Category Archives: Race

Jul 09 2016
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Police Brutality, Politics, Race, Uncategorized

A Letter to My Silent White Brothers & Sisters

A letter to my silent white brothers and sisters.
 
To my white brothers and sisters who have denied racial policing, racial profiling, and categorized the Black Lives Matter movement as a terrorist/fringe group: thank you for letting me know where you stand.
 
To my white brothers and sisters who have stayed silent, content with the status quo, and to those good, honest, men and women of integrity in blue who do not denounce their fellow officer’s transgressions while we’ve watched black- and brown-skinned people die at the hands of those sworn to uphold the law: shame on you.
 
I’m so tired of my silent white brothers and sisters who have remained silent while black lives have been ended at the hands of officers. Sure, they’ll express moral outrage about a lion shot in Zimbabwe or a gorilla shot in a zoo, but then I observe many of them as they try to justify another black life lost at the hand of an officer. “Well uh, he shouldn’t have moved his leg left!” Or “Well he shouldn’t have been selling CDs in front of the store!” It’s pathetic and insulting.
 
Then there are those who don’t want us to see race, those of my silent white brothers and sisters who want us all to “just get along.” The problem is “getting along” falls disproportionately on black- and brown-skinned peoples. It’s always OUR burden to “get along” when my silent white brothers and sisters, you hold all the keys and access to power! It’s always on us to be more like you. My silent white brothers and sisters, you don’t even try to consider our perspective.
 
And don’t dare mention privilege. That sends folks into a conniption. But in a moment of truth, ask yourself, “would I like to be treated like a Black American?” I doubt any of my silent white brothers and sisters would sign up for that life. And that speaks volumes.
 
I am so tired of having to plead MY humanness, MY basic right to not live in fear, MY right to equal treatment before the law. Silent white brothers and sisters, if you don’t get it by now, you are apart of the problem. Admit it, you just don’t care. And because you don’t care, what happened in Dallas last night is only a harbinger of things to come. Until you start to care, those disillusioned people whose lives are treated as less than will tragically combat violence with violence. Just watch.
 
The tragedy in Dallas yesterday was not unforeseeable. This is the result of much talk and little action. This is what happens when you have a group of disaffected and disenfranchised persons whose cries for help go unheeded. People lash out. Violently. And we slowly march down a path of violence & bloodshed and the destruction of already precarious communities. This path is unsustainable and we must not only denounce the violence against police, but also the brutality with which brown- and black-skinned persons are subjected to at said police hands.
 
But there’s a way we can bridge gaps, and heal communities: it starts with my silent white brothers and sisters.
 
When motivated, your silent majority can move mountains and change the arc of history:
 
We fought a Civil War because my silent white brothers and sisters opposed a policy of infinite servitude.
 
We said separate but equal is inherently unequal because my silent white brothers and sisters made it so.
 
We desegregated schools because my silent white brothers and sisters made it so.
 
We buried Jim Crow because my silent white brothers and sisters made it so.
 
We allowed interracial marriage because my silent white brothers and sisters made it so.
 
We ushered in a new area of civil rights acts (housing, voting, employment, and schools) to ensure that every brown- and black-skinned citizen of this country would enjoy all the promises guaranteed to him or her under the Constitution because my silent white brothers and sisters made it so.
 
My silent white brothers and sisters we are calling on you once more to help stem the tide of police violence against brown- and black-skinned Americans. We cannot do this without you.
 
If you have been silent thus far, consider this your official notice. This problem can only be solved when my silent white brothers and sisters decide to address it.
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Nov 28 2014
1 Comment
Police Brutality, Race, Uncategorized

“Do you think they’ll have a Black Friday sale on White Privilege?”

It’s becoming increasingly hard to resist the temptation to be an angry black man. All my life I’ve tried to straddle the line between objective fairness and Black homerism. This past week pushed my sensibilities to the limit. Tuesday was one of the most emotionally draining days of my life. What started Monday night, as an annoyance, ended Tuesday as full-blown disappointment. As people I respect, intelligent people, classmates, long-time friends, and other weighed in on the aftermath of the Darren Wilson grand jury announcement, many – dare I say too many? – were quick to point to the conclusion of the grand jury as evidence that no crime was committed. Proof, these folks said, that our justice system works!

