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No end to Black On-Black crimeLAST WEEK’S murder and attempted murder of TV and radio personality Merri Dee again points up the lack of regard that we as blacks have for each other.Though there is no condoning of crime in any shape or fashion, this heinous incident as much as anything else, indicates the degree of depravity that permeates the black community. It also says that the brother has no more regard for the sister than he had for anyone else.Granted that white folks commit the same type of crime and far more frequently than we do, as a race black people are in the midst of a process of trying to purge ourselves of the self-hatred that has been drilled into us through the long centuries of systematic brain distrillation. And though we can and must empathize with our weaker brothers who have been unable to withstand this kind of phychol-ogical warfare; when we find a brother who is so much in need of help as to commit such a cold-blooded act against his sister, we must also just as vigorously cry-out for his detention and treatment.AS A group it would appear that we have gone far too long on the path of condoning continued acts of violence against ourselves. Just as we fight for the punishment of whites who violate and rape our communities, we must also make the same effort toward those forces within our ranks who would take upon themselves to decimate our meager forces.The gangland style shooting of Merri Dee and her companion again points up the 2 for 1 inequality of black on black crime, Merri Dee is injured and possible damaged for life; a young black man appears to be on his way out of circulation for some time. The black community cannot afford this kind of loss and continue to function.WHY THE concern for Merri Dee? Is her life more important than anyone else’s? Of course not! Death and violence daily visitors to the black community. There is no day when the black community goes unscathed from self-dealing death. Many of us are so accustomed to this kind of white-oriented behaviour that we seem to accept it as a matter of the social order. Many of us have been against this warped social order for quite some time. It was this kind of thinking that led to the formation of the Black Media Reps when the street gangs threatened to ripp-off another fighter for the cause, Daddio Daylie.The same pattern is in evidence here. Merri Dee has worked extremely hard for that which she has aquired. She labored under the same handicap that all of us have had to endure. But because she can change her clothes and pay her rent on time, she becomes a target of every dude that for whatever reason cannot make it. The same applied to Daddyo. He owns two little independent gas stations and a bowling alley. Standard Oil, Shell, Texaco, Arco, Martin, and all the rest; owns dozens in the black community, but the brother bypasses the major white-owned businesses to tear down a minute particle of black labor.I AM NOT advocating that black hoodlums ought to become black Robin Hoods, but I do believe that they ought to review their priorities. Somewhere along the line there must be a point whereby after arousing the brother to create handshakes, shades, and blank stares; we can also teach him that there has to be a respect for both himself and his own. You can stop any young brother on the street and his favorite expressions deal with how dirty whitey is and how he seeks to straighten this mess out. But when darkness falls, where does he straighten out whitey? In the balck community, where else?As I started out, Merri Dee’s shooting and the Sandler killing simply points up the fact that we have little reganl for each other. It makes no difference whether we live in the lowest ghetto or in an over-priced high-rise, the violence goes along with the black experience and white folks just sit and watch us wipe ^ch other out.
Newspaper Details
Englewood Bulletin
Chatham, Illinois, US
Thu, Jul 22, 1971
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 01 Aug 2022
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