Forum
Black-on-Black Crime: Statistical Warfare
A few years ago, I was a computer science
student at Winston-Salem State University. One
day. while sitting in on a probability and statis
tics lecture on the campus, the instructor, Profes
sor Williams, demonstrated to the class the vari
ous interpretations that can be made from the
numerical representation of the results of a sin
gle survey. I distinctly recall my amazement as
she listed on the board the numerous items of
Americans, unlike other races of people, select
members of their own race to victimize. And just
think, these finding were made without having to
use either the standard deviation or any of the
more esoteric functions found on my calculator.
Now, let's take a closer look at the fre
quency issue. This takes us back to the afore
mentioned statement that blacks are responsible
for approximately 53.2 percent of all violent
information that one ?
could glean from data
that, on the surface,
appeared to reveal only
a few items of informa
tion. ^
I began to experi- ?
I
GUEST COLUMNIST
k By
EDGAR A. SIMON JR.
ence a profound suspi-,5SESpiB_^H_
cion of all the survey
results that I had read over the years. This suspi
cion was accompanied by a certain since of
euphoria over the possibility that maybe, just
maybe, the distrust that I'd always had for the
so-called statistical facts regarding my people
was, in fact, justified.
I visited the library the very next day, armed
with my scientific calculator and a strong feeling
of determination and anticipation to conduct a
little research. My mission was to disarm what I
unveiled, theretofore suspecting to be yet
another of the disruptive myths which seem to
dart along our paths to progress. After studying
the various categories of information (or misin
formation) and manipulating the available data, I
was able to make a few rather interesting obser
vations.
While the author chose (conveniently?) to
compare the race-of-offender with nature of
crime, I decided to compare race-of-offenders by
race-of-victims of major, violent crimes. First,
and with relative ease, I discovered that African
Americans are reported to be responsible for
approximately S3. 2 percent of all violent crimes
committed in the United States. Of this figure,
approximately SI. 3 percent are reported to have
been committed by youths under 18 years of age.
Furthermore, it was revealed that most crimes
committed by African Americans are against
other African Americans.
Now, a scant perusal of the statistics would
have stopped there. However, this only scratched
the surface of what was to be realized if one was
to diligently scrutinize and compare the figures.
A. more in-depth analysis revealed that if a white
person was to commit criminal homicide, the
odds would be approximately 8 to 1 that the per
son murdered would be white. On the other
hand, if an African American was to commit the
same act, the odds would be 1 1 to 1 that the vic
tim would be an African American.
What this, in essence, tells us is that both
? races used in that study tend to victimize mem
bers of their respective races considerably more
frequently than did they members of the opposite
race. This information should serve to allay the
long-standing myth (one of many) that African
crimes committed in the United States. This is,
to a great extent, a result of rage due to the inces
sant oppression, deprivation and abuse experi
enced by African Americans. This exposure has
fueled frustration, desperation and the resultant
hostility which leads to criminal activity.
Given the fact that there is a direct relation
ship to be found between the level of deterrence
to the commission of an offense and the fre
quency of its commission, the additional ingredi
ent of having the courts practice more leniency
toward that individual who violates the rights of
an African American than they do that individual
who does- same-of a white person serves to
explain the somewhat higher prosperity of
African Americans to victimize other African
Americans.
Additionally, the rationale behind the fact
that a member of a given race who commits an
offense is much more likely to victimize a mem
ber of his/her race is that we still live, to a great
extent, in a racially segregated society. This
translates into more social contact with one's
own race. It is much more convenient to unleash
one's anger or frustrations in one's own neigh
borhood than it is to drive across town.
In conclusion, the logic behind the statistics
is not that African Americans conceitedly seek
out their own to kill or otherwise offend. We
must work toward eradicating our gullibility to
ideas and suggestions that we find difficulty in
socializing and cooperating with each other. This
gullibility serves as a never-fail schism which
inhibits our ability to function more efficiently
as a group. Subject any race of people to such
abominations as those experienced by African
Americans and note the results.
