OPINION-Ryan Blair-A Letter For Change For The Better

With that said, there is something that bothers me the most. And that is the lack of empathy from people, as our black brothers and sisters are hurting. We should all be hurting too. And yet I see so much hate. So much inconsideration. And more than anything I see ignorance. Ignorance of what’s really going on and what different people’s challenges are.

People get focused on the wrong things. When Colin Kaepernick was kneeling, so he could use his platform to bring awareness to an issue that affected him, people turned it into a disrespect of the flag or our veterans. But who the hell are you to tell him what his act of kneeling was about. His message got lost amongst all the bickering and fighting. When NBA players wore black T-Shirts that said “I can’t breathe” or “Hands up, don’t shoot” they were criticized. People didn’t listen to the message. So here we are.

People currently are discrediting Black people’s life experiences. What they have endured, their perception. Telling them it’s in their head, or showing statistics to try and disprove a black man simply saying “Im scared” or “I feel targeted.” There is no problem that can’t be solved with some communication and understanding, and yet so many of us just want to prove they are wrong. Why? Why can’t we all accept there are a lot of areas we can improve on, especially when it comes to true racial equality.

Some people might say racism is a thing of the past. Slavery was abolished after the Civil War, black people could vote in the 1800s and the civil rights movement was in the 1960s. But it is still prevalent today. We just have to open our eyes and look. No, we don’t have slavery and black rights have come a long way. But if you are climbing a mountain and you get ¾ of the way to the top, are you going to stop and say “that’s good enough. We don’t need to go any further, we are so far enough.” Of course not. Far enough is never good enough and we can’t stop bridging this gap in racial inequality.

What gap? Let me try and break it down a few ways. A lot of people when they think of racism, think of the use of the N-Word. Very in your face, can’t miss it. But it goes so much deeper. It was brought recently to my attention that the first black person to be born, with supposedly the exact same rights as white people, is only 55 years old. 55 years is not very old. If you are a black 56-year-old or older you were born a lesser American than your white neighbor. Let that sink in. It is not in the past. In the grand scheme of the country, this just happened and is still happening. The fight isn’t over.

I was doing research, trying to find different studies that show what people are talking about when they say “systematic racism”. It was brought to my attention that cops kill a disproportionate amount of white people vs black people. Also, black people kill way more black people. While this is true, that alone does not discredit the BLM movement or their message. Through my research and statistical analysis, I have gathered several studies that show in my opinion overwhelmingly, systematic racism is a real problem.

A study from the Justice Department in 2011 showed that you are 31% more likely to be pulled over if black than white. That same study showed that if you were pulled over, you were over 2 times as likely to be searched if you were black or Hispanic than white. Though overwhelmingly, a white person was much more likely to have contraband on them, then a black person.

Just looking at the Ferguson Police Department, a study done between 2012-2014 showed that Black people accounted for 85% of all traffic stops, 90% of all citations, and 93% of arrests, despite being 67% of the population. 90% of documented force was against black people. Black people were also 68% less likely to have their case dismissed in court, and on average their cases last much longer. That is just one department in the country.

A 2013 study of St. Louis showed 71% of all traffic stops were black people though they only make up 27% of the population. A 2016 report of Nashville showed on avg, black people were stopped 1,222 times per 1000 black people. That means on avg, that’s more than once per every black man in Nashville.

Stop and Frisk across the country are disproportionately targeted to black people. Stop and frisk is when an officer can search you, with very little evidence, just because they pass you on the street. A Boston study between 2007-2010 showed that 63% of all stop and frisks that did not result in a citation were black people, though they only make up only 24% of the population. In NY in 2011, there were 685,724 stop and frisks. 53% are black. 33% were Latino. 9% were white. 88% of all stops were innocent. NY has been trying to limit stop and frisks. But just last year in 2019, there were over 13,000 stop and frisks, 59% black, 29% Latino, 9% white. In Milwaukee, a study from 2010-2017 showed that black people were 6 times as likely to be stopped and searched than white people. How do you explain this?

A 2015 study from San Francisco showed that while only 6% of the female population is black, they accounted for over 40% of all female arrests.

It is not just about police shooting and brutality. It’s about judgments being made about you because of pigmentation, not what you have done. It’s about a system that has historically proven to disregard those of black skin.

