Tag Archives: Black men

Books We're Reading, Racism/Diversity

We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang

Gallery

 

Picador
Picador

“Race makes itself known in crisis, in the singular event that captures a larger pattern of abuse and pain,” writes author Jeff Chang (Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, Who We Be)  in the introduction to a series of essays on the significance of ongoing police shootings, social inequities, housing discrimination and campus diversity.

As an historian, Chang helps us focus on the broader picture (and effects) of the long-term system of racism and how it has played out and continues to develop in our country.  Chang touches on Trump’s speech in Mesa, Arizona (December, 2015),  demonstrations in Ferguson, MO (where he was arrested for participating) on the anniversary of Michael Brown’s death,  and the effects of gentrification to produce a powerful punch through the veil of denial that shrouds and nurtures systemic racism.

Lifestyle, Racism/Diversity

Police violence – Every 10 days an unarmed black person is killed

police-car

A mental health threat for our people
Police killed 346 black people in 2015, making fear of our “protectors” a rational, reasonable fear.  Now, for sure, there are many honest, caring cops out there. You hope that they are the ones who stop you for a broken tail light. The statistics on police killings portray practices that often result in death for black individuals stopped for nonviolent issues. This presents a HUGE source of trauma affecting the mental health of our people. Emotional trauma affects physical health as well.

NY_Time_photo_MappingPoliceViolence_web_link
Police violence directly affects the mental health of black people.

See how widespread the problem is
The resource website, http://www.mappingpoliceviolence.org   allows you to learn the stories of each of the individuals that were killed. Many of them are shocking, such as the Chicago landlord who opened her front door to greet police officers who had been called by her upstairs tenant. She opened the door, they shot her dead. Or the 17 year old brother, whose mother and sister had called the police when he experienced a psychotic episode. He ran into the bathroom, police shot him 17 times as his family begged them to stop.

The story of Kenneth Chamberlain

One of the saddest is the story of Kenneth Chamberlain of White Plains, NY.  Mr. Chamberlain, a retired Marine and long-time corrections officer, was killed by police after accidentally triggering his 1st Alert alarm.  He wore it because of a heart condition.  Police in riot gear stormed his apartment  (to be sure he was safe), and in a few seconds, tasered him twice, shot him at close range with four bean bag rounds, finally shooting him in the chest and killing him.

Picture of Kenneth Chamberlain as a young marine.

The entire episode was taped by the 1st Alert operator and yet the officers were never charged.  The conflicting testimonies of the officers supported a cover-up. The civil suit was lost because the nearly all white jury could not believe that the 69 year old retiree was not still standing when he was finally shot.  Watch the film and see what you think. His story also inspired a musical tribute to him and six other victims of police violence by Joel Thompson at the University of Michigan. These are not uncommon stories and they boggle the minds of mental health professionals right along with all other folks.

Books We're Reading, Racism/Diversity

“They Can’t Kill Us All” – A Washington Post reporter on shootings of unarmed black men

Wesley Lowery, reporter, author of "They Can't Kill Us All"
Wesley Lowery, reporter, author of “They Can’t Kill Us All”

“They Can’t Kill Us All; Ferguson, Baltimore, and a New Era in America’s Racial Justice Movement
By Wesley Lowery,  Publisher: Little, Brown.

Something big is happening across the country and Washington post reporter, Wesley Lowery, is documenting it.  From Baltimore to Oakland, Ferguson to New York, Seattle to Miami, unarmed black men and women are being killed by the police.  The stories are starting to sound the same. The policmen “thought” they saw a gun, which turned out to be a book, a cell phone or simply a hand.  Guns and knives were “found” near the body but many victims were shot in the back.  Two weeks pass, the story falls out of the headlines, the world moves on. The story repeats itself in another city, with another mother’s son or daughter and another community is devastated and hardened.

Wesley Lowery has conducted hundreds of interviews, following these shootings during 2014 and 2015 from city to city. Against the backdrop of the first African American president, these shootings are increasing. Many were documented in cell phone videos yet 97% of these killings resulted in no charges against the police.

Mr. Lowery is a member of his newspaper’s Pulitzer prize-winning team and focuses in with precision clarity on a wave of assaults against the black body that Ta-Nehisi Coates outlined earlier in his book, “Between the World and Me”.

Books We're Reading, Racism/Diversity

We all need to read “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”

Gallery
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander - A must read for the parents of every young black man.
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander – A must read for the parents of every young black man.

