RACE AND RECONCILIATION MEETING: COOLING THE FIRES PART TWO

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

The first steps in solving a problem are to recognize that you have a problem and to correctly understand what that problem is.  America has a race problem.  More specifically, white Americans have a race problem.  More specifically, white Americans need to understand that America's race problem begins in the seventeenth century and includes two manifestations of white supremacy: the extermination of Indians* or Native Americans and the enslavement and merciless economic exploitation of Africans.  White supremacy, combined with Christian nationalism, is the operating software system of America.  America's political and economic history cannot be understood without understanding how white supremacy has operated from the seventeenth century to today.

* Note in the 2016 book All the Real Indians Died Off, an examination of 20 myths about Native Americans, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz and Dina Gilio-Whitaker, noted in their introduction (page xi) that "most Native people today do not object to the word [Indian].  Thus we use the terms 'Indian,' 'Indigenous,' 'Native American,' and 'Native' interchangeably..."

As Dunbar-Ortiz noted in the introduction to her An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (page 2), "The history of the United States is a history of settler colonialism--the founding of a state based on the ideology of white supremacy, the widespread practice of African slavery, and a policy of genocide and land theft."

White supremacy has been accompanied by scholarship designed and intended to induce amnesia among white people, as well as among Black folks.  Black folks, to the degree they are immune to this historical amnesia, is due to a familial oral history and/or a race-conscious education.

But, for white Americans, American history is not necessarily a familial oral history passed from generation to generation to generation, unless the family is rooted in the Confederate states.  For most white Americans, history is what you learn in elementary and middle school, high school, or university.  And, even within my lifetime the scholarship on race has changed significantly through the groundswell pressure of the Black Liberation Movement begun after the Civil War.

Edward E. Baptist in his 2014 book, The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism, noted (page xvii) that "historians of Woodrow Wilson's generation imprinted the stamp of academic research on the idea that slavery was separate from the great economic and social transformations of the Western world during the nineteenth century....But to an openly racist historical profession...the white South's desire to whitewash slavery in the past, and maintain segregation now and forever, served the purpose of validating control over supposedly premodern, semi-savage black people."

But Baptist's research demonstrated conclusively (page xxi-xxii) that the "returns from cotton monopoly powered the modernization of the rest of the American economy....In fact, slavery's expansion shaped every crucial aspect of the economy and politics of the new nation....The idea that the commodification and suffering and forced labor of African Americans is what made the United States powerful and rich is not an idea that people necessarily are happy to hear."

Baptist noted (page xxiii), "Enslaved African Americans built the modern United States, and indeed the entire modern world, in ways both obvious and hidden."

In fact, using Baptist and others it is possible to argue, "No Slavery, No Capitalism."  And all economic developments in the United States by Capital have been to drive down and as much possible eliminate both the cost of Labor and the existence of Organized Labor.  In other words, while Capital exalts Technology, it abhors Labor and seeks to replicate as close as possible its starting economic condition--enslaved, free labor maximized for profit.  We see and know part of that system as The New Jim Crow.  We also know this political-economic system by its modern name, neo-liberalism (here, here, here and here, here, here, here, here, here, and here).

In the introduction to W.E.B. Du Bois's seminal and groundbreaking 1935 book, Black Reconstruction in America, 1860-1880, David Levering Lewis noted that Black Reconstruction "was ignored by the American Historical Review and widely disparaged by mainstream historians during the Cold War" (page xi).  Lewis noted (page vii-viii) that "white historians and political scientists documented, denounced, and derided African-American ignorance, venality, and exploitation under Reconstruction....and congealed racist interpretations of Reconstruction in the popular mind as solidly as had D.W. Griffith's film, Birth of a Nation..."

Historian Eric Foner in his 1988 book, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, noted (pages xvii-xviii) that the "scholarly study of Reconstruction began early in this century with the work of William Dunning, John W. Burgess, and their students.  The interpretation elaborated by the Dunning School....[was that] Reconstruction was the darkest page in the saga of American history.  The fundamental underpinning of this interpretation was the conviction....[that] childlike blacks, these scholars insisted, were unprepared for freedom and incapable of properly exercising the political rights Northerners had thrust upon them."

Foner also noted (page xix) that the Dunning school had a "remarkable longevity and powerful hold on the popular imagination."  Foner observed that though the Dunning school had been subjected to critical scholarship for decades, "It required...a profound change in the nation's politics and racial attitudes to deal the final blow to the Dunning School."

