The Black Lives Matter movement is a fight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. It is a fight for the very soul of America. Every now and then, a people’s fighting spirit, their hopes, their dreams and their quest for justice all meet and occupy the same space at the same moment in history. When that occurs, man’s unending search for liberty and justice takes a giant step forward. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was at Montgomery and Selma. So it was at Johannesburg and so it was at Minneapolis.
It’s time to make a hard, critical and focused analysis of Saginaw’s banks, hospitals, construction companies, automobile dealerships, hospitality and convention centers, colleges and universities, etc. and pull out racism by the roots.
The issue of the color-line continues to be one of the most serious, divisive, and persistent problems in the United States. Discriminatory habits, attitudes and practices are ingrained in the very fabric of America’s social, economic, educational, and criminal justice systems. It’s time to make a hard, critical and focused analysis of Saginaw’s banks, hospitals, construction companies, automobile dealerships, hospitality and convention centers, colleges and universities, etc. and pull out racism by the roots. It’s kind of like weeding a garden. This, along with a broader good faith discussion about diversity, will require the genuine commitment of our local captains of industry. They can play a critical role in making the structural changes needed to address systemic racism.
Unfortunately, the concept of institutional or systemic racism has been so distorted, confused and lied-about that many well-intentioned people don’t understand what it is or how it works. Nor do they understand how it affects the day-to-day life of every African American in this country.
The overriding need of the moment is the need for clarity. Overt discrimination or racism is a deliberate, conscious, and isolated decision which is made by the wrongdoer each time an act of discrimination takes place. Systemic or structural racism is built into the system’s customs, habits, practices, rules and regulations. It is produced by the routine day-to-day operation of America’s social, economic, educational, housing and criminal justice systems. These systems were originally created to support and perpetuate slavery and racial segregation. They were designed to work for the advantage of white folks and the disadvantage of black folks.
The specific mechanisms and levels of sophistication used to maintain and perpetuate this unfair competitive advantage have changed over the years. But, the accompanying discriminatory habits, attitudes and practices have been passed on from one generation to the next. The unearned benefits white folks receive from these discriminatory systems are sometimes called “White Privilege”. White Privilege overtime can create a certain sense of entitlement and produce unconscious bias. The challenge is to purge our social, economic, educational and criminal justice systems from both overt and systemic racism.
Let’s take a brief look at American history. Since its inception America has operated its own unique form of apartheid and institutionalized racial segregation. Each racial group was given a well defined set of rights, privileges and opportunities. Nothing emphasizes this better than the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1856 decision in Dred Scott v Sanford. The Court ruled that African Americans were not citizens under the Constitution and had no rights which a white man was bound to respect. African Americans were considered little more than superior pets.
Nine years later, in 1865 the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was passed. In 1866 the 14th Amendment was passed conferring citizenship on former slaves. In 1870 the 15th Amendment was ratified giving African Americans the right to vote.
The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments had absolutely no impact on the organizational structure of America’s social, economic, educational or criminal justice systems or their day-to-day operation. They continued to operate for the advantage of white folks and disadvantage of blacks. A racism set of customs, practices, rules, regulations and laws were either established or strengthened to perpetuate white supremacy. Many of the southern states had “Jim Crow” laws which made the separation of races legal.
In 1896 the U.S. Supreme Court in Plessy v Ferguson ruled that the separation of blacks and whites in public places was legal. This became known as the “separate but equal doctrine”. The separate but equal doctrine stood for fifty years. It divided the United States into two classes of people, black and white. This was the era of white only and colored only bathrooms, water fountains, etc. Segregated neighborhoods and schools were the norm. The black community was treated like a third world country in the middle of the most affluent country in the world.
In 1954 the U.S. Supreme Court in Brown v Board of Education acknowledged the gross inequities under the separate but equal doctrine and held that the equal protection clause prohibits government from discriminating based on race.
Black folks jumped with joy. We thought that access to quality education was the secret to success under the American Dream. The American Dream was that if you got a good education and worked hard things would work out. A good education would lead to a good job. A good job would produce a good income. A good income would lead to good housing in a good neighborhood. A good neighborhood would have good schools and the cycle would continue. Unfortunately, the American Dream and this almost automatic progression from good education and hard work to success only works for white Americans. Black Americans face both overt and systemic racism in every aspect of their life, including education, employment, and housing.
Since Brown v Board of Education and the civil rights movement systemic racism has gotten more sophisticated. Various laws have been passed outlawing racial discrimination in employment, housing and education based on primary characteristics such as race, color and sex. In many cases racist have gotten around these prohibitions by focusing on secondary characteristics which are directly related, yet imperfectly linked to a primary characteristic.
For example, a much higher proportion of blacks than whites are arrested and convicted. Therefore a policy of automatically refusing consideration for employment to any individual ever arrested and/or convicted will exclude a higher proportion of blacks. Thus, the administration of the criminal justice system may restrict the employment opportunities of blacks. Similarly, if an employer requires a college degree or the completion of an apprenticeship program and blacks have a very limited access to these they spread the effects of discrimination in education into the employment field.