Michele Alexander is a lawyer, legal scholar, advocate and  author who has written a comprehensive, well-researched examination of what is happening to our young men and women, to our families, to our future generations at the hands of the criminal justice system.

It seems that nearly every black family has a child, cousin, nephew or uncle who has been incarcerated. It’s happening to our college students, business professionals,  working dads & mothers, drug involved and not.  At every level, all over the country, black men, in particular, have been stopped and questioned multiple times. Now, that level of intrusion into black life is resulting in more than overwhelming legal costs and delayed goals for families. The fact that our men are constantly being sought out for examination of their being, is resulting in staggering numbers of deaths. We can no longer blame it on the boys, the neighborhood, our color. It is way bigger than that. We need to understand exactly what is happening and why. You cannot negotiate with an enemy that you cannot identify. This book identifies the problem AND the solutions.

Excerpt from the Introduction

Jarvious Cotton cannot vote. Like his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather, he has been denied the right to participate in our electoral democracy. Cotton’s family tree tells the story of several generations of black men who were born in the United States but who were denied the most basic freedom that democracy promises—the freedom to vote for those who will make the rules and laws that govern one’s life. Cotton’s great-great-grandfather could not vote as a slave. His great-grandfather was beaten to death by the Ku Klux Klan for attempting to vote. His grandfather was prevented from voting by Klan intimidation. His father was barred from voting by poll taxes and literacy tests. Today, Jarvious Cotton cannot vote because he, like many black men in the United States, has been labeled a felon and is currently on parole.

Cotton’s story illustrates, in many respects, the old adage “The more things change, the more they remain the same.” In each generation, new tactics have been used for achieving the same goals—goals shared by the Founding Fathers. Denying African Americans citizenship was deemed essential to the formation of the original union. Hundreds of years later, America is still not an egalitarian….(read more….)

Racism/Diversity

Political depression – What next for “the African-Americans”?

Leave a comment

A good rule of thumb for choosing a therapist is to find someone who can understand your feelings – someone who sees the world from your perspective in some way. You assume that their familiarity with you will help them protect you more effectively.

Painting by artist Kerry James Marshall, now at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art
Painting by artist Kerry James Marshall, now at the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art

In the 2016 election upset, the outsider who has stunned the world, has demonstrated that he sees women, immigrants, African Americans and Latinos as the outsiders. The newly elected misogynistic, reportedly racist, clearly flawed president-elect has no history of public service and yet he is taking on the role of protector & advocate for all Americans.  Many black folks (and whites, gays and women and differently-abled)  are now decidedly nervous.  With a penchant for “law & order” while being blind to the injustices acted out on black men & women daily through the criminal justice system, our fathers, spouses and children can become easy targets in this crisis of economic, religious and racial change.  What to do, what to do?

10 Steps to protect black life, especially in a Republican administration:

PLAN AHEAD

  1. Start planning now to take your whole family to vote.  The next presidential election will be here before you know it. Be educated and prepared for local upcoming elections.
  2. Join & become active in your local political process and party of choice.
  3. Keep a lawyer & law enforcement friends on speed dial. Check out apps that will automatically send your phone video to the ACLU. Know and communicate with your local public officials.
  4. Teach your kids how to interact with policemen & others in authority.
  5. BE VIGILANT: Monitor your kids’ whereabouts, know their friends & keep them busy in healthy activities. Be nicely nosy.  Practice gentle but effective intervention. Parenting is a 24/7 job.
  6. ADJUST THE SOLUTION TO THE LEVEL OF THE PROBLEM: Don’t use the police to settle family disputes & minor neighborhood disagreements. Have a plan in place for settling differences & learn to back down when it can save a life.  If the issue is serious enough,  use your church, school or community officials to help you negotiate solutions. If a family member has extreme stress or mental health needs, get them to a psychiatrist, mental health clinic or therapist. If drugs are being used in your home, contact a drug program or addictions counselor for help. Be respectfully persistent in getting them help from the right professionals. Police persons are not mental health specialists!
  7. Face your relationship problems with the intention of being fair to all parties. You could win the argument now but be faced with violence later. Every little slight does not require redress. Allow yourself & others to make interpersonal mistakes – to have a bad day. Let the minor things pass while you plan a fair, effective strategy to handle common problems in a democratic way.