He sent a letter to Hamilton Nolan from Gawker detailing his views on the prison system, the death penalty, capitalism, and black youths. In this seven-page letter, he raises some incredibly important and relevant issues, but I want to write about what struck me most - being black when the people who sentence you, people who judge you, people who teach you etc are almost always white.
I think that it's vital for me to speak about this subject because, even though I am not a US citizen like Jasper, I have felt the same loss of identity as he has in the sense that....for many years, I identified more with white people than black people.
Note: I don't care what Ray Jasper has or has not done and whether he 'deserves' the death penalty, this isn't about that, this is about a black man releasing some serious truth bombs about black people in general.
Also, read the last sentence of this post to see that I am not painting all black people with the same brush, I am speaking for myself and others like myself.
I, like every black person in the same or similar culture as myself, see white people all the time. We see white people falling in love, becoming heroes or heroines, kicking ass, but most significantly...we see white people looking down on black people. What do you think the effect is on us when we see people who we identify with looking down on people like us, people who we SHOULD be identifying with? It turns black against black, it makes us think badly of ourselves, it makes us want to discard our black shells and replace them with a white one instead (sometimes more literally - skin beaching, anyone?). And this doesn't always need to happen consciously, it's something that's internalised from a very young age, something we're taught to think about without even realising it.
Imagine being a black child, turning on the TV, and seeing very little role models who actually look like you. I used to think that it wasn't important what colour a role model was, so long as they had good morals and good ideas ...but I've had a rethink. Yes, anyone who is a good role model is extremely good to have in the public eye...but it is so so important for black kids to see more people who look like them who AREN'T being treated unfavourably. Why black people specifically? Because our culture has been wiped out since the 1700s (and beyond, I'm sure) and by the same country we live in, and we still haven't gotten that back (obviously other racial minorities need some serious attention, but I am coming at this from a black woman's POV; I can't cover, and it isn't always my right to cover, every single oppressed person or race).
Right.
Ray Jasper commented on how many black people were in jail when he was sentenced. How many of us think that black people, black men especially, are the worst offenders of the law? I did. Why? Racial profiling/racist police, black people growing up thinking that they're destined to be criminals, that it's in their DNA, black people rebelling against an unfair system that favours white people and being punished for it. More black people in prison does not mean that more black people commit crimes worthy of a prison sentence or are born to be criminals.
A quote from Ray Jasper's letter:
I'm not trying to play the race card, I'm looking at the roots of why so many young blacks are locked up. The odds are stacked against us, we suffer from an identity crisis, and we're being targeted more, instead of taught better. Ask any young black person their views on the Police, I assure you their response will not be positive. Yet if you have something against the Police, who represent the government, you cannot sit on a trial jury.
Police forces are up to 28 times more likely to use stop-and-search powers against black people than white people and may be breaking the law
I am not saying that black 'heroes' are non-existent, but they pale in comparison to the amount of white ones. The different between the two? A black kid is more likely to think, 'Hey, I can do that too!' if they see a black person who is a positive influence. If they see a white person, they're less likely to think that, that's my view. The post I did recently about feeling a strong sense of identity with Lupita Nyong'o....this is what I'm talking about, I've never felt so strongly about my own identity before, and it's really not the same coming from someone who has never felt it first-hand, and we need more black people to tell us that we are capable of just as much as white people.
Speaking of: spare me, 'I kind of know how it feels to be black because I also face oppression' because you need to reassess yourself and sit down. You may feel like you know how it feels if you're of another (or several) minority groups, if you have a black friend, if you've read all about black identity, but you don't. Even if you've been made to feel self-conscious or bad about your race for a day, a week, or on a social networking site, please don't think that gives you the right to tell us that you know how it feels for us who live with internal and external racism every day. You are allowed to feel oppressed or victimised, you are allowed to be supportive, and you are allowed to say, 'I imagine that that feels awful'...just don't compare it to how I feel because you're not black so you will never know how it feels to be black. Period. That's what I'm getting at, this is why we need more black people to speak out and be those role models that I didn't really grow up with.
If you're someone who complains about not having a white history month to be on equal ground with us....I can't even rearrange my thoughts coherently to explain why this is obviously a stupid thought process, just educate yourself on why black history month exists, please.
I feel like I deviated slightly in my excitement, but the bottom line is: we need more successful black people in the public eye and, even better, we need more black people in the public eye WHO WILL TALK ABOUT black identity in a positive, encouraging manner.
I can't speak for all black people when I say these things, some may already feel empowered and comfortable in their own skin/culture and that is really awesome, but I am speaking for people who have felt the same as me...because there are other me's out there, and that's a fact.
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