 

But did the justice system work in this instance? There are a lot of questions about Attorney General Robert McCullouch, and whether he possessed the requisite credentials to properly try this case before the grand jury. I can’t escape the feeling that he should have recused himself – he having a well-documented, chummy relationship with local law enforcement, including serving as president of a local organization that fundraises for officers in Missouri and Illinois – from a situation that was bound to raise eyebrows no matter the outcome. What has become of prosecutorial ethics? During the press conference, McCulloch did everything he could to discredit witnesses who did not support the grand jury’s conclusion.

 

Yes we’ve made great strides in our attempts to become a post-racial America, however, it’s clear we still have a long road to hoe before we can celebrate equality before the law. The facts don’t lie: Black men (and other racial minority groups) are targeted by the criminal justice system. Black, Latino, and Asian Americans make up 26% of the general population, yet they represent 58% of the prison population. Black Americans are particularly susceptible to prison time. In Christopher Stone’s 1999 study Race, Crime, and the Administration of Justice: A summary of the Available Facts, Stone notes the prevalence of Black faces behind prison walls. Nationally, Black Americans accounted for fewer than half of the arrests for violent crimes, but they accounted for about 60% of prison admissions. A 2007 study conducted by Yale University College of Law concluded that Black defendants receive the death penalty at three times the rate of white defendants in cases where the victims are white. Furthermore, killers of white victims are treated more severely than people who kill minorities when it comes to deciding what charges to bring.

 

Given the history of racial antagonism in Ferguson and McCulloch’s cozy relationship with local police, one can’t help but question the process and the evidence presented to the grand jury. Furthermore, the relationship between Ferguson’s largely Black community and its nearly all-white police force, is strained to say the least. According to Newsweek:

A recent report by the legal defense nonprofit ArchCity Defenders found that 86 percent of vehicle stops in Ferguson involved a black driver, although just 67 percent of the city’s 21,203 residents are black. These traffic violations, which sometimes lead to weeks in jail, are an enormous burden on the black community. In 2013, the Ferguson Municipal Court disposed of 24,532 arrest warrants and 12,018 cases—“about 3 warrants and 1.5 cases per household,” the report said. Fines and court fees are Ferguson’s second largest revenue source.

“We’re just used to raise revenue,” said Patricia Bynes, a Democratic committeewoman for Ferguson Township. “On traffic day in these little municipalities, you usually find a white judge in the courtroom, white prosecutor, and you find lines of black people lined up around the corner that have been charged with these tickets.”

This constant low-level harassment of the black community has become the main point of contact between most black residents and the criminal justice system. And it always comes with the threat of violence. As multiple news reports since the Brown shooting have revealed, police in North County too often use excessive force against the black community.

Though the facts remain unclear, it appears Brown’s deadly confrontation with Officer Wilson began as a jaywalking stop. McCulloch isn’t involved in traffic stops, but the people of North County see the Brown shooting and the excessive traffic tickets as part of the same oppressive system. “To me, this is all police brutality, this is all excessive force, this is all racial profiling,” said Bynes.

 

When I speak of White Privilege, I talk about the unspoken advantages and lens through which many of my white brothers and sisters view the world. Often it’s due to ignorance and lack of exposure, other times it’s willful ignorance of the facts. White Privilege is real, and Michael Brown’s death allows us to reexamine how it shapes inter-racial interactions and how it challenges some of our deeply held beliefs about our country and justice system. Ferguson can not be analyzed in a vacuum. It must be viewed through the lens of 400 years of history, oppression, persecution, and fear-mongering. It should be understood through the eyes of a Black American citizen living in Ferguson, under the auspices of police practices that are suspect at best, and at worst, a blatant example of racial profiling. If a Black person is upset at the loss of life and the perceived lack of justice, you should be empathetic to their plight, understanding that it’s the latest in a line of slights, and perceived injustices. Those people deserve to at least have their viewpoints respected. Understand the end of slavery didn’t suddenly usher in an era of economic and political justice, it was merely the beginning of a fight for equality that continues today, and our broken justice system is proof of that; what happened in Ferguson is proof of that. The murder of Michael Brown was not the start of racial tension in Ferguson, Missouri, it was merely the spark that triggered the ire of a community at loggerheads with its police force. Those folks who are looting, burning buildings, and using civil disobedience to protest what they see as an injustice have apparently come to a conclusion: marches and rallies only get you so far, the political & economic justice they seek must be taken.

