After every heinous act committed in America, there’s an inevitable press conference or news release from a public official stating this “doesn’t reflect the values of our community.”
Chatham, MA, is a small seaside town where two teenage white boys invited their Black “friend” to join them at a pond. The two boys threw stones at the Black boy and made him enter the water. They took turns holding him underwater, ignoring protests from the Black kid he couldn’t breathe. They laughed and called him “George Floyd” and “nigger,” until an adult broke it up.
One of the boys was charged with attempted murder and assault with a dangerous weapon in what the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office called a racially motivated incident. It wasn’t long before the statements proclaimed this wasn’t who the community was.
As of the 2020 Census, the “diverse and inclusive” town of Chatham, where the pond was located, was 100% white with no Black or Hispanic families.
I recently lived in Orlando, FL, nicknamed “The City Beautiful.” Within the past year, a digital traffic sign displayed the words “Kill All Gays.” Mayor Buddy Dyer issued a statement absolving Orlando from blame because that’s not who Orlando is. Did he forget Orlando was the site of the Pulse Nightclub massacre, where LGBTQ people were targeted, and 49 people were killed? Dyer, who was Mayor then, issued similar statements in 2016; maybe it’s time to consider that is who you are.
Compare his 2023 statement to what he said in 2016 after Pulse.
Multiple locations in Florida have multiple protests by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists. After one incident at Cranes Roos Park in Altamonte Springs, the Seminole County Sheriff had this to say.
In Villa Rica, GA, the community was shocked to learn that a photo of a Black man was used for target practice by Local police. Mayor Gil McDougal was right there with his statement.
After an investigation, a 111-page report was released, finding no racial bias.
After almost every hate crime, some public official comes forward to absolve the community of responsibility. What would happen if someone actually took responsibility? Instead of saying an incident doesn’t reflect your values, how about saying;
“We have work to do in our community to ensure this never happens again. We don’t know what made teenagers attempt to drown a Black child and mock the George Floyd murder. Maybe they learned it in their homes or at school. Whatever the case, we will get to the root of it and do what we can to prevent future incidents.”
or
“This isn’t the first incident in Orlando where the LGBTQ have been targeted for death. Rather than follow the Governor’s lead and “Don’t Say Gay.” We will do everything we can to protect our LGBTQ citizens, who deserve equal protection under the law. We will strive to educate those in our schools that diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) should be praised and not removed from public schools and government institutions.”
Mayors and Sheriffs don’t get to absolve their citizens from responsibility. Only by making them share responsibility do we hope to break the cycle. Acknowledge that a community that teaches children to try to kill children has failed and look for ways to do better. Your community may generally abhor certain practices, but it also contains members who practice them repeatedly.
If your community is constantly a site of Neo-Nazi and white supremacist rallies, ask yourself why they feel welcome. If your police department has a secret chat room with racist texts or practices shooting Black men, A finding of “no racial bias” was not the correct answer.
Of course, racists, misogynists, homophobes, and those who commit hate crimes aren’t necessarily representative of a community but are definitely part of the whole. Bad apples spoil the whole bunch, and disavowing your bunch is bad and doesn’t erase the stench. These behaviors are learned, and communities must determine the sources and start teaching something else.
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This post was previously published on Cultured.
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