1/5/2016 Counterpoint: Black community is addressing crime - Greensboro News & Record: Letters To Editor

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Counterpoint: Black community is addressing crime

By James Lamar Gibson | Posted: Saturday, December 19, 2015 12:00 am

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, District 2 Councilman Jamal Fox responded to an update by the

police chief on efforts to reduce racial disparities in traffic stops by admonishing the black

community for not being tough on crime. After relaying stories he’d heard from residents about

feeling unsafe in their own communities, Fox dove into a lengthy monologue, highlighting what he

perceived as the hypocrisy of those calling for police accountability but not working to “save our

sons” from the neighborhood violence that is all too familiar in impoverished communities

nationwide.

Invoking the “old days” when neighbors freely disciplined misbehaving kids and the community was

more closely knit, he made clear that his opinion was in line with the likes of Bill Cosby and others

who place the blame of structural inequality squarely at the feet of a community that no longer cares

for itself.

Sadly, the councilman was backed up by others from the dais who verbally patted him on the back

without raising any objections to his false equivalence and misguided notions.

The truth is, the black community has always been the most outspoken group on crime originating

from within it, and for years organizations in Greensboro have worked to address it. The annual “Stop

the Violence” cookout in Hampton Homes and organizations like the Sherri Denise Jackson

Foundation, Beloved Community Center, faith community groups and many more work year-round to

engage our community in dialogue and meaningful action aimed at rooting out the causes of violence

and conflict in homes and neighborhoods.

Countless elders and young people engage in mentoring, sports programs and self-esteem-building

activities to reach our youth. Despite its reach, this work largely goes unnoticed and unrecognized by

those, like Fox, who say that not enough is being done.

Perhaps if the work were led by well-funded researchers or initiated by the police department, it

would receive more attention from critics like Fox, who elevate the importance of those institutions

over the real grass-roots work being done every day by us for us.

Another reality worth pointing out is that when black people harm other black people, they are far

more likely to be arrested and worked through the judicial system. Fox dismisses calls for increased

accountability on the part of the police department to the communities it serves on the basis that our

people are undeserving. This is conduct unfit for public officials.

It increasingly seems that the course of action advocated by Fox and other members of council would,

1/5/2016 Counterpoint: Black community is addressing crime - Greensboro News & Record: Letters To Editor

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of course, come at the expense of community trust. It would send yet another message to beleaguered

communities that they are incapable of playing a role in solving their own problems.

Our community is engaged in a dual struggle to rebuild bonds broken through years of neglect,

incarceration and displacement while at the same time fighting for our human dignity and greater

accountability from those charged with protecting us. Elected officials charged with representing us

have a responsibility to understand how we got to where we are and engage alongside their

constituents in the present struggles for a just and equitable future.