written by Anti-Racist Parent columnist Lis Dwyer; originally published at Los Angelista’s Guide to the Pursuit of Happiness
Earlier tonight I was talking with someone about the murder of Chicago teenager Derrion Albert.
It’s been a week since his murder and I still refuse to watch the video of it. — It’s not a made-up episode of The Hills or Real Housewives of Atlanta. It’s true reality, a real teenager being murdered. No reason for me to watch what’s essentially a snuff video.
Yes, I know, people who watched helped identify the assailants. But I wasn’t there. I’m not going to be able to identify anybody. Therefore, I have no reason to watch aside from sheer voyeurism.
The first time I read about the murder, I immediately thought about what I would do if something like this happened to one of my own sons. Such thoughts really scare me.
That’s because even though my boys live in a completely different city, in a completely different set of circumstances, what happened to Derrion Albert doesn’t feel so far away. The violence against a young black male doesn’t feel so far away.
As my sons get older, I feel more afraid. They are closer to being teenagers. Closer to being targeted by both cops and gangs. Targeted by peers who want to prove they’re “somebody” in a society that has taught them they’re nothing but thugs.
I’m not being paranoid.
Violence against minority school-age children in general has seriously plagued Chicago this year. Derrion’s murder is the 36th murder of a child or teen in the city this year, and I really wonder, as Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan wondered two years ago, what would happen if 36 kids in Chicago’s wealthy suburbs got murdered?
And what about Los Angeles?
“Los Angeles, California, notorious for its gang problems, is larger than Chicago. It has reported only 23 child slayings this school year.”
Is there such a thing as “only” 23? What would happen if 23 kids in Beverly Hills, Pacific Palisades or Brentwood got murdered? We can’t even imagine that, can we?
So will this be the straw that breaks the back of indifference to these crimes against children of color? My immediate response is a cynical one: No.
The conversation is already going through that revolving door where the blame falls on black people, particularly lower income black people, as if they single-handedly created the pathologies that are at work in their communities.
Honestly, I don’t want to read not one more blog post or Bill Cosby missive about how this is all the fault of promiscuous black single mothers and absent black fathers. It’s deeper than that, and it’s deeper than it being the fault of the generic “white man” too.
It feels, as Malcolm X said, like the chickens coming home to roost. As a society, we have chosen to not uphold desegregation laws. We have chosen to allow low income children of color to receive a substandard education, simply because they live in a different zip code. We have chosen to not pay a living wage so that people can actually have the means to pursue life, liberty and happiness, so they can move out of dangerous neighborhoods if they see fit. And we have chosen to allow gangs and narcotic trafficking to run rampant, as long as it stays controlled on the “bad” side of town.
As for having some sort of moral or spiritual “center” where today’s teens know not to beat one of their peers to death, that sort of center doesn’t just fall out of the sky and infect kids like Swine Flu. Yes, children and teens should know better, but we live in a do-whatever-you-wanna-do culture. Self-control is in no way a part of our world these days.
I’m not saying this to excuse what these teenagers did. But hello, didn’t you read Lord of the Flies as part of your education?
Speaking of education, almost every article I’ve read has referenced Derrion being an honor student. Yes, he was, but that’s not the main reason his murder is such a horrible thing. His grades are not the only reason his life had any worth. Even if Derrion got straight F’s his murder would still be an absolute travesty.
I have more questions than answers in this situation. And I come back to my own two sons. How would I feel if that was one of my own boys? Devastated. Unable to function.
I don’t want to think about it. If I think about it too much, I’m going to pack my boys off to the middle of Montana where their only contact is a fictional swan with a trumpet.
I’ll die before I let my sons be another statistic.
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Heck, move over here. People are calling Amsterdam (about a million population) a murder city, because the *total* number of murders is 25 so far this year (that’s a big jump).
I’ve read that in most American cities, the school system is funded by property taxes – any idea if that’s true in your area? That seems like a policy guaranteed to perpetuate poverty.
Why Americans are so much more violent than other nationalities, I don’t think I’ll ever understand.
