William Bennett? What I think.
About a year ago, I was reunited with a childhood friend. We hadn't seen each other since 8th grade. Her name is Nikki. I used to spend several days per week at Nikki's house in elementary school. We lived in the same area of Philadelphia - Mount Airy - a Black middle class section of the city. Our mom's were great friends and would alternate days watching us. I had a huge crush on Nikki's brother, Michael. Oh, man was he cute! And smart. He was the kind of guy that every girl in school wished was her boyfriend. But he was older, so it was only a pipe dream for me.When Nikki and I reunited a year ago we spent a lot of time catching up, talking about our lives and families... "So, how's Michael?" I asked. "Michael's doing well now, but he was locked up on false charges recently. He was in there for a while. We had to get a lawyer and prove that it was a case of mistaken identity."
"No way!" I gasped. Michael in prison?!?! Michael was the nicest guy you'd ever meet. He came from a great family! How could that happen. Then Nikki said something that stopped my heart.
"When Michael got out, he told me about a thought he had while he was in there." Nikki remembered, "He said, 'Nikki, it's no wonder Black women are experiencing a crisis shortage of Black men to marry. When I was in there, I looked around and saw that we're all in here!'"
Crime statistics in the U.S. are largely drawn on incarceration rates. So, when I heard that Bennett's statement was based on crime rate statistics found in the book Freakanomics, my first thought was okay - It's true Blacks make up on overwhelming percentage of people in state prison systems. But what does this statistic mean?
I took a look at the Human Rights Watch website today. There's a section on Race and Incarceration in the United States. Here's what I found:
Crime rates, law enforcement priorities, sentencing legislation and other factors play a role in creating racial disparities in incarceration. For example, penal policies instituted to control crime have exacerbated longstanding racial disparities in the criminal justice system...
Blacks have also been disproportionately affected by the national "war on drugs", carried out
primarily through the arrest, prosecution and imprisonment of street level drug offenders from inner city communities. In 1996, for example, blacks constituted 62.6 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons. In at least fifteen states, black men were sent to prison on drug charges at rates ranging from twenty to fifty-seven times those of white men. Blacks are prosecuted in federal courts more frequently than whites for crack cocaine offenses, and thus as a group have felt the effects of the longer sentences for crack versus powder cocaine mandated in federal law. Racial profiling and other forms of unequal treatment of minorities by the criminal justice system have further contributed to the overrepresentation of minorities in the incarcerated population. Minority youth are treated far more harshly compared to similarly situated white counterparts within the juvenile criminal justice system.
Now, think about this for a just a moment. What does this mean? It doesn't mean that Whites commit less violent crimes or drug offenses in the U.S. What I see is a racial disparity that happens at the time of sentencing.
The disproportionately high percentage of blacks among those admitted [emphasis added] to state prison on drug charges is cause for alarm. But the disparity in the rates at which black and white men over the age of eighteen are sent to prison on drug charges is nothing short of a national scandal. The drug offender admissions rate for black men ranges from 60 to a breathtaking 1,146 per 100,000 black men. The white rate, in contrast, begins at 6 and rises no higher than 139
per 100,000 white men.~ (http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00-04.htm#P289_60230)
So, what does this have to do with the Bennett quote?
I appreciate the thoughts of all those who posted comments on Peace Prayers. There were several really good points made. One comment said they think the Bennett quote was taken out of context. Yes, I think that's true. His comment was generally portrayed by the press as a stand alone comment - not in connection with the book Freakanomics. I think it does add a twist to the conversation when you consider that Bennett's comment was made in the context of this book discussion. It says to me, that this idea that Blacks contribute to the bulk of crime rates in America didn't come to him out of the blue.
The unfortunate thing, though, is that it doesn't seem that Bennett did the deeper work of asking how those statistics were formulated and what they actually mean with respect to the penal system in America.
I think if we speak honestly, we all must admit that the American mental image of Black Americans is a violent image. That's why ladies hold their purses or cross the street when passing Black men on lonely urban streets. That's why people choose to wait for later elevators when a Black man enters an empty elevator. That's why Black men and women find it hard to hail a Taxi in NYC. And I think that's why most of the discussion around Bennett's comment on both sides has focused on the "truth" of the Freakanomics stat that Blacks commit more crimes. Most (not all) Bennett backers and bashers have focused on either defending the validity of the statistic or giving reasons for the truth of the stat. To say getting rid of Black people would lower the crime rate in America seems like a valid truism -- a dispicable, unimaginable, impossible truism. Yet a valid truism according to Bennett. And because it's a truism, most people don't question it.
Yet, it seems that the Human Rights Watch would question that statistic. It seems from their reports that in truth Blacks are not commiting more crimes. The truth is Black men and women are getting incarcerated for their crimes at an astronomically higher rate than Whites and others.
Now, one last thing. It's interesting to me that a lot of people said they don't think that Bennett is a racist. I honestly don't understand that evaluation of his comment.
According to Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, Why Are All The Black Children Sitting Together In The Cafeteria, the tide of racism in America is so strong that if one stands still,she will still be carried forward on the tide of racist thought and systemic compliance in our society. Tatum says that in order to divorce racism from our lives, we can't stand still. We must walk against the tide at a rate that is faster and stronger than the undertow of racial descrimination in our society. We must become in effect what she calls "anti-racist".
Similarly, Jesus warns us against the evil that resides in all of our hearts. The original church leaders had to confront their ethnic partiality in Acts 6. Peter himself had to confront his own racial partiality in Acts 10. Scripture makes it clear, that ethnic and racial partiality are evils that live in all of our hearts. If Peter had to deal with it, why wouldn't we expect racial partiality from William Bennett?
When Bennett originally made his comment. I waited to land on a judgement. I waited to see if he would say "It was taken out of context... I actually didn't mean that Blacks are responsible for the high crime rate. I didn't mean to insinuate that crime is the primary contribution that Blacks make to our society." That never happened. It was his defenders that said that. Yet, if you look closely at Bennett's own response to the controversy. He has not emphasized that his comment was taken out of context. Nor has he recanted on the meaning of what he said. Instead, he has made it clear that what he said is what he meant and it's valid. In fact, he said he knows it's true.
It's true that aborting every black baby would lower the crime rate and it's valid to say that aborting every black baby would lower the crime rate.
I want to take a moment to let you in on how that statement felt to me as a Black woman listening to our former Education Secretary and "Values Czar" make that comment.
When I heard it, my jaw dropped open. I felt dehumanized and worth less than nothing. Enough said.
I took a look at Matthew Yglesias's article "In Defense of Bill Bennett". (Thanks for the lead, Rudy.) I tend to agree with Mschmitt's response on September 29th. Take a look if you're interested. http://yglesias.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/29/16450/9195
I've enjoyed this discussion and invite more. Please feel free to write back and let me know what you think.
Until the next time,
Peace.
posted by Lisa Sharon Harper @ 12:04 PM
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