by Ken Peeples
In the U.S., homicide is largely segregated by race – except when police are involved. But “white-on-white violence is almost never discussed,” despite the fact that most mass killings involve white perpetrators and mainly white victims. There is a very important difference between intra-Black homicide and police killings of Blacks: “When Black people kill Black people, they go to jail. This rarely happens with police officers.”
“Black-on-Black Violence”: Red-Herrings and Mass Gaslighting
by Ken Peeples
“It is as if corporate media pundits are telling Black people what they should concern themselves with -- in this case, Black-on-Black violence -- as opposed to white police violence perpetrated on Black bodies.”
In the wake of the video capturing the killings of Alton Sterling and Philandro Castile, the familiar chorus of ‘Black-on-Black violence’ was once again trumpeted from the establishment media echo chamber.
This occurred in the Laquan McDonald murder as well. Many media outlets failed to even discuss why the dash cam video was totally inconsistent with the police report. In fact, several media outlets had absolutely no interest in committing any real journalism at all. There was no interest in asking why it took a Cook County Judge to order the dash cam video be released to the public for State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez to finally file charges (despite the video and autopsy being readily available to her), no interest in asking what happened to the missing Burger King footage, and no interest in learning how the sound was missing from five separate cameras. It seems as though the city of Chicago tried its best to stonewall and obstruct justice, if not outright banish this incident into a memory hole, never to be discussed again. But instead of looking into all of these glaring questions, Megyn Kelly would rather have a meltdown over a stare down and discuss Black-on-Black violence instead.
This also occurred with police involved deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Several media outlets had featured guests who choose to shift the focus from police brutality to Black-on-Black violence. And it’s happening again with the killings of Sterling and Castile. There are several problems with this device.
First, bringing up Black-on-Black violence in the context of police shootings of Black men is to create a red-herring -- essentially changing the subject, creating a smoke screen, a diversion, a deflection. This happens in many interviews across many mainstream networks where police brutality and killings are discussed. The script usually goes:
1. Topic A is under discussion (police brutality)
2. Topic B (Black-on-Black violence) is slyly introduced as if it is relevant to Topic A (police brutality)
3. Topic A (police brutality) is abandoned and the conversation is successfully changed to Topic B (Black-on-Black violence) and the conversation is officially hijacked.
“Bringing up Black-on-Black violence in the context of police shootings of Black men is to create a red-herring -- essentially changing the subject, creating a smoke screen, a diversion, a deflection.”
Secondly, many people have written about FBI statistics, found here, that show intraracial homicide is very high amongst both Blacks (90%) and whites (83%). So it is puzzling when Rudy Giuliani brings up Black-on-Black homicide as if it is a result of some pathology exclusively and particularly endemic to African Americans. Never mind that when James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater (killing 12 people), Adam Lanza opened fire at an Sandy Hook elementary (killing 26 people), Jared Lee Loughner shot US Congresswoman Gabby Gifford, Robert Dear shot and killed a police officer and two other people in Colorado at a Planned Parenthood facility, etc. In each of these incidents, the perpetrators were white and vast majority of the victims were white. Yet, during the coverage of these events, white-on-white violence is virtually never mentioned. The topic is almost never discussed (aside from the rare satirical piece). Clearly, there is a double standard here.
Invoking this Black-on-Black violence red-herring is extremely ignorant and blatantly paternalistic. It is as if corporate media pundits are telling Black people what they should concern themselves with -- in this case, Black-on-Black violence -- as opposed to white police violence perpetrated on Black bodies. It patently dismisses legitimate grievances African Americans have in regards to the public safety and policing of their communities. There is a long history in the United States of racist law enforcement practices and police mistreatment of minorities, specifically African Americans. Police brutality is a conversation everyone should have, especially after the events in Ferguson brought mainstream attention to militarized policing. It seems the people who invoke this red herring to change the conversation from ‘police brutality’ to ‘Black-on-Black violence’ (but conveniently do not do the same when white perps kill white victims) aren’t really concerned about the violence in the community at all; but rather concerned with reflexively defending law enforcement.
“White-on-white violence is virtually never mentioned.”
