#BlackLivesMatter. That’s a trending mantra on Twitter.
Black Lives Matter. Those are the signs held by protesters and t-shirts worn in cities across the country displaying concerns about police brutality and social injustice in the aftermath of police killing two unarmed black men: Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner in New York City.
Black Lives Matter. That’s the recent findings of the Justice Department that cited the Cleveland Police Department for a pattern of “unreasonable and unnecessary use of force” in a report filed after a two-year investigation. The City of Cleveland is working on a settlement with the Justice Department, consenting to an array of internal strategies designed to overhaul the department’s current protocols. Those changes came too late to save 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a Black youth shot dead by a rookie police officer within two seconds of his arrival on the scene. Tamir had a toy gun.
Overall, however, Black lives don’t matter to many Americans, Black and White. There’s a lot of room to disagree on this issue, but there’s also significant room for alignment and progress, if we focus on the underlying issue the nation has been struggling with since it was founded. It is that premise that serves as the foundation of my new ebook, “From Freedom to Ferguson: The Private Sector Opportunity to Empower Black America.”If you think you fully grasp the anguish behind the outcry #BlackLivesMatter, I urge you to read on. And if you want to know even more beyond this posting, please purchase my book. Your support of my work will enable me to do much more of it. And if there’s anything we need today is more efforts focused on solutions. But to get to a platform of solutions, we must be willing to fully grasp (and agree) how we got to this point in time. My book starts at the “schizophrenic” founding of America, as Dr. King described it. But in this posting, let’s connect with the aftermath of the Civil War and see what happened to Black people over the following 15 decades.
From 1865-1951: The Library of Congress chronicles numerous White mob riots and nearly 4,000 Blacks lynched (conservative figures; larger numbers are recorded by media). Leading lynching states: Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. And with the exception of four states (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont), lynching of Blacks occurred in all states in the continental U.S.
Imagine being a Black family in an era of institutionalized terrorism. Imagine not knowing whether your father or husband would return home from whatever meager subsistence he could find to feed his family. Imagine being a Black man … the most feared member of society. Imagine being told if you just work hard, keep your nose clean and follow the rules, you can succeed in America. Imagine that advice ringing in your ears as you hear the news that another member of your community didn’t make it home last night. Or there was another church bombing. Or 35 blocks of Black businesses were burned to the ground. Or your family is being told they will have to leave, now, along with 6,000 others.
In my book, I provide a timeline of events chronicled by the Library of Congress. But, for many White Americans, the shared experiences of Black Americans may seem far-fetched or just a figment of our imagination. After all, if what is being said is true, that would mean millions of White people were conspiring against Black people. It would mean the credibility and integrity of people you know, love and trust is at risk. It would potentially mean ripping apart the paradigm that has been carefully constructed to represent what you’ve come to believe America is all about. There must be some other explanation for the Black experience other than Whites established a land of hostility and systemic aggression against Blacks for generations leading up to the present day. That cannot be the case. Right?
Focus on (blaming) the Family
For those who point to Black America today and argue that fatherless homes and out-of-wedlock births foster economic distress, I will have to agree. Individuals must own responsibility for their decisions and actions. But then I would ask critics of the Black family to also address the institutionalized White power structure, including both the public and private sectors that quarantined, segregated, economically undermined and terrorized Black people. Do the private sector leaders, stakeholders and influencers own any responsibility as well? If so, what has the private sector done that is in their power to do to change the economic circumstances of a people who emerged destitute from slavery?
As for individual responsibility … even as late as 1950, Black America had a 17% out-of-wedlock birth rate. Indeed, that was high for the 1950s. But, surely we can all agree that a mere 17% rate of out-of-wedlock births after nearly a century of being targeted, terrorized and brutalized by a society that hated us, was remarkably resilient! Black America was surprisingly intact, albeit poor. Yes, poor. And there was no question that Black America was under economic duress due specifically to systemic hostility coursing through the veins of the private sector and spilling over into public political battles. So, at what point did White America switch to blaming Black America for her woes? Read on.
Black lives didn’t matter in the Antebellum Era nor the Reconstruction Period nor during Jim Crow.
The 100 years following the Civil War, leading up to and through the Civil Rights Movement, was marked by societal-sanctioned domestic terrorism targeting Black families across the nation, which instilled fear in families that persists to this day.
The challenge for many White Americans to fully understand the outcries from Black Americans today is, in part, the widespread amnesia that afflicts America. My parents, uncles and aunts were born in the 30s and 40s and had children in the 50s and 60s, including me. My dad and some others from his generation are still alive today. They lived through an era of institutionalized White aggression and tyranny impacting Black Americans from all walks of life. It was Whites who prohibited Whites from marrying Blacks. And it was Whites who owned all the means of production, finance, investments, real estate development, government contracting, etc. In every aspect of life, Blacks were subjected to the rules and/or whims of Whites. Baby Boomer Black Americans, and those older, have not only remembered this era of national fear they felt, alongside severely limited opportunities available in the Land of the Free, but the primary change they witnessed was the acceleration of the destruction of the Black family. They watched things get worse for the collective Black America, even as some individuals were beginning to find pathways to relative success.
