For years, the San Francisco Chronicle has been pushing the narrative that, because more Black and Brown people are stopped by cops than are White people, this proves that such “disparities” are based on racism.
The paper’s latest article, “Report cites racial disparity in police stops” (Jan. 3), quotes an anti-police California official as demanding an “end [to] racism in policing…based on individuals’ appearances rather than their actions.”
Yet the Chronicle—deliberately--never balances its reporting with the fact that most crimes are committed by Black and Brown people. This information is easily obtained from the FBI and from State and local public safety agencies. It explains why most police stops are of Black and Brown people—an inconvenient truth for the racial activist crowd.
I’m reading a memoir, “Blue Rage, Black Redemption,” whose author, Stanley Tookie Williams, was co-founder of the Crips, the notorious Black street gang that has wrecked havoc throughout Southern California and beyond.
Tookie claims to have been rehabilitated from his former gang lifestyle. Since I’m a firm believer that we should try to understand what motivates people who are sociopathic—the kind of gang members who have so cheapened life in Oakland--I’m committed to finishing the book. I want to find out if Tookie really has redeemed his life and, if so, how, and what he now has to say about gangs. So I propose to write a series of posts about “Blue Rage, Black Redemption.”
I will begin the way Tookie begins his book, starting with his childhood. He explains falling early into the gang lifestyle with a series of explanations:
- “I learned from my street culture that criminal activity was an economic necessity and violence a means to a desired end.”
- “I had heard that White cops were notorious for cracking Black skulls. Every child in the neighborhood knew that cops were the enemy.”
- “Not even my mother’s intentions and religious guidance could have compelled or prayed me into conforming to society’s double standards.”
Tookie’s mother, who seems to have been a fine, virtuous Christian lady, figures large in his memoir. She constantly tries to steer her son straight, using spankings when appropriate. But none of it worked. Tookie “inhaled” [his word] the atmosphere of the streets in South Central Los Angeles, as I suppose all children incorporate the standards and norms of their environments.
It’s important for those of us who are frustrated by the dysfunction of so much of the Black community to understand the circumstances in which so many Black boys are raised. Tookie offers evidence that he really had very little alternative to becoming a violent thug. Inside that little boy was an intelligent, perceptive and loving spirit. But he was a product of his environment and could do but little to change that fact. My heart breaks for that doomed child, who went on to extract so much vengeance on the society whose “moral pollutants” [his phrase] he loathed. I want to keep this realization alive in my mind as I read the rest of the book, because it might help me to better understand the sort of compassion Pamela Price, for example, feels for Black criminals, whom I tend to want jailed.
As I’ve written on many occasions, I don’t believe there’s any justification for criminal behavior, especially violent behavior. Yet I’m feeling extra compassionate lately, due, maybe, to my ill health; I feel so sorry for everyone who suffers, which is everybody. If there’s something Tookie can teach me, I’m open to it. So while I’m tempted to conclude Tookie is just using excuses to justify his crimes, I’ll refrain from that conclusion, for the time being. At the same time, I want thugs off the streets of Oakland, safe behind bars, where they can’t hurt us.
Steve Heimoff