The Murder of Alton Sterling is not a Southern Problem
The murder of Alton Sterling did not happen because Baton Rouge, Louisiana is more racist than the rest of the country.
Minnesota is in the north. Cleveland is in the north. Baltimore is in the north. Staten Island is in the north.
The murder of Alton Sterling is a direct result of American racism, of which there is no special southern brand.
Saying that you are ‘not surprised’ by the shooting of Alton Sterling because it happened below the Mason-Dixon Line has two implications.
First, it suggests that the murder of Alton Sterling is somehow different from any of the other murders committed by on-duty police officers across the United States. Second, identifying the murder of Alton Sterling as commonplace because of the location of the crime creates the illusion that black people are safer outside of the American South.
American racism has no borders! If it did we would all have the honor to continue sharing the world with Tyisha Miller, Tanisha Anderson, and Miriam Carey. In fact, American racism has managed to spread beyond Riverside, Cleveland, and D.C as it follows the U.S. dollar across the globe. Sadly, American racism haunts the French Banlieues just as much as the Triple S Food Mart in Baton Rouge.
So as yet another spectacle of racially motivated hate and violence unfolds, it is likely that the Baton Rouge police officers involved in Sterling’s execution will not be found guilty of murder (although, that seems particularly hard in this case). But this time people will rush to their social media accounts to say that this despicable ruling has something to do with the south being more backwards than the rest of the country. Already, people have identified the ‘trigger happy’ police officers as a southern phenomenon.
It is also likely that the right to protest that was expressed on Tuesday, July 5, 2016 will gain momentum and grow throughout the city. The black community of Baton Rouge will not stop until they have been heard across the globe. Baton Rouge is the home of the first civil rights bus boycott (on June 5, 1953) so it is wise to expect productive action now as well, 63 years later. Baton Rouge’s civil rights economic boycott that is currently in the works speaks volumes to the Black Lives Matter platform. In response to the structural and institutional racism that works to erase black people from our national community, Baton Rouge leaders suggest this country consider what the loss of the black community’s economic participation would do to the nation’s financial situation.
With that said, the problem is not the south. The problem is definitely not black people in the south…
The problem is American racism.
And Alton Sterling was killed because this country is sick (in spite of a thriving pharmaceutical industry).
I knew Baton Rouge would get on this map of violence, eventually. We all knew. And not because it’s in the ‘Deep South.’ Not because the city managed to avoid desegregating its schools until the 1990s. Not because the city is racially segregated.
Here is a the racial breakdown of Baton Rouge:
I knew Baton Rouge would get on the map for a racially charged police killing because it is like every other city in America.
Baton Rouge is, in many ways, the perfect American city. But not because kids still set up neighborhood lemonade stands or because the smell of freshly cut grass wafts across the town every summer morning. Baton Rouge is the perfect American city because it knows how to ignore racism really well…even with the big, white plantation as its backdrop.
In other words, Baton Rouge knows how to cope with cultural effects of structural and institutional racism. The White, Asian, Black, and Latino residents of Baton Rouge effortlessly look the other way when the local paper identifies a black criminal’s high school and neighborhood, but leaves out such information for white criminals. In Baton Rouge people of all ethnicities unceremoniously disregard the confederate flag when it is pridefully displayed. Judging interracial couples is a leisurely pastime for everyone in the Red Stick. And all the while, people struggling to cope with their white guilt in Baton Rouge have the tendency to look more like white saviors.
But having moved away from Baton Rouge, my hometown, I have learned that politely ignoring racism is not something unique to us. It’s the American way. And, as a result, enduring microaggressions, microassaults, and microinvalidations is part of daily life for most people of color across the country. It is just as easy to see and then ignore racism in Denver, Portland, and Santa Barbara as it is in Baton Rouge, Atlanta, or Raleigh. And the aggressions, assaults, and invalidations are plentiful throughout.
On July 5, shortly after Alton Sterling was murdered, I talked to a few friends who have also moved away from Baton Rouge. We discussed the heartbreaking news. We thought about the people this would directly effect. But then I heard something I was not too surprised to hear:
“This is why I left,” they said to me. “This is why I will never go back,” they went on. “I’m glad I’m here,” they conclude.
My response: “I don’t feel all that safe here.”