“It feels, as Malcolm X said, like the chickens coming home to roost. As a society, we have chosen to not uphold desegregation laws. We have chosen to allow low income children of color to receive a substandard education, simply because they live in a different zip code. We have chosen to not pay a living wage so that people can actually have the means to pursue life, liberty and happiness, so they can move out of dangerous neighborhoods if they see fit. And we have chosen to allow gangs and narcotic trafficking to run rampant, as long as it stays controlled on the “bad” side of town.”
yes! yes! and yes! But how do we change this? I want to make it change – have wanted to make it change for years. I vote differently. I look at life through a different lens than I used to. I speak up when I can. People, in general, don’t want to hear this message. They don’t want to change their lifestyles. Or give up more of their income so others can have the same opportunities as they have had.
What are others actively doing to make the status quo change?
“I’ll die before I let my sons be another statistic.”
Ironically, a statement that so many other mothers living on the “bad side of town” can’t realistically quote for lack of resources, or if they do make the statement, do so in a very literal sense.
Thanks for an excellant post.
As stated here http://www.lipmagazine.org/~timwise/fearandloathing.html “Nationally, whites commit about sixty percent of all violent crime… White youth are more than twice as likely as black youth to kill their own parents. White youth are more likely than black youth to use drugs, (and whites generally are far more likely to be heavy users). Whites are nearly twice as likely to drive drunk. White males are more likely to bring a weapon to school with them than black males are. And rates of criminal victimization are actually slightly higher in suburban schools than in urban ones.” As we discuss this let’s remember that it’s not just a black male issue.
Moth, your point is taken; however, white males are NOT twice as likely to go to prison for all of that misbehavior.
Perhaps we are more violent because we internalized our colonialism, slave plantations and empire, unlike European nations like the Netherlands which committed their atrocities overseas and then walked away when the inevitable uprising happened. There are some very interesting books on the legacy of slavery and how it has negatively impacted those enslaved and those who were the slavers. And of course the availability of killing instruments like handguns have a huge effect on the ability of people to kill others.
Liz, thank you for this very thoughtful and passionate post. I, too, worry about my children – girls and a boy – and the growing violence that we see in our communities.
While it “is not just a black male issue” and the statistics quoted are correct, the truth is that our black males are unfairly targeted. And, they aren’t just unfairly targeted in the judicial system, they are also affected psychologically and physically. The effects of racism on our health — be it the constant stress of moms fearing the safety of our children, stress of our children who aren’t treated as equals, etc.
And, unfortunately untimely – even in the middle of rural and small towns, violence still occurs. This past week alone there have been senseless murders that have received national attention, likely because they occurred in “unlikely places.”
Again, thanks for this great post, Liz.
@Moth: I think Tim Wise may have messed up his stats. I’m fairly sure that, instead of saying “whites are twice as likely to drive drunk” he should have said “a drunk driver is twice as likely to be white”. Essentially, I think he had the fraction upside down, if you see what I mean.
Quickly, the stats I found were here:
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm and shows that in terms of incidents per 100,000 population, African Americans have a much higher rate of victimization (and perpetration) than whites.
Which, ironically, I think still supports your point – that it’s not a race problem, it’s a poverty and despair problem. It’s just that African Americans are more highly represented in that particular cohort.
Okay. What are we going to do now? The books/blogs/articles have been written and read over and over again.
My suggestion – we swiss-cheese this issue. We have the goods and by god, what we lack in courage we can make up with desperation.
I will start simple – Dr. Joy DeGruy has a great piece on PTSS. Senator Eric Adams offers his space in his office if we need a meeting place. I will start there.
What can you do?
Thank you, Liz for this article; for articulating what I have been saying for years even before I had my son.
I haven’t watched the video. I can’t identify anyone on it. The fear and reality of this incident hits me.. way too close to home. My son’s name is similar to this young honor student. My son used to ride the bus to school down that very street;through two gang territories on his way to elementary school, only to be terrorized by the younger brothers and sisters of these gang members at school.
I have raised my son not to fight, avoid verbal arguments, take a variety of paths home, know alternate routes to avoid violent areas. It is not because I am a single mother, it is not because we are poor ( even though I am not considered poor because I make $1 above the poverty level).
It is a mentality of : not my kids, not my neighborhood, not my race, not my problem. This mentality that the oppression of others while not affect others is a false and dysfunctional syllogism that WILL destroy this country.
Property taxes are used to pay for schools that is correct but most low income areas not apartments and apartment dwellers do not pay property tax and the owners pay a low property tax and most of those apartment complex owners dont even live in Chicago.
