An overwhelming proportion of the killings involve black-on-black crime. The reasons for high rates of violence in African-American communities have been the subject of debate among criminologists. Some attribute it to the migration of prison culture, with large numbers of incarcerated young men returning to their communities
Yep. While there are many reasons for the creation of the violent inner city culture, and guilt to be handed out to both black and white leaders, at some point the historical reasons for a culture that emphasizes violence as an answer, that denigrates cooperation and compromise as "weak", that stigmatizes educational pursuits as "acting white", and that mistakenly adopts prison culture dress, talk and dysfunctional attitude as the zenith of personal expression, means shit when it is you who is held up or car jacked.
Worse, there is a chicken and egg relationship to the problem. The biggest threat to the elimination of racism is when whites perceive a certain percentage of blacks acting a certain way. But simply, when a white who has been exposed to racist views by his upbringing, the biggest thing that refutes the racist image is when he sees his black co-workers or neighbors engaging in the same sort of activities that he does, contributing the same things to the community, holding similar values, etc., and - in a shallower way - having cultural views that are close to the same. While not the biggest thing, having kids walk around with their pants down to their knees and their underwear showing does as much to reinforce racist views as anything. Call it expression if you like, but it is insulting to many to have to see people walking around in public looking like that. When you are the group trying to gain acceptance within a larger group, acting in a manner that is insulting to that larger culture is a poor strategy. Now, just because a kid dresses like a prison punk does not mean that he is a bad person. But if he gets treated with some disdain, not hired in an interview, or seen as threatening because he looks like a thug newly released from prison, you would be naive to say that his actions played no part in the mix. To some extent "fair" is beside the point. I know a gal who insisted that since guys could run around having sex with anyone they could find and be a "playboy" or "playah", they she as a female had that right too, that it did not make her any less a future wife or mother, and that is was a double standard that women could not behave in that way too. While that is true on an intellectual level, the reality of the deal was that she was viewed as the town pin cushion and whore, nobody wanted to marry her, although they would fuck her, and she had to leave town to start her life over because of the reputation. "Fair"? No. But if her goal was to find a husband in our town, then her strategy was doomed to failure. Likewise, if elimination of racism is a goal, then acting in a way that is virtually assured to frighten and repulse the majority (pants down to your knees, the only facial expression allowed to be shown to white teachers and authority figures is a menacing scowl) is not a good strategy either.
I recently saw a high school yearbook from an inner city school, and it was striking how almost none of the males smiled. And it was not just not smiling, it was as if there was a "bad ass scowl" competition was going on. All of these are little things in one sense, but they add up to a big problem in the larger sense.
So when one omnipresent view in current popular culture portrays blacks as more violent, more into a gun culture (not NRA, but settling any disputes with your Glock, having a piece on you at all times, etc), very much into drugs, un-interested in pursuing education, but having a major emphasis in "keeping it real" and continuing some questionable practices no matter the ability of an individual to climb the social economic ladder, that affects the view of the observer.
I am not saying that racist views are the fault of the black community. I am saying that some of the ways in which blacks are viewed is self created. 80 and 90 percent illegitimacy rates in some communities are the norm. A crisis of an absence of black fathers for these illegitimate kids is readily observable. I had one recent client talk about his family in his deposition. He had five baby mommas and eight kids, married to none of them, and only marginally involved in any of their lives. So what?, you rightly ask, there are many dead beat fathers who are white. And that is true. The problem is that when a certain negative characteristic becomes wide spread or involves a high percentage of any sub group, it becomes a stereotype. And stereotypes are not wrong because there is not truth in them statistically, they are wrong because they lead to attributing things to everyone in a group no matter the individual truth. The joke is that the Irish drink too much. The truth is that Ireland has one of the worst alcohol related problems statistics in the world (they battle it out with Russia for most booze consumed)
The high incidence of black males with criminal records is not solely caused by racist cops hassling young black males as some liberals have opined. Lots of brothers in the hood with no education, little parenting and few role models indeed to commit crime in disproportionate numbers. The "why" of the disintegrated nuclear family is partly the disastrous 60s and 70s AFDC policies that economically rewarded mothers who were not wed. Partly it is the way that the public schools were treated in an unequal way prior to integration. Certainly it is more influenced by the piss poor family life that arises when kids with little education or modeling give birth to kids. Without competent parenting and with few economic options, turning to a life of crime is not a poor choice, given the alternative of no income at all.
Why the economic problems? Hell, blacks have been kept down, discriminated against, refused housing in the neighborhoods I lived in, refused jobs in the skilled occupations my relatives worked at, and all together fucked over from slavery to the 60s and 70s, when it became marginally better socially, and much better from a legal standpoint, as laws said you can't get away with it as easily anymore.
What amazes me is the extent to which white America ignores how pervasive and all encompassing the discrimination was. What is equally amazing is how the black community and its leaders have a absolute blind spot as to the many problems in the inner city and urban black culture. Jessie Jackson said he was worried when he saw a black youth following him when he was jogging, and had to retract, but it was true. It is also true that if every racist in America dropped dead today - every one - the problems of violence and illegitimacy and crime and a refutation of education by black youth would continue. Essentially, the big problem is how to affect cultural change with the effects of poverty, single parent, and child parent families are seemingly intractable.
I think we need resources put in schools, with low teacher student ratios. But money will not go it. What good is it if the school has money or teachers, if the kid does not do homework, or can't do homework at home because of a lack of parental interest, too many siblings, no quiet area to do it, etc. I would have class 12 months a year, that have mandatory post class study halls in order to ensure kids do the work. I think we have to accept that some parts of our society are so broken that it is delusional to say that "well...the kid should study and if he does not it is his lack of personal responsibility" when he has no role model that gives a shit about education.
The money it takes to run the criminal justice system, to have trials, to have appeals, and to incarcerate our youth is astronomical. The only way to fix it is to put money in education. And the only way to make that education work despite the money is in some areas to take the parenting role away from the dysfunctional family and make the kid do everything at school, and have school all year long to get the advancement you need.
Without education you will get large numbers of teen deaths and an increasingly fragmented society that will fail to shake the last remnants of racism due to the perception that "black" as a gut instinct means "cause of crime". That perception, true or not true, will be an impediment to future progress in eliminating racial stereotypes if demographic statistics continue as they are.
