Last week on Twitter, I got a message from a friend, Amanda Martinez Beck. She sent me a link to a post from a Black Facebook friend of hers, Prime Blankenship. Part of his post says:
“Unarmed Black man” is a low key mental stripping of our rights. The phrase implies that if that dead black man were armed THEN he would have warranted being killed. What if it is a black man who is legally concealed carrying a firearm like so many other Americans? Does he deserve less of our compassion or understanding?”
Amanda shared with me the concern from her friend that gun reform laws will be disproportionately enforced on Black men and women, and that the laws would put Black people in more danger. She asked me: “How can we advocate for gun control laws and racial justice at the same time?”
I admit, the question took me back for a minute. Because I know the stats. I know that Black men are ten times more likely to be killed with a gun than white men. I know that Black women are three times more likely to be murdered with a gun than white women. I know that Black children are 14 times more likely to be killed with a gun than white children. In my mind, the question was answered: we have to end gun violence to save Black lives!
But I’m a white woman. And as much as I like to arrogantly think I have arisen to a high level of woke-ness, I have so much to learn and so many ways to reform my thinking.
It is all too easy to think new gun laws will be good for everyone! But when you think past that initial thought, it’s so obvious. But because I am white and could afford a decent lawyer, how I would be treated by the criminal justice system is not something I have to think about. Our criminal justice system is full of inequality, racial disparities, and discrimination. If drug laws are enforced more heavily on Black people, of course gun laws will be, too. Of course Black people are fearful of that. So, we have to be fearful for them, so that we make sure that is represented in all the work that we do.
I don’t have all the answers to this issue, but the one thing I know to be true that can inform how we advocate for gun reform for everyone, is that we cannot fight for gun reform without fighting for criminal justice reform. That includes of Police Reform, too.
We cannot fight for gun reform without fighting for criminal justice reform and police reform.
We desperately need gun reform. We desperately need criminal justice system reform. We need all of it, and we can’t have either one without the other. At least not in a way that serves everyone well. The fights go hand in hand, so it’s time that all gun reform groups take up the fight for criminal justice reform, too.
We know without a doubt that gun violence disproportionately affects the Black population. But if we fight for gun reform without fighting to change the system that disproportionately prosecutes and incarcerates the same population, then we just replace one problem with another problem, and we continue to let those people be the ones to take the hit. We will continue to choose to ignore injustice and sacrifice their lives on the altar of willful ignorance of systemic injustice and selective activism. We have done this for too long. We cannot do it anymore. We have to choose to see.
There is enough fight in us to do it all, don’t you think? There can be no scarcity mindset when it comes to justice. If we truly have hearts for justice, if we truly care about the vulnerable, if we truly love our neighbors as ourselves— we will decide to care about all of it, and to keep going until we get there.
So, today, here with you in this very intimate setting of my newsletter— I repent of having my eyes closed to this. And I promise you to consider the fight for criminal justice reform as important as I consider the fight for gun reform.
One more thing—
Black lives matter.
Places to put our money where our mouths are today:
Before I go, I wanted to share with you a couple of things.
First, my brand spankin’ new website. My friend Sarah Dolislager has been working hard to design my website, logo, and graphics— all the very important things I need to make me feel like an official writer. Please don’t be overwhelmed by my incredible level of proffesional-ness. And please get in touch with Sarah if you, too, need some help in this area.
Second, this weekend is the #WearOrange event to raise awareness about gun violence. The event is held every year in honor of Hadiyah Pendelton, a 15 year old Black girl who was murdered with a gun in 2013. Her friends asked everyone to stand up, speak out, and Wear Orange so we can’t be ignored. If you’d like, wear orange with us this weekend as we stand up and say: we can end gun violence.
We can end gun violence.
I wouldn’t wear the shirt if I didn’t believe it.
I wouldn’t ask you to join me if I didn’t believe it.
I wouldn’t dedicate my life to it if I didn’t believe it.
We can end gun violence, for everyone, together.
See you next month.