BLACK ON BLACK VIOLENCE

Civic responses to Black on Black violence and battering are not measured to tackle their historical, cultural, socio-economic triggers. Reactionary urban law-enforcement models perpetuate an inherently anti-Black woman, anti-Black male cycle. While we study ad nauseum causes of domestic and community violence, few if any dynamic plans are ever proposed to eliminate them.

Our perpetual addiction to dispatch police officers to never-ending Domestic Violence “busy-work” is a barrier to real reductions in community assaultive behaviors. Even enhanced and so-called revolutionary models are faulty because they appeal to the talents of the wrong group of people. Not a few law enforcement personnel privately admit the failure of that model, but rightly fearing slowed call-loads and lay-offs are rightfully unwilling to propose revolutionary change. These events cry out for interventions from professional Social Worker Practioners, Psychologists and others trained in family counseling and relational dynamics.

Many police officers – most being men and also human - are glaringly unable to flag their own flagrant prejudices against women sufferers of battering and violence. In the meantime, as many as 60% of police calls in urban centers are “domestic violence” related. Tax dollars may as well be shredded to make green paper dolls for all the displaced children falling into decades of the same scenario.

Nice are the commissions and committees that meet and push the envelope on response to community violence. But, the answer is to create a completely different mold wherein a revolutionary force of people comprised of Domestic Violence experts – or first responders – would respond to D.V. calls. They would be accompanied by law enforcement officers for protection. These people would provide specialized non-confrontational services to the abuser and essential, prolonged life transforming help for the victim. Questions about budgetary constraints would cease as we contrast decreased recidivism and successful families against lost generations, throngs of victims relying on government services to climb out of their predicament, extreme loss of tax revenues for cities, compounded drop-out rates, government funded emotional counseling charges, billions of dollars in court costs, and long term imprisonment.

The appearance that violence in our communities is uncontainable impacts our communities as much as does the violence itself. The events themselves stunt emotional intelligence, repress child learning, appeal to self-destructive behaviors, ruin the ability of its victims to master healthy relations – and sweeps goodness and sweetness from our communities like leaves to a hefty bag.

Contrary to social and media myth, assaultive behaviors are socio-economic and-or health dilemmas and should not be confused with mere lawlessness. But, the affects on all of us, particularly Black women and children – but also on men - are enormous. Men are deeply wounded when they hurt others. Black on Black violence includes adult child against elderly parents, women who batter their men, men who beat their male partners and women who batter their women.

This is a call to folk from the quick tempered to the outright assaultive to make that revolutionary decision to seek help toward your personal liberation. Assault is a blatant act of self-destruction. This is a challenge to victims of abuse to talk with at least three people about your suffering. Show them your scars. Find help available in your community, and if you can’t find help - look again. This is also a call to citizens in our communities to organize to demand that our political representatives revolutionize civic response to Black on Black violence.

And finally, this is call to the rest of us to deny the ball to batterers in our neighborhoods. Create a united front, write a grant, call for help, organize your block - whatever it takes, to execute a full court press against the pounding and maiming of Black folk by Black folk. These are not profound ideas. Certainly people entrenched in organizational response to these issues have other thoughtful ideas. But the key is that this programmatic possibility is directed at all of our couples and families - no matter who we are, no matter where we live, and no matter who we love.