I read an interesting article from Harold Jackson, a man who is fast becoming one of my favorite newspaper writers. He wrote about a new kind of riot today in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and I liked his analysis. It's not the first time we have heard about this new type of rioting among black folks. Barack Obama talked about it while on the campaign trail to become president as well.
Mr. Jackson wrote about the riots of the sixties and what fueled them. The statistics he gave were revealing: 160 riots in 1967 alone, eighty people dead (mostly in cities like Newark and Detroit) and over 200 million in property damage. He argues, and rightfully so, that most of the black shopping areas destroyed by these riots never recovered. He also argues that conditions described by the the Kerner Commission Report which followed the riots, have not changed much in the forty years since.
Consider, in 2008, according to Jackson's article, the black unemployment rate is 9% while for white A-merry-cans it's 4 percent. 24 percent of blacks live in poverty compared with 8 percent of whites. Among black folks, 20 percent lack health insurance compared to 11 percent of whites. The median household income of blacks is $30,858, while for whites it is $50,784. And after giving us these grave statistics he poses this question: Why aren't blacks rioting now?
We agree on the reasons he gives for this as well. Blacks have been leaving the ghettos and poor inner city neighborhoods due to the growth of the black middle class. Because in a "less-depressing residential environment they see the possibility of a better future. Unfortunately, the ones left behind, have no such options. In the sixties the anger was aimed at "whitey" but it ended up hurting the people who were living in the neighborhoods the most.
Some of the people who are inhabiting these poorer neighborhoods today are still blaming whitey and the government structure that's in place. They are angry and disillusioned. But instead of taking to the streets and burning and looting stores, they resort to "vandalism, drug abuse, murder, and other crimes disproportionately occurring in low- income black neighborhoods." Mr. Jackson uses this quote from the Kerner Commission: "The frustrations of powerlessness have led some Negroes to the conviction that there is no effective alternative to violence as a means of achieving redress of grievances and of moving the system." I have news for the Kerner Commission, that frustration is still manifesting itself today. But the folks who would have been rioting back in the day, are now sticking up old ladies in the neighborhood, robbing neighborhood stores, and killing each other over perceived slights and and disses.
Neighborhoods are now in a crisis mode, and the situation is getting worse every day-- Just look at the Killadelphia Murder Count on my sidebar. There is also another aspect of this that Mr. Jackson forgot to mention in his article. White guilt. There was plenty of it in the sixties which probably led to LBJ's attempted war on poverty, as well as the "Great Society Efforts." That guilt is no longer there. Most white folks feel like the immigrants who dominate Northeastern and rust belt cities. "We don't owe you Negroes a damn thing, my forefathers never owned slaves. My great grandfather came to this country from Italy, Poland, [place any European country of your choice here] and wherever, and look at them, they made it. And they didn't have any government handouts like you Negroes do." So because of this white backlash it's even tougher on those who were left behind in the neighborhoods. Now the backlash has gone mainstream, and thanks to outlets like FIX NEWS, politicians who have made a career out of fear mongering and demagoguery; and an entire political movement which started with the fake ass cowboy from California, the riot has been forced to get even quieter. But make no mistake, the anger is still there, it's just on both sides now. And the folks on each side have no idea how angry the folks on the other side can be.
Mr. Jackson says a new "national conversation" is needed,and it will take a renewal of the one started by Bill Clinton to get A-merry-cans to recognize it. He also says that it will take a renewed effort by congress to try and erase poverty. I agree with him there too, but good luck. The people on K Street ain't lobbying for some poor schmuck in North Philly or South Central L.A. So I am afraid that poverty is going to be around with us for awhile. Because of that, I am afraid that those quiet riots will continue to rage through certain parts of A-merry-ca. And when that silence finally gets shattered, I think we all better look out.