Word-of-mouth hiring practices which carry forward racial imbalances in the work force by favoring relatives and friends of current employees also have a discriminatory effect. If an employer locates in a white suburban area and selects its employees from residents’ of the area, the pattern of housing opportunities will have a similar limiting effect on black employment opportunities. The common thread running through these examples is simply that the use of what appears to be facially neutral criterion can be used to discriminate. Similar barriers exist in voting, college admissions, housing, etc.
One way to determine whether or not there is discrimination is to look at the numbers. Over time and absent discrimination, the racial composition of an employer’s work force, a college or universities student population, or a housing complex’s residents will resemble the composition of the community they serve. The one inevitable and natural consequence of systemic racism is the consistent under-representation of blacks in those jobs, schools, etc. from which they have been excluded. The one necessary consequence of racial discrimination is racial imbalance. Regardless of how simpleminded or sophisticated the discriminatory mechanism might be the result is the same. You have few, if any, Blacks.
Finally, I turn to the criminal justice system. No one can dispute the fact that the criminal justice system has black blood on its hands. The black rage produced by the brutal and routine police killing of unarmed black folks is more than justified. The racist brutality and culture of some of our police departments may be beyond redemption. Reconstruction and moderate police reform may not be enough. We may have to defund, disband and rebuild some police departments from the ground up.
For years Saginaw’s leadership has asserted that certain selection criteria in the city charter and/or its union contracts prevent it from hiring more black officers.
The racial composition of the police department and the selection criteria used to hire police is the starting point. Black folks want police who understand and care about them. Police who have a reasonable amount of cultural competency. Police who understand what Saginaw looks like not just from the top down, but from the bottom up. We want police we can trust. If you want the Black Community to trust the Saginaw Police Department, then include black people in it. If Saginaw’s population is 45% black, absent discrimination, its police department should be close to that percentage. For years Saginaw’s leadership has asserted that certain selection criteria in the city charter and/or its union contracts prevent it from hiring more black officers. That’s how systemic racism works. It is designed to carry racial imbalances forward. It’s time for the black community to rise up and force the City Manager and Council to do the right thing. They cannot continue to argue that the city charter forces them to discriminate against black folks. This racist interpretation and/or application of the city charter is unacceptable. You cannot eliminate racism until you face it. Saginaw’s leadership has failed to demonstrate the necessary leadership or courage to face it.
In the interest of transparency, the City of Saginaw should lay its police selection criteria and hiring procedures on the table for public discussion and modifications, if necessary. We also want to examine and discuss those police department rules and regulations which govern the use of force in our community. The Saginaw Police Chief has recently rushed forward asserting that he has modified the City’s use of force regulations. This is the same assertion the Police Department made eight years ago following the Milton Hall incident. History has decreased our fool ability. This time the community demands an opportunity to be heard and have meaningful input into these rules and regulations.
We acknowledge that the majority of our police are good, decent and professional men and women who do a good job. Our problems with the criminal justice system are much bigger than a few out of control racist police. The criminal justice system adversely affects the lives of more black men than any other institution in America. The over incarceration of black men has destroyed the structural integrity of the black family. Consider these statistics. One out of three black men in this country will spend time in jail or prison during their life time. The incarceration rate for African Americans is six times the national average. From 1985 to 2002, Michigan’s prison population tripled. In 2002, 54.5 percent of Michigan’s prison population was Black although African Americans only comprised 14.2 percent of Michigan’s total population. Black men in Michigan have gone to prison at 13 times the rate they have gone to college.
As a result, Michigan has more Black men in prison than college. It is more realistic for a male African American child growing up in Saginaw, Michigan to look forward to going to prison than going to college. The leading cause of the incarceration of Black men is non-violent drug offenses. According to the NAACP’s Criminal Justice Fact Sheet, “African Americans serve virtually as much time in prison for a drug offense as whites do for a violent offense.”
In May, 2014, the Michigan Council On Crime And Delinquency issued a written report which emphasizes how youth of color continue to be disproportionately prosecuted and convicted as adults. In 2012, 59 percent of the youth, under 16-years-old, who were prosecuted as adults were black. Black youth only make up 18 percent of this statewide youth population. Fifty three percent of the 17-year-olds who were prosecuted and convicted as adults were youth of color, even though youth of color only make up 23 percent of this population statewide. Most youth in the adult system are there for non-violent offenses.
Police are not the only reason for the over incarceration of black men. More than anything else, it is the discretionary decisions of prosecutors and judges driven by a lack of cultural competency, fear and both overt and unconscious bias. Prosecutors decide what charges to bring against an individual, what, if any plea bargain to offer and what sentence to recommend. Judges, decide whether or not a defendant goes home on probation, to a rehabilitation or treatment facility or to prison. They also decide the length of any jail or prison term.
Racism has its knee on the Statue of Liberty’s neck and America can’t breathe. It’s time for a reckoning in Saginaw. It’s time to make a hard, critical and focused analysis of Saginaw’s criminal justice, economic, educational and housing systems for the purpose of identifying and eradicating those insidious customs, habits and procedures which discriminate against African Americans. This will take the collaborative efforts of the entire Saginaw Community. We can make America better. We can keep America strong.
