Month: March 2017 (Page 2 of 7)

The debate over the linking, both intentional and not, of criminality and race is pressing in this chapter of the CQ Reader.  The embodiment, in my mind, of racial tension in the United States today is the state of policing and race. A whole section of this chapter is devoted to exploring the answer to the hypothetical question ,”Would improving police interactions with African Americans significantly advance race relations in America.” If I were to critique this as a research question for our class, I would certainly be wary. After all, what is a “significant advance”? With such a subjective, heated issue, I was not surprised the amount of dissent documented amongst scholars, activists, and professionals within the section.

The larger cultural discussion about race in America has been kicked off, in many ways, by new technological abilities to broadcast the inferior treatment of African Americans by police and otherwise. Police video has become what one Professor dubbed the, “C-span” of the streets; however, though the videos have begun to verify the claims of inequality that have rung hollow for centuries, they are not always the most reliable source, nor do they tell totally the plight of minorities in this country. The merits of police video– now done through popular “bodycams”– can be debated ad infinitum, but the real question to ask, the question that should be asked, is whether the treatment of African Americans by police is the problem, or if it is simply symptomatic of a larger issue within the American social framework. Movement affiliates with Black Lives Matter seem to fall in the latter camp, arguing that “discriminatory law enforcement” is not the worst problem to be faced by African Americans today. I agree with this synthesis. It is hard to say that policing is the only problem when disparity and inequality seeps into nearly every other area of Black life in this country. Schools are lacking, economic opportunity is too. Racism is a being not limited to handcuffs and prison cells.

The characterization of police videos as the “C-span of the streets” is more accurate when refined to include most other aspects of African American existence in the United States. Like the channel itself, which has a limited viewership only of those who are most devoted and who stand to be impacted most by changes in the status-quo, the circulation of information regarding race in the United States stands to be digested by those who already understand the situation, as it is their day-to-day reality. Perhaps if Black life was televised more like the “FoxNews of the streets” something productive to “significantly advance” race relations could be done.

The complexity of the issues discussed in this week’s reading, Chapter Eight of the CQ reader, likely cause it to be one of the most important issues spoken about in the CQ, as its affects result in many of the other issues spoken of in other chapters.  It is fascinating, however, to consider that our country has gone through at least two periods in which the issues being discussed were specifically targeted, and we still have managed to fail to solve them to any acceptable extent, those periods being the reconstruction era of the 1860’s-1870’s, and the Great Society of President Johnson and onwards.

In considering why we as a country have failed to adequately address these issues, I found it fascinating that a lack of consensus is able to be reached amongst any community, be in the Black versus White community, or even amongst the Black community themselves.  To this end, it is quite possible our lack of movement in any direction towards affecting positive change is a direct result of political ideology and affiliation, as seen through the ideas of the leadership of the National Leadership Network of Black Conservatives, who espouse Conservative ideology while parting with solutions often proposed to alleviate the symptoms of poverty, such as a higher minimum wage or increased funding for the impoverished. As these issues, such as the wealth gap and the poverty level, are intimately related to our countries problem with race relations, the fact of our inability to work together across party lines in regards to other topics, such as taxation and the minimum wage, does not bode well in my mind for progress in regards to race relations.

While education is oftentimes thrown around as the solution to the interactions between the police and minority communities, I am of the belief that this will have little effect at all on these interactions.   Obviously, for one reason or another, the police are not comfortable enforcing the laws within certain neighborhoods. Furthermore, the I doubt the average police officer is leaving his house in the morning with the intention of murdering an unarmed African American boy.  As such, while there is certainly merit to the idea of increasing education, as this is always a valuable commodity, efforts must be made to ensure that the police grow more comfortable policing within the neighborhoods that they evidently are not currently comfortable doing so.  And the most logical way to do this, in my mind, is to alleviate the necessities, if currently in place, for minority communities to partake within suspicious behavior that has caused the police to grow uncomfortable around them.

As for an increase in education specifically, there is no question that an effort must be made to reduce the gap between funding provided for whites and minority groups.  This is not to say sacrificing the education of white children for that of minority children, but rather a reform in the educational and budgetary system, so that all children are provided for.  And frankly, with the amount of money being thrown around, some true effort must be made, or this money is simply being wasted.

So to conclude my thoughts on the issue of race relations within our illustrious nation, it too plays back into larger issues which we, as a nation, have seemingly been unable to address in the past.  This inability is not necessarily for lack of desire, although that may well be a portion of the problem, but also a seeming inability to reach a consensus of agreement that does not necessitate a complete reversal of policy after a maximum eight years of a Presidency.