However, a mere eight years (1996) after Foner's book, the evidence of a white nationalist backlash against historical revisionism and the Black Liberation Movement was of such sufficient force that political writer Michael LInd argued in his book, Up From Conservatism, that conservatism as an ideology was dying, if not dead, and being replaced by a much uglier, cruder, more regressive coalition of right-wingers.

According to Michael Lind (pages 7-8), "The only movement on the right in the United States today that has any significant political influence is the far right....[T]he contemporary American far right has both public, political wings (the Christian Coalition, the National Rifle Association, Project Rescue) and its covert, paramilitary, terrorist factions....[T]he fact remains that a common worldview animates both the followers of Pat Robertson and Pat Buchanan and the far-right extremists who bomb abortion clinics, murder federal marshals and county sheriffs, and blow up buildings and trains."

And, twenty years (2008) after Foner's book, the editors of Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction, Euan Hague, Heidi Beirich, and Edward H. Sebesta, observed (page 2) that in 1995 the League of the South had issued a "New Dixie Manifesto" asserting that white Americans were under assault by "elites in Washington, Wall Street, Hollywood, and the Ivy League" and doomed to "'cultural genocide.'"  They suggested (page 10) that it was the neo-Confederate movement's ideology with "racist, patriarchical, heterosexist, classist, and religious undertones--that form the basis of a conservative ideology that centers upon social inequality and the maintenance of a hierarchical society."  In a concluding chapter, Hague and Sebesta argued (page 310) that the neo-Confederate movement was "underpinned by ideas of irreconcilable racial and ethnic differences, white dominance, patriarchy, social Darwinism, and so-called orthodox Christianity."

And, now we have Donald J. Trump as the standard bearer of the Republican Party, largely driven to his party's nomination by voters seething with racial resentment, perceiving white identity under threat, opposing political correctness, holding anti-immigrant views, and hostility to Muslims, supported by the Christian Right, the Tea Party movement, the Patriot militia, the racist and anti-Semitic alt-right, and the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis, with a more amorphously racist "All Lives Matter" ideology mixed with "White Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter."  What has far less explanatory power regarding the rise of Trump are economic anxiety or economic marginalization, but white nationalism.

According to the UK-based The Guardian newspaper, in 2015 the police in America killed 1,146 people, which worked out on a per million basis of 7.66 Black, 5.49 Native American, 3.45 Hispanic/Latino, 2.93 white, and 1.34 Asian/Pacific Islander.  As of October 22, 2016, The Guardian had counted 865 Americans killed by the police, of which on a per million basis was 5.49 Native American, 5.16 Black, 2.4 Hispanic/Latino, 2.13 white, and 0.78 Asian/Pacific Islander.

The above is just a sliver of the historical and contemporary context behind the Race and Reconciliation's October 20, 2016, presentation on understanding the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Race and Reconciliation presentation on "Cooling the Fire" was hosted by Dr. Julie Patton from the University of West Florida's Department of Social Work.  It was moderated by Reverend Dr. Julie Kain of Pensacola's Unitarian Universalist Church.  Key presenters were Teniade Broughton of Black Pensacola and the John Sunday Society, Keyontay Humphries of From Pensacola With Love (the local version of Black Lives Matter), and Haley Morrisette, also of From Pensacola With Love.  The main objectives were to dispel accusations that Black Lives Matter is anti-religious, anti-male, anti-white, anti-police, and a terrorist organization by putting Black Lives Matter into historical and cultural contexts.

Due to copyright issues, Teniade Broughton's taped presentation cannot be shown.  However, some of the highlights of her informative talk included the following points:  Pensacola was/is a mixture of cultures--Spanish, English, French, Native American, and African.  The English culture followed the "one-drop rule" to determine who was and was not Black, while the Spanish had a five-tier caste system.  Whatever the real accomplishments of Black people during Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, they would be put down with reference to their slave demeanor.  Central to Jim Crow was to divide racial groups by dividing public spaces.  In the early 1900s, the attempt to segregate Pensacola's street cars was defeated by a 707-day boycott (the longest in civil rights history) and a successful legal challenge decided by the Florida Supreme Court--fifty years before the Montgomery Boycott.  The Pensacola boycott was made possible by the independent wealth, income, businesses, real estate, and jobs inside the Black community.  In fact, the Black community in Pensacola during Jim Crow owned more property, proportionately, than in any other city of similar size.  Responses to racial terrorism ranged from boycotts, to leaving for northern cities like Chicago, and having the Florida government fund one's education outside of Florida.

