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10 tweets,
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1/ For those who think the arrest of a black man in the Jazmine Barnes killing will now lead to silence from the left since there’s no racism angle anymore, think again, on both counts...
2/ first off, most everyone I’ve ever known on the left and certainly in the racial justice movement, has always been deeply concerned about violent crime in general and against black folk in particular...
3/ It is a white, right wing lie that black folks and others who fight racism only care about black life when it’s taken by white people and especially cops...
4/ Black folks have always been able to demand racial justice AND fight for safer communities at the same time and have spent years marching against violence no matter the perp....
5/ But here’s the thing folx always miss about so-called “black on black” crime, aside from the fact that it’s a troubling term that suggests blackness is what drives it. We don’t say “white on white” crime 4 instance even tho there’s 2 times more of it annually...
6/ But aside from that, what no one thinks to ask is why some black folk would place such little value on black lives like their own? What is that mentality called? One that devalues black life & thinks it disposable? Think about it, & ask where would they learn that mentality?..
7/ The mentality of anti-blackness which lurks beneath the surface of this kind of violence is the core of white supremacy, and can be wielded by anyone taught its norms...
8/ One doesn’t have to be white to deploy anti-blackness and in a society literally built on anti-blackness there is sadly nothing surprising about some black folks internalizing the same mentality so many whites have...
9/ the point is, the devaluing of black life was not taught to black people BY black people. It was among the chief lessons taught to all killers of black folks in this culture. That some of the lessons were well learned by those who were its targets is tragic but hardly shocking
10/ It was Malcolm X who asked black folks “who taught you to hate yourselves?” And the question is still worth asking, and the answer... is still the same