From school, I had always learned that poorer neighborhoods, higher crime, and lower college attendance for the black population  was the result of something called institutionalized racism, where limited resources and access to quality education and jobs, and the funding for these, begot those results, even if they were legally allowed to be successful, rich, and get a quality education. From my mother at home, however, she would tell me that they just had “different values.” She would say, and the CQ researcher echoed, that their family structure is weaker, and it’s not like something was stopping them from attaining the same stuff we had–it was that they didn’t work for it. I found myself disagreeing with her, but somewhat with my eyes closed–in my high school, a highly diverse place with a very large minority presence, few minority students were in my honors classes. It wasn’t proportional at all, even if we’d all had the same introductory classes the first year. When I was in the same classes as them, they didn’t seem to care. Maybe they didn’t.

I find it interesting how some conservatives blame welfare for single mothers for the falling apart of the family unit. I would like to question how Walter E. Williams, the economy professor on page 178, knows that the family unit a generation out of slavery had a family unit of more integrity, and what other factors may have been playing into those disparities between those then and the ones now.

While I do believe that unequal access to resources like funding and education are part of the problem, I’m not willing to believe that there isn’t a “moral” issue as well underlying these problems.

To think that at this stage of American history racial conflict remains an issue, as this article by Peter Katel indicates, is very disturbing. Our society should have learned from the mistakes of racial discrimination of the past. I was very troubled when I read about the racial inequalities that continue to exist in the United States today because I expect better from our country and its people. As a college student in a diverse, multicultural institution, I am not witness to racial discrimination of the kind that Katel’s article discusses.

I believe that I have been less exposed than others to racial conflict because I am situated in an academic environment that does not tolerate racial discrimination. The key to eliminating racial discrimination is, I believe, education. Liberation from racism requires education. This education must be aimed in two directions: one, towards the prejudiced person who is not treating other people properly because of their race, and another, toward the victims of prejudice.  When both sides are educated, racial conflict can be minimized. In response to Katel’s article, I think such education should be given to our police forces, who tend to generalize by race and disproportionately stop- and –frisk black people and also disproportionally use violence when apprehending them. These police practices have unfortunately led to the deaths of many innocent black people. Education must play a crucial role in teaching uneducated people about not treating people differently because of their race.

Education should also be directed at the victims of prejudice who are often black citizens.  Currently, the socio-economic level of many black people is one of poverty, of low levels of education; these factors are often associated with a broken family life. Yet, there are many black people who have succeeded in life, even reaching the highest political position in our country, the presidency of the United States. What most of these success stories have in common is a good education that seems to bring about a reduction in racial conflict. A strong, comprehensive education is optimal to motivate many black people, who may have a sense of failure or doom about developing or being appreciated, to move forward from victim to citizen with full and respected rights. The article indicates that black youth of today have much lower math and reading scores than white youth of equivalent ages. Education is a tool that should be provided to everyone. It is an important tool through which people can learn to help themselves. As a result of slavery there may be a form of learned helplessness and defeatism among black people, but through education in an integrated educational environment, blacks can extract themselves from their difficult situations to full socio-economic freedom. Despite the many laws of civil liberty that have been instituted in our recent history, racial conflict persists. However, I submit that without being given the true key to freedom, a good education equivalent for all, freedom and equal opportunity remain no more than a dream. Equal education for all, will make that dream become reality and help eradicate racial conflict.

The issue of race relations in this country is a very complicated issue, obviously. Similar to what I said in the response paper for a couple chapters ago, whether or not you believe that there is actually institutional racism present and in effect in America or not, at the end of the day, doesn’t make such a big difference. The fact is that there is a significant portion of the population that feels like they are being marginalized and treated unfairly. That, i feel like, can be fixed and/or dealt with.

I do, however, believe that many issues regarding this topic can, and are, blown out of proportion and not handled, or processed, in the correct way. Whenever you focus intensely on any one thing, you can find many many things that are broken in it; and especially when you are emotionally invested in it. That happens quite often in a lot of issues, and in this one as well because of how serious it becomes when there are people dying at such a rate that took place.

An offshoot of what I just wrote can be the downplay of other major issues as well. When one, very specific, issue becomes the focus, to a point where it seems to be the only issue, that is a problem. The tension between white officers and black citizens in this country is obviously a problem; but it is very likely not the problem. It becomes easy to not pay attention to other factors, and facts in general. Things like 93 percent of black homicide victims being killed by other black people and only 7 percent and 16 percent of black students performing at or above proficient levels in math and reading, respectively.

There are many other problems that have to be addressed. Given that, somehow, the relations between police and African Americans was patched up, there would still exist all the other issues that were discussed in this chapter. However, if you target some of the other issues then that could very likely play a role in fixing the relationship and problems that come along with the police.

It was interesting to read that women are involved in gangs more often than in the past. In some circumstances, it is completely out of their control and against their will. Women, particularly young girls, are sex trafficked. Because prostitution and credit card fraud go unnoticed by police, and are considered lesser crimes than violent crimes and drug dealing, gang members are increasingly choosing to earn money in these less risky ways so that if they are caught, they will face less jail time. The idea that women are also choosing to take on leadership roles in gangs made me think of last week’s reading.

