In the last four years, blacks have held community protests against violence in Chicago; New York; Newark, New Jersey; Pittsburgh; Saginaw, Michigan; and Gary, Indiana. Indeed, theres a whole catalog of movies, albums, and sermons from a generation of directors, musicians, and religious leaders, each urging peace and order. You may not have noticed black protests against crime and violence, but that doesnt mean they havent happened. Black Americanslike everyone elseare concerned with what happens in their communities, and at a certain point, pundits who insist otherwise are either lying or willfully ignorant.
To that point, its worth noting the extent to which what about black-on-black crime is an evasion, an attempt to avoid the fundamental difference between being killed by a citizen and being killed by an agent of law. And its not new. When Ida B. Wells
tried to explain to a wealthy suffragist in Chicago that anti-black violence in the nation must end, writes historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad for The Nation, Mary Plummer replied: Blacks need to drive the criminals out of the community. Have you forgotten that 10 percent of all the crimes that were committed in Chicago last year were by colored men [less than 3 percent of the population]?
Regardless of cause or concern, a community doesnt forfeit fair treatment because it has crime. That was true then when the scourge was lynching, and its true now that the scourge is unjust police violence. Say what you will about black-on-black crime, just dont pretend it has anything to do with unfair killings at the hands of the state.
