Black on Black Crime and the Movement for George Floyd. A Blog on Why Police Brutality is Never Okay, Despite Black on Black Crime.

After the death of George Floyd, we have all witnessed how everyone has a different opinion about what happened, and how we as a society should view this injustice. There has been people who argued that what had happened to George Floyd was totally unacceptable, but he still had a lot of incidents with law enforcement, so they can see why he was involved with law enforcement again during his death. Some people have stated that the death of George Floyd was wrong, that there needs to be a change when it comes to systemic racism, and how Black people should not be viewed as less valuable than their White counterparts. Then there has been arguments that stated there is so much Black on Black crime happening in Black neighborhoods, how can the Black Lives Matter Movement be seen as a creditable public figure for Black people, when they clearly do not see all Black lives as valuable. The people who have made this argument feel like the Black Lives Matter Movement should focus on people who are killed by their own people, Black people who were killed by the riots that were done in Black neighborhoods, and also focus on Black people who were killed by police brutality as well. They feel like you cannot select certain Black people to fight for, but not the others who were killed in other circumstances. Though this may sound like a sensible argument, it actually is not. We must first take a look into what the Black Lives Movement mission is about.

If you go to the Black Lives Movement website, it clearly states that the movement came about after the death of Trayvon Martin. It also states on their website that, "The mission of the movement is to eradicate White supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state vigilantes." If you read their mission statement, it is very clear that the argument above does not make sense. The reason why the Black Lives Matter movement does not focus on Black on Black crime, is because their mission is to stop White supremacy, and most importantly hold the people in power accountable for actions that were made that dehumanize and kill our Black brothers and sisters because of the color of their skin. In doing this, the Black Lives Matter Movement is actually helping bring about change in Black communities as well, because they are creating a space for justice to be served and Black innovation to be celebrated.

If we take a look back at our history, Blackness has been looked down upon for centuries. We were taken from our Motherland, and then brought over to the Americas to be slaves. We were beaten, rapped, and killed because we were seen as less human than our White counterparts. Than once slavery was abolished, we were still seen as second class citizens because of the color of our skin during the Jim Crow and segregation period, and now we are still seen as a threat to society because of our Blackness, so we are now being thrown in jails at higher rates, and killed by White police officers. The truth is that America is still staying afloat on the backs of Black people. They did it during slavery, and now they are doing it through the high incarceration rates to fuel the economy, and through cheap labor by inmates for certain corporate companies to continue to bring in large cash flows. On another note, the police brutality stems from the hatred of Black skin that has been an issue since the beginning of time.

When it comes to the issue of Black on Black crime, we must first understand why it happens to begin with. Black on Black crime never stems from Black people wanting to kill a Black person because of the color of their skin. Black on Black crimes tend to have higher rates than their White counterparts mainly because they do not trust the White police officers in their neighborhoods. Due to the constant killings of Black men and women that has been seen time and time again by White officers, Black people tend to feel that they have to handle forms of violence themselves, then to depend on the police. According to the article, The Need to Discuss Black on Black Crime by Berry Latzer it states, "There is a deep strain of mistrust of police in poor black neighborhoods, and this, along with fear of reprisals by Black criminals, leads to the refusal to cooperate with the authorities". This statement above, shows the great need again for the Black Lives Matter movement. Black people do not trust the police because they are being killed by them, so if there is not an authority presence that is respected by the Black community due to past trauma, you can expect that there is going to be higher crime rates amongst each other.

Another reason why Black on Black crimes tends to happen is because of the cultural experiences that lower income poorer Black people tend to cling to for identity purposes. The Need to Discuss Black on Black Crimes also states that, "Urban Violence can occur in the course of other street crimes, but often it is sparked by arguments, conflicts, or "beefs" of some kind. These disputes often involve long-standing rivalries between groups known as gangs, cliques, and so on. In 2017, 64% of all homicides was identified as a result of a dispute". Though the percentage is slightly higher this year than in 2017, we can see that Black people in poorer areas struggle to grasp the concept of conflict resolution. Instead, they tend to just kill each other because their gang is doing so, and they also want to fit in for identity purposes. This is largely because their fathers are in jail, and there are not many role models for them to look up to for positivity. This is where police officers in these neighborhood could play a huge part in rebuilding trust, doing community work to build up the community, and maybe even offering resources for people to learn more about conflict resolution to offset the killings of one another. I am not saying that police officers should be held accountable for everything, but I do think that if they take a stand, it is a lot more likely that people in office that make decisions on behalf of these communities will be more persuaded to take a stand as well. It will eventually start to become a  domino effect of change.

Everything that is happening in our world can be very overwhelming and painful to watch. Police brutality is becoming more and more of a problem. White supremacy is a reality that Black people are faced with everyday, and systemic racism seems to be a never ending cycle, but there is still hope. There is hope because White and Black people are coming together to peacefully protest against the death of George Floyd. There is hope because we can have open conversations about the injustices that are happening, and join movements like Black Lives Matter to hopefully help end less Black men and women dying. There is hope because we have voices that we can use for positive change. Never give up on hope, and never stay silent about injustices.