Re: the racist dog whistle of "black on black crime:
1) Because of homophily, homogamy, and residential segregation all groups experience higher rates of "group on group" crime than "group between group" crime. "Black on Black" crime is not a special thing, it is a specific case of a normal feature of "group on group crime" in American life. As such, to single out "Black on Black" crime is simply a racist dog whistle. It is nonsense. If you want to faint over a couch over "group on group" violent crime look at the horror of "white on white" domestic violence. You could be dumb and conclude that its the result of a deep and horrible pathology of white people, or you could be smart and say "oh, well, yeah, that's homogamy, and white people tend to marry other white people at very high rates and domestic abuse is a thing that happens in relationships."
The thing about crime is that most people spend the vast majority of their time within a fairly close radius around their home, so residential segregation results in inflated "group on group" crime rates across all groups. African Americans live in more racially segregated neighborhoods than any other group in the US, so "group on group crime" is as a result high.
The reason WHY African Americans live in racially segregated neighborhoods is well known: It was CREATED by overt racially discriminatory housing policy on the federal, state, and local levels from post World War II up through the 1980s. As the Dept of HUD has repeatedly found, while written racist policy has been abolished, African Americans still face substantial discrimination (e.g. lying about rent costs, security deposit, availability of properties, racially biased loan assurance, filtering back into majority black neighborhoods) when trying to move into majority white neighborhoods.
As a result, pretending like "black on black" crime is some special thing is not only 1) ignorant and racist, but 2) also completely overlooks the DOCUMENTED RACIST REASONS why it exists in high rates in the first place.
2) The idea that African Americans should spend more time focusing on "black on black" crime is idiotic not only because all groups experience "group on group" crime at higher rates than they experience "group between group" crime, but ALSO because the African American community spends MUCH MORE TIME AND RESOURCES dedicated to "group on group" crime than does any other group.
Why do they do so? Because many African American communities legitimately realize that the police don't protect their communities, and that they need to do so for themselves.
That's what happens when Whites and Blacks both use and sell illegal drugs at the same rate (Whites actually use and sell at a slightly higher rate than do Blacks) but Blacks are 10-15 times more likely to face jail time for using or selling.
It's what happens when cops keep on murdering unarmed black kids like Tamir Rice and get away with it.
It's what happens when cops murder unarmed Black motorists, hide a gun in their car, are faced at trial with DNA evidence that the murder victim who supposedly owned the gun had never even touched the gun but the cop who placed it had his DNA all over it, and still completely get away it (Jason Stokley's murder of Anthony Lamar Smith).
TL;DR:
1) If you don't know why people are protesting or what they are protesting about that's on you. If you're curious take the time to read about it and study it. You are the only person who is responsible for your own ignorance.
2) If you insist on attempting to switch the topic to "black on black" crime you are AT BEST ignorant about what you're talking about and would be better off learning about what you're talking about before casting stones, AT MEDIUM have been duped into repeating racist claptrap by the media you have chosen to consume, and AT WORST seriously suffer from implicit or explicit racial bias yourself. This again, is entirely on you.
[ Edited by PopeyeJonesing on Sep 29, 2017 at 7:14 AM ]