UPDATE:  The video has been edited to address copyright issues.  The three videos are posted below.

Photos from the Race and Reconciliation Meeting

Below are videos of the Race and Reconciliation meeting as it happened.

Dr. Julie PATTON

Ms. Teniade BROUGHTON, Black Pensacola, Part 1

Ms. Teniade BROUGHTON, Part 2

Ms. Teniade BROUGHTON, Part 3

Teniade BROUGHTON and Cheryle ALLEN Q&A.  Ms. ALLEN was a member of Pensacola's NAACP's Youth Council who conducted sit-ins between 1960 and 1962 at the segregated Woolworth's lunch counters.

Rev Dr Julie KAIN introduction to Keyontay HUMPRHIES

Keyontay HUMPHRIES on history of Black Liberation before Black Lives Matter

Keyontay HUMPHRIES Part 2

Rev Dr Julie KAIN, UUC on white allyship

Haley Morrisette on keepin' it real

Part 1, Questions and Answers

Part 2, Q & A

Part 3, Q & A

Part 4, Q & A

Part 5, Q & A

Part 6, Q & A

Part 7, Q & A

Part 8, Q & A

Part 9, Q & A

Part 10, Q & A

Haley MORRISETTE and Dr Julie PATTON closing remarks

 

Clinton, Sanders On Black Lives Matter

Introduction

As Campaign Zero stated at the very introduction on their website, "We can live in a world where the police don't kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability."

This post is intended to help interested and prospective Democratic Party primary voters decide for themselves how well the two leading Democratic candidates address the Campaign Zero proposals in their own words from their official campaign websites without editorial comment.

This blog post presents information from two official campaign websites regarding what Hillary Clinton calls "Criminal Justice Reform"  and what Bernie Sanders calls "Racial Justice."  Sanders' "Racial Justice" program consists of four areas: physical violence perpetrated by the state and extremists; political violence by the state; legal violence by the state; and, economic violence by the state.

Both political platforms will be compared to what Black Lives Matter called their "Campaign Zero" proposals for how to "End Police Violence in America."  Their campaign has ten policy areas:  1) End Broken Window Policing; 2) Community Oversight; 3) Limit Use of Force; 4) Independently Investigate and Prosecute; 5) Community Representation; 6)  Body Cams/Film the Police; 7) Training; 8) End For-Profit Policing; 9) Demilitarization; and, 10) Fair Police Union Contracts.

Almost all of this agenda has to be enacted at the local level of politics.  However, there are actions that the federal and state governments can take.  We should not expect that a campaign for the presidency, the highest political office in the country, will incorporate most of this local agenda.

Full Disclosure:  I am on the Steering Committee of Pensacola for Bernie Sanders.  That said, this is a comparison of materials on website linked to the official presidential campaigns and only those websites because that is the mass-based platform that the two leading candidates choose to present themselves to supporters and prospective Democratic Party primary voters.

Moreover, I am under no illusion nor am I suggesting that the only or the primary issue that the Black or African American community is interested in is "criminal justice"  or "racial justice." The Black community has a wide range of concerns and issues about income inequality, employment for adults and youth, universal health care, universal daycare, support to small business and startups, national security policy, energy policy, and environmental policy, especially as the latter relates to health-threatening environmental pollution in or near Black communities.

This post focuses solely on "Criminal Justice" or "Racial Justice" because that is the primary focus of the Black Lives Matter movement that is challenging both political parties and all prospective elected officials to address a fundamental, existential issue:  stop killing Black, brown, white, straight, gay, lesbian, and transgender people.

BLM/CZ 1:  End Broken Window Policing

This policy proposal is broken into two sub-parts: "End Policing of Minor 'Broken Windows' Offenses" and "End Profiling and 'Stop-and-Frisk."

The 'Broken Windows' offenses are essentially everyday behaviors that are used as an excuse to "police black bodies."  These "consuming alcohol on the streets," "marijuana possession," disorderly conduct, trespassing, loitering, disturbing the peace (including loud music), and spitting.  BLM/CZ calls for these offenses to be decriminalized or deprioritized.

