Hearing about an 18-year old woman being raped at gunpoint by five males in Brownsville, Brooklyn disgusts me. Everyone should feel the same way.
My disgust is operating on two levels.
First — the act itself. It’s no wonder why women in America don’t feel any more safe than their peers who live in war-torn countries.
Second — the way this rape, like other crimes, feed into unproductive racial narratives.
For example, the anti-#BlackLivesMatter dog whistle.
Or the less subtle “I told you that Black people are poorly-versed savages” meme.
Allow me to once again review and correct the persistent falsehood about race and crime.
White people in America lead all races in rapes committed.
Any casual read of the Department of Justice crime stats will tell you that.
Whites commit more assaults as well.
And burglaries.
Illegal drug abuse is no exception.
Neither are acts of arson.
Vandalism.
Vehicle thefts.
Blacks have a slight edge in the number of murders committed according to the last full year crime report I read (4,149 vs 4,000 for Whites and 192 for all races). Demonstrably more robberies are committed by Blacks — a metric I’m sure could be lowered through an effective jobs and training program.
Overall, whites commit more crimes – both violent and otherwise.
Meanwhile, crimes committed by Blacks dominate the news headlines.
And the perception of African savagery is so strong where the life of a mall escalator seems to matter more than protests about how Black lives matter.
So, let’s put the “Black folks are hostile” argument to rest.
I don’t think an argument about which race and violence is productive at the moment.
I’d rather focus on how we can create a society where all women in America are respected.
How do we reach families with the message of respect? I’m sure some of you will argue with me about this point but if respect for women has been taught in homes, why do we see so much sexism in our society?
You can make a strong argument for teaching respect for women in our schools as well.
Any other ideas?
song currently stuck in my head: “james” – pat metheney group
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