When I heard the decision not to indict the killers of Eric
Garner, my outraged response was, “here we go again!” If the Michael Brown case lacked moral clarity, the senseless tragedy of the Eric Garner
case was much more clear. No matter what
the circumstances were, here were two more African American men added to the
list of senseless killings, arousing strong reactions nationally and
internationally.
Some claim that these killings demonstrate the existence of
racist structures that permeate our society.
Others claim that these killings resulted from criminal behavior or “a
lack of personal responsibility.” While
both positions point to contributing factors, they both continue to ignore the
elephant in the room, namely culture
– a factor that dwarfs the previous two.
We have made astounding progress against racism thanks to
the Civil Rights and Black Consciousness movements. Yet in the ’hood, conditions have not
improved accordingly. Today, there is a growing
culture of dysfunctionality eating
away not just at the ‘hood, but at our larger society. It is often government funded through well
meaning but mismanaged subsistence programs.
It is having devastating effects across cultures, yet is felt most
profoundly in the ’hood. It
is a culture derived from the old “redneck” South – a culture nurtured by
structures of oppression and one that wears down initiative and personal
responsibility – whose value system elevates and encourages anti-achieverism,
fatherlessness, dependency, helplessness, hopelessness, self-sabotaging/self-destructive
behavior, fratricide, etc., and in extreme cases, nihilism.