 

Its been a couple of days since the announcement, and I am still angry, still teetering between hopelessness, numbness, and the small space that separates each. But I am naturally an optimist, nothing is ever as good or as bad as it seems. And that’s why I’ve chosen to be a lawyer, so I can impact people, and my community in positive ways, using mechanisms that bring people together, with justice as the overriding principle. I’ll leave you with the words of hope, and encouragement that Professor Myles Lynk left with me last Tuesday night:

[A]s law students now and as lawyers to be, you should engage with your communities as a public citizen to improve:  the substantive law, access by all to the legal system, the administration of justice, and the quality of legal services. As a volunteer lawyer or an elected official or in a professional career as a criminal prosecutor or a criminal defense lawyer, you should work to help bridge the gap that often exists between minority communities and the majority-white police departments that police them. Does the community feel it is being served by the police, or being contained by them? There is so much that you as a lawyer will be able to do. We do not have the time or the luxury to be depressed or dispirited by what has happened. We are lawyers. “We Can Handle It!” What we need to do is help the communities and the individuals who cannot.

 

I love you all, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

JW

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Feb 10 2014
34 Comments
Race, Uncategorized, Victimhood

Being a “Black Contrarian” & The Marcus Smart Example

After the recent outcry over the fraternity “MLK Black Party” that took place several weeks ago & my subsequent blog which you can see here, I received the usual praise, primarily from White folks, & the usual criticism, primarily from Black folks. Let me be clear: I am no race-baiter, I am no opportunist, I am nothing; but with your help, your input, your ingenuity, we can not only sustain, but improve & enjoy more successful race relations. I am only an individual with a desire to bridge gaps, create understanding, & build a better community. We live in the greatest country, in the greatest time, with great opportunity as well as great privilege. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, & those of their ilk, I am not.

I write to open minds, shed stereotypes, & ignite discussion. Imagine my surprise when successful, intelligent Blacks whom I admire, chastise me for being too real, hitting too close to home & holding my community accountable. Often times I am labeled a Black Republican because of my contrarian views, contrasted with those within the Black community. However, even I am guilty of taking the “Black position” (see my thoughts on Justice Clarence Thomas). Even though I am a Black-American, that is only one aspect of who I am. I am an individual, & I’ve learned that I respect those who exercise freedom of thought, & do not fall into the trap of taking a position simply due to their racial makeup, their nationality, or their socio-economic status.

It is never my intent to disempower anyone. That being said, from a kid who lived in the projects growing up, I have lived a blessed life. It’s easy for me to sit from my perch & talk down to folks about what they’re doing wrong & how they could be better. It’s easy for me to talk about opportunity when I’ve been blessed with so many, some that many of my young Black brothers & sisters can only dream of. I’ve traveled, I’m cultured, I know which fork to use at a formal dinner, how to set a table & what to say & how to dress for any social situation. I sit where I am because the community has embraced me, supported me, & encouraged me. I am cognizant of all these blessings, & I take none of them for granted. However, the underlying principles of my life, the things that have made me successful, things like personal responsibility, accountability, perseverance & integrity are the principles on which my personal success is built. These are foundational elements, & we should exalt them, not disregard or downplay them. We, as a Black community, spend too much time being victims, & encouraging others to settle into the victimhood mentality, & this is one of my greatest sources of frustration with my Black community. We can never make progress if the conversation is consistently about who to blame & how we can escape accountability; this is the mindset I am fighting against.

