Ofari Hutchinson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/earlhutchinson
