Reaction to Rudy Giuliani's Comment on Violence in Black Communities

This morning, Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of sociology at Georgetown University and former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani got into an argument that was so heated I probably could have fried an egg on the laptop I was watching it from. Tonight's post was supposed to be on the disproportion of global access to a quality education; however, when I came across this video it felt like I was struck by lightening. I had to write my comment down: Rudy Giuliani's assertion that law enforcement needs to crack down on black offenders more than racial discrimination is not only ridiculous but down right offensive. I was disgusted by the ignorance of his comment.
The video was short, but the few words that were exchanged between the two men seemed to be enough to completely mirror a conflict in our communities' streets right before my very eyes. If the events of past two years have taught us anything it's that racial discrimination is a societal plague that has yet to be cured and that has proven to be fatal. We'd like to believe that by 2014, bigotry like this has been eradicated, and that's why we like to make excuses as Mr. Giuliani did when he said that the real problem lies within the races themselves. Unfortunately, this kind of mentality only furthers society away from progress. Pointing fingers in the wrong direction only enables the issue to continue as is.

Throughout the interview, Mr. Giuliani continued to stress the statistic that 93% of black victims of violence are attacked by offenders of the same race. Sure, with a figure like that, it's easy to say that white offenders aren't the issue here, but that's completely missing the point. Nobody is implying that white offenders are the issue. Nobody is suggesting that there's been a new-age serge of white supremacists killing off African American teens. To me these are the only claims where yes, the statistic that 93% of black victims of violence are attacked by offenders of the same race proves to be an effective use of devil's advocate.

However, this is not the case. The root of the problem is not white police officers, it's society's tendency to hold onto racial stereotypes.

I feel like too many people live in this bubble where the racism that exists is directly proportionate to the racism that they see. I know I'm one of those people. It's 2014, I know that there are good people and bad people, criminals and law abiding citizens and criminals, and that these qualities in a person should never be seen as directly associated with race. Because of this, I just assume that racial profiling is a tendency isolated in a few people. This past Monday, I came across a rude awakening when this link was shared in a thread over Gmail. It shows the proportion of arrest rates of black and non-black citizens in various American cities Orange dots represent zero disparity between black and non-black arrests, green represent small disparities, and blue represent large disparities.

Here's a map of the country:

Here's Ferguson:

Here's Mesa, Arizona:

 I was shocked when I saw these maps. I have spent my whole life thinking that my community was immune to racial profiling, but the opposite has proved to be true. It seems that the same concept applies to the rest of the country as well. My take on this is that in some cases a disparity makes sense. For example, if a city's population is predominately black, then of course the black arrest rate will be the highest. For a country where African Americans make up only 14% of the population, this map is overwhelmingly blue and green. As I watched the NBC Newsroom debate on violence in black communities, my thoughts went back to these pictures. Mr. Giuliani says that racial profiling isn't what's causing all of this turmoil, that rather the problem is isolated in black communities alone. But they numbers, they speak for themselves.

Mr. Giuliani's comments scare me because he is one voice that represents millions. There are people out there who see this map and will tell themselves that every single one of these arrests was sensible and justified, who will argue statistic after statistic on minority incarceration and recidivism before they consider that maybe the crimes weren't committed by the ones being arrested. I'd say that we all know at least five off the top of our heads. This mentality is toxic to our communities. Saying that the solution to black victimization is cracking down on interracial violence is like trying to get rid of a weed by pulling of a couple of its leaves. Sure, it's a part of the problem, but that weed is going to stay where it is and grow more and more until it is pulled out roots and all.

Mr. Giuliani's comment is a wake up call if anything. Yes, it is 2014 but people will still believe what they want to. The question is, what do we do about it? Do we try to convince them otherwise or do we just leave the bigots behind in the movement?

I believe that a bit of the problem lies in all of us, whether it's because of ignorance, or a lack of motivation to cure it. It's up to everyone to help be the change by finding the source of the problems and tackling it head on, even if putting the blame elsewhere is easier to do. The first step is accepting responsibility, then possibility and then moving forward from there.