Had Enough Yet? Solving The Killing Of Barbershop Owner Brian Berry

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Category: Justice

Published: Friday, 28 October 2016 17:22

Written by Attorney Natalie Jackson

By Attorney Natalie Jackson
The Black community face two kinds of criminal violence:
1) Government-Sanctioned Criminal Violence (illegal use of force by the police), and
2) Community Criminal Violence (when a community is preyed upon by individual members of that community).
Each of these types of violence must be addressed differently because the possible solutions to resolving them are different.

We must be careful not to conflate or mix the two when considering solutions!

#1-----> GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED VIOLENCE: This is the type of violence that Black Lives Matters addresses (among other systemic issues disproportionately and negatively affecting the Black community). This type of violent crime comes in one form...police versus regular people. This type of crime can be solved relatively quickly since we know what the problem is and how to attack the problem.

Government-Sanctioned Criminal Violence is the type of violence that can (and should be) fixed by the government (our tax-paid politicians, law enforcement, and judiciary). These tax-paid bureaucrats have the power to make & institute laws, policies, and procedures that value the preservation and dignity of all human life and stop government sanctioned violence.
#2 ---> Community Criminal Violence: This is the type of violence which killed Brian Berry (and soooo many others in our community). This type of violence can come in many forms and be perpetrated by many different types or people or groups. Because of the varied nature of this problem, the solutions also must be varied. The entire community has to simultaneously address this type of violence in order for it to be fixed (families, schools, police & politicians).

But first we have to understand where the crime is coming from and who is committing the crimes. this requires an in-depth eco-sociological study of the community. (A white paper). We must demand our community leaders commission this study to be done immediately.
This also involves taking logical steps to simultaneously attack the problem in its different forms. For instance, take gang-violence.... young people join gangs for different reasons. They join gangs for:
1. PROTECTION – Those gang-members who join for this reason can be addressed by things like neighborhood watches, community safe-zones, after-school programs...etc.
2. FRIENDSHIP / INCLUSION – Those gang-members who join for this reason can be addressed by things like mentorship, providing with low-cost or free membership in and transportation to community clubs and sports organizations...etc.
3. MONEY – Those gang-members who join for this reason can be addressed by things like jobs and poverty prevention programs....etc.
4. RESPECT / PEER-PRESSURE – Those gang-members who join for this reason can be addressed by things like
mentorship and self-esteem building exercises in schools and at home...etc.
5. ENJOYMENT – Those gang-members who join for this reason can be addressed by the community working in solidarity with police to send a ZERO-TOLERANCE message to these people...etc.

(A possible solution for all: mandatory parenting classes in the high schools for all students (not just the pregnant girls). We have to teach those who have never been taught how to be nuturing and caring parent for the next generation)

WHAT WON'T SOLVE ANYTHING:
*Confusing community violence with BLM addressed government violence.
*Having marches with no follow-up action
*Arguing over which solution is best when they all should be used simultaneously.
*Adopting one-size fits all solutions for multi-level problems.