Civilization rest on a rule of law. This requires citizenry respect for the law.
12 years ago,then Illinois Senator Barack Obama’s said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in Boston that there is not a white America, nor Black America, only “A United States of America”
Today, and then, his “United States of America” consist of an approximate 12-13% African-American population constituting 35% of jail inmates, and 37% of prison inmates of the 2.2 million male inmates as of 2014 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2014)
The proportion of blacks in prison populations exceeds the proportion among state residents in twenty states. African Americans constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.2 million incarcerated populations. We experience nearly six times the incarceration rate of whites.
This is the current reality of President’s Obama’s “United States America” described 12 years ago.
No fundamental change will occur in the relationship between African-Americans and the police in our country today until we are comfortable talking about the history of slavery and white supremacy.
There is little likelihood that we as nation in 2016 will have the capacity to appropriately address the consequences of that legacy upon today’s generational descendants of slaves and slave owners and upon the current relationship between police and African-Americans unless we are willing to confront our history.
In science and medicine efforts are made to objectively study and examine the origins and genesis of a disease. Why do we so easily dismiss and/or appear unwilling to clinically examine the current consequences of the earlier institution of slavery and the companion history of police enforced white supremacy?
Our recognition of this issue was the raison d’etre for the creation and teaching of a 15-week college course, “FROM SLAVERY TO OBAMA-Renewing The Promise of Reconstruction”. I currently teach it at the University of San Francisco. The Syllabus description of the course says:
“In his epic treatise, The Souls of Black Folk, published in 1903, renowned sociologist and historian, Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, commenting on the legacy of Slavery in our country said, “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line.” More than a hundred years after he wrote those words, the racial struggles in the United States remain the most pervasive theme in our history. Slavery, the Civil War, and nearly a century of racial segregation stand as stains on the moral fabric of the United States.”
“Notwithstanding, the election and re-election of America’s first African-American President of the United States, frank discussions on race relations in America and the historical impact of the institution of slavery upon our current society remain problematical. The events in Ferguson, Cleveland, Baltimore, Staten Island, NY, and Charleston, SC in 2015(now in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis) indicate “a fierce urgency of now” for our nation, once and for all, to confront the reality of the consequential impact of the legacy of slavery upon the current attitudes and conduct of the descendants of slaves and slaveholders.”
“Through an in-depth examination of the long history of white supremacy and the black struggle against it, this course is designed to enable honest and critical discussion about race in America. Readings, lectures, and activities will focus on those events and individuals that have decisively shaped and influenced America’s efforts to abolish slavery and address its historical consequences and subsequent efforts to create a society based on values of racial equality and social justice”.
Commencing this semester, a weekly video production of the course is being offered online to those colleges and universities interested in participating in its online access.
On the basis of objective empirical evidence, it is an understatement to say that, generally African-Americans distrust the police in their communities. For police lives to matter, African Americans will have to come to believe that THEIR lives also matter to the police in their communities.
As the Democratic and Republican parties assemble in national conventions to nominate their respective candidates for President of the United States our immediate national challenge is to develop a national consensus which ultimately says: “Black Lives Matter/Police Lives Matter!”
Regrettably, recent statements by President Obama and the apparent Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, to put it charitably, seem to indicate that they are “out to lunch” about the experiences of African-Americans with police. Their statements indicate a regrettable 30,000 feet disconnect from the daily on the ground reality of the Black Experience with police across our nation.
For the Black Community to respect and trust police in their communities they have to overcome the unavoidable historical presumption that police disrespect them and will preemptively elect to shoot them first in seeking to effect an arrest.
In short, Police Lives will matter when Police actively show and indicate that Black Lives are as important as white lives.
Police, political leaders, media, our nation at large should heed the simple plea inscribed on one of the placards of demonstrators peacefully protesting in Dallas:
“STOP KILLING US!”
If not now when?
If not us, who?
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