Clinton:  nothing.

Sanders:

"At the federal level we need to establish a new model police training program that reorients the way we do law enforcement in this country. With input from a broad segment of the community including activists and leaders from organizations like Black Lives Matter we will reinvent how we police America." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 2:  Community Oversight

BML/CZ proposed two policy solutions intended to "ensure police officers are held accountable for police violence."  These two solutions are "Establish effective civilian oversight structures" and "Remove barriers to reporting police misconduct."

An effective civilian oversight structure would include a Police Commission and a Civilian Complaints Office. The Police Commission would represent community organizations on the board that would oversee internal police matters such as selecting the police chief, firing the police chief, holding public disciplinary hearings, discipline and dismiss police officers, and establish policies based on community and academic inputs.  The Civilian Complaints Office would be headed by community representatives and have its own investigators to investigate complaints about the police and to recommend that the Police Commission take action if a Police Chief failed to follow its recommendations.

Clinton:  nothing.

Sanders:

"We must invest in community policing....Among other things, that means increasing civilian oversight of police departments." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 3:  Limit Use of Force

The BLM proposed three policy solutions:  "Establish standards and reporting of police use of deadly force" and "Revise and strengthen local police department use of force policies."

The first policy proposal would hold local police forces to something close to the "International Deadly Force Standard."  BLM/CZ called for the use of deadly force "only when there is an imminent threat to an officer's life or the life of another person and such force is strictly unavoidable to protect life." (emphasis in original)

Under the "use of force policies," BLM/CZ called for "police officers to use minimum force to apprehend a suspect," "de-escalate first," "carry a less-lethal weapon," ban certain chokeholds and hogties, and "stop other officers who are using excessive force."

The third policy proposal was "Monitor how police use force and proactively hold officers accountable for excessive force."

This policy proposal had three components:  reporting all instances of force to a database that includes injuries and demographics of the victim; establish an early intervention system for officers accused of using excessive force; and, report officers to the state for officers who violate local policies.

Clinton:

"She also believes that the best practices of successful police departments that are protecting the public without resorting to unnecessary force should be applied by police forces nationwide." (emphasis added)

Sanders:

"We need to require police departments and states to provide public reports on all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody." (emphasis added)

"We need new rules on the allowable use of force." (emphasis added)

"Police officers need to be trained to de-escalate confrontations and to humanely interact with people who have mental illnesses. (emphasis added)

"States and localities that make progress in this area should get more federal justice grant money. Those that do not should get their funding slashed." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 4:  Independent Investigations and Prosecutions

Under this policy heading, Black Lives Matter has four policy proposals that would decrease the reliance of local prosecutors on local police investigating themselves related to excessive or deadly force encounters with civilians.

The first proposal called for the U.S. Congress to amend Title 18 of the U.S. Code, Section 242, "Deprivation of rights under color of law" by striking the word "'willfully.'"  This would lower the bar to the U.S. Department of Justice stepping in to prosecute police officers for alleged civil rights violations.

The second proposal called for the U.S. Congress to the Police Training and Independent Review Act of 2015 or use "existing federal funds to encourage external, independent investigations and prosecution of police killings" as called for in President Obama's May 2015, Final Report of the President's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, action items 2.2.2 and 2.2.3.

The third and fourth policy proposal required the establishment of a state-level special prosecutor with independent investigators to investigate and prosecute "all cases of where police kill or seriously injure a civilian, in-custody deaths and cases where a civilian alleges criminal misconduct against a police officer."

Clinton:  nothing.

Sanders:

"Our Justice Department must aggressively investigate and prosecute police officers who break the law and hold them accountable for their actions."

"We need to require police departments and states to provide public reports on all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 5:  Community Representation

BLM/CZ pointed out that two-thirds of police officers today are white men and recommended that "police should reflect and be responsive to the cultural, racial and gender diversity of the communities they are supposed to serve."

Clinton:

"We must address the role race continues to play in America in order to reform our criminal justice system and move the nation forward."

Sanders:

"We need police forces that reflect the diversity of our communities." (emphasis added)

"We must invest in community policing.  Only when we get officers into the communities, working within neighborhoods before trouble arises, do we develop the relationships necessary to make our communities safer together." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 6:  Body Cams/Film The Police

Black Lives Matter recommended the American Civil Liberties Union's Model Policy on police wearing body cameras.  Specifically, BLM/CZ recommended that body cameras and dashboard cameras "record all interactions with civilians" and establish policies of transparency and accountability regarding public access to that video footage as well as establishing the right of the public to record the police, for example, the Colorado law.

