Being young, black and male is not a crime

As a community we abhor the violence that is being carried out as part of Bermuda’s gang culture, and the damage it is doing to our young men and their families; yet major broadcast networks in the US screen on average 25 acts of violence an hour, desensitizing our young people and glorifying violence. 

This is not to say that we should not oppose the destruction that is caused by drug gangs and street crews, but we need to understand that, as Michael Dyson says, “a juvenocracy cannot be overcome by anything less than a radical reexamination of social policies, economic practices and political measures aimed at black communities and black youth.

“A juvenocracy that thrives on violence, the political economy of drugs, and the culture of the gun must be viewed, in part, as a symptom of economic and racial injustice.”

The stereotyping of our young black males plays itself out in loss of employment opportunities and harsh penalties for minor infractions. 

Youth of all cultures take risks, but if you are young and black, those same risks increase exponentially due to racial profiling and play out as higher police stop and search rates, arrest rates, imprisonment, disillusionment and despair.

In Friday’s Bermuda Sun Faith section, columnist Walia Ming witnessed a stop and search by police.  She tells how she saw a group of young men having a social chat when a police cruiser stopped and two police officers commenced to search the young men, who passively allowed them to do so as if it was an everyday occurrence.  Nothing appeared to be found and the police officers then drew out their ticket books, at which point she left, but later heard that the young men were arrested. 

What unsettled her was the strange resemblance to apartheid, harassment and something sinister; equating to injustice and stereotyped behaviour. She then goes on to tell of another young man arrested for an outstanding warrant which, after spending many hours in a prison cell, was later proved to have been paid months before.

These stories and others that are similar abound in our community right now.

With stop and search arrest rates increasing from over 3,500 in 2009 to approximately 9,500 in 2010 (150 per cent increase), why are we not protesting this massive infringement of our civil rights? Why don’t we hear more people speaking out about the violation of human rights? 

Those 9,500 individuals equate to almost 25 per cent of the adult population in Bermuda; if this were to happen anywhere else in western societies there would be a massive outcry.

Note that 90 per cent of those stopped were people of colour and 85 per cent male; admittedly, some individuals are likely to have been stopped more than once, but the numbers are still staggering.

To those who would state that this is understandable given that 70 per cent of the population is black, note these figures represent the black Bermudian population, and when you add in the expatriates who live here the figures change to 55 per cent black, 35 per cent white and 10 per cent mixed/Asians/others.

Add to this proposed tougher legislation, which without specifically saying it targets blacks does predominantly do so. For example, with the proposed “hoodie law,” we are setting a dangerous precedent. As any psychologist and parent will tell you, young people experiment with clothes, and we pray that is all they experiment with. They tend to follow trends, as they try out different persona on their way to becoming their true selves. And yet as a society we are willing to label them, criminalize them, and toss them away for what is not only psychologically normal but is a right-of-passage for young people.

Those involved in violent gang behaviour are a very small minority.  Understandably, people want solutions to the gang violence and the police response to date has been impressive with a number of gang-related murders being brought to trial.

However, we must keep a balance between protecting society, without seeking to criminalize a segment of our society that is already at risk from stereotypes and negative perceptions.

We must weigh whether increasingly punitive legislation is the way to go as our civil liberties are at stake, and our young, black males’ will continue to be stereotyped, alienated, marginalized and criminalized — the majority of whom are innocent, unless we now view ‘youth’ as being a crime.

Lynne Winfield is a member of the Advocacy Working Group for Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB). Visit: www.uprootingracism.org