Black data matter.
Amazingly, the Black family was relatively intact from the end of the Civil War until the Civil Rights Movement had begun. Then, for some unexplained reason the out-of-wedlock birth rate in Black America skyrocketed from 17% in 1951 to 62% in 1987. And White America wagged a hypocritical finger of disappointment at Black America for a 45% rise in out-of-wedlock births in 36 years.
Interestingly, no one ever asked the question of why would Black America maintain a relatively low 17% out-of-wedlock birth rate for more than eight decades following the Civil War, and suddenly in a span of less than four decades, experience more than double the rate of out-of-wedlock births? How did that happen? Did any sociologist, historian, economist, research institute or elected leader anywhere in America think (or care) to ask?
From 1865-1951: The Library of Congress chronicles numerous White mob riots and nearly 4,000 Blacks lynched (conservative figures; larger numbers are recorded by media). Leading lynching states: Mississippi, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana and Alabama. And with the exception of four states (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont), lynching of Blacks occurred in all states in the continental U.S.
Imagine being a Black family in an era of institutionalized terrorism. Imagine not knowing whether your father or husband would return home from whatever meager subsistence he could find to feed his family. Imagine being a Black man … the most feared member of society. Imagine being told if you just work hard, keep your nose clean and follow the rules, you can succeed in America. Imagine that advice ringing in your ears as you hear the news that another member of your community didn’t make it home last night. Or there was another church bombing. Or 35 blocks of Black businesses were burned to the ground. Or your family is being told they will have to leave, now, along with 6,000 others.
In my book, I provide a timeline of events chronicled by the Library of Congress. But, for many White Americans, the shared experiences of Black Americans may seem far-fetched or just a figment of our imagination. After all, if what is being said is true, that would mean millions of White people were conspiring against Black people. It would mean the credibility and integrity of people you know, love and trust is at risk. It would potentially mean ripping apart the paradigm that has been carefully constructed to represent what you’ve come to believe America is all about. There must be some other explanation for the Black experience other than Whites established a land of hostility and systemic aggression against Blacks for generations leading up to the present day. That cannot be the case. Right?
Focus on (blaming) the Family
For those who point to Black America today and argue that fatherless homes and out-of-wedlock births foster economic distress, I will have to agree. Individuals must own responsibility for their decisions and actions. But then I would ask critics of the Black family to also address the institutionalized White power structure, including both the public and private sectors that quarantined, segregated, economically undermined and terrorized Black people. Do the private sector leaders, stakeholders and influencers own any responsibility as well? If so, what has the private sector done that is in their power to do to change the economic circumstances of a people who emerged destitute from slavery?
As for individual responsibility … even as late as 1950, Black America had a 17% out-of-wedlock birth rate. Indeed, that was high for the 1950s. But, surely we can all agree that a mere 17% rate of out-of-wedlock births after nearly a century of being targeted, terrorized and brutalized by a society that hated us, was remarkably resilient! Black America was surprisingly intact, albeit poor. Yes, poor. And there was no question that Black America was under economic duress due specifically to systemic hostility coursing through the veins of the private sector and spilling over into public political battles. So, at what point did White America switch to blaming Black America for her woes? Read on.
Black lives didn’t matter in the Antebellum Era nor the Reconstruction Period nor during Jim Crow.
The 100 years following the Civil War, leading up to and through the Civil Rights Movement, was marked by societal-sanctioned domestic terrorism targeting Black families across the nation, which instilled fear in families that persists to this day.
The challenge for many White Americans to fully understand the outcries from Black Americans today is, in part, the widespread amnesia that afflicts America. My parents, uncles and aunts were born in the 30s and 40s and had children in the 50s and 60s, including me. My dad and some others from his generation are still alive today. They lived through an era of institutionalized White aggression and tyranny impacting Black Americans from all walks of life. It was Whites who prohibited Whites from marrying Blacks. And it was Whites who owned all the means of production, finance, investments, real estate development, government contracting, etc. In every aspect of life, Blacks were subjected to the rules and/or whims of Whites. Baby Boomer Black Americans, and those older, have not only remembered this era of national fear they felt, alongside severely limited opportunities available in the Land of the Free, but the primary change they witnessed was the acceleration of the destruction of the Black family. They watched things get worse for the collective Black America, even as some individuals were beginning to find pathways to relative success.
Black data matter.
Amazingly, the Black family was relatively intact from the end of the Civil War until the Civil Rights Movement had begun. Then, for some unexplained reason the out-of-wedlock birth rate in Black America skyrocketed from 17% in 1951 to 62% in 1987. And White America wagged a hypocritical finger of disappointment at Black America for a 45% rise in out-of-wedlock births in 36 years.
Interestingly, no one ever asked the question of why would Black America maintain a relatively low 17% out-of-wedlock birth rate for more than eight decades following the Civil War, and suddenly in a span of less than four decades, experience more than double the rate of out-of-wedlock births? How did that happen? Did any sociologist, historian, economist, research institute or elected leader anywhere in America think (or care) to ask?