At times, it seems that blackness is like a brand that people use to either elevate their status or to tuck away to disassociate from the unmentionables. Every decade, it's the same product with a slightly different spin. They changed the logo from "colored people" to "people of color." They changed the slogan from "black power" to "black lives matter." Why not change the product?
It's like the black brand is dependable and profitable because it's living history… like alligators!
But black people are not "living history" no more so than alligators are "living dinosaurs." (I know you don't believe it but read the rest of this before you look it up). "Built different" is a meme now, but the reality for us all is we're primarily average within our peer groups. In today's cringe era of social memes, if you want to "accomplish" something, the best way is to get in a social group already doing that and then get elevated just by assimilation. Some people wear their social group identity like a recognizable brand as if it’s something to fear, respect, or acquire. But because we're all "just human," we all start off as just the “good and bad outcomes of our parents' fears. And some parents have been “on brand” for a long time.
For some people, the scariest place they'll ever be in their neighborhood. For many kids, the most frightening people they'll ever encounter have the same complexion, dialect, upbringing, and education as them, and they cross their paths every day. I don't doubt that there are systemic injustices at all. Clout chasers and money-makers know how to work the systems to benefit their tribes. Every industry has nepotism, politics, and IOUs, including religion. However, the level of complacency internally and externally in communities with a high level of violent criminal activity is more worrying.
Definitions of complacency - Wiktionary
complacency (countable and uncountable, plural complacencies)
A feeling of contented self-satisfaction, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.
An instance of self-satisfaction.
Passivity as a result of contentment with the current situation.
a feeling of calm satisfaction with your own abilities or situation that prevents you from trying harder
or COMPLACENCY | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
External Complacency
First, while high crime is a significant problem for some cities, entire cities are not violent. Specific known areas, neighborhoods, and blocks are dangerous. The projects, ghettos, hoods, or trailer parks are typical "bad areas" citizens avoid to stay safe. People and children living in poor areas of cities are more likely to be victims. According to a 2016 FBI report, people in "poor households at or below the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) (39.8 per 1,000) had more than double the rate of violent victimization as persons in high-income households (16.9 per 1,000)."
Media and pundits reference "black on black crime"; however, crime is just crime. Inner city neighborhoods with high crime indeed have a higher black population but are also poor with many other problems. Middle-class and upper-class crime committed by black people isn't a headliner, and middle-class crime isn't a huge discussion topic. While crime is often opportunistic, being black does not cause anyone to commit a violent act. That which causes a white or well-off person to commit a violent act are the same issues that cause many people in high-crime areas to commit violent acts.
"Poverty can produce anger, frustration, and economic need and to be associated with a need for respect and with poor parenting skills and other problems that make children more likely to commit antisocial behavior when they reach adolescence and beyond. These effects combine to lead poor people to be more likely than wealthier people to commit street crime, even if it is true that most poor people do not commit street crime at all." Who Commits Crime? – Social Problems (umn.edu)
The media's constant association of high-crime areas with race overshadows the stress, childhood trauma, mental issues, and anti-social behaviors that uphold the hierarchy of high-crime neighborhoods. Few pundits acknowledge the research studies on trauma and fear responses when discussing violent black youth. For example, if an entire block had an exceptionally high population of children with glaucoma, this would raise alarms. Swaths of violent teenagers, in general, should also raise alarms, not because they are poor and black but because 8th graders are murdering 8th graders.
Other external sources of anger and frustration are levied upon the youth in high-crime communities even though the child doesn't encounter these systemic failures in everyday life. Some point to school funding even though the most considerable difference in the financing is regional. For example, one of the "most dangerous cities," St. Louis, spends about the same on children across demographics. There is a significant difference in total school spending per pupil by region, with the South spending less on everything, including school per year per student. Additionally, history lessons, storytelling in documentaries, and cautionary advice about the transatlantic slave trade, civil rights struggles, police encounters, and unfairness in society are sources of emotional debt that black children in high-crime areas pay but don't experience. Although black children have not and will not be victims of slavery, they, like everyone, imagine what black people like them must have endured and feared. These details of historical events are not equally countered with stories, statistics, and the success of most black people today. Despite the emphasis on police brutality, polls show that most black people oppose defunding the police. And many police and first responders have outreach programs for at-risk communities, especially during holidays and extreme weather, with much appreciation from citizens.
Lastly, middle-class Americans from poor or crime-ridden neighborhoods somehow made it out despite the myth that a systemic force is holding people under the thumb of oppression. No one in the US experiences anything remotely like what American slavery victims did; institutions diversify their brands, schools, and middle management because they believe it is better for the organization. Many black people have white friends and family. Many black people choose to live together, go to all black colleges, and partake in black-owned businesses, churches, and thriving neighborhoods because that's their choice, not because white people hate them into segregation and oppression. They are not seen as oppressed but as elite.
Internal Complacency
Today, many people are in denial, passive or content with ongoing issues in their current or former neighborhood. If you ride your bike, you must consider the odds of someone stealing your bike. You might think about the odds of getting into a conflict or fight. Walking to a friend's home and playing outside your residence could be dangerous. One might consider the drugs, criminal record, and dark nature of their neighbors. It's almost unfathomable for the middle class to live in these conditions. But this fear is accepted as part of everyday life in many neighborhoods where dysfunction is normal.
The expectation is that kids in high crime areas should then learn with the same concentration as someone who doesn't have to live with those significant stressors. But when you're learning to live in fear, it's hard to learn anything else. It's difficult to focus on anything else when your worries distract you. At a conscious and subconscious level, children will try soothing themselves and get the attention they need so that they can, in turn, pay attention. People adapt to negative cultures at work, home, or school to feel safe, have self-esteem, and belong. In Snitches Get Stitches, I discuss how this occurs. In Figure Out Your Fears, I discuss how dysfunctional families reinforce a culture of fear instead of independence and courage. And in Why Violence Is So Prevalent in Black Neighborhoods, I discuss how violence came to co-located in the inner city.
Further, there is a lack of emphasis on the same mental hygiene that prevents and helps mental diseases, disorders, and illnesses. Additionally, specific influences, like music, social media, and literature, can be detrimental to fragile mental states. Lastly, these issues are taboo to discuss openly for various reasons.
What Is to Be Done
Extreme accountability and reduce anti-social behavior in neighborhoods. The integrity of being a child who can play and explore safely has almost wholly deteriorated in these areas out of fear of being hurt, seen as weak, or outcasted. But we want them to "math better." We need to improve the mindset of children living in poverty and fear identifying critical indicators of improvement. In the short term, it won't be profitable or comfortable for adults, but in the long term, the pro-social influence on children will be justice. For starters, the critical indicators for this vulnerable population are (1) reducing the physical harm they endure, (2) improving their openness, conscientiousness, trust, and coachability, (3) improving facing life's demands, and (4) improving their focus and cognition. Extreme accountability will reduce anti-social behavior, and someone must have ownership. The leaders won’t be political figures who bounce in and out whenever there is a media opportunity. Local neighborhoods need local leaders with extreme ownership.