Clinton:

"Encouraging the use of smart strategies—such as police body cameras—to fight crime and rebuild trust in our communities. Hillary has called for every police department in the nation to have body cameras to improve transparency and accountability on both sides of the lens." (emphasis in original)

Sanders:

"We need to federally fund and require body cameras for law enforcement officers to make it easier to hold them accountable." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 7:  Training

Black Lives Matter/Campaign Zero pointed out that police forces spend 58 hours training officers how to fire their service weapons, but only 8 hours learning how to de-escalate situations.

BLM/CZ called for "rigorous and sustained training" for police officers including "appropriate engagement" with youth, the LGBTQ, English language learners, different religious affiliations, and the "differently abled."  Also, they called for training on implicit bias (as well as testing for in shoot/don't shoot decision-making), procedural justice, relationship-based policing, crisis intervention and rumor control, and de-escalation and minimizing the use of force.

Clinton:

"She also believes that the best practices of successful police departments that are protecting the public without resorting to unnecessary force should be applied by police forces nationwide."

Sanders:

"We must invest in community policing. Only when we get officers into the communities, working within neighborhoods before trouble arises, do we develop the relationships necessary to make our communities safer together."

"At the federal level we need to establish a new model police training program that reorients the way we do law enforcement in this country. With input from a broad segment of the community including activists and leaders from organizations like Black Lives Matter we will reinvent how we police America."

BLM/CZ 8:  End For-Profit Policing

Black Lives Matter called for ending "police department quotas for tickets and arrests," "limit fines and fees for poor people," and "prevent police from taking the money or property from innocent people," the latter related to asset forfeiture before being convicted of a crime.

Clinton:  nothing.

Sanders:

We need to ban prisons for profit, which result in an over-incentive to arrest, jail and detain, in order to keep prison beds full. (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 9:  Demilitarization

At the federal level, Black Lives Matter called for the "End the federal government's 1033 program providing military weaponry to local police departments" and establishing local restrictions on the purchase of military-grade weaponry and equipment, including limiting the use of Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) units to "an emergency situation or imminent threat to life and high-ranking officers have given approval."

Clinton:

"She also believes that the best practices of successful police departments that are protecting the public without resorting to unnecessary force should be applied by police forces nationwide."

Sanders:

"We must demilitarize our police forces so they don’t look and act like invading armies." (emphasis added)

BLM/CZ 10:  Fair Police Union Contracts

Essentially, Black Lives Matter/Campaign Zero called for removing from police union contracts items that currently inhibit investigations and prosecutions of police officers for the use of excessive or deadly force.

Clinton:  nothing.

Sanders:  nothing.

Clinton's Other Criminal Justice Proposals:

"Hillary will work to reform our criminal justice system by changing the way we approach punishment and prison.  She will reform mandatory minimum sentences for low-level nonviolent offenses, increase support for mental health and drug treatment, and pursue alternative punishments for low-level offenders, especially young people."

"Urging Americans to come to terms with hard truths about race and justice.  Black men across this country are being killed at a rate that far outpaces any other group.  We must address the role race continues to play in America in order to reform our criminal justice system and move the nation forward." (emphasis in original)

"Strengthening America’s families. We cannot ensure smart policing or reform the criminal justice system unless we also address the underlying issues facing African Americans.  This is why Hillary plans to provide better economic opportunities for the middle class, make college affordable for all, and ensure that families are reaching their potential." (emphasis in original)

Sanders' Other Racial Justice Proposals:

"We need to turn back from the failed “War on Drugs” and eliminate mandatory minimums which result in sentencing disparities between black and white people."

"We need to invest in drug courts and medical and mental health interventions for people with substance abuse problems, so that they do not end up in prison, they end up in treatment."

"We need to boost investments for programs that help people who have gone to jail rebuild their lives with education and job training."

"We need to re-enfranchise the more than two million African Americans who have had their right to vote taken away by a felony conviction."

"We need to give our children, regardless of their race or their income, a fair shot at attending college. That’s why all public universities should be made tuition free."