When I talk to my Black family about accountability & the idea of pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, I am often met with resistance. Instead, we focus on past wrongs & blame others for our shortcomings as mothers, fathers, & citizens. We can no longer live like this. This is the victimhood mentality that has paralyzed our community & stunted our political, social, & intellectual growth. We have to identify the people & the issues that are stunting our growth and address them head on. We cannot expect the Jay-Zs, the Kanyes, the Sharptons, et. al. to fight those fights for us. Those folks espouse the philosophy of NEW SLAVERY, a mentality that values materialistic conquests & the perpetuation of a victimhood mindset. We need a narrowly focused effort that unifies & educates the family, in the home. Strong homes, make stronger citizens, make great communities. Instead, we have young men & women who idolize the aforementioned celebrities & value a lifestyle that is shortsighted & unrealistic.

The Marcus Smart situation is a prime example where personal responsibility & accountability should be at the forefront of our minds. (In case you haven’t seen it, see the clip here. The fan who was shoved allegedly hurled that racial epithet toward Smart. What the fan said doesn’t matter, Smart shouldn’t have put his hands on him.) Sadly, the majority of my Black brothers & sisters have shown support for Smart & his actions Saturday night. Let me be clear: support for the young man’s actions is misdirected, misguided, & only empowers his sense of entitlement & lawlessness. He has to learn to conduct himself with the aplomb expected of a (potential) professional athlete. Going into a rage & assaulting a person because they dropped that racial epithet is never the appropriate response. Can I knock someone out at my firm because they drop that word? On the street? Anywhere? For those who support Smart’s actions, tell me the logical conclusion of his rage every time some drops that word to disparage him?

By all means this young man has a bright future ahead of him, yet, without accountability he will never have an opportunity to see the NBA riches he covets. The correct response isn’t support for his actions, but constructive criticism for his lack of self-control. We need to distinguish him as a person from his actions Saturday night; condemning him for one should not be confused with condemning him for the other, & this is what we have failed to do as a Black community. Smart was forced to apologize; he should be. He was suspended for three games; it’s warranted. Don’t undermine the disciplinary process by telling the young man his actions were acceptable Saturday night, it gives mixed messages & more importantly, the wrong message. The young man has a history of tantrums, hopefully this is the wakeup call that helps him toe the line.

The praise from my White colleagues about the blogs I’ve written often make me uncomfortable. Sometimes I ask myself, am I a conduit through which they can voice an opinion they wouldn’t say aloud? This troubles me.

To my White friends & family, I urge you to be cautious in your words. Your experience is not the Black experience; your hasty disregard for your Black brothers & sisters story undermines the relationship we need to build. That relationship can be built if we listen & are receptive to what they have to say. To say that slavery does not affect you, to say that you haven’t struggled, to say that your experience is not worthy of my time, is to silence that person’s story. You’ll never understand being the only black person in a corporate meeting, or being the only kid in your class who is Black, or being told you can’t get into a Scottsdale club because your jeans are too baggy or you’re wearing Jordans, or whatever creative euphemism the doorman gives you that night. I would also caution you about your insistence that racism is nonexistent (it is very much alive & well), & the idea that it only exists in Black folks’ minds. Consider this: poverty is cyclical, & for a family, especially a family whose ancestors were firmly rooted in Jim Crow, slavery, & inequality, the cycle continues to this very day. This is not just Black families, but many white families as well. Once we understand the cyclical nature of poverty, it becomes abundantly clear why access & inequality still exist. In many places, we are living with the “badges & incidents” of slavery from decades past. Hell, inequality is written into our Constitution (check out that whole 3/5ths thing).

The sheer bigotry & vitriol for President Obama is enough to make even the most optimistic Black American suspicious of the political process & the true motives of the Right. Our history is littered with injustice (for a graphic recount of the lynchings & sheer terror Black Americans experienced, particularly Black women, go here), & when we turn on the news & see George Zimmerman go free (in some cases lauded as a hero) for the death of Trayvon Martin or Jordan Davis or Kimani Gray or Ervin Jefferson, or Timothy Stansbury Jr., or Sean Bell, or Victor Steen, (Start the video at 1:00 to see footage from the patrol car of Victor being run over by the officer), or Oscar Grant or even Emmett Till, how can we believe in a fair & just system? Compare that to Casey Anthony. How many of you have been stopped & frisked by NYPD because you fit a stereotype? When you say things like “get over it,” or “stop complaining,” not only is it insulting, it’s infuriating. Don’t cursorily dismiss any Black person’s situation, frustrations, & social misgivings. There is an abundance of evidence that lends credence to the thought that Black folks don’t get a fair shot in this country, even if one has made it to the White House. This is not meant to reinforce White guilt, this is meant to raise awareness; be cautious before you dismiss our story.

