Thinking About Race – (January 2018) Tears we Cannot Stop
Professor and author Michael Eric Dyson, in Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America (2017), in preaching mode, addresses the reader directly as “Beloved.” Excerpts from Chapter 5 “Our Own Worst Enemy.”
“Beloved, why is it that every time black folk talk about how poorly the cops treat us you say that we should focus instead on how we slaughter each other in the streets every day? … You do not bring this up because you’re genuinely concerned. You want to win points in debates. You want to avoid any responsibility for how traumatized our communities are. You want to hide from the horror of cops mowing us down like we’re animals. (p. 143)
“Beloved, what you see happening among us is not best understood as black-on-black crime. Rather it is neighbor-to-neighbor crime. … You are right, however, about those proportions. Ninety-three percent of black folk who are killed are killed by other black folk. But 84 percent of white folks who are killed are killed by other white folks. … Where’s the white-on-white crime rhetoric? Where are the rants against white folk ruining white culture with their murderous ways?
“White folk commit the bulk of the crimes in our nation. And, beloved, it might surprise you that white folk commit the most violent crimes too. … White folk consistently lead all other groups in aggravated assault, larceny, illegal weapons possession, arson, and vandalism. [Other statistics follow.] The white-on-white mayhem is profound, yet no one speaks of it in racial terms.” (pp. 148-149)
To get involved in community education or advocacy, contact Indian Affairs Committee Clerk Sara Horsfall (Patapsco) at 817-875-4016 shorsfall99@hotmail.com or Pat Powers (Sandy Spring) at 301-460-4939 patricia_r_powers@yahoo.com.