another day, another dollar

For those who aren't familiar with the comments of Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory, here they are:
"too many of our youth, primarily African American, are imitating and/or participating in a gangster type of dress, attitude, behavior and action."
These comments came after several arrests were made during and after Charlotte's Fourth of July celebration uptown.
As a power figure, these comments are extremely reckless and ignorant. While gang activity is becoming a problem, this is the wrong way to address the problem. I see his comments as another way to profile young urbanites. I feel that since hip hop culture is the pulse of the youth, it is dangerous and insensitive to say that the style, culture, and expression of black youth is reflective of gang life. Many untruths are being presented as gospel, and misunderstanding between our upper class white leadership and underserved minority communities are more present than ever.
Many statistics have been circulated about the arrests and happenings at the event uptown on the fourth. The most common statistic I've seen is that of the 143 adults arrested uptown, 122 of them were African American. Conservative media outlets are milking this statistic, using it as "proof" that African Americans are wild, uncontrollable animals. What you won't hear in the media is that roughly 20,000 people attended the festivities. The majority of them were black youths. The black people arrested represented less than one percent of the entire African american attendees. Thus, the claim that African Americans are more likely to "cause trouble" is ridiculous. With more Blacks in attendance, more are likely to be arrested based on numbers alone. Another report I read revealed that arrests ranged from disorderly conduct to loitering. In other words, if you sneezed wrong, you were getting arrested. Ultimately, this boils down to fear of a "black uptown." Think about it. If you've ever been uptown after dark, you are well aware that the majority of the club patrons etc. are young white people doing a lot of drinking, a lot of impeding traffic, vomitting in the streets, etc. And this happens every night of the week yet you never hear about these patrons being arrested in mass amounts for public intoxication etc. Not to say i want to see a bunch of white kids getting arrested, i just want to give you some perspective.
I guess the point of this is to know who's leading you. Know the people you are supporting. Know that racism is still alive. Know that you can be above these biases.
signing off,
world changing news guy