Nature abhors a vacuum, so it fills the space with noise and anything else that passes for analysis.
Such is the case of “violence in the black community.”
So few are the black citizens telling, explaining, reporting with authority—putting meat on the bones of this narrative — that the ready-made experts and pundits fill the void with what amounts to racist rants.
Listen for them over the coming days and weeks, months and years.
To them, black people are happy-go-lucky layabouts who breed indiscriminately, smoke dope all day and, at night, shoot up the projects. They are genetically predisposed to violence. And Toronto is better off without them.
“And in case you think I’m racist,” the instant experts say, “It’s really the Jamaicans I mean, because they are the bulk of the problem.”
What nonsense. The black community is not a basket case. It is a thriving, enterprising, well-educated, progressive, economically significant community that is a boon to Toronto and Canada. And Jamaicans, a subset of that community, are among the highest achievers, most talented and decorated.
Those are the facts. And the shooting of 30 black men over 12 months will not change that.
One’s reality is influenced by the story-tellers. And the narrators too often bypass the everyday brilliance of black folks for the crisis concerns about occasional violence.
That reality motivated a team of Star reporters last September to follow 50 Jamaicans in the GTA for a day, and record how they were an indispensable fact of Toronto life. Infertility specialist Dr. Marjorie Dixon summed up her presence and that of other Jamaicans here as, “intricately intertwined with the infrastructure of the city of Toronto.”
I agonized over focusing on Jamaicans. Were we buying into the divide-and-conquer strategy of the racists? Think of the legion of other islanders and continental Africans missing from the story.
But the need for a counter-narrative was so pressing, the story demanded it be told. We knew that at the first outbreak of gun violence, trigger-happy pundits would point the barrel at the dysfunction and blame the “black community, and especially Jamaicans” for the damage.
“Where are the leaders? What are you guys doing about your criminals? Where are the fathers? Where are the pastors?”
Such questions disgust any clear-thinking individual. One is tempted to shout back: “What did you guys do about the centuries of rape and pillaging of the black man, the destruction of his manhood, the desecration of his culture, the burying of the embers of the family unit on the plantation?” But that wouldn’t be fair, would it?
The questions suggest nobody in the black community is doing anything about curbing the gunplay. Worse, the inference is: “This is the black community’s problem to solve, so keep the violence in your housing complexes and don’t bother us until you come up with a solution.”
You mean, better and less socially debilitating housing wouldn’t help? Neither some jobs for economically disadvantaged youths? And strategies for social inclusion? And proven educational approaches?
Thousands of people have laboured in those fields. I’m where I am because men and women in the black community lost sleep, job opportunities, status and money to fight for the future of black youth.
Every time you see a Dwight Drummond on television or a Peter Sloly commanding police officers or Michael Tulloch presiding as a judge, their very presence sprang from hard, tough battles fought by the likes of Dudley Laws, Bromley Armstrong, Charles Roach and thousands of others. Black men.
So when I write about missing fathers, it’s not a condemnation of black men. I see hundreds of black men every week, struggling mightily to bring up children in the fear of God and in the path of civic duty and societal success. I write about the challenges of the black family so the reader knows that element is not lost on the community.
So don’t take the opening of that door as a licence to spread ridiculous analysis that only prompts shallow consumers to reinforce hateful stereotypes about black people.
In that series, last Nov. 4, lawyer Donald McLeod reflected on how infrequently you read or hear about the 95 per cent of Jamaicans living heroic lives, many in leadership roles across Toronto.
“Here we have a society of Jamaican-Canadians, and the ones we focus on aren’t the ones worth billions to our economy, but the ones shooting each other on the corner,” he said.
Yes, murder always is news. But any good detective knows to seek out all the evidence.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Royson James
Such is the case of “violence in the black community.”
So few are the black citizens telling, explaining, reporting with authority—putting meat on the bones of this narrative — that the ready-made experts and pundits fill the void with what amounts to racist rants.
Listen for them over the coming days and weeks, months and years.
To them, black people are happy-go-lucky layabouts who breed indiscriminately, smoke dope all day and, at night, shoot up the projects. They are genetically predisposed to violence. And Toronto is better off without them.
“And in case you think I’m racist,” the instant experts say, “It’s really the Jamaicans I mean, because they are the bulk of the problem.”
What nonsense. The black community is not a basket case. It is a thriving, enterprising, well-educated, progressive, economically significant community that is a boon to Toronto and Canada. And Jamaicans, a subset of that community, are among the highest achievers, most talented and decorated.
Those are the facts. And the shooting of 30 black men over 12 months will not change that.
One’s reality is influenced by the story-tellers. And the narrators too often bypass the everyday brilliance of black folks for the crisis concerns about occasional violence.
That reality motivated a team of Star reporters last September to follow 50 Jamaicans in the GTA for a day, and record how they were an indispensable fact of Toronto life. Infertility specialist Dr. Marjorie Dixon summed up her presence and that of other Jamaicans here as, “intricately intertwined with the infrastructure of the city of Toronto.”
I agonized over focusing on Jamaicans. Were we buying into the divide-and-conquer strategy of the racists? Think of the legion of other islanders and continental Africans missing from the story.
But the need for a counter-narrative was so pressing, the story demanded it be told. We knew that at the first outbreak of gun violence, trigger-happy pundits would point the barrel at the dysfunction and blame the “black community, and especially Jamaicans” for the damage.
“Where are the leaders? What are you guys doing about your criminals? Where are the fathers? Where are the pastors?”
Such questions disgust any clear-thinking individual. One is tempted to shout back: “What did you guys do about the centuries of rape and pillaging of the black man, the destruction of his manhood, the desecration of his culture, the burying of the embers of the family unit on the plantation?” But that wouldn’t be fair, would it?
The questions suggest nobody in the black community is doing anything about curbing the gunplay. Worse, the inference is: “This is the black community’s problem to solve, so keep the violence in your housing complexes and don’t bother us until you come up with a solution.”
You mean, better and less socially debilitating housing wouldn’t help? Neither some jobs for economically disadvantaged youths? And strategies for social inclusion? And proven educational approaches?
Thousands of people have laboured in those fields. I’m where I am because men and women in the black community lost sleep, job opportunities, status and money to fight for the future of black youth.
Every time you see a Dwight Drummond on television or a Peter Sloly commanding police officers or Michael Tulloch presiding as a judge, their very presence sprang from hard, tough battles fought by the likes of Dudley Laws, Bromley Armstrong, Charles Roach and thousands of others. Black men.
So when I write about missing fathers, it’s not a condemnation of black men. I see hundreds of black men every week, struggling mightily to bring up children in the fear of God and in the path of civic duty and societal success. I write about the challenges of the black family so the reader knows that element is not lost on the community.
So don’t take the opening of that door as a licence to spread ridiculous analysis that only prompts shallow consumers to reinforce hateful stereotypes about black people.
In that series, last Nov. 4, lawyer Donald McLeod reflected on how infrequently you read or hear about the 95 per cent of Jamaicans living heroic lives, many in leadership roles across Toronto.
“Here we have a society of Jamaican-Canadians, and the ones we focus on aren’t the ones worth billions to our economy, but the ones shooting each other on the corner,” he said.
Yes, murder always is news. But any good detective knows to seek out all the evidence.
Original Article
Source: thestar.com
Author: Royson James
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