"We must invest $5.5 billion in a federally-funded youth employment program to employ young people of color who face disproportionately high unemployment rates."

"Knowing that black women earn 64 cents on the dollar compared to white men, we must pass federal legislation to establish pay equity for women."

"We must prevent employers from discriminating against applicants based on criminal history."

"We need to ensure access to quality affordable childcare for working families."

Black Women Erased--SILENT NO MORE

Introduction

On July 11, 2015, Dr. Julie Kain's Unitarian Universalist Church in Pensacola, Florida, hosted Ms. Haley Morrissette's "Black Women Erased" community gathering filled with powerful, terrifying, survivors' tales of rape and sexual abuse.  Due to the sensitivity of the survivors' stories and the possibility for re-traumatization, the event was not filmed.  My own notes do not denote who exactly was speaking.

This CJ's Street Report will provide a composite summary of what the rape survivors said in a historical context.  This report will provide information on community resources available to victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse.  This will be followed by data collected by the Department of Justice and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control regarding rape and sexual violence directed against Black women.  Lastly, since "Black Women Erased" also addressed the topic of Black women--straight, lesbian, and transgender--being brutalized by law enforcement, the final section will provide information on this topic.

In Florida, "Sexual Battery is the legal term for the crime of rape or sexual assault," as in Chapter 794 of the Florida Statutes.  "Sexual battery occurs when one person forces another person to engage in sexual activity without their consent."  "Sexual battery is defined as oral, anal or vaginal penetration by, or in union with the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object committed without that person's consent."  "Consent means intelligent, knowing and voluntary consent and does not include coerced submission."  A person does not have to physically resist in order for consent not to be given.

Composite Summary

If anyone has read Danielle L. McGuire's At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance—A New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power, you know that Black women are the heart, soul, and backbone of not only the Black Liberation Movement, but the Black community as a whole.

The idea of "Black Women Erased" is that this historical fact is overlooked.  Indeed, one speaker noted that when people use the term "Black people," that is translated as "Black men" and that overlooks the fact that Black women are also brutalized by law enforcement.  Another speaker noted that "rape victim" simply means "white woman" and the media focuses on the rape of white women who more often than Black women seek and receive medical treatment and psychological counseling.

Mrs. Rosa Parks, for example, according to the account in McGuire's book, was a long-time, experienced anti-rape investigator trying to bring justice to Black women raped with legal impunity by white men throughout the Jim Crow South.  The Montgomery bus boycott was brought about not because Black people were forced to sit at the back of the bus, but because Black women, largely domestic workers who used the bus system, were being raped, sexually assaulted, or beaten while using the buses by drivers and passengers with legal impunity.  Once the boycott moved into its initial stage, Rosa Parks and the women who organized the boycott were shoved to the rear of the movement's "bus" and the nascent Civil Rights Movement around Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. created a "cartoon" version of Rosa Parks activism.  This is just one of the legacies of being "erased."

Dr. Carolyn M. West, writing at the National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women website noted that "Black women experienced a unique threat and danger in slavery—that of sexual assault."  From the first slave-carrying ship in 1619, rape was part of the voyage.  West noted that "historians estimate that at least 58 percent of all enslaved women between the ages of 15 and 30 had been sexually assaulted by White men."

After 1808, when the importation of African slaves was banned, Black women were systematically used to breed domestic slaves "to produce a perpetual labor force."  After Emancipation, the Ku Klux Klan gang-raped Black women as part of the reign of terror to destroy Reconstruction.  Rape laws did not recognize that Black women could be raped by white men, or even by Black men.  The post-rape brutalization of Black women by the legal system was justified by the stereotype that Black women were "hypersexual" and "Jezebels."  The Bible Gateway website describes the biblical Jezebel as a "most licentious woman," a "voluptuary" possessing "all the tawdry arts of a wanton woman" and coming from an "idolatrous stock."

Black women surviving under conditions of systematic physical, legal, and religious rape, according to West, "preserved their emotional health and dignity by creating a ‘culture of secrecy’ around their sexual violence. This historical trauma is inter-generational and continues to live in the collective memories of contemporary African American women."

Ms. Kathy Ferguson, a founding member of the Maryland-based Women of Color Network and its first paid coordinator of the network, noted that this "culture of silence" was not only due to fear, embarrassment, and shame felt by women of all races, but also "'Black women historically have had to carry the burden of the community.  You don't necessarily want to report because you don't want the community viewed negatively."