A report last year in Jacksonville showed black residents were 3 times more likely to receive a pedestrian citation (jaywalking) than white residents. The study found that residents in the 3 poorest zip codes, mostly-black neighborhoods, were 6 times as likely to receive a jaywalking citation.

There was a study that reviewed every homicide case from 1976-2009 and found that cases with white victims are “significantly more likely” to be solved than those of black victims.

Many studies about jury pooling from all across the country consistently show 50% or more of black jurors are struck vs the 15% or under for whites. If this happens during a police brutality case, is this really fair?

There is another study showing that black people are 7 times as likely to be wrongfully convicted of murder than a white guy.

Prior to widespread legalization, black people were almost 4 times as likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people. Though usage rates are shown to be almost identical.

Another study was done on SWAT and the militarization of the police force concluded “Reform must be systemic; the problems of overly aggressive policing are cultural and cannot be solved by merely identifying a few “bad apples” or dismissing the problem as a few isolated incidents.”

In Massachusetts, if you are black, you are 8 times as likely to be incarcerated than a white person. Hear that. Let that sink in.

I feel this should be enough examples to make people stop and think, maybe there is a problem. Maybe black people have been set up to fail. People allowing stereotypes to cloud their judgment of an individual have been holding these people back for years. And yet it seems to always point in the direction of politics. The democrats are holding black people back, constantly calling them victims. Republicans hate black people. The two political parties are bickering over who hates black people more, meanwhile, the people who are actually suffering and affected are made to take a back seat and deal.

People to this day are trying to discredit people’s experiences. What they have seen and felt. It’s not right. For someone to stand up and say you don’t deal with racism, is about as ignorant as you can possibly be. If you told someone you have a headache, how would you feel if people said, No you don’t? You’re lying. I can’t see it and you can’t prove it. Asinine right? Well, black people have been dealing with something far worse than a headache for a very long time, and people are standing up saying, Not True! Seems crazy to me.

White privilege is a thing. That doesn’t mean it’s a thing us white people choose or are necessarily complicit in. It’s just what we have. Let me put it this way. Here is a small example. For most of us white people, we can look at our lineage, look at our family tree and trace our ancestors back hundreds maybe thousands of years. We can see what country our families came from and see who we are. African-American people can’t do that. Sure they can go back a couple of hundred years, but at the end of it, they come to a slave owner. They find out they share their last name with their family’s slave owner. Think about that. Our black friends, people whose only difference in life is their skin color, can’t even research their family lineage like us white folks can. That’s white privilege. It comes in many shapes and looks. Some are obvious, others aren’t. But it exists.

For those who feel the need to shout all lives matter, it’s not about that. Please don’t try to change the narrative like happened with Kaepernick’s kneeling. It wasn’t about the flag or the military then, it’s not about all lives not mattering now. To say all lives matter insinuates the BLM movement doesn’t believe all lives matter, which shows a lack of understanding of what their message is. It’s not about what we tell them their message is, it’s about listening and understanding their message. Black people are routinely disregarded, pushed aside or slighted or worse. Black Lives Matter Too? Does that sound better? Because that’s all they are trying to say.

This is the time we need to come together. Realize the obstacles our black brothers and sisters have gone through. Listen to them and hear them. No more being silent when we hear things that aren’t right. When we see things that aren’t right. Let’s not downplay what these people have experienced. It makes no sense to think we can tell black people how to think or invalidate their life’s journey. Racism happens and it’s not always obvious. What they need is support, Compassion, and understanding. It shouldn’t be that hard.

Now is the time to stand up. Now is the time to say enough. We need to stand up for those affected, not sitting quietly because the situation might be uncomfortable. Yes telling your friend his racist joke is wrong might be uncomfortable. Black people have been uncomfortable for centuries. Maybe it’s our turn to take some of the load off?

Thank you for reading, if you made it to the end, sorry for how long this was. I hope I have expressed myself well and you have a better understanding of what the black community is up against. Love is a very powerful thing. If we just decide to love, not judge, and be supportive, there is no telling what we as a society and culture can achieve. Constantly fighting with each other does not bring us closer to a solution. Rather it shows how much further we have to go.

If you appreciate this letter, please share it. Let’s spread it around and see if it doesn’t sink in.