I know you're only 18, yet I think it's time for us to discuss the dangers of being Black and encountering police in America. Growing up surely you heard different arguments as to the role of police in society. But I want you to examine what you think the role of police is not only in society generally, but locally, nationally, and internationally. I want you to consider the historical standpoint of how past and current police policies have affected those of us who occupy Black or Brown skin and reside in poor communities. This is to develop a global perspective regarding the role of police and how it relates to urban policing. I want you to understand three things: 1) We are over-policed 2) under attack, and 3) under-protected. When you encounter an officer, how do you measure that experience? Pleasant? Terrifying? How have you witnessed the way police treat you, your brothers, your uncle and your father? Black males receive the bulk of harsh treatment from police. Black women are not too far behind, with the exception of Latino males.
We never want to use race as an excuse for anything that we should be responsible for. While it may feel like every grievance we have is due to racism, that's not always the case. However, that doesn't mean we should ever be silent about the truth of our racial experiences and the lies that protect the state's failure to protect us. The truth is the truth regardless if others fail to accept it. That's not our problem. The truth is that Blacks are over-policed and under-protected since landing on American soil in 1619. I want you to learn the history of Africa and the history of slavery in America. I want you to learn about the violence of the state against our ancestors and how we still are subjected to the exact state-sanctioned violence today, centuries later. I want you to read about our people being beat, burned, and lynched from trees. I want you to then compare our historical treatment, with how you see us being treated today.
When I say we are over-policed, do you have any idea what I am referring to? Being over-policed means being policed in an overtly racist manner. To be viewed as a criminal, lacking any evidence a crime was ever committed. And to push it a point further, lacking any evidence a crime was even conceived, without doing so from a racist viewpoint. Over-policing is a psychological policy conditioned in the minds of law enforcement officers to view Black people as criminal. We see this daily with the harassment of our Black youth. I've been doing a great deal of reading on aspects of urban policing. It pains me to know how deep the roots of over-policing digs into our history. When I learned of southern slave patrols being precursors to police (Reichel) I attempted to make sense of how police continue to patrol our neighborhoods to this day, as if we were still slaves needing to be controlled by our white overseers. Sadly, we live in a society where our institutions are steeped in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. Have you been watching the news? Have you been following the mass protests across America? Why do you think the police are at the center of these protests? Because police have always been an instrument of injustice on behalf of those in power. Power manipulates police to enforce oppressive laws against the poor and people of color for the sake of advancing their own agenda.
The police enforce specific laws such as crack vs. cocaine laws on segments of society differently. As an example, affluent whites predominantly use cocaine and Blacks mainly use crack. The difference is the methods used to get high. Cocaine is generally snorted whereas crack is smoked. Cocaine is a powder substance whereas crack is changed into rock form by using baking soda to solidify the substance. Same drug. Different enforcement policies I point this out because crack vs. cocaine policing policies provided law enforcement agencies yet another politically supported reason to ravage the black community. What makes the crack laws so sadistic is that our own government is the force that facilitated the constant flow of drugs to communities of color. From Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow: “the CIA admitted in 1998 that guerilla armies it actively supported in Nicaragua were smuggling illegal drugs into the United States — drugs that were making their way onto the streets of inner-city black neighborhoods. This was an intentional act to destroy the Black community.” This leads my thoughts to why we are under attack.
When slavery was alleged to be abolished it never really was abolished. I say allegedly, because the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution still allows for slavery and involuntary servitude for people in prison. Our government simply shifted the method in which they applied and enforced slavery. Following the Civil War, it was unclear what institutions, laws, or customs would be necessary to maintain white control once that slavery was gone. (Alexander, M). When slavery was legal the state had no mandatory political or moral reasons to suppress its racist agenda. When slavery abolitionists gained victory in abolishing slavery, our government needed a new strategy to enforce slavery. This strategy came in the form of using the criminal justice system to achieve its local, state and national economic objectives. Local, state, and national politicians, initially, beginning in the south, started to enact laws (black codes) with the sole purpose to incarcerate and convict law violators so they can lease the newly convicted criminal’s labor to the highest bidder. This became known as (convict leasing). For convict leasing to work effectively the politicians needed police to oppressively enforce the laws they enacted. Any law not seriously enforced is really no law at all. It's only a law in theory. Convict leasing was not just theory. It was theory followed by massive action. The action was to sweep the now vagrant slaves right into the fields of free labor. In order to achieve this end, politicians relied on police to carry out their dirty work.
One Alabama planter wrote: “We have the power to pass stringent police laws to govern the Negroes — this is a blessing for they must be controlled in some way or white cannot live amongst them.” You see, it was about mobilizing the police in a way that discouraged and disempowered blacks and empowered and assured the safety of whites. This correlates with the third thing I wanted you to understand, which is we are underprotected.
We have never been as protected as white people. When you hear the mantra “Blacklivesmatter” how do you process such a slogan? Two of the counter-cries to the "Blacklivesmatter” outcry are “BlueLivesmatter” and “All Lives Matter.” People who shout these slogans fail to understand that blue lives have always mattered in America because blue life has been historically intertwined with the emphasis placed on protecting white life in American society. Police have not protected nor served the Black community the way in which they protect and serve white communities. Police serve whites communities in a capacity that suggest a pressing need to protect them from those who look like us and who come from communities like ours. For instance, the Black kid who steals from a store or breaks out a window becomes a dangerous predator to society. He needs to be removed for the sake of administering law and order. On the flip side, if the same kid were white he would be viewed as a kid just being a kid. He just needs a stern talking to. In many cases, the very encounter with police automatically places the Black kid’s life in jeopardy. The same cannot be said about the white kid. Additionally, let’s say you and one of your white friends were hanging out and he/she committed a crime. The police are called to the scene. They will automatically assume you are the problem to this incident surely because you're black. Because cops are trained and conditioned to view Black as bad, wrong, flawed, etc. And white is its opposite. So, there can be no way that this innocent white kid would have committed the crime that brought them to the scene. Under this thinking, it must be you, the poor black kid who come from a community plagued by poverty. This is how the police view us.
You do not have to ever view yourself in this way. Since we know we are overpoliced, under attack, and under-protected it’s imperative that we take measures to protect ourselves. You must always protect yourself. Protecting yourself does not mean physically protecting yourself. This includes arming your mind with history so you can defend yourself with information needed to navigate thralls historical police brutality backed by our elected officials. You must never become shocked at what is possible when it comes to laws and policies designed specifically to control those of us who occupy skin that is not white. Never be afraid to speak up and speak out on injustice. With that, never forget how deeply we are over-policed, under attack and under-protected.
Protect and arm your mind with knowledge of the truth.
Sincerely,
Uncle Theron
A number of years ago a co-worker stated during a discussion on race in America, "You don't know what it's like being a black man in America unless you have been a black man in America." I am 73 years old and was raised in a family that tried to teach me that all people are equal and prejudice is wrong. In spite of these efforts, when Martin (my co-worker) made that statement, I began to realize I had absorbed some prejudices anyway. That's how pervasive it is. Theron's letter sets out and explains this reality as only one with lived experience can. Well done.