Because the bulk of statistical research that
has been conducted on African Americans was
not conducted by us, we need to be ever-vigilant
and astute in our assessment of the published
any supposed findings which suggest that we as
a people manifest perverted behavior, which the
act of concerted selected of one's own kind to
victimize certainly suggests.
Consider Race to Move Beyond Race
America seems to have trouble understand- invoked to defend supposed white rights was
ing that if it wants to move beyond racial con- framed to protect the rights of African Ameri
siderations, it first must be race-conscious. cans.
The reason is that race-based disadvantage Air irony in the North Carolina case is that
is so pervasive and so
much a part of our
societal institutions
that only by taking
such race-conscious
steps as affirmative
action can we hope to
level the playing field
TO BE EQUAL
John E. Jacob
and create a society in
which race can actually disappear as a factor
that determines one's life-chances.
But adopting such a position takes a will
ingness to act on today's reality and not on theo
retical suppositions.
The Supreme Court turned a blind eye to
that reality in a recent decision challenging a
North Carolina congressional election district
designed to assure the election of a black repre
sentative.
By a slim 5-4 majority, the court sent the
case back to the lower courts to determine
whether the creation of a black-majority district
to fulfill the mandates of the Voting Rights Act
violated the constitutional rights of white voters.
That's about as strange an argument as I've
ever heard from a court that consistently comes
up with strange ones.
If white rights are violated by creating a
district designed to send an African American to
Congress, are not black rights violated in the
overwhelming majority of districts that are
designed to send a white Congress?
And although two districts in the state had
black majorities, and other 10 had white majori
ties. So the 76 percent of the state's population
that is white was in the majority in 83 percent of
the districts.
The court was also exercised about the dis
trict's odd shape, although it has allowed such
districts designed to e/Ctt Republicans or
Democrats or farmers.
Shape only became an issue when it was
designed to assure minority representation. Jus
tice Stevens, in his dissent, was right to remind
the court that the equal protection clause it
the conservatives who are against creating "
black-majority districts are the same ones who
stuck daggers in Lani Guinier's nomination as
head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights
Division.
Yet it was Guinier who expressed doubts
about such districts and sought to find other
means of assuring minority participation in gov
ernment
I've never been enamored of such "safe"
districts myself, since it is likely that African
Americans would have more, not less, electoral
influence if our votes were significant in several
districts. That would give us more leverage in
more districts, strengthen our ability to lead
coalitions, and force candidates to campaign for
our votes instead of ignoring us.
Jn fact, the push for black-majority districts
came from the Reagan-Bush Justice Depart
ment, which sought to create safe seats for
Republicans by eliminating likely Democratic
voters from those districts.
Given America's history and its present dis
criminatory patterns, it is absurd for the court to
make the case turn on supposed violations of
white rights. Writing for the majority, Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor argued that race-con
sciousness "threatens to carry us further from
the goal of a political system in which race no
longer matters ..." That goal is one we all share,
but unless society takes race-conscious remedies
to correct for minority under-representation and
for the efforts of discrimination, we will never
achieve a society that moves beyond today's
racial divisions. \
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VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY
The Chroniclc asked city residents whether they thought the judicial system treated equally blacks and whites in
dispensing sentences. Here arc their responses:
LU1 If I I
Jamestris Gaddy, 25
Hofheimer's
"I believe a lot of cases
are weighed on (other cases )
like [the Stoner case] when
the D.A. was looking for the
death penalty and didn't get
it so they knew the next case
there was heavy pressure on
the community. "
Walter Preston, 1 7
Burger King
"No, bccausc look what
they did to Rodney King.
That wasn't right, so 1 think
there should be more bldck
people on the jury when
they have black trials. If you
have a lot of white people
you're going to be guilty."
Charles Lee, 48
A & T State University
"No. As a police offi
cer, I have been dealing
with it for 13 years. You
have a double standard,
blacks deal with black-on
black prejudice and preju
dice between blacks and
whites. "
Brenda Cain, 41
Life of Virginia
"No. Just from reading
the paper you can see that
they're not. I don't think
people have changed as
much as they say they
have."