CRIME & Black Guilt/Shame
by
Bobbie L. Washington
If you are human, you harbor secrets.
It may be an innocent little secret or it could be a huge secret or
it could be the kind of open secret that nobody wants to talk about
but it is as plain as the nose on your face. What I speak about is
the guilt or shame that the black community feels when a horrific
crime is committed by black men.
When news outlets reported that there
was a Washington, D.C. Mansion that was on fire and subsequently the
bodies of Savvas
Savopoulos, 46; Amy Savopoulos, 47; their 10-year-old son, Philip;
and housekeeper Veralicia Figueroa, 57
were found, you didn't think about who the suspect was. But as
investigators looked closer into the crime and discovered DNA on a
pizza crust, you may have had a remote clue as to who the suspects
were. And as it was revealed that the primary suspect was Daron
Dylon Wint, 34, of Maryland, you
were disappointed that it was a black man who did the alleged crime.
As then it hit you, that guilt, that shame, that's associated with
crimes of this magnitude that was done at the hands of a black man.
But why the guilt, why the shame?
As a collective, we did not commit the
crime nor had a conspiracy in it either. However, as a whole, this
crime, unfortunately, bears a reflection on an entire group of people
and that is the primary perception. We are dealing with perceptions
and how it reflects back on us when one person does something
horrific.
Black guilt or black shame is nothing
new. It came about during the Reconstruction Era after the civil war
when W.E.B. DuBois describe in his writings, Souls of Black Folk,
accounts of slavery, of ignorance, of being unattractive and with
Frederick Douglas on his perception of how history would view
American blacks and slavery. At it's core, black guilt by
definition, is
a commonly found in American blacks who follow the rule of
assimilation. By giving up those common ties, they find themselves in
a constant battle between their natural instincts and a need for self
preservation.
But that was over 100 years ago, we are dealing with a different set
of rules.
Be
it local or be it national, whenever a crime is committed and you're
watching the news, the ever reaching credo is “please don't let it
be a black man, please don't let it be a black man”, and when it
is, it's as if you lost a bet and you curse the television for
letting you down. The types of crime that are perpetuated by black
men have changes over the years.
In
Atlanta, Georgia between 1979 and 1981, Wayne Williams was put on
trial and convicted of killing 29 children. The idea of somebody
murdering children in this manner was unusual and the black community
had no idea that someone of color would be committing these types of
murders, after all, serial killers were always white man with sexual
issues. But the culprit was unmasked as Wayne Williams, a sometimes
music producer and manager.
And
then there is the case of John
Allen Muhammad
and his young protege' Lee Boyd Malvo. Their crime consisted of
crossing the country and acting as snipers from their car, killed 16
and wounded 9 people before getting captured. With their faces
plastered across the country, once again the black community felt
betrayed by the notion that black men would kill in this manner like
any white men would, with cold, methodical callousness and
indifference. The type of crime they were committing was suppose to
be left to the crazy white men so they thought. By now, the rules
were changed. Assimilation of the most heinous of crimes have ebbed
into the American black communities.
Jesse
Matthew, a former hospital worker and taxi driver, has been charged
with killing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham and is a
suspect in the disappearance of Morgan Harrington. When surveillance
footage showed Matthew with Graham on the night she disappeared, the
conclusion was drawn that this would end tragically. His alleged
crime appears to be opportunistic in that his objective was to rape
Hannah Graham. Once he was captured and his photo was graced across
network television, the disgust from the black community was at a
dull roar. Here is another black face.
And
while young black men are being killed by cops and neighborhood watch
patrols and protests are being held, one has to wonder if there is a
cause and effect scenario underneath all of this? But what about
other communities. When Ariel Castro was arrested for holding three
young women captive for years, was there a sense of guilt or shame
in the Hispanic community knowing that it was a Hispanic who
committed the crime?
Boston
bombing suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnarv, doesn’t represents all Muslim
but by default, the Muslim community feels like his actions, along
with his brother, is not a representation or reflection on the Muslim
community as a whole. As with many terrorists who have corrupted and
hijacked the interpretations of the Koran, they continue to
manipulate passages as a means to an end.
The
Japanese community does have shame when it comes to one of their
fellow countrymen commits a heinous criminal act. The atrocities of
WWII has affected their country for years and in some cases, they
refuse to acknowledge such acts when it comes to the Comfort Women of
Japan, the documented systematic kidnapping and raping of women from
Korea, China, the Philippines, Thailand, etc.
But
black guilt or black shame is a pervasive annoying beast. We are not
collectively responsible for these guys actions. There have been
cases where black men have been heroes that not always get the
attention that it deserves. Army
Captain Steve Voglezon rescued two people from a burning vehicle in
North Carolina. The time allotted to him was a few seconds of
speaking, literally. But the networks would have allotted more
airtime if he was a Kardashian who had nothing important to talk
about.
Wesley
Autrey, a construction worker and Navy veteran, saved one Cameron
Hollopeter
from uncertain death when Wesley jumped down from a subway platform
in New York and covered Cameron, who had fallen in, with his body as
a subway car roared over them. Fortunately for Mr. Autrey that he
had a chance to say more because David Letterman had him on his show.
David is known to give the everyday man/woman his chance to shine
when others do not.
It's
unfortunate that if the news bleed it leads in this current
configuration. It seems like that's all we are suppose to know. Bad
things happen to people. Not all black men are killers. It seems
like the black community must apologize for these man bad acts.
Maybe it's a knee jerk reaction for vestiges of a bygone era that
refuses to die? If we are to have this “normal society”, we must
not feel guilt or shame for the actions of others, we must look at
people as if they are not criminals, we must accept that every human
has inherent faults, that not all people think alike, that Jesse
Jackson and Al Sharpton do not speak for the entire black community
because nobody made them the leader, that at the end of the day we
can stand together in a singular voice while we work out our
problems.