In addition to introducing red-herrings to exonerate law enforcement, mainstream media pundits also engage is the most disgusting and despicable victim-blaming. To these people, Black people just can’t be innocent enough. Any detail from the past is fair game if it can sufficiently be used for smearing the character of Black victims and making them responsible for their own mistreatment and/or death. This smear tactic was used for Trayvon Martin, Dajerria Becton, Sandra Bland, even a young school girl being thrown and slammed by a male officer in a South Carolina classroom -- all are deemed at fault for their run-ins with the law and/or deaths by the hands of law enforcement or vigilantes. Other nonsense includes less extreme examples of victim-blaming, such as sagging pants -- as if not being mistreated by police should be predicated on fashion trends and otherwise being absolutely perfect and palatable to the mainstream dominant culture. African Americans behaving their way out of being targeted by police is a complete fallacy. James Black was minding his own business in front of his hotel and certainly wasn’t exhibiting bad behavior or sagging pants -- he was still accosted, slammed to the ground, and arrested. The New York City Police Commissioner William Blatton publically apologized. William Wingate is an elderly man in Seattle using a golf club as cane. He’s shown minding his own business at an intersection and being harassed by an officer who fabricates probable cause. That officer was subsequently fired. Mr. Wingate was not exhibiting bad behavior or sagging his pants.
“Any detail from the past is fair game if it can sufficiently be used for smearing the character of Black victims and making them responsible for their own mistreatment and/or death.”
The lengths many media personalities will go to blame Black victims for their own mistreatment (while at the same time offering up endless platitudes to law enforcement) is very obvious and egregious gaslighting. Lies are pretended to be truths, legitimate claims of police profiling and brutality are trivialized, victim talking points are hijacked and diverted, and victims are blamed for overreacting – all techniques of gaslighting. There seems to be a concerted effort to make victims of police brutality doubt their memories, actions, thoughts, and experiences; and make them believe it is they who bear the responsibility for their own abuse. Only in some insanely warped paradigm can there be a serious discussion about the need for African Americans to just “behave” and be absolutely perfect (and not sag their pants) and have them pass as acceptable “solutions” for reducing negative encounters between African Americans and law enforcement.
What is also abundantly clear about those who would rather discuss Black-on-Black violence as opposed to the real tragedy of police officers shooting and killing people, is that they have most likely never visited any Black communities across the country. For if they did, they would know that Blacks are very concerned about the high rates of gun violence and homicides that occur in their communities, as well as the socioeconomic conditions that exist which see Black youth disproportionately at risk for committing and experiencing violent trauma. In many communities across the country, there are neighborhood organizations working to reduce gang and gun violence. Cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Oakland, Chicago, etc., have hospital-based or hospital-affiliated violence intervention programs that help reduce recidivism among those who have experienced violent trauma by utilizing a biopsychosocial framework to mitigate risk factors. These organizations and programs exist. Those who wish to deflect attention away from African Americans being murdered by police certainly do not seem to know that these programs and organizations exist. Just because the media doesn’t show up for protests against Black-on-Black violence doesn’t mean these protests are not occurring. Perhaps the media just finds it convenient to ignore Black communities that are doing a great deal to curb violence.
“In many communities across the country, there are neighborhood organizations working to reduce gang and gun violence.”
The core issue here is that far too many people are being being gunned down by police officers with impunity. When Black people kill Black people, they go to jail. This rarely happens with police officers. Many of the people participating in the numerous protests and die-ins express their outrage in regards to police officers not being held accountable. While President Obama seems to think requesting hundreds of millions of dollars to outfit officers with body cameras will prevent these violent encounters, many will recall that the murders of Eric Garner in Staten Island, Oscar Grant in Oakland, Sam Dubose in Cincinnati, and Laquan McDonald were all caught on camera. Daniel Pantaleo was not indicted for the death of Garner while BART police officer Johannes Mehserle spent only 11 months in prison for the murder of Grant. The justice system continues to exhibit that Blacks lives do not matter. It will take a sustained movement to end violent, racist, and militarized police practices across the country. The Black community is working hard to address the serious issue of Black-on-Black violence. What is not helpful is corporate media hijacking the narrative, changing the subject, blaming the victims, and placing the community at fault for its own oppression due to an alleged moral failing.
Ken Peeples is a socio-behavioral researcher who writes frequently about anti-Black racism and US geopolitics. He can be reached at [email protected]
Ajamu Baraka spoke with Garland Nixon about the need to oppose U.S. foreign policy in Africa and in the Middle East.
The same corporate media talking heads who told us to ignore Biden’s failing health are now cashing in with books revealing political cover ups while also covering up their own role in facilitating…
“It is a lie that slavery has been abolished. It has only been modernized.”
In “A Southern Panther,” movement elder Malik Rahim talks about his lifetime of battling racism and fighting for peace and environmental justice.
The Trump administration’s decision to fast-track asylum for white South Africans—claiming "persecution"—is a political stunt, ignoring that they remain among the wealthiest globally, still…
