On a night when thousands gathered at vigils throughout the nation to honor the memory of Michael Brown, Ezell Ford and victims of police brutality, one poet-activist addressed a racist fallacy at the root of how violence is sometimes reported by the media.
Speaking at Chicago's vigil in Daley Plaza Thursday evening, Malcolm London stated that in the Windy City "it's not fair that in one part of this city, some folks will live until their hair is gray and in another part of this city, babies are literally dying."
"Some folks use this rhetoric that 'black-on-black' crime is a thing. That's not even a real thing!" London said in a video shot by RedEye Chicago's Megan Crepeau, before pointing out that the overwhelming majority of victims of violent crime share the same racial identity as their attackers -- regardless of their race.
"We don't talk about 'white-on-white' crime in the news though," he continued. "We keep using this rhetoric of 'black on black' crime as if something is defective with black people."
On Twitter Friday, London continued his dismantling of the term:
Read here for powerful reasons police brutality should end, shared by people at vigils across the nation.
from Chicago - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1la6iuV
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Speaking at Chicago's vigil in Daley Plaza Thursday evening, Malcolm London stated that in the Windy City "it's not fair that in one part of this city, some folks will live until their hair is gray and in another part of this city, babies are literally dying."
"Some folks use this rhetoric that 'black-on-black' crime is a thing. That's not even a real thing!" London said in a video shot by RedEye Chicago's Megan Crepeau, before pointing out that the overwhelming majority of victims of violent crime share the same racial identity as their attackers -- regardless of their race.
"We don't talk about 'white-on-white' crime in the news though," he continued. "We keep using this rhetoric of 'black on black' crime as if something is defective with black people."
On Twitter Friday, London continued his dismantling of the term:
84 percent of white people killed every year are killed by other whites.
In fact, all races share similar ratios. Yet there's no outrage
— BLACK POWER ranger (@MalcolmLondon) August 15, 2014
or racialized debate about "white on white" violence. Instead, the myth & fear of "black on black" crime is sold as a legitimate status quo
— BLACK POWER ranger (@MalcolmLondon) August 15, 2014 Read here for powerful reasons police brutality should end, shared by people at vigils across the nation.
from Chicago - The Huffington Post http://ift.tt/1la6iuV
via IFTTT
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