Negative cultural influences including music, theater and fashion that dehumanize black women and promote a "thug life" must be recognized and eliminated.
By Milton W. Hinton Jr.
It is human nature to gravitate to what is pleasing and avoid the unpleasant. It is safe to say the black community enjoys discussing the arts, religious activities and events, the upcoming election, and civil and human rights, among other things. But it avoids like the plague talking about the tsunami of deadly violence young black males and, unexpectedly, females, are directing toward each other.
Talking about this violence is seemingly taboo because it is embarrassing for some adults to see their sons and daughters and other young relatives responding to minor conflict with bullets or other deadly force. It is much easier and comfortable to ignore the situation and hope it's all a bad dream. Unfortunately, it is all too real.
Throughout New Jersey and the Delaware Valley, there are reports of lethal combat every week. Recently, a 16-year-old girl died after she was assaulted by two other girls in the bathroom at a Delaware high school. Cell phone video captured her on her knees being pummeled by the other girls while in a defenseless position. Within one week a 16-, 18- and 19-year-old were arrested for allegedly shooting to death another 16-year-old in Camden. There were also additional recent Camden shooting victims -- ages 19, 24, 27, 34, and 41 -- whose killers have not yet been found.
These incidents reflect the crisis in our region, but similar violence is occurring all over the nation. Black youth kill each other every single day while so-called leaders in the community say and do nothing. Over the last 35 years, 260,000 young black men, have killed each other. This number does not include others who survived a murder attempt but suffered a permanent disability.
FBI Director James Comey is now on record saying, "I don't know what the solution is, but holy cow do we have a problem."
The answer involves a multi-faceted approach that starts within the community itself, where too many are trapped in a cycle of poverty. Breaking that cycle often begins with preparing the psyche via proper parenting, and learning self-discipline, self-respect and other values that raise one's level of consciousness and self-esteem.
Negative cultural influences must also be recognized and eliminated. These include music, theater and fashion that dehumanize black women and stigmatizes young black men, promoting a "thug life," tolerating low academic achievement, and viewing sneakers and designer clothes as status symbols. Athletic achievement has to take a back seat to academic achievement, with the intense competition in the former becoming equal to that in the latter.
Most African-Americans receive a public school education and speak English from the cradle to the grave. Yet, too many are unwilling to master reading, writing, and speaking their native language. Black Africans, often from countries lacking meaningful educational opportunities, frequently master three or four different languages, including English. Most of us will not become mathematicians or physicists, but there are no excuses for failing to become fluent in the language one speaks every single day.
Poverty forces many young black American men desiring a better life into an underground economy. Being ill-prepared to support themselves in order to obtain food, clothing, and shelter, these individuals are forced to "hustle" -- which, by design, keeps them impoverished. Money-making opportunities available to them include selling drugs, selling clothing and other goods shoplifted from stores, backyard auto repair shops, and other unlicensed service businesses.
When disputes arise, these underground-economy entrepreneurs cannot call the police or use the judicial system like those in mainstream society, because their activities are illegal from the start. So, they "police themselves," which often leads to someone going to the gun.
Drug abuse also stirs up false bravado, resulting in gunplay. The solution to these homicides can, and should, be debated, but one thing is sure: The community as a whole, coast to coast, with the help of law enforcement, needs to make this issue a priority.
Continued inaction jeopardizes the prosperity and viability of an entire ethnic group.
Milton W. Hinton Jr. is director of equal opportunity for the Gloucester County government. He is past president of the Gloucester County Branch NAACP. His column states his personal views, not those of any organization or agency. Email: mwhjr678@gmail.com.