It is this "culture of secrecy" that "Black Women Erased" addressed.

One speaker noted the rape and sexual assault of Black women by Black men, as well as their brutalization by law enforcement "destroyed the essence of the Black woman" and separated her from other women.  Like the national statistics, most Black women are raped or sexually assaulted by someone they know--a male (Black or white) college friend or a family member, or even by law enforcement.  One speaker noted that an Oklahoma City police officer was accused of sexually assaulting 13 Black women during traffic stops.  He is facing 36 charges of rape, sexual battery, and stalking.

The speakers were unanimous that not all law enforcement officers were bad.  But, one speaker said it best: "All police are not bad.  But you have to call out those who are.  Or else you are complicit."

Community Resources Available:

Rape Crisis 24-Hour Hotline: (850) 433-RAPE or 433-7273.  The Rape Crisis Center at the Lakeview Center provides crisis intervention, 24-hour crisis phone line, individual/group/family counseling, victim assistance facilitation, and community education.  The SERVICES ARE FREE and AVAILABLE WHETHER OR NOT THE CRIME HAS BEEN REPORTED.  There is no time limit on the occurrence of the traumatic effect and delayed reactions are common.

Help Line 24-Hour (850) 438-1617, also with the Lakeview Center.  The service is for those at risk of crisis intervention, suicide, drugs and alcohol, depression, AIDS, abuse, relationship issues, child-related problems, pregnancy, runaways, and teen problems.

Sexual Assault Forensic Exams (S.A.F.E.) are completed at the following emergency rooms:  Baptist Hospital, Pensacola; West Florida Hospital, Pensacola; Sacred Heart Hospital, Pensacola; Gulf Breeze Hospital, Gulf Breeze; Santa Rosa Medical Center, Milton; and Jay Hospital, Jay, Florida.

Rape Crisis Counseling at the Avalon Center, (850) 437-8900.

For LGBTQI (Queer and Intersex), information/support in Florida call (1-888-956-RAPE, -7273).

National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (1-800-656-HOPE -4673)

GLBT National Help Center (1-888-THE-GLNH, 1-888-843-4564)

Statistics on Rape and Sexual Assault (Straight, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender)

For every Black woman who reports her rape, 15 Black women do not report theirs. (1)

Around 40 percent of all Black women report coercive contact of a sexual nature by age 18. (1)

Just under 19 percent of Black women report being raped in their lifetime. (1)

In 2007, Black female victims of intimate partner homicide were twice as likely as white female homicide victims to be killed by a spouse. (2)

Black females were four times more likely than white females to be murdered by a boyfriend or girlfriend. (2)

Black females experienced higher rates of rape or sexual assault in 2008 than white females or females of other races (2.9 compared to 1.2 and 0.9 per 1,000 females age 12 or older, respectively.) (2)

Overall, 18 percent of all women have been raped at some point in their lives. (3)

51 percent of women were raped by an intimate partner and another 41 percent by an acquaintance. (3)

42 percent of all women experienced their first rape before the age of 18; nearly 80 percent experienced their first rape before the age of 25. (3)

35 percent of women who reported being raped before the age of 18, reported a completed rape as an adult. (3)

22 percent of Black women, nearly 19 percent of white non-Hispanic women, nearly 15 percent of Hispanic women, nearly 30 percent of American Indian or Alaska Native, and 33 percent of multiracial non-Hispanic have experienced rape at some point in their lives. (3)

41 percent of Black women, 47.6 percent of white women, and 36 percent of Hispanic women experience other sexual violence in their lifetime. (3)

Nearly 44 percent of Black women, 34.6 percent of white women, and 37 percent of Hispanic women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking in their lifetime. (3)

Estimated number (Table 2.3) of rape victims, lifetime: White, 15.2 million; Black, 3.1 million; Hispanic, 2.2 million; American Indian, 234,000; and, multiracial, 452,000. (3)

Estimated number (Table 2.3) of other sexual assault, lifetime: White, 38.6 million; Black, 5.9 million; Hispanic, 5.4 million; American Indian, 424,000; multiracial, 786,000; Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.6 million. (3)

Research suggests that victims of intimate partner and sexual violence make more visits to health providers over their lifetime, have more hospital stays, have longer duration of hospital stays, and are at risk of a wide range of physical, mental, reproductive, and other health consequences over their lifetime than non-victims. (3)

