Violence in the 'loo

It seems Waterloo keeps getting more and more violent. These links refer to incidents in just the past week. There have been countless more shootings, robberies, and muggings in the past 6 months.

When you read the comments under each of these articles you will see blame placed in various places. I see things through a little different lens.

People can find fault in many places including the police, the landlords, the parents, the cops, city council, not to mention the drug dealers. Each of these parties probably could do more to prevent these awful things from happening. I want to look at three different parties involved in the situation: Society at large, the individual who does the act of violence, and myself.

I will begin with myself. I am at fault. How you might ask? I don't personally do anything to try to improve the situation. While I could be volunteering at countless number of places to help, I sit writing on a blog few people follow. While I believe that the situation is systemic to a bigger problem, I don't advocate my beliefs in a meaningful forum. The blame needs to start with me, before I point the finger anywhere else. I could do a lot more, but I don't.

Next lets talk about Society at large. This is where I feel a large portion of the blame should go. If you have read anything that I have written prior to this point, you know that I have a soft spot for poor people, and especially for minorities, and specifically for African Americans. Many of these acts of violence, if not all, have involved African Americans. My heart aches for the families involved, and I also feel bad for those who sweep the impact of our nations history under the rug.

Simply put, African Americans have had approximately 45 years to overcome deliberate, damaging racism, and racism is alive today. Too often we forget history. Too often I hear people, especially privileged white people, say that racism is in our past and we need to merely move on. I believe we need to move past thinking black people are victims or unable to succeed. This does not mean we should not be aware of the consequences of our country's prolonged racism.

We need to remember that for hundreds of years some white people intentionally tried to keep black people from education. We also need to remember that there was more than just a glass ceiling for blacks. the ceiling was made of steel. Now, as a race, people of color have had two or three generations to overcome poverty, injustice, and perceptions. Although the laws may have changed 45 years ago, many people still hold racism in their heart today. I have heard the comments myself from people that would surprise you.

There are countless places to find empirical stories of racism. There have also been multiple studies. I want to bring to light merely two sources of information about racism to show how hard it is to overcome.

One source is the book Blink (which I would suggest everyone reading and not merely for anything to do with race). The book highlights how we make split second decisions. In the book it highlights multiple instances of racism from prices on negotiated products like a new car (black men got initial offers of $1,687 over invoice compared to white men who received offers of $725 dollars over invoice), to priming on things like tests (def: priming in psychology is where an early stimulus influences response to a later stimulus. For example, when a person reads a list of words including the word table, and is later asked to complete a word starting with table, the probability that subject answers table is higher than for non-primed, from google definitions), to implicit associations. I can't adequately explain how the book describes how we make split second decisions and how ingrained racism is in our minds. I urge everyone to read the book. The decisions we make in split seconds cannot hide what has been ingrained in our minds. Even people who do not think they are prejudice definitely have negative thinking towards blacks. We act on this thinking in different ways, but usually we do something, which black people notice. Eventually these actions decrease a person's self image. .

The second source of information is a recent study which can be found here: http://www.economicmobility.org/assets/pdfs/EMP_Education_ChapterVIII.pdf

The most telling graphic:

Look at the outcomes for poor people compared to rich people. Take some time to peruse those numbers, they tell a story. Now think how hard it is to get to college if you are poor.

Now combine Racism with being poor and you get a tough situation. I believe that it takes a special person to overcome the prejudices that accompany being black and especially hard when poor. We must not forget this. Society must understand this and do something about it. Before we point fingers at other people we must first point fingers at our institutions and our own prejudices.

Last I want to discuss the person who commits the act of violence. I am sympathetic. My guess is the person hasn't had many positive influences, doesn't think he has much of a future, doesn't know what to do. Essentially he doesn't know how to overcome what is discussed above. Now he must not point the finger at others, he must point it at himself. He must find it in himself to overcome the situation. Like I said, it is not easy, and it takes a special person, but it can be done. Ultimately each person is responsible for their own actions, no matter their circumstances. The downtrodden need to find something to live for. I believe that something is God.

Society must do a better job recognizing our failures, individuals must do a better job overcoming their circumstances, but it all begins with me. I cannot change the world until I change myself.