When It Comes To Crime Reporting, Do All Black Men Look Alike?

 

Above you see descriptions of White perpetrators sent out to those apart of the Syracuse University community. Since the very first email the SU DPS (Department of Public Safety) sent me, I was disturbed by the vague, unhelpful descriptions of African American men provided after a student report:

 

You can see the difference–Complexion for protection as Paul Mooney calls it. At the beginning, I was being facetious when I joked about me and my friends being mistakenly picked up by police. But, we know all jokes hold some truth. The dangerous truth is that these descriptions help instill fear on all shades of the spectrum.

We Black men handling business on campus, and those in the city minding their own are even more fearful of getting arrested. In a country where “urban” or “Black” equate suspicion, you should agree that Black men especially are held to harsher standards when it comes to law enforcement. Let’s look at ‘Stop and Frisk’ for example; however, from the looks of the recent empire state building shooter, they’re stopping and frisking the wrong people.

 

Credit: New York Civil Liberties Union for photo

Remember Rene Betancourt who claimed some Black guy beat him up, but cameras showed he actually whooped his own ass? How about the coward that wore a Black man mask to rob banks? And you sisters who think you’re above racial profiling fibs better recall Bethany Storro, who claimed a random Black lady threw acid on her–as if Negroes even play with chemicals anyways.

White folks and others are also more fearful as the image of Black men is further demonized through media. So brothers, don’t be shocked if you notice a rise of ‘please don’t rape me’ smiles, whites crossing to the other side of streets, or purses being clutched.

And still, White students at my school insist on walking to unlit blind spots off campus to take midnight jogs, get drugs, and God knows what else. Maybe these economics professors should teach that poverty equals high crime, and most Blacks in this city clean at the university rather than teach or learn at it.

DPS has been confronted about the issue; they claim they give the full details they are provided with to keep the community safe. Do we all look alike, especially at night? I fair to differ considering my time on campus and off campus partying at 11PM-3AM. I can see my people of color and their clothing just fine from across the street leaving the office late nights. Maybe DPS and company are conspiring against our progress in this college town?

Maybe it’s a combo of both: We are such a marginalized, stereotyped group of people in the eyes of others that the only thing a disgruntled “victim” can say when interrogated is: “Some big Black guy took my wallet!” Although, if someone really traumatized you, wouldn’t their image(s) penetrate? After all, these reports are given almost immediately after the crime happens.

I will continue fighting this racist behavior until these emails change. It’s like grandma’s old saying: If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. If these descriptions are incredibly bleak, and describe more than half the Black population in this city, why even provide them? Unless, of course, they’re working towards a bigoted agenda.

By the way, if you don’t understand the featured picture, it’s a “Meme” made by students at my school. The joke is take a photo and Photoshop a funny caption that relates to SU. Thornden Park is a park right outside of campus. More SU Memes