"With the recent massacre in Orlando, the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and high rates of everyday gun violence in the St. Louis region, the Washington University community is called to address institutionally-sanctioned assaults on blackness. The difficult relationship or ugly intimacy between state violence, gun crime, and the rights and lives of African-American citizens is vexing and requires multiple analytical lenses. This panel, designed to create dialogue among scholars from different fields across campus, hopes to unpack the complexity of our dangerous moment." - Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., Associate Professor of Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies and African and African American Studies
This was the description McCune gave this past Tuesday before the Ugly Intimacy: Racial Policing and Gun Violence panel on my campus. The panel started with stark facts about gun violence across the state of Missouri as well as across America. There have been 10,559 gun related deaths in America since the beginning of 20161, and the numbers continue to grow daily. Then the conversation shifted to the police brutality that seems to have infected America in the recent years. The panelists’ delved into the variety of issues surrounding the brutality in an effort to find the heart of the problem because if you can find the problem, you can find the solution. Each panelist gave a different perspective given their respective professions: Anthropology, Sociology, English, African-American Studies, and even Poetry. However, each panelist pointed out these three concepts: historical trauma, digital eroticism, and the perfect oppression.
Historical Trauma - There is damage. There is still the aftershock of slavery ringing throughout our country. An impact was made and the consequences of it have not stopped stinging.
Digital Eroticism - Broken black bodies have become a trend. A running hashtag that has made our deaths more of running entertainment. Our destruction has become the most watched video in the world.
Perfect Oppression - How many more? How many more must be gunned down until you find “the one”? The one who you can’t explain away. The one there is no technicality for. The one you can’t say had it coming. The one there is no record for. The one who didn’t run away when he saw you coming like the four horseman in the apocalypse. The one who didn’t resist as you cut off his air flow with your elbow. Well, how long will you continue waiting for something you already have? Because there is a serious problem when little boys can’t play in parks.
There was agreement that there is a gap. A gap between people and that gap has filled with fear. We are strangers. Therefore, when an interaction occurs, the gap between individuals prevents trust and empathy. This leads to the question of whether I can trust my black body in the hands of the officer in front of me.
The issue of police brutality can’t be solved in a two-hour discussion, but talking about the situation and understanding how we got to this point is essential in the path to finding a way to fix it.
The flyer: https://diversity.wustl.edu/events/event/afas-pane...