Last week, we were discussing that women are not subjected to being stopped and frisked by the police frequently because it is less likely that they are doing something illegal or are carrying out criminal activity. With this reading, I am realizing even that judgment is incorrect. While the numbers are still small, more women than ever before are becoming active in gangs. In the chapter, Christina Hoag says that girls, more so than boys, are joining gangs for the protection and “family” they provide. The majority of these women report that their actual family members have abused them, sexually and physically. However, Hoag points out that the women are not protected, rather they are treating badly by the men gang members. Some women are used for prostitution, while others buy weapons or hide drugs or even fugitives. Women are the secret weapon of the gangs because they are not suspected by the police.

From using the internet, to committing “low priority” crimes, gangs are changing with the times and finding new ways to stay strong. Simply putting more people behind bars isn’t helping to prevent gangs from committing crimes. We have to make sure our youth don’t join them in the first place. They need to feel that they have another, preferably legal way of making money and feel that they will be safe if they don’t align themselves with a gang. As I’m realizing more and more, that won’t be easy. There are many more definitive problems than there are solutions.

Each chapter in the CQ Reader opens my eyes to topics and ideas I would have never been exposed to otherwise. Gang violence is something I have not had much exposure to beyond what I see on TV. From reading this chapter, it appears that what was once controlled is now becoming a serious issue. Gang violence is picking up again, but in an entirely different and worse form. Gangs are expanding their territories from the typical crimes of drug trafficking to smaller crimes such as credit card fraud and prostitution that allow them to go without being detected by law enforcement. This is a very scary thought for the future of gangs as they move to crimes that are less detectable.

How do we control gangs? Combating gangs is a difficult and never ending task. There are multiple methods that are used in trying to reduce gang violence. While imposing gang injunctions clears the street and may appear as one step in the right direction, it does not ultimately eradicate the issue. Lawrence Rosenthal discusses the positive effect that injunctions have on gangs. When police are present, there is less activity. By forcing the gangs indoors, they are less vulnerable to stop-and-frisk which would prevent them from carrying drugs and guns. Also, they are less violent to participants and bystanders. In opposition, Caitlin Sanderson delved into the the technical and legal aspects of injunctions. She discusses how injunctions are issued against the entire gang causing all members to be included. This would mean that someone hanging out with friends or family on the street can be arrested, which is a serious issue.

There are alternative ways to combat gangs and Sanderson mentions some of them. She recommends “after-school programs, job training, and early intervention.” I agree with Sanderson’s suggestions. I believe that knowledge and mentorship are powerful. If we can get these young men the proper mentors to help guide them and show them the proper way to live, we can expose them to a different way of life. Obviously this is easier said than done. Gang intervention is another component; one I have some difficulty with. I think it is a great thought, but not necessarily something that can easily turn into a reality. Wes McBride, a gang investigator said, “I’m not really big on gang intervention because I’m not sure what an ex-gang member is.” I think McBride makes an excellent point. What really is an ex-gang member? All in all, opening up community centers, education and mentorship programs for young boys to go to to allow them to have a chance in this very crazy world.

Gangs have greatly evolved over the years and are making use of technology to extend their influence over people. For example, the gangs of today have their own websites and YouTube videos or use even use Facebook and Twitter to communicate with others, especially those of the younger generation who would be susceptible to their influence. After all, gang members on average are only about 17 years old so its not so much a surprise that many of their members are taking advantage of social media. It’s much easier for a gang to spread a message and taunt another gang through social media than to actually do it in the opposing gang’s territory. This leads us to the question, how do we reduce the amount of gang activity in our local neighborhoods?

One of the strategies used was to impose injunctions on gangs and prevent members of those gangs from meeting in public. This was controversial because gang members who would only be in a gang for a short amount of time would have an injunction imposed on them that goes on for the rest of their life. There’s also the chance that someone who has been labeled a gang member is actually not and has never been a gang member at all. However, this method can be effective because it increases transparency and strengthens enforcement of the law in crime hot spots or gang territories. It is simply less likely that someone is going to carry around a gun or have drugs on them if there is a significant police presence in their vicinity.

While this could be a solid strategy to counteract gang activity in our neighborhoods, I don’t believe it is enough to get rid of gangs. Gangs are getting increasingly smarter, and are participating in crimes that are harder to track by the police due to their non-violent nature, so it would only be appropriate if the police improved their methods for gathering information and made better use of technology. If done so, the police would fare much better at stopping a crime before it happens or at least being able to gather enough evidence to find the culprit and punish them for their misdeeds. However, in the end, due to the very nature of gangs, it is very unlikely that we will ever see them go away.