These physical consequences include: asthma, irritable bowel movement, diabetes, high blood pressure, frequent headaches, chronic pain, difficulty sleeping, activity limitations, poor physical health, and poor mental health. (3)

An estimated 17 percent of Florida will experience rape during their lifetime, compared to 18 percent nationwide, and nearly 42 percent of Florida women will experience sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime, compared to nearly 45 percent nationwide. (3)

44 percent of lesbian women, 61 percent of bisexual women, and 35 percent of heterosexual women experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (4)

22 percent of bisexual women and 9 percent of heterosexual women have been raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (4)

Approximately 1 in 8 lesbian women (13 percent), nearly half of bisexual women (46 percent), and 1 in 6 heterosexual women (17 percent) have been raped in their lifetime.  This translates to an estimated 214,000 lesbian women, 1.5 million bisexual women, and 19 million heterosexual women. (4)

Of those women who have been raped, almost half of bisexual women (48 percent) and more than a quarter of heterosexual women (28 percent) experienced their first completed rape between the ages of 11 and 17 years. (4)

46 percent of lesbians, 75 percent of bisexual women, and 43 percent of heterosexual women reported sexual violence other than rape in their lifetimes. (5)

"Most studies reveal that approximately 50 percent of transgender people experience sexual violence at some point in their lifetime." (6)

"The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs [NCAVP] reports that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer people were three times more likely to report sexual violence and/or harassment compared to heterosexual people who reported to NCAVP in 2010."

"The chances that a woman will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being raped are 50 to 90 percent."

"Rape victims are four times more likely to have contemplated suicide after the rape than non-crime victims, and 13 times more likely than non-crime victims to have attempted suicide."

Sources:

(1) Women of Color Network, Facts & Stats Collection, June 2006.

(2) U.S. Department of Justice, Female Victims of Violence, September 2009.

(3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, 2010 Summary Report.

(4) National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, An Overview of 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation.

(5) National Sexual Violence Resource Center, Statistics About Sexual Violence, 2015.

Black Women and Law Enforcement Violence

According to the African American Policy Forum's social media guide for #SayHerName, noted that although "Black women are routinely killed, raped and beaten by the police, their experiences are rarely foregrounded in popular understandings of police brutality. Yet, inclusion of Black women’s experiences is critical to effectively combating racialized state violence for Black communities and other communities of color."

The African American Policy Forum's longer report, noted that the "resurgent racial justice movement in the United States has developed a clear frame to understand the police killings of Black men and boys, theorizing the ways in which they are systematically criminalized
and feared across class and irrespective of circumstance. Yet Black women who are profiled, beaten, sexually assaulted and killed by law enforcement officials are conspicuously absent from this frame even when their experiences are identical. And they remain invisible when their experiences are distinct--uniquely informed by race, gender, gender identity and sexual orientation."

The social media guide reported that in 2013, Black men and Black women in New York City experienced essentially the same treatment by the police.  Of all stops of males, 55.7 percent were Black; similarly, of all police stops of females, 53.4 percent were Black.

Both the social media guide and accompanying report, highlighted selected cases of Black women killed by law enforcement that have not received national media attention.

Thematically, Mya Hall, Gabriella Nevarez, Natasha McKenna, Miriam Carey, Sharmel Edwards, Kendra James, Shantel Davis, and LaTanya Haggerty were all killed after "driving while Black," according to the report.

The social media guide highlighted that Shelley Frey was killed in Houston by an off-duty sheriff and Houston-area minister; Kayla Moore, a transgender woman with mental illness died after being arrested by police in Berkeley, California; Michelle Cusseaux, killed by Phoenix police; Tanisha Anderson, killed by Cleveland police after slamming her head into a concrete sidewalk; Alberta Spruil, died of a heart attack after police broke into her apartment and threw a concussion grenade; Rekia Boyd, shot in the back of the head by an off-duty Chicago police detective; and, Kyam Livingston, died after being left alone in her New York City police cell for 20 hours; she had complained of cramps and diarrhea, but officers ignored her pleas for help for hours.  Perhaps the youngest victim of police violence was Aiyana Stanley-Jones, a seven year-old Detroit child who was shot in her sleep by a Detroit police officer during a raid on her grandmother's apartment.