The Black Plague

“The leading cause of death among black males between the ages of 15 and 24 is homicide. Every 4 out of 5 black victims of violent crimes identified their assailant as another black person,” says Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. This quotation appears in the video “You Will Know,” a song performed by Black Men United back in 1994. So here we are in 2010, facing the same issues from almost a generation earlier. The death of Robert Freeman, a thirteen year old boy from the South Side of Chicago on Wednesday evening reinforced the need for us as a people to truly address the way we live on day to day basis and our relationships with one another. This was yet another senseless murder that took the life of one of our children.

Over the past 30 years, there have been countless examples of us murdering each other at astronomical rates. Many deaths can be attributed to gang activity, drug related, robberies or just random acts of sheer brutality against your brother or sister due to the frustrations that this life can bring most of us. Some will say this can be traced back to socio-economic status, which can be true, but it may go deeper than just socio-economic status. Societal integration occurred in the late 1950s in the South where racism was king. Many blacks were being treated as second class citizens and the same could be said for the entire United States. The Civil Rights movement was in full effect and this brought out seas of black people fighting to be recognized in a country that for too long rendered us as barter and stock to be freely exploited at any cost.

It was during this pivotal point in history that black pride and love were at its zenith. There were captivating and revolutionary leaders guiding our race to reach unprecedented levels. Then slowly, one by one, they started to be gunned down by the powers that be and the outcome of their voices being ghosts in the wind is where we are today as a people. As the Civil Rights movement came to a close, the foundation of black love still resided in us. It shined through in the music and the most apropos song from that era had to be James Brown’s “Say It Loud, I’m Black and I’m Proud” and many records that came out in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s were centered on uplifting our black queens and calling each other kings. This trend reemerged in the late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop and rap scene, but was an anomaly compared to what was about to dominate the airwaves in the years following.

It is important to note here before societal integration blacks owned businesses and we supported our local community merchants and stores. Our neighborhoods were places to unite and socialize. Sure, there were instances we’re some violence occurred, but for the most part the love for your brother or sister was palpable. Due to the circumstances presented by the larger society, it was ingrained in our psyche since the days of slavery that together we were a strong force. This was evident in the culture we produced from the ground up. At the center of our evolution was our faith in a higher power and our faith in each other. Yes, there have been instances in history where the crab-in-the-bucket mentality has stunted our overall growth as a people, but it was our love for each other that allowed leaders such as Harriet Tubman succeed in the underground railroad, Frederick Douglass to press President Lincoln for Emancipation, and countless others who sacrificed their lives to the cause of uplifting our people out of enslavement and impoverished conditions.

After integration, many of us forgot to support our neighborhood businesses and it led to them being taken over by larger business chains without making them invest money in our neighborhoods. Once the government opened the door through the enactment of legislation to acquire better job opportunities, we left our friends and families behind for greener, middle-class pastures. Meanwhile, our aunts, uncles and cousins were left to fend for themselves in what became the projects and/or slums. There has been a plethora of events that has led to the decline in black love, but the Vietnam War and the Ronald Regan presidency are two events which stand out like a sore thumb.

The introduction of crack, cocaine, and heroin into our neighborhoods played an integral role in the decimating of our love for each other’s existence. For three decades, we’ve stood by and watch our culture be crucified and have done absolutely nothing about it. We keep on glorifying these acts of violence in our communities. Hollywood, lack of parenting skills, and mainstream hip-hop and rap must shoulder most of the responsibility for the purveying of this troubling trend of promoting and perpetrating violence.

Compared with other countries, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world. As of 2006, a record 7 million people were behind bars, on probation or on parole, of which 2.2 million were incarcerated. The People's Republic of China ranks second with 1.5 million. The United States has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the world's incarcerated population.

Blacks were arrested more than any other race for murder in 2008, making up 36% of all arrests. African Americans, constituting approximately 12% of the general population, were significantly overrepresented in the total arrests made. African Americans were also significantly overrepresented in victimization, representing 47% of all murder victims. White Americans and individuals of Other race were significantly underrepresented in cases of murder and non-negligible homicide in 2008. Murder in White American and African American populations were overwhelmingly intraracial, with 83% of all White victims and 90% of all Black victims having been murdered by individuals of the same race. When will the madness stop and we finally address this black plague?

The onus must fall on us to get our houses in order and begin the process of healing these deep wounds we carry internally and externally. The American way of life does us no favors, but we MUST start addressing this epidemic before our culture is lost forever. There’s a war going on outside and that no one is safe from. We have to do this for Derrion Albert, Robert Freeman and the thousands of young black lives we’ve lost along the way.

This is an impassioned plea from an observer who loves our culture profoundly. We can and need to do better.

Let us start the process to find a cure to end this plague.