Tragedies like Derrion Albert occurs because parents have to work two jobs and can’t attend PTA or be involved with the bake sale in the community. Its because police are trained and have a history of targeting young black boys and automatically express agression against this group. My son has been stopped while in a white oxford, tie and slacks ( not jeans) carrying a full bookbag ( of books) and walking down the street reading a book ( not a comic) by police and neighborhood kids.
How do I expect him to stay out of trouble and avoid this type of tragedy when the everyone else in his life is telling him that this is his fate? I tell him that he matters, he counts, he is smart, he is capable, his life is worth something, there is a purpose for him in this world and the world keeps telling him that he can be killed in the streets like a dog by cops or peers?
The solution to me is to stop accepting mediocrity, and negativity in our homes and communities and from our police.
Just my venting…
THIS POST is exactly what has been swimming through my mind ever since Derrion Albert was killed. While I am white, two of my sons (step, but sons none the less) are black, my youngest is biracial (but essentially looks and is perceived as black), and we are pretty sure this next one due in April will be a boy too. I wept uncontrollably when the snippets of tape reached my eyes, because I felt like he could have been my son.
I, like you, haven’t watched the video. I’ve tried – I find some merit in the argument that this is our Emmet Til and we all need to face what has happened to a child in the brutal open casket 2.0 that is the video – but I simply can’t do it.
I was watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann last night (hour long special comment on healthcare), and as he yelled at the camera about how we can be a society that simply lets its people die because they don’t have money, that says you can’t afford to live, I thought of Derrion Albert. I am not excusing his killers individual responsibility, but like the Malcolm X quote you cite, the fact this can happen, the fact it can happen and no one is there to intervene, is so much more than 12 kids gone wrong. It’s the symptom of a society that teaches it’s children from a very young age that life is of a low value. This message is driven home in a whole different way if you live in the Southside of Chicago. Like you said, this 23 or 46 or, hell, 3 deaths like this couldn’t happen in Beverly Hills without it being a huge deal.
@Jake – There’s definitely not a lot of recognition over here of the Dutch role in enabling slavery (especially after the English outlawed it).
Not especially relevant, to be honest, but there have been some issues here with the Netherlands losing their empire, in particular Indonesia and Surinam. One of the more crime-ridden neighborhoods (in the southeast) of Amsterdam has a concentration Surinamese and West Carribean immigrants, and has this year had a spike in gun crime. There’s a fair bit of brow beating going on in the media, but it’s mainly about how to solve the problem (to be fair, they are looking at root causes like education and safe places for kids and not talking about locking more people up) and not so much about what about Dutch society has caused the problem in the first place.
I wonder about the gun ownership question – Canada and Switzerland both have much higher gun ownership rates. Maybe it’s pistols vs. rifles?
@Dersk, your post refers to homicidal drunk driving. Tim Wise refers to drunk driving period.
Thank you, everyone, for weighing in my post. I know so many of us are thinking about this, but how quickly the memory fades, and before we know it, this same story is repeated in another city, with someone else’s child.
I also have found Dr. Joy DeGruy Leary’s work to be incredibly insightful. She speaks the truth on so many levels.
The question about how do we make it different, how do we change things — it’s an overwhelming question on some levels because it requires a complete overhaul of so much of the way our society functions — a recognition of and actions based on basic human rights for all. So since that’s not where it needs to be, I try to focus on being a vigilant parent, being a mentor, and being active in my local community center and school.
I’m often left with the sinking feeling that that’s not enough.
Moth – should have been more clear in my example, but I think it still stands. From how he wrote, he seems to think that these two statements are mathematically equivalent: “Twice as many murders were committed by whites than by blacks” and “A white person is twice as likely to commit murder than a black.”
Impossible to say without knowing the numbers behind the article you linked, of course, but those statements seemed a bit fishy to me.
(formerly known as curlyscales)
@Liz
To think about this situation in its entirety is too overwhelming. Break it down into manageable parts and move forward. The weight of it is too much for the mind to handle.
What can we do?
My son was just murdered this past october, I’m devastated, single black mother, he was only 21 yrs of age, I feel like killing myself, I tried to save him the best I could, I guess I couldn’t his father was not in his life, so where do that leaves me, empty and voided.