If you’ve made it this far, I’ve probably pissed you off, or maybe you agree with what I said. The point is I want to challenge your assumptions, have the discussion, shed stereotypes & promote understanding. We each have an important role to play in the discussion on race, we can contribute to it, or we can detract from it, but it is long past due for us to address it respectfully in the spirit of unity, brotherhood, & greater comprehension.

I love you all, & there’s nothing you can do about it.

JW

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Aug 25 2013
3 Comments
Race

Desegregating Arizona’s Public Schools

Every once in a while I come across a piece of writing that touches me to the core. Brown v. Board of Education gave birth to my law school dreams, and it continues to be a highlight not only for me, but for all of American jurisprudence. This particular writing is a brief history of the process of desegregating Arizona’s schools. I wouldn’t waste your time with banal thoughts, so if I’m posting it, there must be some value to it. Take 15 minutes and learn about how the Arizona courts led the US Supreme Court in deciding that “separate but equal is inherently unequal.”

Blessings. JW

A Brief History of Desegregating Arizona’s Public Schools

 

I love you all, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

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Aug 02 2013
4 Comments
Race

Riley Cooper, The N-word, & The hypocrisy of it all

Family, this Riley Cooper story is typical and unsurprising in so many ways. Let’s review: a white athlete says a racially charged comment while drunk at a country music concert, all of Black America responds by condemning the man, the media run away with the racial elements of the story, and said white athlete makes a public apology.

For those who don’t know who Riley Cooper is a wide-receiver for the National Football League’s Philadelphia Eagles. During the summer, at a Kenny Chesney concert, someone recorded a confrontation a drunken Cooper had with a security guard. During the confrontation, Cooper said that he would “jump that fence and fight every nigger here.” You can see the twenty-second video yourself here.

In the latest development of this non-story, Cooper and the team have agreed to let him take some time away from football to seek counseling (i.e. come back when the heat and media pressure have died down a bit).

So you may be asking, what’s wrong with this picture? I certainly don’t agree with Cooper’s word choice, but what’s most infuriating is the righteous indignation with which members of the black community have responded. The Black Pimps (Sharpton, Jackson, et. al.) and Sharks are circling, looking for any way they can inject themselves into yet another race controversy. (Let’s be clear, Sharpton, Jackson, and crew ARE race-baiters, there’s no way around it, but that’s a story for another post). The bigger question is why do we have this double-standard when it comes to the N-word? Pookie, Uncle Ron, and I can use it, but we get upset when Peter says it? I don’t understand? We have members of our community who profit off of the use of the word, I couldn’t turn on the radio last year without hearing Kanye and Jay-Z talk about niggas in Paris. Where is the outrage when Kanye and Jay-Z say it? Why aren’t we responding with the same righteous indignation? The next time a member of the Black community who uses the N-word gets upset when a white person uses it in the same or similar context, ask them, why is it ok for you to use it and not me? This idea that Black folks have exclusive use over a word that is used to perpetuate hate is preposterous, and frankly the word should be removed from our lexicon. Since that isn’t likely to happen, let me redefine what a nigger is: a nigger is a lazy, low-life, good for nothing, good to no one, useless individual of ANY race. So under this definition how many niggers/as do you actually know?

The point of this blog is to stimulate discussion amongst my Black brothers and sisters about how we cling to a word that has a negative connotation attached to it. I have friends of different ethnic backgrounds that think its OK to use this word because they hear us saying it, they hear musicians profiting from it, and that leads many of them to believe that the word has become mainstream enough that its OK for everyone to use it. That’s wrong. Before we can criticize others for their word choice, we must clean ours first. I hope that one day we’ll see the end of the silly ass cycle of Riley Coopers and the resulting Black/Media outrage that accompanies it. Until then, pay close attention and observe the erosion of common sense, and the hypocrisy of it all.

I love you all, & there’s nothing you can do about it.

~JW

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