We must do something to stem this wanton bloodshed
Please make them stop.I’m talking about the wanton, reckless firearm slayings that happen too often in Virginia and around the country. The victims and killers are disproportionately Black men.
So far, Mr. Chesley is correct, at least according to the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer. Anecdotally, based on decades of media reports, I concur. Blacks are disproportionately committing crimes, and being victimized. One — and Chesley does — wonder what causes that. How do we fix it?
Chesley’s answer is…
Guns. Too many guns. Easy access to guns.
Of course, it is. [-roll eyes-]
To me, based on the data, news reporting and other observations, it seems a three-pronged approach is necessary if this nation will ever significantly lower firearm deaths:
- Use the research on guns, mayhem and intervention that is widely available; more than 1,400 violence prevention studies have already been done.
- Do better at stopping guns from getting into the hands of criminals and would-be criminals. More than 73 percent of the homicides for which the FBI received weapons data in 2019 involved firearms, the agency reported. Handguns comprised 62 percent of the firearms used in murders and nonnegligent manslaughters in 2019.
If the guns are the cause of the problem, why are black men disproportionately using the guns, and disproportionately on each other? According to Pew:
And while 36% of whites report that they are gun owners, about a quarter of blacks (24%) and 15% of Hispanics say they own a gun.
Whites, particularly white males seem to disproportionately own guns. If Chesley’s thesis that guns are the problem held true, then offenders and victims would be disproportionately white, not black.
The reflexive response, by those with a vested interest in funding to study the problem — as opposed to fixing it — is to blame inherent, systemic racism that somehow causes those blacks to be involved in crime. That is both simplistic and wrong.
Per this study, 23% of blacks have felony convictions. That’s unfortunate, but looking solely at that number ignores a much happier fact: The vast majority of black — 77% DO NOT have felony convictions.
That would seem to rule out systemic, keep-the-black-man-down racism. Once more, if that was the problem, it wouldn’t only be holding down one small portion of the population.
Perhaps you noticed that I left out Chesley’s “third prong” in his approach. Third; apparently less important, less pressing and blaming guns.
- Instill into young men – overwhelmingly African American – a respect for life and a determination not to use guns to settle arguments. (Why so many believe America devalues them is a discussion for another day. Many young Black men, though, can’t envision a productive or equitable future.)
Finally, he is on the right track. Sort of. Instead of comparing white vs. black crime and victimization rates (and leaving the damned guns out it), what needs to be studied is why the majority of blacks are not criminals. What differentiates the 23% from the majority 77%? Why does that small subset lack that respect for life; why does that small subset lack that vision?
I have my own suspicions, based on personal anecdotal experience. One productive neighbor is a college graduate; I know he has a clean record because a felon cannot be licensed to do the job he held.
The neighbors on the other side of me are likewise fine, decent people. In fact, when I had my accident last year, A—- was one of the first people to rush to my aid. She was also the first to rush to hug me when she saw me finally walking without a walker (I was still on a cane).
The common denominator for these people, whom I cannot imagine turning to a life of thuggish crime, is family. They have intact families with whom they are in contact. Families that taught them to be decent people, and self respect that allows them to respect others, as well.
If Chesley wants to fix the problem, he needs to find a way to instill that same kind of respect in that small group that lacked that advantage in their youth. But that’s going to be a lot tougher than just blaming guns.
It could be done, but implementing it — three easy lessons — requires courage.*
* For the record: I do not think that anyone in a position to begin implementing my suggestions has the inclination or courage to do it. Nor do I think that anyone with said inclination and guts will be allowed to achieve such a position any longer. Hopefully, someone will prove me wrong.
I am a former high-school teacher in a large, mostly-black American city in the South. I have not been in the profession in over two decades, but if the reports I read are any indication, things haven’t change in the ‘hood.
The school where I taught was allegedly to be located in a “middle class upwardly mobile” neighborhood, but that proved to be wishful thinking.
Many was the time I’d call a home asking to speak to a parent about a troublesome student, or one having academic difficulties, only to find out no adult was at home and that a child was minding the store. The parents, if both of them were living under the same roof, were out working. No money for a baby-sitter or daycare.
Single-parent homes were very common, and it was likewise common for a young black man not to know his father. Many moms were nothing short of heroic in trying to raise their boys into men, but they – most of the time – could not do it alone, not without at least some sort of positive male influence in their son’s life – a coach, teacher, uncle, older brother, whoever.
Fantasy-type thinking predominated. If I had a dollar for every time some young black man told me he didn’t need to study because he was going to be an NBA star, I’d be rich myself. Explaining statistics and probability was tough, because many of these students were functionally illiterate and innumerate. How they made it to high-school sophomore is anyone’s guess.
Teen pregnancy was common and the gals bragging about having “something cute” to cuddle, and the guys just went on to their next sexual conquest. Uncle Sugar paid for it, so why not?
A young black man – a student at the school – was murdered over Christmas break for his Air Jordan basketball shoes… yeah, I’m that old! One of my female students was mugged for her leather jacket. Crime was endemic, from petty stuff on up to hardcore drug dealing and violent felonies. It was no big deal to know someone – perhaps even a relative – who’d been in the joint.
I am lucky to have survived being there, because I was threatened with violence a few times myself.
After school one day, I came upon a couple having intercourse in a stairwell. I was sexually propositioned myself many times – and by students no less. I learned never – and I mean never – to be in a conference or room alone with a female student. Always have some other staff member there.
The administration of the school played to the parents and to the students, whose ratings determined how much funding the school got, and how the principal was rated, and not the teachers – whom they did not back at all.
Substantial pressure was applied by the principal (who was a white woman, by the way) to inflate grades. That was the last straw, I resigned, hightailed it out of there and never looked back… glad to have an intact skin. But man alive, that sure as heck opened my eyes.
I remember reading an article by maybe Star Parker? about how the Democrats “Great Society” championed by LBJ ruined the black family life which had been as strong or stronger than white families with a lower rate of divorce.
The left ruins everything they get their grubby paws on.