Tuesday, March 27, 2012
I reside in Elizabeth NJ, next to Newark. Young Black men in my part of Jersey aren't shot by white civilian vigilantes. White civilian vigilante murders of Black men are rare everywhere in America. That's why the world can concentrate so completely upon Trayvon Martin & his hoodie. Trayvon is about where bias intimidation goes when we pretend it doesn't exist. It's also about "profiling," & we have to ask why police would be better at it than George Zimmerman. New York City Police were spying on Muslims in New Jersey in clear violation of jurisdictional authority, an act that incensed even our conservative governor, not to mention that the tactic itself is questionable for the NYPD operating under the banner of "national security."*
Young Black men are killed by other Black men. Some of these young Black men are involved in criminal activities & murdered by competitors or as revenge killings. But others are killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, sometimes in their own neighborhoods. They are killed in cases of mistaken identities, killed as collateral casualties in gang assassinations or robberies of businesses. Sometimes they are killed for no apparent reason at all except some psychopath or paths wanted to kill someone. If you're a young Black man (or woman) in Newark or my city or a number of cities around here, a high school or college student trying to mind his own business & you anger a gangbanger for some reason, perhaps some unintended show of disrespect, even indifference, or are considered weak for trying to avoid gang influences & scenes, you could be in big trouble. Or maybe you're just in a convenience store buying a soft drink when a guy walks in with a gun & kills you because you're standing between him & the clerk & the cash resister.
Over the past year there has been a growing recognition of a need for citizen anti-violence activism in Jersey's cities. Ironically, part of this activism must include neighborhood watch groups like the one George Zimmerman claimed to be representing, but with strict rules, no direct confrontation of suspicious activities & persons, & of course no weapons. An immediate goal is to pressure local police to respond to reports of possible criminal activity rather than the all-too-common unwritten policy of waiting for it to actually occur before acting.
All well & good that East Orange NJ city council passed a resolution calling for justice for Trayvon Martin. Can't hurt. As long as it doesn't distract from justice for innocent victims of violent crime in East Orange.
*Mayor Mike Bloomberg thinks he's the Premier of the Five United Boroughs of Sovereign New York City & its surrounding vassal counties. Except when he needs help from Albany or Washington. Then he's as All-American as a slice from Joe's Pizza on Carmine.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
Young Black men are killed by other Black men. Some of these young Black men are involved in criminal activities & murdered by competitors or as revenge killings. But others are killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, sometimes in their own neighborhoods. They are killed in cases of mistaken identities, killed as collateral casualties in gang assassinations or robberies of businesses. Sometimes they are killed for no apparent reason at all except some psychopath or paths wanted to kill someone. If you're a young Black man (or woman) in Newark or my city or a number of cities around here, a high school or college student trying to mind his own business & you anger a gangbanger for some reason, perhaps some unintended show of disrespect, even indifference, or are considered weak for trying to avoid gang influences & scenes, you could be in big trouble. Or maybe you're just in a convenience store buying a soft drink when a guy walks in with a gun & kills you because you're standing between him & the clerk & the cash resister.
Over the past year there has been a growing recognition of a need for citizen anti-violence activism in Jersey's cities. Ironically, part of this activism must include neighborhood watch groups like the one George Zimmerman claimed to be representing, but with strict rules, no direct confrontation of suspicious activities & persons, & of course no weapons. An immediate goal is to pressure local police to respond to reports of possible criminal activity rather than the all-too-common unwritten policy of waiting for it to actually occur before acting.
All well & good that East Orange NJ city council passed a resolution calling for justice for Trayvon Martin. Can't hurt. As long as it doesn't distract from justice for innocent victims of violent crime in East Orange.
*Mayor Mike Bloomberg thinks he's the Premier of the Five United Boroughs of Sovereign New York City & its surrounding vassal counties. Except when he needs help from Albany or Washington. Then he's as All-American as a slice from Joe's Pizza on Carmine.
