RACISM

No one is perfect. In fact, if there is one thing that all people have in common, we’re bound to make mistakes. We’re even taught not to cry over spilled milk. “To err is human,” an Enlightenment poet, Alexander Pope, said, a phrase that’s remained salient throughout the ages as a testament to our imperfections. However, in American society, Black people are rarely given grace and are often violently punished for committing even the slightest faux pas. And this phenomenon is especially true for Black boys.

In 1955, two White men lynched Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black boy, for allegedly whistling at a White woman, Carolyn Bryant, in Mississippi. Of course, years later, Carolyn admitted she lied, that Till never whistled at her, but the punishment had already been dolled out. So not only was Till’s murder based on a false accusation, but it also illustrates just how little leeway Black boys have in America. Because even if a Black boy whistled at a White woman, something once seen as a social violation in the racist deep south, it’s preposterous to believe killing him would be an appropriate penalty.

When a Black boy takes a misstep in America, he’s likely to fall into a pit of white rage.

Do you know how we know racism inspired Till’s lynching? If the roles were reversed, and a Black woman accused a White boy of whistling at her or acting inappropriately, there would be no consequences, let alone a violent, extrajudicial response. White boys and men brutalizing Black women is an undercurrent in America’s stream of consciousness. For instance, in May 1870, “fifteen White men raped a Black woman while other members of the mob lynched her husband.” Of course, no charges were filed against the White men, a typical reaction from southern White prosecutors during the Jim Crow era. And the irony isn’t lost on the Black community that a White guilty man has a better chance of evading punishment in America than a Black innocent man or boy. It’s a disturbing pattern.

Black teenager shot twice for ringing on the wrong doorbell.

When a Black boy takes a misstep in America, he’s likely to fall into a pit of white rage. For instance, last week, when 16-year-old Ralph Yarl, a Black teenager, rang the doorbell of a home in Kansas City, Missouri, to pick up his siblings, an 85-year-old White man, Andrew Lester, who answered the door shot Yarl twice, once in the head, and then in the arm after the teenager had already fallen to the ground in pain. According to Faith Spoonmore, Ralph’s aunt, “he mistakenly went to the wrong house, one block away from the house where his siblings were.” One mistake, mixing up one house for another, was enough to put Yarl’s life in jeopardy.

This tragedy was avoidable. If Lester had taken the time to ask Ralph why he was there, he would have discovered a teenage boy looking for his siblings. But instead, he saw a Black boy, made assumptions about his intentions and character, and shot him, a decision that could have ended Ralph’s life. Yarl, who spent days in intensive care, has been released from the hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. And, after days of protests, local officials charged Lester with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. Many have suggested the prosecutor was reluctant to press charges on the day of the incident because the defendant is White. All too often, prosecutors drag their feet when it’s time to press charges against a White person suspected of violence against Black people. It’s also perplexing that the prosecutor is not seeking attempted murder charges, even though Ralph could have died from a gunshot wound in the head and arm. If shooting someone in the head doesn’t count as attempted murder, I don’t know what does. And if the tables were turned, and a Black man shot a White teenage boy in the head, I doubt prosecutors would have hesitated to charge him with attempted murder.

According to attorney Lee Merritt, Lester, an elderly white man, told Yarl, “don’t come back around here,” and “immediately fired his weapon,” without allowing the Black teenager to respond. Ringing the wrong doorbell, an innocent mistake, shouldn’t end with a teenager being shot in the head, but racism breeds contempt; it makes White men like Lester see Black boys as inherently dangerous and criminal. For instance, when three White men, Travis McMichael, his father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor William Bryan saw a 25-year-old Black man, Ahmaud Arbery, jogging through their Georgia community in the winter of 2020, they assumed he was guilty of committing crimes. Without any evidence, they sought to punish Arbery, leading Travis McMichael to follow and eventually shoot and kill him. Time and time again, White people’s racist beliefs about Black boys and men put their lives in danger.

Lester, the man accused of shooting Ralph Yarl, was born during the 1930s, during the Jim Crow Era, when discriminating against Black people was socially acceptable, and violence against Black people was applauded rather than condemned by the masses, which undoubtedly impacted his views. It’s likely that Lester treated a Black boy ringing the doorbell like a violent intruder because racism fosters irrational fear. And racist stereotypes targeting Black boys persist amongst much younger White men, as we saw in the case of Ahmaud Arbery.

One of the most disturbing trends in American culture is the way Black boys are adultified and stigmatized, reduced to stereotypical tropes. Racism isn’t harmless. Lester assuming Ralph was violent or troublesome, endangered his life. Black boys can’t even ring the wrong doorbell in America without being met with cruelty and racism, and that’s a reflection of our society’s failure to confront racism and challenge racist beliefs.

🌹Learn more about the author here.
🖊Sign up to read all my stories and thousands more.