Pivoting the dialogue to black-on-black crime is a red herring and nothing short of intellectual dishonesty. Let’s momentarily set aside the considerable amount of
time and energy,
the abundance of resources, and
the plethora of leaders (and no, I’m not talking about
Sharpton and
Jackson) dedicated to healing the broken communities where black lives are taken the most. While undoubtedly terrible, black peers killing each other is not, has never been, and will never be analogous to police killing unarmed black folks. I posit that all black life lost is immensely tragic, but the impunity with which officers across this nation, sworn to serve and protect, can snuff out black life frequently and without consequence should inspire special ire. In plainer terms, the “protectors” killing our kids, and then being treated as heroes instead of criminals, should make us even angrier.
The deadly brand of policing that seems to only haunt marginalized communities is part of a larger system of institutional injustice that continues to steal black lives en masse. The same criminal justice system that has created aggressive policing has also spurred the prison industrial complex, broken educational journeys, and shattered families. Policing is only a symptom. Injustice is the root. And the fallacy of black-on-black crime does more to blame the victim than attack the roots of inequity that can leave black children dead at the hands of a peer or police.
We can do better than this intellectual child’s play; it only distracts from true systemic change.
