Prometheus 6

The New York Times pulls out the big guns, and Black folks are in the cross hairs. Orlando Patterson gathers issues Black folks have been trying to get action on for a long time, fears of white folks and O.J. Simpson to undermine the demand for equal protection under the law in Jena, LA and by extension the whole Confederate States of America (“Sir, this is the South. We have different laws down here”).

Jena, O. J. and the Jailing of Black America
By ORLANDO PATTERSON

What exactly attracted thousands of demonstrators to the small Louisiana town? While for some it was a simple case of righting a grievous local injustice, and for others an opportunity to relive the civil rights era, for most the real motive was a long overdue cry of outrage at the use of the prison system as a means of controlling young black men....

How, after decades of undeniable racial progress, did we end up with this virtual gulag of racial incarceration?

You really want to help, Mr. Patterson? Start with the absolute truth. This "gulag of racial incarceration" did not take place after decades of undeniable racial progress. It took place as a part of decades of undeniable racial progress...which means we've been in denial all this time. Every time you talk about "decades of undeniable progress" you deny the reality of a HUGE fraction of Black constituencies. Every time you talk about "decades of undeniable progress" you speak of the experience of a fairly well defined subgroup of both Black and white folks.

This is a fact. The situation in Jena exposed this with undeniable clarity. I think this knowledge is...maybe correctly...seen as a threat to the peace. Hence the effort to obscure it beneath other legitimate concerns.

Part of the answer is a law enforcement system that unfairly focuses on drug offenses and other crimes more likely to be committed by blacks, combined with draconian mandatory sentencing and an absurdly counterproductive retreat from rehabilitation as an integral method of dealing with offenders. An unrealistic fear of crime that is fed in part by politicians and the press, a tendency to emphasize punitive measures and old-fashioned racism are all at play here.

But there is another equally important cause: the simple fact that young black men commit a disproportionate number of crimes, especially violent crimes, which cannot be attributed to judicial bias, racism or economic hardships. The rate at which blacks commit homicides is seven times that of whites....

Until we view this social calamity in its entirety — by also acknowledging the central role of unstable relations among the sexes and within poor families, by placing a far higher priority on moral and social reform within troubled black communities, and by greatly expanding social services for infants and children — it will persist.

This is what I'm talking about.

Assume the disproportionate number of violent crime cannot be attributed to judicial bias racism or economic hardship. If that's the case, conflating it, as Mr. Patterson says we should, means we will be trying to solve totally disparate problems with a single solution. That's a near guarantee of failure.

Now, let's look at the events in light of which Mr. Patterson wants us to consider the injustice in Jena.

• In New York City, the tabloids published sensational details of the bias suit brought by a black former executive for the Knicks, Anucha Browne Sanders, who claims that she was frequently called a “bitch” and a “ho” by the Knicks coach and president, Isiah Thomas. In a video deposition, Thomas said that while it is always wrong for a white man to verbally abuse a black woman in such terms, it was “not as much ... I’m sorry to say” for a black man to do so.
• Across the nation, religious African-Americans were shocked that the evangelical minister Juanita Bynum, an enormously popular source of inspiration for churchgoing black women, said she was brutally beaten in a parking lot by her estranged husband, Bishop Thomas Weeks.
• O. J. Simpson, the malevolent central player in an iconic moment in the nation’s recent black-white (as well as male-female) relations, reappeared on the scene, charged with attempted burglary, kidnapping and felonious assault in Las Vegas, in what he claimed was merely an attempt to recover stolen memorabilia.

These events all point to something that has been swept under the rug for too long in black America: the crisis in relations between men and women of all classes and, as a result, the catastrophic state of black family life, especially among the poor. Isiah Thomas’s outrageous double standard shocked many blacks in New York only because he had the nerve to say out loud what is a fact of life for too many black women who must daily confront indignity and abuse in hip-hop misogyny and everyday conversation.

This is what convinced me Mr. Patterson just is trying to confuse things. Grant his point is the dysfunction he sees in Black family life.

What the HELL does O.J. Simpson being arrested in Las Vegas have to do with THAT?

Nothing. I can't even dredge up a satirical connection. And this strawman

Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton and other leaders of the Jena demonstration who view events there, and the racial horror of our prisons, as solely the result of white racism are living not just in the past but in a state of denial. Even after removing racial bias in our judicial and prison system — as we should and must do — disproportionate numbers of young black men will continue to be incarcerated.

...is shameful. I have recently forsworn defending the Reverends Sharpton and Jackson, but I'm quite confident they do not view "events there and the racial horror of our prison" solely as the result of white racism. In fact, I can find quotes and actions taken by both that put the lie to that assertion (the problem is the conjunction, by the way...the events in Jena, LA are solely due to white racism; the prison problem has manifold roots).

More, the protesters in Jena have been quite uniform in saying the problem they are addressing is equal protection under the law.

Therefore, I quote this paragraph

The circumstances that far too many African-Americans face — the lack of paternal support and discipline; the requirement that single mothers work regardless of the effect on their children’s care; the hypocritical refusal of conservative politicians to put their money where their mouths are on family values; the recourse by male youths to gangs as parental substitutes; the ghetto-fabulous culture of the streets; the lack of skills among black men for the jobs and pay they want; the hypersegregation of blacks into impoverished inner-city neighborhoods — all interact perversely with the prison system that simply makes hardened criminals of nonviolent drug offenders and spits out angry men who are unemployable, unreformable and unmarriageable, closing the vicious circle.

...not because I believe he actually cares about these conditions. I've separated it out so you can see how absurd it is to try to conflate these very real problems with the very real problem of the failure of Jena's justice system.

I find this consciously constructed misdirection as troubling as it supports the unchallenged spin that was Reed Walter's "explanation" of why he charged Mychal Bell as an adult with attempted murder. Frankly, I feel it is tantamount to a lie...never mind that it may be constructed from valid parts.